18376 km Puebla

So, it’s been three weeks already since I posted on the blog. Time to drop a few more lines. 

Last time I wrote I was still in the very touristy but beautifull Yucatan. I went to Chichen Itza the day after I posted that story. I made sure I got to the entrance very early and entered the park at 8.00 am, as soon as the park opened. This ensured I had the place more or less to myself for the first hour or so. I managed to make some nice pictures of the pyramid without masses of people on it. Something I surely would not have been able to do an hour or two later. This is when all the tourbusses from places like Cancun and Playa del Carmen arrive. Lot’s of people are stalling out their wares to lighten the tourists purses. One benefit of being a cyclist is, that you are never tempted to buy anything. No matter how nice something looks, all I can think about is how much extra weight it represents for the remainder of the trip. I spend about half a day in Chichen Itza and then headed back to Valladolid. The next day I continued my journey to Merida. A town that many told me was a nice place to visit in Yucatan. I made it there in a day, thanks to the nice flat roads here in Yucatan and a bit of a tailwind. To be honest the town of Merida did not feel all that special to me. Sure there is a nice cathedral and some nice squares, but somehow it came accros as fairly ordinary to me. 

After Merida it was time to head south and start making my way to Palenque. On the way I visited the town of Campeche, which was a lot nicer in my opinion than Merida. But it’s located in Campeche province and therefore probably a bit to far of the standard touristtrail for most people. To bad, because this town was beautifull. Lot’s of houses painted in a wide variety of colors, cobblestone streets and lots of nice little restaurants as well. I enjoyed my time here a lot. 

The days that followed have been nice as well, I folowed the shoreline, which made for a beautifull ride. Lot’s of pelicans and other wildlife to see. The road was nice and quiet as well because allmost all traffic is on the paralel highway instead. When I arrived in Sabancuy I headed inland and made my way to Palenque in a few days. The ruins in Palenque are beautfull and nicer than the ones at display in Yucatan. Palenque and Tikal are definately my two favourite Mayasites. After the visit to Palenque, the plan was to head into the mountains and start cycling to San Cristobal. This road is known however to be a tricky one. I therefore asked around quite a bit in Palenque to try and get a feel if I could do this section on the bike. Stories about roadblocks, dangerous driving and protest all did not worry me too much. But there was also an alarming amount of people that warned for armed robberies, not only at night but also with daylight. To make a long story short, in the end I decided to not take any risks and change my route. I could have bussed a bit as well, but you all know how I feel about busses.....

I did stay in Palenque to make a daytrip to Aqua Azul. Because It was a daytrip I could leave the luggage in the hostel and experience the joy of riding a bike without many kg’s on it. It was helpfull because it’s quite a ride to the waterfalls. I did encounter two roadblocks on the way there, but it was all not to serious and I could continue my ride without paying any fees. It’s nice that as a cyclist you always have a bit of an edge in these situations. People tend to respect you just a tad bit more.

After Palenque I headed back north a bit and then started following the road in my effort to reach Mexico City. I passed Villahermosa, Cordoba and am now in Puebla. Capital of the Puebla province and a town with 3,25 mio people in it. Quite a bit more than I expected. It’s a nice town here so I decided to stay here for two days. Update the blog and strawl around a bit. When I leave here, I will have one more climb past a volcano and than it’s time to cycle into busy Mexico City. Just about 120 km more to go. I plan to stay in Mexico city for a bit longer and after that I’ll be making my way further to Guadalajara and Mazatlan.

Take care everybody and until the next update