A very fun day yesterday, riding around the Copper Canyon, hiking, hanging out with my new friends at the hostel, and drinking tequila. I came back this afternoon to find a mid-90's BMW airhead parked outside the hostel with a Nevada plate. I soon found the owner, James, a Canadian living in Reno who is doing a similar trip as me, the other direction (down the west coast and up the middle). After hanging out last night and talking more this morning, we decided to ride together back up the rest of the way through Mexico.
Being that it was a late, and rather interesting, night, we decided on a late start and a short ride for the day, up a cool-looking-on-the-map road to Madera. The road, since my map was published, has been mostly replaced by a large divided highway, making for some rather uninteresting riding. This is alright, because Madera seemed like it could be a neat town.
Madera was not a neat town. There was no cute downtown area - only one strip on the main road with a couple restaurants and about 2 hotels. James and I were getting along well, so decided to get a hotel and ride tomorrow towards the border at Douglas, Arizona. Both of us having been on long trips through Latin America, we were feeling a little sad at this being our last night below the border.
Indeed, it will be sad to leave Latin America. I've learned and shared so much with this part of the world that I feel that I'm leaving a small part of my soul here. These countries have lots of amazing things to share with the rest of the word, but are plagued by fear, most of it coming from their English-speaking neighbors, the Amercans. Fear is much easier to share than knowledge - stories of robberies, murders, crooked cops, and illness are easier and more interesting to share than those of the unique hospitality, culture, and breaking down language barriers. The people of Central America are constantly fighting this xenophobia, and every American and European traveling through here, myself included, is ready to fight with them.
Tomorrow will consist of some very long roads and border zone fun. For now, I need to catch up on some sleep.
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