January 31st 2024 – Puebla, Mexico

We left Mineral del Monte around 9 am a Saturday morning. Breakfast was nowhere to be found at this early hour. Mexicans are not morning people!

We expected an interesting day on the bikes. Our destination was only 130 kilometers away, but to get there we had to traverse Mexico City – the biggest city in North America. The outskirts soon greeted us and traffic intensified.  Many years riding in Southern Europe paid dividends. The only way to get anywhere was to go with the flow and accept that common traffic rules don’t apply.
The ride through the city went surprisingly well. We arrived at our destination, much earlier than expected.

We were to meet up with Garry @garrydymond. He and his wife Ivonne have traveled extensively on two wheels. When they are not traveling they welcome motorcycle travelers to come and stay with them. One of the reasons is to repay the hospitality they have encountered abroad. They have had numerous guests during the years – Garry goes as far as calling their house “Mexico City’s Free Motorcycle Resort”.

Katrine and I had just finished a well deserved brunch when Garry pulled up. He arrived on a T12 – the same model that I rode for 7 years/180.000 km prior to this journey. After a quick introduction we got on the bikes and followed him through a maze of small, twisty, steep and congested streets to his house in Lomas de La Era. He and Ivonne built the house almost 40 years ago. Back then it had been a rural area outside the city. Now it was a bustling neighborhood (barrio) on the southwestern slopes 500 meters above the city center which is situated in a valley 2.200 meter above sea level. 

Back at the house we were greeted by Ivonne. She was preparing lunch for us – the main meal of the day.
They installed us in one of their guest rooms and welcomed us to stay for as long as we liked.
It was a cozy house full of the art Ivonne had skillfully created over the years. From their roof we could see the peaks of the dormant volcano Iztaccihuatl 70 kilometers away. 5.230 meters makes it the 3rd highest mountain in the country.

In the morning we headed downtown with a list of things our hosts had recommended us to see. A bus picked us up right in front of the house. An hour later we got off at a subway station. Another 15 minutes and we resurfaced in the heart of the city. Public transport works like a charm in Mexico City and it’s dirt cheap. 5 pesos will get you anywhere within the subway grid.

There were a few showers in the morning but the weather improved as the day went on. We enjoyed playing tourists for a day. It’s an amazing and very interesting city.

Robert @ScotsFire, who was on his way north after a visit to central America, and Fin @FinTec (the persistent guy on a monstrosity of a bike) had invited us to join them for a BBQ in the evening. They had rented 2 apartments downtown in a building with a rooftop patio. Robert let us in when we arrived and supplied us with cold drinks. Fin was waiting for us at the rooftop patio together with Silvia. They had started dating a few weeks earlier in Tlaquepaque. We got introduced to her back then on our last night in town. Now she had taken a week off from work to join Fin while he was staying in Mexico City. It was good to see her again.

Robert had prepared a chicken for the grill. Silvia had made mexican baked potatoes. Fin had created the salat – a plate with apples and chips. Katrine and I had raided a pasteleria for the desert.
We had a very enjoyable evening in good company with interesting conversations. 

It got late before we took our leave. The city was even more lively after dark. The walk back to the subway station took us through a park where every square was occupied by people dancing salsa.

The next couple of days we check off things on our to-do-list.

Garry and Ivonne took me to a doctor to have a small chalazion on my upper eyelid evaluated. It had been there for more than a month and didn’t seem to go away on its own. It turned out to be a waste of time and money. He couldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know and offered no assistance beyond that. As part of the examination he measured my vitals. I had to reassure him that everything was ok, when he measured a blood pressure of 90/60 and a pulse below 50. That is normal for me. An oxygenation of 94% explained why it’s so hard to run at altitude.
The doctor was located in Sante Fe. After the consultation we walked around the posh neighborhood and had sushi for lunch.
Later the same day both Katrine and I had a routine checks/cleaning of our teeth by the local dentist in Lomas de La Era.

One evening all 4 of us went to Coyoacan. It used to be an idyllic small town where people would go for picnics on the weekends. Now it has been swallowed by the city and become yet another barrio. It’s still a charming place where people go to eat, shop and enjoy life.

Katrines bike had been burning a bit of oil lately. Even though it was running great we decided to investigate. We needed to have a compression test done. Marco from Amigomoto set us up with Alery, the owner of RCM Bikes Taller near downtown. After we had dropped the bike off at the shop we rode back home 2-up on mine. The bikes handled the weight fine, but Katrine and I are both tall. It was a cramped ride.

Later in the day we picked up a rental car in the cosmopolitan neighbourhood, Colonia Cuauhtémoc. Now that we were a bike short we would use the opportunity to go on an adventure where a car was more suited.

We left town an hour before sun-up the following morning to avoid rush hour and reach our destination early.
After more than 7 months on the bikes it was nice to travel in a car for a change. We enjoyed the quiet, air conditioned interior as we cruised through the mountains towards “El Rosario” Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary.

The place was still rubbing the sleep from its eyes when we arrived. There was only one other car in the parking lot. With a water bottle and an extra sweater we started the hike up towards the area where the butterflies hang out. It was a tough hike through the forest with steep inclines that took us above 3.000 meters. We reached the end of the trail in about an hour. Katrine had been on the limit the whole time.
The reward was trees covered in butterflies all around us. The air was thick with the little bastards and the sound of their wings. It was rather impressive. Because of the early hour we only had company of a few other people. It added to the experience. The hike down was easy. The tranquility was over as we passed numerous huffing and puffing groups on their way up.

