Photos

Some of the hilly terrain between Papantla and El Tajín.

Voleadores stepping to the music of the flautist, preparing to ascend the great pole.

Voleadores getting ready to fly.

Dude who grilled corn on his bike.

Model of the ruins.

Voleadores leaving the circle after performing.

Voleadores landing.

Voleadores, near landing, crowd watching.

Voleador, near landing.

The great voleadores of Papantla/El Tajín, descending, unwinding, to the music of the top guy.


At El Tajín, human sacrifice was common, and a privilage and honor. The winner of a ball game they played got to be sacrificed as the reward.

Pyramids of El Tajín--awesome.

Pyramid ruin at El Tajín. Equilibrium is a virtue of the founders of this place.

Pyramid at El Tajín.

Butterfly at El Tajín.

Statue at entrance to cool town of Papantla, where I am now.

Vista from hill, Poza Rica to Papantla.

Statue near Poza Rica.

Gator swimming near dock.

Alligator hanging out on a dock on Laguna del Carpintero, Tampico. These guys come closer to people than those in Texas.

Monument to this obviously very important Mexican historical figure--he comes up many places. ¨Respect of the right of what is not yours is peace.¨ This is on Laguna del Carpintero in Tampico.

Mural in tumultuous downtown Cd Madero.

Neat looking church in Cd Madero.

Me and José Luís, cool dude I hung out with in Tampico.

This town name reminded me of my friend Amalie Malachee from back home. This is a shot-out to you, girl--keep biking!

Dama, Mariana, and the waitress, the girls of Cockteleria "El Guero", Tres Marias, as they bid me farewell.

Milo, a dog I befriended and played soccer with in Tres Marias near Tampico. Wanted to take him along, but he would not be able to run 100km per day.

Nice lady whose husband, a ¨blue angel¨ (helps people on the highway), stopped me on the highway before Playa Miramar in Cd Madero (next to Tampico). He gave me his info if I needed anything. They put me up that night and fed me. I was still getting over a stomach condition. Now I am eating vegan to protect my stomach.

Sunrise in Ejido Gonzalez.

Grackles are officially awesome--one of my favorite birds. Did not see them until Austin, but they have been everywhere since. This flock in Ejido Gonzalez the morning after I slept there--they flock, but each individual flies in a slightly different direction, independently. And their repertoir of noises is fascinating.

Some of the boys I met in Ejido Gonzalez, a suburb of Gonzalez between Mante and Tampico. They were curious, fun, and very helpful.

Cerro de Bernal, an impressive hill between Mante and Tampico named after a historical figure.

Tropical flowers and foliage at the Hotel in Gómez Farías, the main jump-off village into El Cielo.

El Cielo group just before we broke up: Pat to Mex. City, Memo, Flash and Colacho to Victoria, and Andy, Shelagh, and I to El Nacimiento and Ciudad Mante.

One of Flash´s perfect tortillas.

The vista as the cloud moved away.

Pat watches as dog follows car up into the cloud in El Cielo.



El Elefante rock in El Cielo. The highest into the hills we climbed.


Pretty goose in a village in El Cielo.

La campana, or ¨the bell¨ rock formation in El Cielo.


Trail in El Cielo.

Forest in El Cielo.

Pretty bird in El Cielo.

Ajol, an antecessor to the turkey.

Cute puppy in a village in El Cielo.

Our group as we climbed on foot (we left our bikes in a base town) into El Cielo.

Abandoned at birth, this ¨el tejón¨ was raised by people and is a cool relative of the raccoon, I think.

Climbing into El Cielo, Shelagh, and a scenic view.

Memo on a fun descent, and a shapely hill off to the left.

What I wrote on the yellow globe at the tropic of cancer--Stop Global Warming. Chainbreak, the Canadian group, made their mark as well.


A shot of a Mexican ribbon of highway on the way to El Cielo as we started to climb through the hills, and cross the Tropic of Cancer.

Flash as he passed the 100 km to El Cielo sign.

The last of Chainbreak (Cycling Hard Against Imperialist Neo-Conservatives Because Radical Eco-Feminist Anarchy Kicks Ass)--they started out as five, and after this ride to El Cielo, Pat would leave to Mexico City, and in Tampico, Shelagh would leave her bike for buses.

