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Panamericana adventure

A dream comes true!! Starting in Vancouver, our plan is to go South until we reach Tierra del Fuego - World's end. Our chosen way of transport: 2 fantastic travel bikes. Follow us on our adventurous trip with all the expected highs and lows 🚵‍♀️😀
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  • Day91

    Back in the mountains

     Yesterday in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We left Colima without a rush as we only had a short day of cycling ahead of us. We said goodbye to Dave, who also went for a ride, and Marcia who took off for her morning run. Most of the day, we had to cycle along Highway 54D. Quite some traffic, but with a shoulder most of the time, as it's a cuota. As we had to climb again, we were going for the continuous climb rather than for a rolling climb today. Views were stunning though. We could see the volcano Nevado de Colima almost all day as well as a couple of impressive canyons. We arrived in Tecalitlan at about 2pm and found a small hotel. As it's a very Mexican town, there are - of course - festivities going on: A parade with colourful dresses, even a carriage protesting against the use of plastic and music. At night, they showed different traditional dances of all the Mexican states on the principal plaza. It was packed with people, happily watching, talking, eating - almost like a fair - just without the alcohol. And we were the only foreigners...Read more

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  • Day90

    Colima

     December 6 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today was a route planning day. After breakfast, we spent long hours over analogue maps, on Google street view and different weather and climate statistics in order to plan out our route through the rest of Mexico. In the end, we had a good idea about our route: we are going inland through more mountaineous terrain because the climate is just way better for cycling. The diagram below says everything 😉
    In late afternoon, we visited the city centre of Colima. Nice old buildings, a busy plaza with food and Christmas markets (at least the Mexican version of it...) and - as the Virgen de Guadeloupe holiday is coming soon - another parade with traditional dances in front of the church.    Read more

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  • Day89

    Private tour with Eduardo

     December 5 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today, we explored the region around Colima. Eduardo had offered us to take us to some nice places, so - of course - we didn't say no to a private tour led by a local. We started with a typical Mexican breakfast: Chilaquiles rojos, spiced coffee and aqua fresca. The location, food and staff were great, so it was hard to leave. But there were more things to see. Afterwards, we went to Comala, one of the pueblos magicos, famous for its white houses. It's actually a very pretty town with interesting architecture and beautiful patios as part of the houses. Next stop was the Museo Universitario Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo in Nogueras. He was a Mexican artist and his works is displayed in the museum. Next door is his family home, an impressive hacienda which we visited as well. Eduardo then drove along a curvy mountain road which climbed towards the volcano Nevado de Colima. We stopped at a restaurant with stunning views where we had guacamole while observing the eagles. Usually, we would have seen the volcano real close, but unfortunately it was covered in clouds. Still an awesome place!
    Thanks, Eduardo, for showing us around and telling us so much about Mexican history, culture and customs. We are looking forward to seeing you again, maybe on your next visit to Germany 😊    Read more

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  • Day88

    Escape from the humididy

     December 4 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After some days at the coast, we decided to head inland again. Our destination was Colima where Dave and Marcia live. They are friends of our warmshowers hosts from Bend.
    We left before 7 already as we had a long day ahead of us. Dave had send us a gpx track, so navigation was easy this time. First, we followed a cuota again. So bikes are theoretically not allowed, but noone cares. It was relatively flat and had a broad shoulder. The sunrise over the lagune was quite nice as well. We stopped for a coconut after about 50km before turning into a small, quiet sideroad which led to Colima. We had to climb all day, but as it was a constant 2%,it wasn't actually too bad.
    In Colima, we got a warm welcome at Dave's and Marcia's house. For dinner, we could even join Dave's cycling friends at a birthday party. Eduardo, a guy of the cycling group, has been in Germany many times and knows about German culture and the German way of life. He (and hopefully also the other guests), had a lot of fun while listening and singing to Herbert Grönemeyer, Die Toten Hosen and Helene Fischer 😂    Read more

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  • Day87

    300% humidity

     December 3 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Again, a day with what feels like 300% humidity. Our bags were wet even though it didn't rain. But also another day of green hills and not too much traffic. We passed a huge coconut and banana plantation that was guarded by a small plane flying over it in circles.
    By about lunchtime, we reached the Northern beaches of Manzanillo and stopped for a coconut. From there, it was only another hour to the center. Manzanillo is a harbor town and not particularly beautiful. However, when we got out of our hotel after having cooked dinner, we were quite surprised: so many people on the streets, many of them dressed in traditional clothes. Plus, the Plaza Principal was full of food stalls. We walked around for a bit, watched people playing something like bingo just with pictures and kids posing on horses for Christmas card photos. Then, a parade started and we saw people dancing and playing music. It's actually a festive season here right now: on 12th December, Mexicans celebrate the day of the Virgen de Guadeloupe. And as Mexicans like to celebrate, they already start celebrating on 1st of December and have dances and music every night til the 12th. So let's see what else we can see in the next days.Read more

