At last... back to the Beach... Cancun

We finally reached the end of the 300kms stretch. Cancun, here we are, back in the tourist trap and busy city. So we drove north a little to find some quiet place to camp. A local told us to check out Isla Blanca, good place to camp and quiet, so we drove little north of Cancun to see what we could find. For a while nothing but hotels lined up along the coast. We then saw a sign for Isla Blanca so we drove down the dirt road and started to look for a place to camp. impossible to find since all the land next to the beach were privately owned by Mexicans or Americans with their weekend homes. Tired of looking I decided to stop at some little market store and ask if it was OK to hang our hammocks under their palapa. Lucky to find out the owner happened to be from New York and spoke english and told us we could camp by the Laguna in the back, so we drove our bikes on the dock. We never thought we would find this kind of pimp camp spot! this was a sweet one. One of the biggest challenge is to find a descent place to camp or hang our hammocks, but for some reason.... we always do end up finding what we need!

The long 300 KMs stretch from Merida to Cancun

The road was fast ... perfect highway, not much traffic, we rode along at good speed. We knew we it would be harder to find a place to camp along the 300 kms stretch of no mans land, so we tough about doing the overnight marathon... drive from Merida to Cancun, we had already been driving most of the day, but we felt good, roads were good, we had a good night sleep the night before. We were now getting further away from the ocean since we had to cross the mainland to the other side of the Yucatan. But all can never be to good... 25kms from Merida, 11pm needing some food and drink, looking forward for a break in Merida. I see Cal pull over in my rear view mirror, so I stopped. Then I hear Cal - " My CLUTCH! " cable broke. Great! What to do... fix it here by the hwy while cars drive by us at 11pm at 100miles / hr... not a good Idea. " OK, I push you, and shift on 2nd gear and go...." so we drove the 25kms to Merida. Pulled in at a gas station to fix the clutch. All I wanted now was a cold beer and fix Cal's Bike. NO BEER, they don't sell beer after 5 on sundays.. great so no beers. Greasy hands and one hour later we were ready to hit the road again. We knew Merida wasn't an option place to sleep, as it's a pretty big city, so we were back on the road...( by now we got the hang of the night driving, felt safe on the road, - only on certain roads- there is less traffic and don't have the heat of the sun beating on us) - getting late now we were getting tired. We started to scope out for a camp spot. I pull over on a dirt road, ... sweet, this is good! so we hung our hammocks. Few minutes later Cal looks under is Hammock... look!!! shit!! About a million ants are all over the place, army ants! not a good idea. It reminded me of a couple friends on mine T&T on their journey to South America, they had set their tent in the wrong spot and woke up with a nice surprise... red ants eating away the bottom of their tent!
"lets get out of here!" back on the road. I pulled in at a school yard, "looks like a good spot, safe, away from the road, and it's a school. We hung our hammocks between the school fence and a tree, happy once again to find a good spot.
Cal pulls out his sleeping bag, "F&%K!!!" ... "What" I ask - his bag had a hole from the muffler, went threw the bag and burnt a big hole in his sleeping bag. Pulls out his sleeping bag, feathers flying everywhere, smelling like a dead duck.
Another rough night for Cal. "We needed to get rid of things to make our load lighter and smaller... so thats a good start, too hot anyways for the sleeping bag!!" trying to make him feel better." Ya"... he says, "good night,.. F*%K"!!!"

The Coconut Road

After a days drive from Puebla. We were excited to get back to the coast, the smell of the ocean, beaches to sleep on and quiet roads was what we wanted after climbing Orizaba. Looking on our map, we decided on a road that followed the coast into the Yucatan. Passing threw small fishing villages, very quiet road that allowed us to drive with our FlipFlops, shorts and no helmet was paradise. The heat was intense, maybe up to 45'c degrees. We stopped at a deposito in hope to find Ice cold drinks, all other places had no electricity or Ice, so all drinks were warm. This one had cold coca cola, so we pounded cold drinks down while chatting with the owner. Looking at our bikes and gear, he seemed a little confused??? " Donde Va??" he asks... telling him we're making our way to the Paraiso were the main highway would take us into the Yucatan, then to Cancun...
My spanish is getting better everyday, but when you get in some of these villages, some locals have there own spanish - that what it seems like for us anyways... hard to understand what they say, and speaking 100 miles /hr makes it even harder.
We ask him if this way is the way, along the coast... "si si" he says, mumbling at 100miles/ hr then he makes hand signs like holding our bikes really hard. So I ask, " the road OK?" si si he says, again speaking at rocket speed.
OK, "Gracias" - off we go, all happy with drinks in our system, lets hit the road
Wasn't more then 500 meters were the road just stopped!!! the beach had washed out the entire road, it was from Hurrican Dean, had left it's mark. A foot deep in sand everywhere, so an alternative road had been built. So we drive along the coconuts that helped cars not to get stuck in deep sand, but with bikes, a total nightmare. Ok... back on the road, wow.. that was crazy, shit hope it's over. We continue on nice pavement road, but no more the 2 - 3 kms... we are back on deep sand and coconuts. Ho my god! shit how long will this be. Now we understood what the man was talking about, "hold on tight to your bars"
Cal looks at me at one point, around 15kms in... " should we turn around?" - "No Way - Not driving back this shit again... lets just hope it will get better soon " So we continued on. Blasted by the full heat of the day, we were getting drained, no water, no where to go but to keep going... Finally after over 20 kms, almost 2 hours later we reached the road, no more sand, just pavement, Smiles on our faces, but beat for the heat and drive, we were happy not to have turned around. Like we always say.. "south". Never North is the way. Unless the road is impassable, we will always go one way!
This was the hardest drive we had done, a good test, I'm sure there will be more down the unknown road.
Lucky once again to find a place to hang our hammocks, we decided we had enough for a day. I rested in my hammock while Cal was fighting all night with the mosquitos so he set up his tent to avoid the moziz, but instead, the ants found him in his tent. That night, Cal wasn't a happy camper...
Just another day on the journey!

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