November 21, 2006

Escape from Acapulco

Doug and I finally departed Acapulco. After three days in the city, we need to escape and get some miles in. Like I said in an earlier update, we made friends with this Canadian named Dan, who put us up in his house and pretty much played tour guide the entire time we were there. He is our age and was great fun to be around. Our first night there he took us out on the town along the strip where all the clubs are. By 3:30 am we were heading home. Doug and I were beyond partied out, and Dan wanted to keep going... just a bigger party animal than we have the time or inclination for on this trip.

In the end Dan turned out to be a great guy and a good friend, he just gets a little wild when he starts having a few drinks and hits the town. On our last night in Acapulco, I watched Dan down a half of bottle of tequila before we even went out. We went home early so we could get out of Acapulco first thing in the morning. Which we did. Seems like we almost got stuck there. It was such a great place and Dan was fun, but it was time to get some miles in.

The next day we put in 253 miles on mostly good roads and some light rain. We made Puerto Escondido by mid afternoon. This is so far our favorite spot. There is a big surf culture here and supposedly the surf capital of Mexico. We happen to arrive on a Saturday and they were having an International Surf Tournament. So the beach was packed with spectators and about every other thing you could imagine. This is a beautiful spot with wide open beaches for miles in each direction. The surf is endless. Because of the surf competition there were endless paties that night, complete with hip hop bands, fashion/lingerie show, fireworks, mariachi band, and a pretty good Mexican rock band. We seemed to land here at a good time.

We decided to stay here another day as it is a really good spot and cheap. Food is about $5 a day and a private bungalow is about $18 a night. And since the weekend is over, the place has really cleared out and there are only the hardcore surfers still around. It is a much more peaceful place than when we arrived. I rented a boogie board today and by 10 am had exhausted myself playing in the surf. I`ll head out for another thrashing this afternoon.

A word on the bikes. We have had very few problems at all with them. Both are running really well. Yesterday we woke up and I had a flat rear tire. Took us about a half hour to find the 4 inch nail in it, extract it, and plug the hole. So far it is holding, but we`ll see what it does once we get some miles in. The only other incident I`ve had was with the custom windshield my brother Todd made for me. We were driving in the dark one night, on our way to the border, and in the fog. The velcro just gave way without warning, it flew off, and hit me in the helmet and scared the daylights out of me. I went back and looked for it, but the truck traffic was pretty daunting in the dark, so I left it. On the way back from the border we went back to the spot where it flew off and found it along side the road. Since then I bolted it on and have had no problems. It has proven to be an indespensable addition to the bike. Doug is an ace mechanic with these things so I feel pretty good about being able to deal with whatever comes up. Yesterday he synched up the throttle bodies and both machines are running like champs. We`re just shy of 3000 miles on this trip and a whole lot more to go.

Tomorrow morning we`ll get up early and put in a long day to get near the border of Guatamala. Should be about a 7 or 8 hour ride, depending on the roads and traffic. Our plan is to spend the night near the border and early on Thursday cross over. Should be about a day ride to get to the town where Doug`s girlfriend Denise is taking Spanish lessons. We`ll spend a few days with her before pushing south through Central America.

Signing off. Time for another thrashing in the waves.

Troy