"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road


March 16:   An escort, a haircut, and a welcome! Zanatepec, Oaxaca


Juan, his teammate Jose, and I rode out of town, early for a change. What a delight not to be flame-broiled in the first 15 minutes. They rode with me for the first 20 kms. We discussed my route and I bought them orange juice and we said farewell. Thank-you Juan! I hope to see you in the Tour de France or at least a Tour de Oregon.

Juan said that the area was dangerous and that I should quit riding by 4 pm.

I rode warily but was greeted often with waves and cheers. I stopped at Zanatepec, 84 km down the road from Juchitan.

The clmate feels tropical with a lot of wind blowing from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico and back. They even have wind turbines.

I rode to the center and asked about a barber. I found Roberto and for a good rate he gave me a beard trim and haircut. I thought I might do the Forest Gump thing (I juust kept biiking.) with my hair but not in this heat.

With my new cut I went back to the center of town and met Daniel, a bike taxi guy. He took me to the church in the center but the Father wasn't there. I waited for a while and met some teenagers working on a environmental social service project. 'Working' is used figuratively because all they did was talk to me. Hello Monica and Graciela. !Gracias para traduciado mi carta y su amistad!

Daniel came back later and told me he found out that the Father had gone to a smaller village and wouldn't be back tonight. He had a plan B though and he took me to a church run technical school for teenagers called Centro de Capacitacion Integral Campesino. They said I could sleep in the dining room. I took a shower and washed my clothes and was very happy. One of the boys picked a ripe mango for me from their mango grove. We shared pictures of our homes and families and even sang for each other.

Peace(Bike),


TAD