January 20th 2024 – Mineral del Monte, Mexico

A couple of rest days in Bernal had done Katrine good. It was time to move on.

We had only just left the hotel when we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by 15-20 riders on big bikes passing through town. We stayed with them as they left town and picked up speed. After a while Katrine’s and my route deviated from the groups. 2 riders from the group followed and waved us down. They introduced themselves as Motoruteando México on a weekend getaway. When they heard we were from Denmark, they invited us to join them for the weekend. Unfortunately we had made other plans, otherwise we would have accepted. As a rule we don’t turn down invites unless we have a good reason.

Soon after we hit hwy 120. We had heard it described as one of the best motorcycle roads in Mexico. It was a rollercoaster ride.
Although we gained altitude the surroundings became increasingly lush the further east we moved.

When we reached Ahuacatlán de Guadalupe we parked at the central square, sourced lunch from a taquería and settled down on a bench to eat while observing the bustle of a small town.

The temperatures dropped as we descended through the clouds towards Xilitla and the greenery around us transformed to rainforest before we reached the small guesthouse at the edge of town where we had booked a room. The owner had prepared for our arrival by clearing a space in her private garage for our bikes.

When we book in advance I always let the host know that we’ll arrive on motorcycles and secure parking on the premises is paramount to us. So far they have always managed to accommodate that.

With the bikes tugged away we put on our good shoes to have a look around.

Katrine and I have a  definite amount of money to spend on this journey. The less we spend the longer we can travel, so we try to be frugal. A benefit of that is, that we usually stay and eat among the natives rather than where the average tourist hangs out. We have come to appreciate this modus operandi. It leads to numerous positive interactions with the locals who often wonder what we are doing in “their” part of town.

Our next door neighbor in Xilitla was a motorcycle parts and repair shop. It attracted a small crowd of mostly young men showing off their bikes. The whole street was a mix of residential homes and small businesses.

A maze of steep streets and stairs lead us up to the town square. We immediately liked Xilitla. It felt like a real town and the surrounding rainforest that tried to invade from all sides lent it an air of mystique. We enjoyed good burgers from a street vendor for dinner. I had two and shared one of them with a scrawny dog that needed food more than I did.

We left the house on foot at first light the following morning. The plan was to reach Las Pozas at 8 am when they opened in an attempt to avoid the hour-long lines we had heard stories about.

Las Pozas is 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering surrealist sculptures in concrete created by Edward James from 1949 to 1984. 

It was a strenuous 2 ½ km hike with steep gradients from where we stayed. It was a Sunday morning and the streets were deserted.

There were no lines when we reached the entrance to the garden. Success! – or so we thought until we were told that we couldn’t buy tickets at the entrance. The only options were to buy online 24 hours in advance or at a stall on the central square in Xilitla.

I was about to explode – mostly because lack of preparation had created the situation. Our only option was to backtrack +2 km and buy the tickets. We arrived half an hour later panting and drenched in sweat. At the ticket stall we learned that the only way to enter the garden was with a guide. The first tour of the day with an English speaking guide was at 10 am. Suddenly we had plenty of time. On the way back to the park we stopped at a breakfast restaurant to refuel.

At the entrance to the garden we are greeted by our tour guide. Our luck had turned. Katrine and I would be the only ones on the early English tour that day. We were in for a treat.
When our guide was born back in 1973, his parents worked at the park for Edward James. As a result he spent much of his childhood in the garden and had fond memories of Edward James. A guided tour usually takes little over an hour, but our guide had much to share and the talk flowed freely, so almost 2 hours had passed when he dropped us off back at the entrance. As an extra bonus the garden was virtually deserted. Most of the time during the tour we didn’t see or hear anyone else.

The first thing that greets us back in the real world is a group of motorcycle riders just arrived at the park. As we walked past one of the guys dropped his GSA. I jumped in and together with a couple of other guys we got it back up in 2 shakes of a lamb’s tail. The rider managed to drop his helmet in the process though – a sound that makes all riders wince.

Downtown had transformed into one big market place when we got back. We strolled around a bit, picked up a couple of sandwiches for lunch and returned to our guesthouse to take a well deserved rest.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the heart of town. A live band was playing and the square in front of the church had turned into a dance floor. It was very lively and fun to watch.
We enjoyed dinner with a view as the sun set over the mountains.

It was a beautiful sunny morning. The scenery and riding was amazing as we descended the mountains from Xilitla.

I had been warned about construction work and heavy delays on hwy 85. I decided to take a detour to avoid the affected section. We were rewarded with hours on dirt roads through the countryside. I love how electronic navigation allows us to create routes like this on a whim through unknown areas. It would have been impossible in the old days with only papermaps. There were no signs along the roads we used and many of them just looked like dead end farm tracks.

We only encountered few people. At one point we got stopped by 2 pickup trucks loaded with heavily armed police, who wanted to know what we were doing in the middle of nowhere. When we told them our story they snapped a few pictures and waved us on with a smile and a “Buen viaje”.

