El Morro

We made a serious effort the next morning to beat the heat and woke up at 5:30 am, cooked breakfast in the dark and rode off into the sunrise at 6:40 am. We made good progress in the relatively cool morning hours so Holly started to think we could make it all the way to Salina Cruz in one day. Karl (who is proud of his ability to wear the same thing all day while backcountry skiing and not sweat) was really struggling with the 40 degree heat though, so we took numerous breaks in the shade and poured water on him whenever it was available. Even the cows we saw in the fields along the way looked like they were struggling to survive. By 2:30 pm we had 35 km to go so decided we had plenty of daylight to get to Salina Cruz. One more big hill and a long straight stretch with a nasty crosswind brought us to a tunnel into the port city. We particularly enjoyed this tunnel as it sheltered us from the wind and sun, and cut out a hill we thought we would have to climb over - too bad there weren't more tunnels on this road! Erika (who we had stayed with in Oaxaca City) had asker her sister Patty in Salina Cruz if she could host us, so we bought a few groceries and made our tired legs push us to Patty and Cesar's house in a suburb 10 km outside of the city built to house employees of the giant Pemex refinery in Salina Cruz. We were once again welcomed into their home with open arms, plied with cold drinks and delicious food, and asked numerous questions by their kids, Leonardo and Sofia, as they explored our interesting gear.Read more