Our group to El Cielo from Victoria: Flash, Memo, me, Shelagh, Pat, and Andy.

Artist in action in Victoria.

Hoy es mi cumpleaños. Desayuné en un restaurante en la esquina cerca del hotel--plátanos, gorditas rellenas con frijoles, y café. Platiqué con gente buena allí. Ahora, voy a irme a la Laguna del Carpintero (Lake of the Woodpecker) donde puedo ver unos cocodrilos, quizás encontraré a una conocida allá. Después, voy a continuar el viaje al Sur!

Estoy en Ciudad Madero, en la costa del Golfo de México, cerca de Tampico. Hoy, encontré a mis amigos de Canadá, Andrez y Shila, en la playa de Míramar. Después, fui a un taller de bicicletas para comprar una nueva cadena (chain). Esto porque despues dos mil millas con la misma cadena (llevo mas que tres mil millas), la cadena se enlarga/crece, y esto gasta los cambios (gears). Si no cambie la cadena, los cambios no caberán una nueva cadena y sería necesario cambiar todos los cambios. Mis cambios se han gastado un poco, y la nueva cadena salta un poco en los cambios menores, pero la cadena va a gastar un poco y este problema desaparecerá.

Tambien limpié la bici y compré mas parches (patches). Después, fui al cýber café para un rato, y después entré en un hotel, me bañé, e miré un juego de fútbol de playa en la tele--Brasil (11) contra Uruguay (0)--si esto no se convence, no se que sí. Después, fui para comer, y encontré una minisuper. Compré jugo de naranja, Ramen Noodles, y jugo de vegetales. Comenzó a llover, y fui al cýber de nuevo. Ahora, voy a dormir.

Crossing the Tropic of Cancer

All countries of North America represented in this shot as we crossed the Tropic of Cancer--Memo, our pro-mountain biker guide from Ciudad Victoria, Canadians Shelagh, Andy, and Pat, and myself. (This was last week. I am now in Tampico on the coast.) We were biking from Cd Victoria to La Reserva de la Biosphera El Cielo, where we camped and explored the nature preserve for three days. I will be in the tropics for the rest of my trip!

Dia de Rosca de Reyes

Este es una fiesta de los tres Reyes Magos, y en todo de Mexico hacen una fiesta en que toda la gente cortan un pedazo de rosca de pan que tiene frutas, azucar, y entre el pan hay cuatro o cinco o mas monitos. Si la persona encuentra un monito cortando el pedazo de rosca, la persona necesita hacer tamales en el 2 de febrero, dia de la Candelaria. Yo encontre a dos monitos--voy a hacer tamales en Guatemala y mandar a Cd Mante, Tamaulipas, y voy hacer tambien tamales para una familia en Guatemala para el otro monito. Son gemelos. La foto tiene personas de la fiesta, y algunas son de la familia con quien voy a dormir.

In the fiesta of the three wise men, everyone cuts a piece of sweet bread with little plastic babies distributed throughout--four or five per loaf. If a person finds a plastic baby, representing the baby Jesus, they have to throw a party and make tamales for everyone on the second of February, a holy day of Guadaloupe. I encountered two "monitos" in my slice of bread--twin baby Jesus's! I will be in Guatemala on the second of February so I will make tamales and send them, and for the other monito, I will make tamales for a family in Guatemala. The people in the photo are people at the party, and some of who are in the family I will spend the night with.

Victoria

I am in Victoria now, and I found the Canadians after a couple hour long quest. All I knew was that they were staying with a group of mountain bikers who sometimes do professional cycling. It was like a treasure hunt, asking folks where I could find info about mountain biking groups, and whether a group of Canadian cycling tourists were staying with them. I got to tour the city while I was at it.

I am staying in the residential quarters of a Catholic Church, and another family has volunteered to feed me some meals. I did laundry today, played soccer, and tried to get a SIM card for my phone. And I hung out with the Canadians. Now I will go show my photos to the family that has been making gorditas--tortillas filled with frijoles--and other delicious food for me. They want my family to visit, and they think there is a chance I will never leave Mexico...

