Our arrival at Syulita RV Park is very fortuitous.We camp next to Dan, Karen and their two boys. They are a great travelling family originally from the UK but now living in Canada. They also travelled the same route as us from the UK to India in an old Land Rover with their two older boys in the late 90s. They are really great company and we spend some funny evenings reminiscing about travelling through Pakistan and India.

Our days here go by so quickly, following a lovely easy going routine. Out to hunt and gather for breakfast which we cook up on our little gas stove, then it is down the beach for a walk and swim before back to camp for lunch, a walk around the village visiting the markets or sometimes the Beach of the Dead. A lazy afternoon of reading or chatting to the local residents or the octogenarian German owner Teo and then out to one of the many wonderful restaurants in town. Our particular favourites were an Italian Restaurant and a Fish and Shrimp Taco van 3 minutes walk from our tent. Life is really pretty idyllic in this little slice of paradise. The only blight was the canon fire from the church at 5.00 every morning and evening in the lead up to the Festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12th which culminates in a beautiful evening of fireworks and festivals.

Why we loved Sayulita

At one point we change camp sites as our site has been prebooked by some Canadian RVers who arrive a few days earlier than planned. We move our tent a little closer to the beach. Skill also gets to celebrate his birthday here and Karen and Dan cook up an Indian feast for dinner to celebrate. (Forgot to mention that once Karen, Dan and their family arrived in Goa, India they lived there for eighteen months and ran a restaurant)

We move a bit closer to the beach

After a week we get a message from the motorbike shop in Tepic saying our parts have arrived. We are loathe to leave so we stay for the weekend and the following Monday, but finally we say goodbye to Teo, and new found friends, Karen, Dan, and the boys. We have really enjoyed their company.

We say goodbye to Karen, Dan and the boys

The ride back to Tepic was slow going with lots of traffic and at one point we are loathe to overtake a vehicle that is weaving all over the road, a drunk driver we think. Eventually we seize our opportunity and blast past him as quickly as possible. Tepic is not on the tourist route, in fact it is a pretty ordinary non descript town and we check into a hotel on the outskirts of town but reasonably close to the bike shop.

At first when I look at the sign I fear I may have booked us into a "love motel" but fortunately it is not, in fact it is quite a good hotel but as usual, after asking if we can have a ground floor room they give us one on the 3rd floor. We have a quick lunch before Skill heads out to the bike shop to arrange tomorrows work. I am feeling rather ordinary so put myself to bed and sleep for most of the afternoon. Skill returns shortly afterwards having arranged to deliver the bike first thing the following morning.

I fear I have booked us into a Love Motel

That evening Skill ventures out to the hotels restaurant for dinner while I stay in bed, the dreaded stomach lurgy has struck.

Next day Skill delivers the bike to the workshop where the guys get to work replacing the steering head bearings, they also check the wheel bearings which look to be fine and then replace our faulty switch While the boys work on the bike Skill admires the shop's stock.

The guys work on the bike

Boys toys

Skill arrives back after lunch and we spend the rest of the day trying to figure out our next move, we decide we will head to Mazatlan and from there take the ferry to Baja. I am still not feeling that great so once again Skill has a solitary dinner.

Next day we pack up and hit the road towards Mazatlan, it is a pretty uneventful ride except for the fact that Skill is still not happy with the bike's handling and kicks himself for not renewing the wheel bearings while he had the opportunity.

Packed up and ready to leave Tepic again

We stop at a service station just outside Mazatlan and are accosted by this lovely man who wants to know all about our journey. He is so inquisitive and enthusiastic.

Lovely man we met near Mazatlan

We have a recommendation for a camp ground on the beach but on arrival we find it is a long way out of town and has no shops or restaurants close by, it is also a bit sketchy full of huge American RVs and there doesn't appear to be any caretaker around so we leave and try a few other camping grounds but they are all huge sandy, sparse RV filled places not that conducive to camping so we try our last option The Funky Monkey Hostel. BINGO!! We are welcomed by a friendly "G'Day" (An Australian volunteer working at the hostel) and park the bike in the front fenced area. Our room is great having it's own kitchen and bathroom overlooking a park at the back, we go for a walk to the local supermarket and then join the other guests (including a Canadian motorcyclist and 2 Swiss Bicyclists) and the wonderful gregarious owner Salem for the evening.

