Made it to Puerto Escondido for more beachs, beer and riding friends.It had to be done. I had to drag myself away from the great hotel and beaches in Mazatlan and move on down the road. I left and spent the next night in a quaint little fishing village on the coast called Puerto Vallarta. :0) A local American told me where the best taco stand in PV was so naturally went there. Had two asada tacos (they WERE great).

I was smoozing with the owner and he said try the "treepah" (that is the way he pronounced it) taco. I said "sure". Did I mention that I had been drinking a LOT of beer, and HE DIDN'T PRONOUNCE IT like I do.... It DIDN`T taste like chicken. If I had been stone cold sober, I probably wouldn`t have liked it. :=) Moved on down the road to Manzanillo (yup more beaches and beer). From there to Pie de la Cuesta (about 10 K`s north of Acapulco).

There is also a LOT of rugged, remote, and undeveloped coastline around here. Picture Big Sur with NO development and jungle right down to the water (well you get the idea). I stopped on the side of the road (those that know me will know why -- well OK for the rest of you, I was taking a "leak") :=) on a high cliff above what I thought was a very remote beach. When I looked down I thought "heck, it can´t be too remote with ATV tracks all over it" then I took a better look at the tracks. Must have been a sea turtle egg laying party last night (I hope I am right about those tracks, at least they weren´t ATV) :=)

While in de la Cuesta I received an email from my sweetheart that said her boss had a friend that was also traveling down Mexico to Panama. She gave her boss my cell phone number to pass along. That night Cory (the boss`s friend) called. He and a friend (you may need a program to keep up with the players here) were just a few miles south of Acapulco. We agreed to meet in Puerto Excondido (the next planned stop for both of us). In PE I found a very nice hotel right on the beach and checked in. About an hour later, Cory called and and he and the friend came to the hotel. They were both riding Suzuki Vstroms. When Cory`s friend took his helmet off, I said "I know you". Turns out Shell had come into the Harley shop thinking of selling his Harley to get a bike for adventure riding. I convinced him that he should keep the Harley to "cruise" when he was not adventure riding (got to have the right tool for the job at hand). We had talked about what bike to get for his ride and also MY upcoming trip (of course). Small world. They liked the hotel, checked in and we started (drum roll please) drinking beer and tequila. Another hotel guest oveheard and introduced himself. Nick is also riding his KLR to Panama and South America. IT`S A PARTY (better party for Nick since his girlfriend flew down from Oakland for the week (Julia take note)).

That is Cory, Shell, Nick, and Jenny (you will have to figure out which direction to read).

We are going to stay here for a couple of days. Cory and Shell are going up to Oaxaca, Nick is staying here till Saturday (his girlfriend is here remember) ;0} In a couple of days we plan to meet in San Cristobal de las Casas to cross into Guatemala together. More adventure to come I am sure.

btw, There are many more pictures from the adventure here if you want to look them over.

http://RickMcD.smugmug.com/gallery/1920061/1/100211286

btw2 You can also send me email at my regular email address. I check it almost every day. Two days at the most. Every little town has an internet cafe!