San Fernando to Jimenez

I biked fifty miles today to Jimenez, half-way to the destination of Victoria. It was a fairly windy day, the first part the wind was against me. Towards the end of the day, the wind switched and pushed me along. I was cruising even uphill for a while. My average speed on the day, due to the wind, was 10.2mph. Odometer reads 2960. I will break 3000 tomorrow! And will meet up with the Canadians, and set up New Years plans. And I found a place to stay by running into a family that was coming back from Victoria where they had spent Christmas with the grandparents. So the grandparents will put me up, hopefully. Max speed today was 26.5mph--coming down a hill after a long, steady climb. It is starting to get a little mountainous--and beautiful! I biked for just over five hours today. Enjoy the pictures!

The peeps I stayed with in San Fernando (the Rodriguezes)--top quality folks.

Couple I met at a restaurant on the way to Jimenez, Tamaulipas. I am staying at their daughter and son-in-law's house, and plan to sleep in a hammock tonight under the moon.

Folks I met in San Fernando--they helped me find the Rodriguez' house.

Streetside grocery stand on Iturbide Street in San Fernando.


My lunch today.

San Fernando

I am in the town of San Fernando, 85 miles south of the border. I biked about 90 miles yesterday. So far this trip, I have biked about 2900 miles. I am staying with very nice family. In Matamoros at the bridge to the US, I met a couple of women, sisters whose parents live in San Fernando, and they gave me all the information to contact their family. I called them the day before arriving. It was a little tricky to find their house as their street had no sign and I had to continually ask people up and down the main street which street was ¨Iturbide.¨ When I finally got two answers in a row that were the same, I followed the directions and found the house.

The chickens out back of the Rodriguez house. They, and the ducks hatch eggs for the family. The rabbits, ducks and chickens eat the kitchen scraps and any food the Rodriguezes give them. And the Rodriguezes, in turn, eat any of the animals. Turning waste into product is a fundamental principle of environmental studies (my college major).

I´ve been told these flowers bring happiness to many.

Another cool plant out front on the Rodriguez property.

One of the many beautiful plants and flowers populating the yard of the Rodriguez residence, where I stayed at last night.

The family bicycle parked out front.

View of the house across the street from the house I stayed at. Those at the house consisted of Father (Margarito Rodriguez), Mother, with whom I talked most, single son in his forties or fifties, infirmed daughter in her forties--the other children had moved out and were married or living with one of their married siblings. Several live and work in the US--one works for a senior citizens home as a caretaker. The mother (well, really grandmother) commented on how seniors have many more benefits in the US compared to those in Mexico.

The house plate at the house I stayed at last night. Name of the family, house number, and ¨God is Love¨ at the bottom.

My lunch at the restaurant I stopped at. Eggs and potatoes, beans, salad, salsa, tortillas, grapefruit soda, salt. My cellphone, bike gloves, and napkins complete the picture.

Outside a restaurant at an intersection of highways where I had a nice vegetarian lunch. Here you can see the new arrangement of my handlebars. Feels a little more like a road bike now, faster and more comfortable.

A picnic table along the highway in the shade of some trees where I stopped for a snack and drink of water.

Keep the highway clean! With you it is possible.

One of the many horses, mules, donkeys and cows tied up to a fence post along the highway to graze. This one was quite striking. Other animals, such as goats, cows and bulls, walked to highway side, grazing loose! Obviously, they learned to not go out on the road!

¨Thank you for visting Matamoros, the great Gateway into Mexico!¨

I was expecting the distance between Matamoros and San Fernando to be 85 miles, so when I saw this sign, I was quite startled. I had a destination in San Fernando, a contact that could put me up. I simply could not make 124 miles before dark and I had no contacts in between. Could those I have talked to, and my maps, have been wrong in the distance? Was something amiss? And then I realized that the numbers were in kilometers. Whew!
An ornate-looking hotel on the way out of Matamoros. Some things are very beautiful; other things are very ugly--especially the air quality. Pollution from industry, autos, and just burning things for heat, cooking, get rid of trash, or simply for the sake of burning stuff causes the air to be chokey and sometimes foul. The emissions standards for cars must be much lower or non-existent. We are very lucky in the US for this reason, for relatively clean, breathable air. Greenhouse gases, on the other hand, are non-toxic, invisible, and odorless. They are emitted in direct proportion to the amount of fuel burned. And in the US, we consume more (electricity and gasoline), and hence we emit more GHG (greenhouse gases)/capita than just about any nation.
Mural on the wall of a Popeyes (pronounced ¨po-pay-ace¨) on the way out of Matamoros.