Salem's gentle reminder that we shouldn't drink the water

The following day armed with Salem's advice Skill heads out to find a bike shop to get new front wheel bearings (despite the shop in Tepic saying they were fine, Skill thinks this is the problem with the bikes handling), he lucks in, the bike shop is next door to a motor parts shop and they have the bearings we need in stock, the job is done in less than an hour and yes this does finally fix the problem. After lunch we head out to the ferry terminal to book our ferry to Baja. However after some checking we find that there is no vacancy on the ferry until 29th December, due to the Christmas schedule and of course all the Mexican families travelling over the Christmas break. We check out the cargo ferry and find that they do have a vacancy on Monday 22nd

At the Ferry Termianl – no ferry for us

We return to the Hostel and try to figure out what to do, do we go on the cargo ferry, wait in Mazatlan for the ferry after Christmas or skip Baja and just keep moving north. After a bit of toing and froing we get a message from Bevan and Clare Walsh with an offer to join them in Phoenix for Christmas. Surprisingly once we have this offer our decision is easy, we decide we will head North to the States. The following day we have a busy day trying to figure out a bit of a game plan for our ride North.

Well what a day, we get away from Mazatlan by 9.00 am and have a lovely 200 km ride almost to Culiacan where we refuel and have a comfort stop. While Skill is at the loo I do my usual scan of the bike and despair at what I see. When Skill gets back to the bike I have my face buried in my hands (close to tears) and say "Bloody Hell, what are we going to do now?" pointing to our rear tyre which was self destructing (de-laminating), large chunks of tread were peeling off. On inspection, a new tyre very soon is the only solution. We were not hopeful of finding a new tyre to fit our bike without a long wait, but we have no option but to head the 20km into Culiacan, wing it and try to find a bike shop and new tyre on a Saturday. After nearly riding the length of the city with no bike shops we pulled over in a service station and I ask an older couple in a car if they knew where a bike shop was (all in Spanish). Yes they did and drove us there, if we had driven another 400 metres we would have found it ourselves.

These guys were fantastic, they didn't have a tyre the correct size for us but they got on the phone and rang around bike shops all over this small provincial city (lucky for us) for nearly 45 minutes and finally BINGO we have one. But this particular bike shop is about to shut as it is now 1.00 pm. They will however stay open for us and the guys at the first bike shop guide us there in their own car. So within 30 minutes a new but expensive tyre (Continental Trail Attack) is fitted and we are back on the road, a lot, lot poorer but back on the road.

Our saviour, the guy who rang all over town for us and then guided us to the bike shop

We are always totally overwhelmed at the kindness of perfect strangers that go out of their way to help us, people we can never repay. However they were very happy to hear that we love Mexico. Once back on the road we have another 250km to travel before we get to Mochis where we know there is a decent hotel. It seems a long ride and by the late afternoon the wind has picked up, thankfully we arrive at an empty looking Hotel Doux, a very classy roadside establishment before dark.

The very welcoming Hotel Doux

We check in, shower and have a beer before heading out to dinner at the restaurant. Surprisingly by 7.00pm the hotel car park is overflowing and the place is stuffed to the gills with guests and the reception is turning people away. I guess it is Christmas holidays and families are on the move. We are very grateful for our nice warm room and sleep well really hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Mexican families are on the move, most vehicles we see are loaded up like this

We wake early the following day thinking we will get an early start, hmmm not as early as our Mexican counterparts, the car park is empty by 6.00am, we are the only vehicle left. Our last days ride in Mexico is a long one. After breakfast we check tyre pressures, refuel and ride North. A 700 km day with only stops for fuel and an orange for lunch we arrive in Santa Ana late afternoon and find another nice roadside hotel that offers room service dinner which we take full advantage of. Once again by 7.00 pm the hotel car park is filled to capacity and the NO VACANCY sign is flashing.

This afternoon as we were riding along we realised that in our haste to get North in time for Christmas we have failed to organise our US Insurance. Although we are pretty tired Skill gets on line and begins to search out insurance, this proves to be unsuccessful so he puts a SOS on face book. Once again Clare comes to the rescue and gets it sorted for us overnight. We fall into bed tired but happy, sleep a little elusive as we reflect on our time here.

Tomorrow we leave this beautiful and amazing country that is Mexico. Before we came here, I will admit to being a tad nervous, we were warned about how dangerous it was, "Why are you going there, are you stupid, you will have your heads chopped off" was one helpful comment we received, well I am happy to say we are leaving with our heads firmly attached to our bodies and full of incredible happy memories. This country is so rich in history, culture, geography and the people and officials are probably some of the friendliest we have encountered on our entire journey.

We were in Mexico during an incredibly turbulent time, there were protests, marches and vigils going on for the missing students in most larger towns we passed through, however we never felt unsafe, threatened or in any danger at all. All we felt was their sorrow, here was a country in mourning.

It has to be said "Beautiful Mexico", another must see destination.

Mexico