The Guest: A Backroads Journey by Bicycle is available in paperback and on your Kindle!
Category: The Big Bike Trip
Epilogue
I lost a dear friend today. He was stolen from a train station in Milbrae, while I was at work after I had locked him to a bike rack. I'm not angry, I'm just very, very sad. So I want to commemorate him in the best way I know how: As far as I know,… Continue reading Epilogue
Antigua – San Salvador: End of the Line
Kilometres: 12,754 Time it took to cycle from San Francisco to San Salvador: Eight months Time it took to fly from San Salvador back to San Francisco: Three hours and forty-five minutes Our team consisted of Robert B, Christoph the German and myself. We had two days' worth of supplies, a reasonable morsel of intelligence and… Continue reading Antigua – San Salvador: End of the Line
Cancun – Antigua: Gringos in Guatemala and Breezy Belize
Kilometres: 12,300 or so New countries: 2 Size of Guatemala if you were to stretch it out and flatten all the hills: Probably enough to cover the Pacific Ocean "After all this," said Rob when I left him in Tuxtla Gutierrez for a two-month break from Baxter, "you're either going to be really excited to… Continue reading Cancun – Antigua: Gringos in Guatemala and Breezy Belize
In Cuba
The first thing I noticed about Cuba was the smell. Cologne on the taxi drivers as we stepped out of the airport, the thick, tropical scent of rotting leaves on the footpath and fruit on the trees as we wandered out looking for a bus stop. Earthy tobacco in the street as we waited for… Continue reading In Cuba
Puerto Escondido – Tuxtla Gutierrez: Oaxaca Beach Cruising
Kilometres: 11,457 Oaxacan beaches visited: all of them Litres sweated: 11,457 We awoke with throbbing heads and unhappy guts in a Puerto Escondido hostel, and after a brief farewell Simon was gone. He took with him his trout (Simon-speak for "chat"), his charming smile and his invariably sunny disposition, and immediately thoughts turned to getting… Continue reading Puerto Escondido – Tuxtla Gutierrez: Oaxaca Beach Cruising
Mexico City – Puerto Escondido: Downhill all the way to the coast
Kilometres: Ten thousand-ish Times we cooked with pool water: 2 Times Simon reminded us we cooked with pool water on his second night on the road: 242 Well, once more I've left it far too long to write. When I left you all I was still in big bad Mexico City. Cities, I've realised, do… Continue reading Mexico City – Puerto Escondido: Downhill all the way to the coast
Agustín, The Migrant Who Returned
If it isn't already, the village of Santa Ana will soon be absorbed into Mexico City. It overlooks the metropolis from a hillside above what by night becomes a terrestrial galaxy pooled on the floor of the Valle de Mexico, lapping at the foothills around the patches of darkness that betray the high places. Agustín Melo lives… Continue reading Agustín, The Migrant Who Returned
Luis the Cycling Patriarch of San Luis de la Paz
The road east into San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato does not give a good first impression. Dust wreathes Highway 57 to the west as it rumbles towards Mexico City and tattered plastic adorns the cacti. A ditch by the road into town snags tumbleweeds as they bounce their way across the desert floor and it's… Continue reading Luis the Cycling Patriarch of San Luis de la Paz
Guadalajara – Mexico City: To the Huasteca and back again
Kilometres: 9833 Mexican states: 13/32 Pre-jungle insect bites: 0 Post-jungle insect bites: approx. 345,423 "I'm dirty and salty and damn it feels good to be a cyclist again," I wrote with distressingly bad grammar on the first night after we left Guadalajara. From the very start of this trip, hosts and acquaintances in big cities… Continue reading Guadalajara – Mexico City: To the Huasteca and back again