We grabbed a bite for lunch in one of the many food stalls between the trail and the parking lot. Back in the car we asked the GPS to get us to Teotihuacán without using toll roads. We had spent a small fortune on toll roads to get to “El Rosario” early in the day. Now we had time to take the secondary roads and save the money. The GPS guided us on a northern route through the mountains on small roads with stunning views. At one point a teenage girl blocked the road with a wire and asked for money to let us pass. I made it clear that behavior like that wouldn’t earn her any money from us. She begrudgingly lowered the wire and let us pass.

3 hours from our destination the sun disappeared below the horizon. We bit the bullet and returned to the toll roads. It cut the driving time down to 1 hour. Katrine booked a place for us en route. She found a place in San Sebastian Xolalpa 2 kilometers from the pyramids. It was called “Lepa Mukawa (Descansa Bonito)” and turned out to be a real gem. The hosts were a charming young couple with a one year old daughter. They offered secure parking in a gated courtyard right in front of the door to our room. The room itself was spacious, tastefully decorated and with comfortable furniture. Our hosts even offered to do our laundry free of charge – unfortunately we didn’t have any. Make notes if you are traveling through and are looking for a place to stay within walking distance of the great pyramids. This place is perfect for motorcycle travelers!

We got up early – again. As we got into the car, we could see hot air balloons rise in the sky over Teotihuacán. We arrived at the gates to the ancient city just as they opened. It was a pleasure to look down the Avenue of the Dead towards the Pyramid of the Moon with hardly any people to disturb the picture.
The next 5 hours we explored the area. The place is huge!

We left Teotihuacán early in the afternoon and headed for RCM to pick up Katrine’s bike.

The compression test showed 160 psi so piston rings, bore and valve stem seals should be ok.
Engine oil and spark plug indicated that the bike had overheated at some point since the last oil change 2.000 km earlier. The shop had replaced both.
Thermostat and fan had been tested with no negative results. The bike hadn’t used any coolant. In short: Everything seemed to be fine..?
A quick inspection of the bike showed that they had seriously over-tightened the drive chain. The adjustment had been spot on when we dropped the bike off. One of the mechanics thought it was too loose and had tightened it to ¼ of the recommended slack. I helped them readjust it. We also had to drain more than ½ liter of the engine oil to get it down to the “upper level” mark. There were explanations for the mistakes, but still I was less than impressed.
The people at RCM were super friendly and we were grateful that they took the time to look at the bike for us. I hope the drive chain and engine oil issues were blunders and not an indicator of their skill level.

Eventually the bike was back in running order. Katrine geared up and rode across town to our basecamp in Lomas de La Era. She later told me that she cracked a smile when she took off and instantly recognised why we are traveling on 2 rather than 4 wheels. Cars are comfortable and convenient. Bikes are fun.

While Katrine enjoyed life on two wheels I dropped off the car at the rental company and sourced an Über to take me home. A petite middle aged woman picked me up in a BYD. The electric car was perfect for the stop-and-go traffic and the steep streets in the outer barrios. My talkative chauffeur made it an enjoyable drive through town.

Our last day in Mexico City was primarily spent packing and preparing. We had a few errands that took us to the neighboring barrio, Lomas de San Bernabé. It seemed to be a rougher neighborhood than Lomas de La Era. There was plenty to look at as we walked around.

In the end we stayed with Garry and Ivonne for 9 days. We could easily have spent much more time in the city but we were getting restless. It was time to move on.

After a robust breakfast we said our goodbyes and dived into Mexico City’s traffic for the last time. After about an hour houses were replaced with fields and lakes.
We were following a recommended route that would take us through a mountain pass between the volcanos Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl – respectively the 2nd and 3rd highest mountains in the country. Besides that Popocatépetl is one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico and the most famous, having had more than 15 major eruptions since the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.

Before we embarked on the mountain pass in earnest we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant with a view. The ride up the pass was nothing short of spectacular. Great roads with no traffic and amazing views.
The tarmac stopped as we crested the pass at 3.700 meters. The next 17 kilometers put Katrine’s ride skills to the test. The road wasn’t too steep and well maintained in most places. What challenged Katrine was the top layer of fine almost dust like sand (probably from the volcano). In some places it was rather deep and made the bike move laterally. Katrine is not comfortable with that. In the end she managed the descent without dropping the bike and she counted that a victory.

Riding at low speed on the dirt road Katrine noticed the fan on her bike kicking in from time to time (like it should). She wasn’t 100% sure, but she thought it was the first time in weeks that the fan on her bike had been activated. I have a sneaky suspicion that we have found the culprit to the overheating and oil consumption:  A bad connection to the fan, maybe a plug not properly connected, that has been fixed after RCM fiddled with the bike. We’ll continue to keep an eye on things.

Down from the pass we soon reached Cholula. The town is built around Tlachihualtepetl, the world’s biggest pyramide. The pyramide is only partially excavated and looks more like a giant hill with a 16th-century Spanish church on top. We circumvented the Pyramid as closely as possible on the bikes. It was an impressive sight.

From Cholula it was only a short ride to Puebla where we had booked a room in an old colonial building downtown. As soon as we entered the city we liked it. It appeared cleaner and better maintained than any other we had seen in Mexico so far.

At the gate to our accommodation, we were greeted by a security guard. He unlocked the gate and let us in when presented with our booking confirmation. We parked the bikes inside the gate in the courtyard below our room.

In the evening we went for a walk in search of supplies and dinner. It confirmed our initial positive impression of the city. It had a nice vibe and everything we needed for a comfortable stay. A notable absence of pitiable street dogs was an added bonus.
We liked the place so much that we decided to stay for a few days.