On the way out of Matamoros, I saw this car-washing clown with his rag. He would perform in front of the cars when the light turned red--flossing between his legs, etc. until he got a taker. Graciously, he posed for a photo.

This is a church in the town center of Matamoros, opposite the gazebo below. Also beautiful.

This is the gazebo in the town center plaza of Matamoros. Witness the Mexican flag above and the Christmas tree in the background. Beautiful.

Blast from the Past

I just got back in touch with someone I met on Bourbon Street in New Orleans--a Brazilian who was there for a Portuguese Translators Conference. He sent me a picture they took of some of the other Brazilians at the conference, him, and me. They guy with the bottle is him, and he lives in Rio--he encourages me to bike the extra 2600km to Rio after I arrive in Natal.

Matamoros, Mexico

I am in the border town of Matamoros, just across the border from Mexico. I met a Mexican woman who works in Brownsville, and lives in Matamoros, and she walked me across the bridge that night. On the way to her house, a bottle-rocket firework hit me in the back and made a popping noise that took our hearing in one ear for a bit. Could have been an accident or could have been on purpose--but no harm done. People like to use fireworks here just about every night.

The next day, we went through the town center. Everybody was out Christmas shopping. Very fun to watch all the people pass in the people-street (no cars) between the stores. Stores play music, vendors with hand-carts and bicycle-carts sell roasted corn on the cob, fruit cups, pancakes, nuts, nopales (edible cactus leaves), etc.

It has been overcast and/or rainy for the past couple of days. I went over to the house of the sister of the woman I met and I learned how to make tamales (some of the steps) and I actually got to spread the masa into the corn husks that they make them in. I also sorted beans, removing broken beans or severely deformed ones. Last night, I celebrated Christmas with her extended family. We ate together, exchanged gifts, laughter, hugs, and took a couple of photos. One of the uncles lives and works in Harlingen, a town I passed through on the way to Brownsville. He has lived in the US for over thirty years, and spoke English well, but we spoke in Spanish to keep our conversation open to everyone else.

I gave t-shirts of the undoit campaign to all and explained the campaign to them, and the Climate Stewardship Act.

I am working on following my leads of people who would join me. One such partner is in mid-Mexico and she has done some of her traveling by bus. She may be up for parting with two riders she is with to slow up a little for me to catch up. Another guy may join me from LA, taking a bus here.

Frequently Asked Questions

When I tell people that I biked from Washington, DC to where I am now, and that I intend to cycle all the way to Brazil, there are a few things people ask me:

Naive:
How are you going to get across the ocean?

Do you sleep?

Did you cycle here non-stop?

Medium:
Where do you sleep?

How many flats have you had?

How many tires have you gone through/will you go through?

What is your ETA?

Do you ride at night?

Where do you get your food?

Smart:
How do you plan to get across the Darian Gap?

Brownsville

I am in Brownsville, which is on the Mexican border at the southern-most tip of Texas. People have been very friendly here. I met a man named Len while I was eating at a Subway restaurant. He saw my bicycle--he is a cyclist--and asked if I was going to ride it all the way to Brazil. I told him that was my plan and he asked if he could help in anyway. I told him I was working on a lead for a place to stay but it wasn't coming through at the moment. I told him he could sign my petition on global warming and he immediately did. He also said if nothing turned up I was welcome to crash at his couch--he lived just a couple blocks away. And he left his phone. Nothing came up and I took him up on his offer. I have since met many nice folks in his RV community. Folks are here from Upstate New York, Iowa, and many other places.

On crazyguyonabike.com, a website for touring cyclist where I have another blog that I don't use as much, I posted a classified in search of other cyclists to join me. I have had several replies and one may work out. I am ready to cross the border anytime now, though.