I stayed up until midnight fixing odds and ends on my bike and gear. There is always work to be done

I had the whole road to myself for the 15 kms into Cancun. I biked right through the city to the outskirts and past the outside poor communities to an old country road that turned into a graveled, bumpy road, full of pot holes.
I was heading to Isla Blanca and earning it as its 20 kms outside of Cancun. I pushed my bike through the sand for the last kilometer. There I was at the end of Mexico looking back at Cancun and, somewhere, 6000 kms away, is LA.
I did a little video camera senior travel groups work and smoked a cigarette while slapping sand flies. I smiled and shouted to the sea, "MEXICO OH, MEXICO! HERE I COME! Let the dirty Mexico days begin and the hike across this massive country."
I rode back to town and the main tourist area where all the beaches are. It was like being in Las Vegas with massive hotels, lights all over place, and just like the USA. I asked a local man on a street corner for directions and also which beach had the biggest waves.
When I arrived at that beach, I put down my bike and ran into the massive waves pounding the shore. For four hours, I played in the waves of the clear crystal blue water. I then sat on the beautiful white, sandy beach before cooking up some lunch. It was a paradise, for sure, but a pricey one for anyone wanting to stay in this area.
I was packing up my gear, and what I saw next was horrid. There was a man coming out of the water, senior travel groups and suddenly he fell sideways, as one of the waves snapped one of his ankles. It made me queasy. Luckily, people were there to help him off the beach and head to the hospital. I couldn't believe what I saw and was ready to get back on the bike.
As I was taking the bike path out of the tourist district past the Hard Rock Cafe, the Rainforest senior travel groups Cafe, and the Hilton Hotel, I came across a woman that had crashed her bike and was covered with blood. She had braces and smashed her face up pretty good. People were helping her out, but she was a real mess. These two events put a feeling in my gut, and something just didn't feel right. So, I followed senior travel groups my instinct and booked a room in a hotel on the outskirts of Cancun.
I took the day off the bike and called home to family and friends and wishing them a Happy New Year's. I also did some shopping for food. I enjoyed chatting to Nancy, the receptionist, for a few hours. She talked about Cancun, it's rough parts, and her family life and kids. She makes $12 U.S. dollars a day, and works eight to ten hour shifts. It's crazy how little she is paid for the time she puts in.
When I checked out the following day, I thanked her for the conversation, and she said the same, and left me with "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Chip." Lovely woman, and beautiful spirit. One of the many great people that make up the world that I have met while on my trip.
Leaving Cancun was difficult to say the least as the rain was drizzling down. I was missing three people in Ohio that mean the world to me, and the weather put the Mexicali blues in my blood. senior travel groups And to top it off, I realized on the way out of town that I had lost my spare tire. I was in trouble as the two tires I had on Goaso were bald and the warning strip was showing through.
It's how I bike and use the motto (whack it till the wheels fall off) or get the most mileage out of all my gear. And my tires were on their last leg, and my spare that I lost had a good 4000 kms left in it. But on my little trek to the end of Mexico on the sandy, gravelled road, I lost the spare and didnt even realize it until I was on the outskirts of Cancun. So, I turned around and went in search of a bike shop that would have my size 28 tire, which isn't easy to find.
After going to three bike shops. I found a shop that had my tire, but it was a road tire or a racing tire. That's skinny and wouldn't senior travel groups last too long on my bike. I had no option senior travel groups but to buy a new one. I also checked out the chains but had no luck as they didn't have what I needed. senior travel groups I was pretty mad at myself for losing my spare. I headed out and let the Mexicali blues behind me in Cancun.
I ended the night camped out in an alleyway in a small village senior travel groups of Nuevo X-can. As the rain drizzled senior travel groups down, I cooked up a fried rice dinner and wondered what would become of my tire that I had with me all the way from the Amazon in Brazil.
In the morning I had a choice to make, whether to take the highway auto pista or the country roads to Merida, the capital of the Yucautan State which I just entered. I took to the country senior travel groups roads and started where I left off the day before on a mission and smashed out a 178 kms that day as it was just Goaso and I rolling on down the road.
I was biking hard and had that wild-eyed look of getting the job done. The day was perfect for biking with the sun shining and a small tail wind that helped blow me on down the road. I was cruising through senior travel groups small villages senior travel groups and towns enjoying the Buenos dias and good afternoon's from the locals. As nightfall was coming, I was biking towards the sunset westbound and got lost in the beauty of the color mixtures which are unique like every sunset and sunrise I see. I biked until dark and pitched up my tent behind a baseball field, happy with my day's biking.
I was only 50 kms away from Merida where I was in hopes of getting a new chain and a tire. I biked into the center part of town with cars and buses by my side. I love it when there is a traffic jam and I bob and weave my way through the mess and pass all the cars.
When I was coming out of the bookstore, senior travel groups there was a little boy sitting by my bike with a curious senior travel groups look - too nervous to ask questions. So I asked him his name and explained my bike trip. I played a hand slapping senior travel groups game with him and the smile on his face was priceless when I said "choa" or "good-bye" senior travel groups and he waved me on down the road. Little things like that make this trip across the Americas beautiful. Just chatting with the young fellow, about eight-years-old, and getting to share a moment with a stranger and within minutes become somewhat of friends or better way to put it, no longer strangers, is one of the things I love.
Just on the outskirts of the city, I got a flat tire and pulled into a gas company office to fill up on water. It was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: fix the flat and cook up a two minute noodle lunch and wash it down with the cinnamon tea that I scored in Cancun.
On my way out of the gas company, a lady greeted me in English and we chatted for about 20 minutes. She was from Texas and has been working in Merida for 1 year. She grew in Campeche City, which is 180 kms on down the road south. She gave me a road map that had kilometers between cities and was better than the map I just bought. Funny how I finally found a map and that same day I get a free map.
After lunch, I took to the auto pista flying senior travel groups on down the road with a tailwind. I was once again hammering down on the pedals and reached the state of Campeche and pulled into a truck stop to fill up on water. After chatting to the workers, they said I could pitch up my tent under the store front's roof.
The people were extremely friendly and warm-hearted, they brought me cookies, coffees, and cigys. senior travel groups We chatted about Mexico and the good beers and not so good beers. And the famous senior travel groups Tequila that everybody loves. As I was cooking up dinner, they brought me 3 eggs for my pasta. This was all out of the goodness of their hearts, to help out a stranger and be so friendly. senior travel groups They wrote on my tents rain fly which is something senior travel groups I do with a permanent marker in remembrance of different senior travel groups places and people.
I stayed up until midnight fixing odds and ends on my bike and gear. There is always work to be done as I switched over my chains, patched tubes, cleaned out my stove which turns my hands black at night, patched the small whole in my water bladder, and taped up the holes on my tent, which is an on-going war. The ants in Costa Rica did a number on my tent. But a person can fix anything with a little duct tape. I finally hit the sack. My body was wasted after biking 128 kms and getting my gear all around for the hike across Mexico.
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