Mil y Uno Amigos !

Mexico… what a new world.

Ten kilometers apart, only separated by the border, live two totally different cultures. Same kindness from people, same curiosity, same enthusiasm, but they say Ola instead of Hi, they drive old cars with loud klaxons instead of shiny pick-ups, mexican music everywhere, Oxxo instead of Walmart !!

Well, Mexico, here we are ! With a (almost) perfect Spanish. Si si, sabemos otras palabras que solamente «cerveza». For the first night, no worry (because, you know, mexico is dangerous, mexican people are mad, be careful), Luis hosted us in Cananea after having tried our first taco ! But let me structure it a little bit.

Now, I have been on the road with Sublime for 4 months. 4 months and 8 000 kms. 8 000 kms and 2.5 countries. 2.5 countries and 2 bikemates. Indeed, Sofie has replaced Lio at La Paz, in Mexico. Aaaaaah Mexico…

Well, about the people… after Luis at Cananea, Humberto had us visit his wonderful hacienda Babacobasi, Rocio told us a lot about mexican literature at Hermosillo, Ernesto made us meet his lovely family, beside his excellent spanish lessons, at Guayamas, Carlos shared his beautiful playa of Santispac with us, Santa Tuly gave us the opportunity to meet her, true human legend in the cyclists world, known for her kindness, her availability, her funny sense of humour... at La Paz. About the cyclist world, this break allowed us to meet Remo, Marc and Babe, Aglae and Yohan, Sabine and Etienne, so many nice people ! (As all the cyclists around the world ! Almost.) But mexicans will continue to amaze us… like Yuri with who we shared a perfect meal, Christian who took us to paddle and snorkel, Jose who helped us pitch the tent on a day when we really needed help. Nereida and her family who invited us to eat, the Prado family and its 15 members, Tom (hum… okay, he is not mexican) who let us in his awesome house, Abraham and his stories about his expeditions, (way crazier than mine) his trip rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, Martin and Medina and their « chivas » in the village of El Tuito, Norma and Cynthia and their super good tequila (of course, mexiiiico), I dont remember what happened next…

And of course, all those meetings took place in amazing landscapes… From the small villages in the middle of the tropical forest, where you can heard bird singing mexican tunes, to the wonderful beaches where you can see the power of the Pacific Ocean, watch sea turtles. And along those beaches, cities full of activity, people, pigs and good atmosphere ! Amongst the places we slept in, with or without the tent, are churches, fire department (where the « bomberos » came in the middle of the night and jumped over us to take their equipment… it was quite funny !!), presidencia de la policia municipal, a chilli peper field, a garden full of chickens, a beach under the milky way, … each night reserves its surprises !

About Sublime now… he survives, my beautiful tandem ! We are still around 80kms a day. We still have parts that break, but we stop, we fix,and we go back to riding ! It’s the rule.

As I said, I had a change of bikemate. Sofie has replaced Lio. People asks me « Es tu mama ? » instead of « Are you a couple ? ». We pedal longer, slower, the rythm is different, of course, but both paces have their advantages. The food we eat is different too ! No more beans with Sofie, she doesn’t like « los frijoles ». Our life habits have changed too, finding a place to take a shower became a massive criteria when it was just considered luxury with Lio (okay, 12 days without shower was a little bit too long) ;)

Anyway, I like the change it brings and I hope each new bikemate will surprise me, teach me with new way of life, thoughts, ideas, …

Just some words to conclude this article… tacos, quesadillas, tacos, chilaquiles, tacos, fajitas, tacos, tortilla, tacos, tortas, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos y cervezas.

Hasta luego !!

Thanks again to my sponsors :

TraKKs

Syemens cyclo Genval

Le journal du raid - 123Ecole

Berghen

Lasne Optic