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  • Day86

    Crocodile Bar

     December 2 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    The route for today was relatively short: 68km. However, it was all rolling, plus heat and humidity. So we really had to fight, although we were on the road with the first daylight at 7am. Views were nice though, green hills everywhere, and only few traffic.
    When we arrived at our hotel in La Manzanilla, the breakfast buffet was still on. So when Mateo, who runs the bar/hotel said that we should finish it up, we didn't think twice. He also gave us an upgrade on the room, as he was enthusiastic about our trip. So we had a nice, bright and breezy room with sea view for the night. The rest of the day, we relaxed at the bar, observed the pelicans diving and the fisherman waiting for fish, had the best iced cappuccino ever, went swimming and watched the amazing sunset.
    We really enjoyed La Manzanilla, a cosy little beach town with a great and friendly community of Americans, Canadians and local Mexicans.    Read more

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  • Day85

    Long sandy beach

     December 1 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We left El Tuito early this morning to get as far as possible before the heat. And as El Tuito is located in the mountains, the temperature was indeed very pleasant when we started. However, the closer we came to sea level again, the hotter it got. So we cycled the 100km pretty fast in order to jump in the ocean. We arrived in Punta Perula just after noon, so had half a day to relax at this chilled out beach town with its 13km sandy beach.Read more

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  • Day84

    Mexican variety

     November 30 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    This morning started with eggs and salsa roja for breakfast, so we were ready for another exciting day on the road. We first went to Puerto Vallarta, a pretty big, but quite interesting harbour city. When entering the city, we passed everything that is huge and famous: Walmart, The Home Depot, the cruise ship terminal with a huge cruise ship anchoring, the Hilton and Sheraton, shopping malls... Getting closer to the center, the names of the shops and hotels became less famous, the buildings are colonial style and the beach is public. We were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people and bars and restaurants, but enjoyed the atmosphere. Because of the boat people or because it was Saturday or just because it's Mexico, there was music and artists everywhere. In the end, it took us quite a while to pass Puerto Vallarta, as we stopped several times for photos and watching people. But also, because there was a lot of traffic and because the roads were bad cobblestone - a nightmare to cycle!
    Leaving Puerto Vallarta, we first cycled through the gay quarter with hotels catering for the LGBT community, before passing more luxury resorts located along the Southern coast.
    We stopped in Boca de Tomatlán for lunch, a cool fishing village with some restaurants on the beach. Touristy, but relatively quiet after the hustle bustle of Puerto Vallarta.
    Afterwards, we left the coast again and climbed up in the mountains. Bad timing in the middle of the day, but luckily it was shady under the trees. On the way up, we stopped for fresh traditional bread, prepared in a firewood oven. Our destination for the night is El Tuito, a sleepy mountain town famous for its cheese. The only ATM was out of service, but we were able to find a shop that provided cash out (for quite some commission fee though...). Anyways, we could at least to pay the hotel and some food 😉    Read more

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  • Day83

    Islas Marietas

     November 29 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    As the music in the hostel didn't stop before 3am, we decided to have a late start and leave after breakfast (which they served from 8:30am). Usually, we try to be on the road at 7am in order to avoid most the midday heat.
    From Sayulita, we took a small road with less traffic to Punta Mita. Irene had recommended to go to Islas Marietas, so we checked out the offers. As we got a good deal and people seemed to be very knowledgable, we went on a boat trip to the islands. Definitely a good decision! The islands were formed by volcanic activity and are under government protection, so there's many species of seabirds as well as abundant marine life. On the way there, we saw a humpback whale and some dolphines. We observed the birds, among them some blue (and yellow) footed boobies, got wet from the water of the blowhole, checked out some caves and the stone bridge, snorkelled to sea the tropical fish and discovered a hidden beach.
    As the tour took longer than expected (Mexican times...), we booked an AirBnB some 30km away to be able to make ot before dark. When we arrived at the address, noone was there. We called the owner and he told us that it's actually not available at the moment because the light is not working and he has been waiting for someone to fix it for some time (Mexican time again...). We were both a little frustrated and hungry, as it was getting dark already and there weren't many options for accommodation. However, Google helped us this time and led us to a cosy hostal with friendly people and a fresh fruit and vegetable store next door 😊    Read more

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  • Day82

    Too many tourists

     November 28 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Some days are not as good as others... We left our campspot pretty tired, as we didn't sleep well. Plus, our tent was totally wet due to the humidity. Anyways, the first 50km of today's ride were very scenic: a bit rolling through green rainforest, beautiful views of the coast and not much traffic on the road.
    However, this changed once we turned on the 200 towards Puerto Vallarta. Heavy traffic, speeding cars and buses cutting us pretty closely and construction work - no fun riding at all!
    We stopped in La Penita for our lunch stop and to dry our tent. We tried to get Internet to research hotels nearby, but neither our local SIM nor the restaurants in town had working wifi. So we continued to San Francisco, a surfer town. We were overwhelmed by the amount of tourists here and couldn't find a decent hotel, so went on to Sayulita. It's actually very popular among surfers and backpackers, so we faced similar issues and ended up in a hostel. We were the only ones cooking dinner while the others made extensive use of the happy hour. Feeling pretty old lieing in bed while they are playing YMCA and Macarena downstairs 😥    Read more

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