Back on tarmac we stop for lunch at Taquería “El Paso” – a nondescript eatery by the side of the road on the outskirts of Tantoyuca. They surprised us by serving the best tacos and Cafe Olla we’ve had in Mexico so far.

The day’s destination was Poza Rica. The city used to be the oil capital of Mexico. It has little to offer as a tourist destination aside from its proximity to the archeological site of the pre-hispanic city “El Tajin” – and that was what had attracted us.
I was having a hard time finding a place in the area within our price range that provided secure parking. In the end I decided to take a gamble with a new place with no reviews on booking.com. The benefit was that we, as guinea pigs, were offered a healthy discount.

Our host Luis came out to greet us the moment we turned off the bikes in front of the property. He was a jovial fellow our age. He owned the whole building we were staying at. Besides 3 rental apartments upstairs there was a dental clinic and a tortilleria at the ground floor. He spent the better part of an hour showing us around the building, telling us about the neighborhood and making sure we had everything we needed to be comfortable.

The next day we woke to the sound of rain against the window. We used the opportunity to stay home and just hang out while the rain continued throughout the day. In the afternoon we decided to brave the rain to visit the local gym 1 block down the road.

On this journey we have come to appreciate visiting gyms on a regular basis while traveling. Not only does it help us stay fit with all the benefits that involve, it also gives us an opportunity to enjoy the company of like minded locals in an informal setting. This gym was no exception. There was the normal smalltalk with the members during workout (a good chance to practice Spanish) and at one point the guy running the place politely asked if he could take a picture of us to use on the gym’s homepage. When we left everyone waved and wished us a good day.

Contrary to what we had expected it was still drizzling the following day. The plan had been to visit El Tajin on the bikes in the morning. We decided to postpone until around noon to see if the weather improved. Our host Luis showed up before that to see if we needed anything. When he heard about our plan he looked out at the gray skies, shivered and suggested that we took a taxi instead. Before we could respond to that, he offered to take us in his car. It would give him an excuse to visit family near El Tajin. We gratefully accepted and agreed to leave in an hour.

An hour later he picked us up. First stop was his mother’s house right next door. She wanted to meet the Danish guests traveling on motorcycles. She was a lovely lady with an easy smile.

When we eventually got in the car, Luis offered to wait for us at El Tajin and also give us a lift home. He seemed disappointed when we refused and said it would be too much to ask and that we would be fine with taking a taxi back. In the end we came to a compromise – he would drop us off, visit his family nearby, return and pick us up 2 hours later and then we could have a late lunch together in Papantla at a restaurant of his choosing before returning to Poza Rica.

El Tajin was even more interesting to visit than we had expected. The city was at its height from the early 9th to the early 13th century. It became the most important center in north-east Mesoamerica after the fall of the Teotihuacan Empire. Its cultural influence extended all along the Gulf and penetrated into the Maya region and the high plateaux of central Mexico. Its architecture, which is unique in Mesoamerica, is characterized by elaborate carved reliefs on the columns and frieze. The ‘Pyramid of the Niches’, a masterpiece of ancient Mexican and American architecture, reveals the astronomical and symbolic significance of the buildings.

We had the place more or less to ourselves. Only as we walked back towards the entrance did we encounter a larger group of people. It turned out to be no less than Claudia Sheinbaum, the future and first female president of Mexico, surrounded by an entourage of security guards and journalists.

Luis arrived to pick us up just as we reached the parking lot. On our way to Papantla we stopped by a place where his family keep roosters for cockfighting which is a big deal in Mexico. He was proud of the newly built facilities that protected the roosters against roaming dogs and other predators. I didn’t have it in me to share my view on cockfighting – or any other activity where animal abuse is considered entertainment…

In Papantla Luis took us to Nakú – a restaurant that preserve and promote the Totonaca culture through gastronomy. It was a great experience and I had to be insistent before Luis allowed me to pick up the bill.
Before leaving town he took us to Monumento Al Volador that offered a panoramic view of Papantla.

When we got back to Poza Rica we first stopped by Parque de Las Americas located on a hilltop above the city. We could see our house from there. Next stop was to meet Luis’ girlfriend at her private clinic. When we got there we also got introduced to her daughter, her cousin and his wife and daughter. It was a pleasure to make their acquaintance.
When Luis finally dropped us off back at our apartment we had made a new friend.

It took a while to get going in the morning. Not only Luis, but also the staff in the tortilleria downstairs wanted to take pictures and say goodbye. Eventually we followed the flow of the morning traffic through town. Before long we were surrounded by greenery and traveled west on hwy 130 – the old curvy one with no toll of cause. It was great fun as it climbed its way back into the mountains. Contrary to normal practice the temperature rose as we gained altitude. When we reached 2.700 meters and 25℃ we had arrived in Mineral del Monte, where a small but cozy room above a charming Italian restaurant would be our home for the next 2 nights.

Initially I wasn’t feeling well. Most likely it was the altitude. After a lot of water and a good night’s sleep, I was back on my feet. We spent the rest day exploring the town famous for mining and pastes (small closed pies). At one point a street artist dressed as a statue almost made Katrine crap her pants, when she suddenly moved while Katrine was studying her close up.