Today became a manifestation of the major lesson of a motorcycle trip. I started off very much destination driven (see end of previous entry), and ran into some problems that forced me to think differently. If I hadn't taken the signals, today could have ended up much worse.
I spent the entire morning riding around completely l..lo..los - confused. After going through numberous towns not on the map for about 3 hours, I finally gave up trying to find a road to Zactlan that seemed to exist on my map, but not in reality.
Frustrated, I headed North to Poza Rica, and ended up in the back of a long line of stopped vehicles. Being that I'm on a motorcycle (and I'm special like that), I scooted up to the front to find that there had been an accident. Not surprising, being that this tiny 2 lane twisty mountain road was full of slow trucks and had no pull-over spots. After 15 minutes, it was clear and I tailgated my way to Poza Rica.
At this point it had been 3 days since I'd talked to anyone who spoke english, and I started getting very slightly homesick.
I decided, since I'm obviously not going to make it very far south tonight, that I'd follow signs to las ruinas El Tajin. It looked fancy, and a bit like a tourist trap, so I figured it could be good for me. It was also raining, and I needed a break.
On pulling into the complex, I saw a familiar sight that made me happy - 3 Honda Goldwings and 2 Harley ElectraGlides! The plates said they were from Missouri, Illinois, and South Dakota. I found the guys eating in the open air restaurant within the stands of people selling El Tajin hats and other crap. Serendipitously, there was one empty seat at the table, so they asked me to join them. Although a slightly different breed of traveler (they didn't even try to speak any spanish, and stayed on the main highways), it was very nice talking with them, and one even picked up my tab.
After eating a slightly mediocre meal there (by Mexico standards - still better than any US "mexican" restaurant), I pain the 50 peso admission to see the pyramids. It was amazing, but I could only stay long enough to walk around and take some pictures - it was already about 4:00.
Not seeing any hotels that looked good and/or within my budget, I headed down the coastal route towards Veracruz.. Although it doesn't say so on the map, this is a toll road, 18 pesos.
Eventually I found a sign that said "HOTEL", and in smallet letters underneath "camping". It had finally cleared up and was beautiful out, so I made a U turn and found the hotel/campground, a nice place along a river at the end of a long rural road, 4km off the highway. It's very quiet here and the owner is very nice (my spanish is geting un pocito better). If I feel lazy enough, I might lounge tomorrow and stay another night here. Now that I'm out of the mountains, the roads will be a little quicker.
On a last note, I'm pretty sure I'm actually farther north than I started out in Pachuca this morning. I really don't care though.
These trucks, when not stopped like this, actually travel at about 20 mph.
This is awesome.
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