Today was an awesome ride south on 190 libre. The road was in excellent condition and it crawled through mountian passes for about 400kms to Tehuantepec. The twistys were non-stop. It reminded me of parts of the south island of New Zealand. Some really tight turns and the countless topes (speed bumps) kept my average speed to only 65kph so I didn´t get as far today as I had hoped.
I left Oaxaca at 9:00AM Sunday ( I have to get better organized in the morning because I need to get early starts with no night riding) and arrived here in Arrigara at about 6:00pm with only 450kms covered. I saw, on two occasions, fellow riders - easy to spot with all our gear. The waves were pretty enthusiastic! The local riders don´t wave.
The tempreature has risen dramatically since Oaxaca and now is hot and humid. Since I´m wearing my riding jacket, I tried the trick of soaking my high tech T-shirt with water then doing up the jacket to let the water evaporate slowly. Works great now but maybe when it gets more humid? Also, I managed to sunburn the narrow strip on my wrists between my gloves and jacket sleeves. So today I wore cuffs made of the elastic tops of a pair of socks to protect my wrists.
My GPS seems to be off by a constant distance. Don´t know why because it was spot on until Mexico City. Either that or World Map - will check the Garmin site for ideas.
Found a great hotel hear in Arrigara, the Casa Blanca just off the zocolo (this is a small town). Posted rates are $160 pesos for a modern clean room, TV hot bath and secure parking. Air conditioning $20 pesos extra. They have a restaurant but it is closed Sundays.
The zocolo park is full of people this hot Sunday evening and, of course there is music. Tomorrow to Tapachula and the Guatemala border fun.