"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

March 25-30:   Traveling back in time! - Back to Mexico City

Why am I back in Mexico City? Well, it is a long story but I will give you the short version.

Remember Cesar and his family from back in December? For those of you who just came on board, Cesar Serrano stayed with my family for three weeks as part of a student exchange program between Queretaro, Mexico and Yamhill County, Oregon. Well, that was some 15 years ago when we were just lads. As I was riding my bike through western Mexico last fall I thought it would be fun to see if I could find the Serranos in Queretaro. I emailed my mom for their old address and when I got to Queretaro I found that same address. And amazingly, they still lived there. It turned out that Cesar was going to get married on April first and I thought that this would be a rare chance to be a part of this special day for him and his fiancee, Lilian.

Being all the way over in San Cristobal, Chiapas there was no way I could get back to Queretaro by bike in time so I hopped on a bus. By the way, PeaceForce One and the rest of the gang (Whisper D. Lite, Titan Ium Cookski, and company) are all safe and sound. I found the missing Jon at Hotel Gladys after he emailed me with his whereabouts. We had a good reunion! He has to wait in San Cristobal for a package from the U.S. anyway so he agreed to watch over my precious cargo. I was feeling like quite a free man with only my compression bag (compressing sleeping bag, a few clothes, and toiletries) flung over my shoulder. I got a bus ticket to Mexico City and began the 18 hour ride at 3:30 on Sunday.

The bus was stopped about six times at military checkpoints and officers would come on with flashlights, rousing us from our slumber every hour or so, to demand I.D. randomly from whoever they wanted. I asked the woman I was sitting by what this was all about. She said that many people come from Central America and hop on a bus to get closer to the U.S. border. I wished they could just do one check and then tag the bus with a ¨CLEAR¨ sticker.

This way the same people wouldn´t have to show their I.D.s over and over. The young guy next to me must have looked suspicious because almost every time he was asked for his papers.

I got into Mexico City the next morning and have taken a few days to visit some folks around here and visit the Museum of Anthropology to get some photos of some Mayan artifacts.

Teresa had just finished reading my journals online when I appeared at her door. She was a bit shocked but after color returned to her face and she realized nothing was wrong she welcomed me into her home. Teresa, you are a superstar in my book, thanks!

Today, Thursday, I take a bus to Queretaro, and will spend the next few days helping out with preparations and then joining in the festivities of Cesar and Lilian´s wedding on April 1st. Then I head back to Mexico City and on to San Cristobal to hit the trail again toward Palenque with Jon.

It was quite a weird thing to cross back over the basic route which I had done in the last month in just 18 hours. It was like traveling though time. I think I prefer the bike, you feel less like nauseous when you are done.

Peace(Bike and Bus),

TAD

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