Riding to Patagonia

[1.21GW]

Nah, it's a Mexican National Park.

But plenty of traditional indigenous people around the area (the Tarahumara people), if you're looking for that experience.  Cuahtemoc is pretty interesting since is has a mix of Tarahumara people, Mennonites, and what in layman's terms would be "typical" mexicans, i.e. those with mixed roots of both indigenous people and Spanish colonists.  One small city, three diverse cultures.  Pretty cool when you see all three hanging out on the same park bench in the central plaza.

As for the arid comment, you are right.  The mountain range is ~2000m (5-6000k feet) but it is part of the Chihuahua desert.  So you get the aridity of the desert, but the coolness of the mountains.  Nice combo.  Kinda like Sante Fe, New Mexico, or at least how I imagine it since I've never been.

Not sure if you have the continuous mountain range to offset the aridness in your parts, but I know little about Oz beyond what the Simpsons taught me.  


[EDIT: just looked up the Grampians.  Nice park!  Need to add it to my to-do list for when I make over there.]

[koko64]

Sounds a rich culture.

[1.21GW]

One last stop in the Barrancas was Batopilas, a must-see for all moto adventurists due to the spaghetti road leading down.  This is a derby from a few weeks ago on the post-a-pic thread, but here it is again for those that missed it:




Not only is it a constant series of switchbacks and blind corners, but there are things around those blind corners: landslides, cattle, herds of goats, construction vehicles, and so on.  Sometimes, the road was so damaged they just built an ad hoc route around the rubble.  So you really have to ride focused.  Downhill is a pregnant dog, especially with a small single front rotor and 250 lbs of man and panniers on the back.  Uphill, leaving town, was a lot more fun.  A typical patch of rubble lurking around a corner:




Batopilas is one of Mexico's Pueblos Magicos, a series of villages dubbed culturally important by the government.  All day long residents orbit the central plaza, speaking to neighbors and tourists with equal ease.  Its buildings, none more than three stories high, are painted every hue of unearthly color---neon pinks, toxic greens, celestial blues, candied yellows---as if to offset the drab umbers and ochres of the surrounding mountains.  Aging trees create a canopy over the village, providing plentiful shade in the heat trapped valley. 









The local hotel owners are well versed in the needs and pampering of motorcyclists, permitting them to lug their muddy machines through the delicate foyers and into the courtyards, the bulk and excess of those modern monstrosities standing in direct offense to a villa's old world charm.  But the owners take all this in good stride.  My bike in the courtyard of my hotel.  Can't get much better for $16/night:

[DarkMonster620]

Very nice roads and hotel . . .

In Panama, your hotel might not have such a garden, but, might have 3 watch dogs, one cat . . . Have NO idea what the cost/night is . . . 

[1.21GW]

Very nice roads and hotel . . .

In Panama, your hotel might not have such a garden, but, might have 3 watch dogs, one cat . . . Have NO idea what the cost/night is . . . 

The prices is many rounds of beer and food, I suspect.

[Monsterlover]

Is the freedom to wander another country at your own pace what you expected it to be?

[1.21GW]

A little early to say, but the short answer is yes.  The hard part is resisting the urge to settle somewhere for a few months.  Money and visa limitations prevent that.  So I spend a little more time packing up and riding on than I'd like.  But these places aren't going anywhere, so if at the end I have time and money left, I can return and hang out.

Current favorite is Guanajuato.  Something magical about the place, but my experience is a little tinged since I am here during major celebrations and thus the city is overflowing with people and street musicians and food vendors and dance performances and costumes.  I'm weeks behind in posting pics, but will get try to catch up in a bit this weekend.

Spacers still doing fine!

[Monsterlover]

May they help you transport many lonely señoritas

[greenmonster]

Thx f sharing!

[DarkMonster620]

The prices is many rounds of beer and food, I suspect.

[1.21GW]

After the Barrancas, I headed to Hidalgo del Parral.  The landscape---still high desert---becomes softer and more lush.  The hills roll rather than jut out of the earth.  And all along the highway are endless rows of yellow wildflowers form a river of gold flowing next to you as you ride.








Parral is a city of a hundred thousand people spread across the serpentine Parral River: there are seven bridges that cross the river as it twists and winds its way through the city.  Like many cities in northern Mexico, Parral developed on a wealth on mineral deposits extracted under Spanish colonialism; in Parral's case, it was silver.

The city's other claim to fame is that is where Pancho Villa spent the later years of his life, after the revolution, and on the streets of Parral was where he was murdered in 1921.  Appropriately, they have a museum and an annual celebration on the anniversary of his death.  They are currently building a 30m high statue of him that sits in an abandoned warehouse while debate over its final location is settled.




Pancho's death mask:




This city itself had a mix of colonial architecture and gothic churches that is common in nothern mexico.  Doors and window frames show a level of craftsman long forgotten in the modern world.  The metalwork with the churches is equally impressive.

[1.21GW]

Leaving Parral, I entered the state of Durango.  It, like Chihuahua, is high desert.  Think of the rockies but warmer and drier.  It's what I imagine the Sante Fe areas to be like, although I haven't been so can't confirm.  Anyway, along the way I stayed in a large town and a small city.  Really, the larger places look no different from many drive-by small cities in the US, where a mixture of old buildings and businesses blend with modern construction and chain stores.








One difference, however, is the abundance of plazas.  Not just their presence, but their usage as well.  At night, whether on a weekend or not, locals fill the plazas with activity: teenage couples stealing away some privacy, small families enjoying ice cream together, elderly folk sitting on park benches and occasionally offering injecting wisdom or criticism. 




Oh, and the region has a lot of honey bee activity.  So I bought the smallest size I could (1/2L) from this guy to give it a try.  I ate apples and honey for breakfast for the next few days and pretty much dipped any available food in my tupperware of honey until it was gone.




For such a large state, Durango is largely empty.  It ranks 30th of Mexico's 31 states in terms of population density.  About half a million people live in the capital, also called Durango, which account for 1/3 of the total population of the state.  Anyway, the capital is another lively city that wears its history on its sleeve.  Colonial and baroque styles mix among taquerias, nieve shops, and fading buildings.










Oh, and it too had a museum dedicated to Pancho Villa, just like Parral.




I had breakfast in Durango with two ADV guys: one on an Americas trip like me, the other a local ex-pat who works in mining.  After breakfast, the local took me to an old mine on the outskirts of the city.  He explained how they built this huge oven to melt the iron and used primitive water-powered turbines to provide enough oxygen for the fire.  Cool and educational!






After two weeks in the high desert, it was time to hit the beach...

[Mhanis]

I am reading with serious envy!

Mark

[DarkMonster620]

Wished I had an enduro bike to be able to ride with you from the border and around . .. will send you map with places to visit . . .

[1.21GW]

Wished I had an enduro bike to be able to ride with you from the border and around . .. will send you map with places to visit . . .

All you need are a set of knobbies and you can turn the most sporty bike into a "synthetic enduro".