"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Mar 10:  Down by the river... Totolapan, Oaxaca

This morning we were up and out of town after a couple of juices that I thought tasted like Tang but the waitress assured us they came straight from the orange. We waved goodbye, stopped for a photo of the sign in town that let everyone know they were in the world capital of mezcal, and then headed out. We haven't quite got our timing right because we keep leaving in the heat of the day, about 11 am, and bike til 5 pm. We blazed, literally up and up through the hills.

After about a 10 km climb we were greatly rewarded with a 22 km descent. There are very few things as cool as rushing downhill on a bike, with the wind wherring in your ears and scenery zooming by. Both Jon and I filled the canyons with our "barbaric yaulps" of delight as we carreened.

At the end of our carreening we came to a town, more specifically a restaurant, at which we dined on fried vegis and rice.

Midmeal Jon excused himself to the sanitario and continued to feel ill for a few hours. He bought some Pepto at a local farmacia and we headed out at about 4 pm.

About 2 kms out of town we saw a very refreshing looking river. With our late start and Jon's lack of wellness we decided to call the river our home for the night.

More easily said than done. We helped each other fjord our bikes across a shallow part to a rocky island in the middle. There we valiently began building a lookout fortress. No, we valiently took our siestas. After our siestas we did some burro watching.

At dusk we set up the tent and Jon cut onions and garlic and I lit the tent on fire, almost. The whisper light did some short order duty as a flame thrower but I was able to push the tent away and shut it down. After that dinner went smoothly, spaghetti a la onion, boullion, garlic, and (being up for something new) peanuts. Together we had created a delicacy that was beyond words. Either that or nature's MSG, hunger, had taken hold.

Goodnight,