What on earth is the time?

Hildago De Parral is in Chihuahua which is on a different time zone to the rest of Mexico.   No problem we just arrived an hour “earlier” than we thought.   The following days ride is one of the most scenic and enjoyable in Mexico.  The road twists and winds through pine forests towards the Copper Canyon Area.   We climb and fall and twist ant turn for hours on end.  Small towns with fuel are up to 60 miles apart with little in between.   It is easy to realize why in this area there are still a large number of indigenous people living relatively un changed lives in villages that are up to 3 days walk from the nearest “civilization”  

The roads here really are a joy although the challenge is whether just to ride them or to take it a notch or two down and relish the views.   Most people do something in between and strike a happy balance.   The ride runs us past the entrance to Copper Canyon and a few hardy souls venture a few miles down to see the Canyon itself.  However this road, while initially welcoming, fast becomes a rocky narrow track with 300+ metre drops and no barriers.   It takes most of a day to get to the end of the road and another to get out.  Unfortunately we don't have the time in our schedule as Los Angeles is beckoning. 

After an overnight in Creel our last full day in Mexico is a ride towards the border and a last night before we cross to the USA, or as four of our group call it “home”.   

Creel provided us with conundrum that took time to solve.   We had all adjusted out watches to Chihuahua time and the evening before we had a briefing to which everybody arrived on time.   However in the morning Kevin and Richard are the first up and packing the bikes ready to check out.  No-one else from the group is anywhere to be seen.   The time is checked and yes they are on time and the hotel breakfast is being served.  Is there some sort of group practical joke going on?   When the first risers appear for breakfast they all believe they are an hour early for breakfast?   All the group think it is 7am.  Kevin, Richard and the locals all think its 8am.   How can all the group have the wrong time and yet have been on time for the briefing the evening before.   Every-one suspects that there is some joke being played but no-on can work out by who?   The answer turns out to be Daylight Saving Time!   Chihuahua went daylight saving time at 2am.   Kevin and Richard rely on their Blackberry's for the time, and being smart-phones they were smart and adjusted for this in the middle of the night all by themselves!    But what we don't know is what the time will be when we cross to Arizona on Mountain Standard Time?   Does Arizona have daylight saving time?  Who knows!

The exit from Mexico and the entry into the USA are important to get right and both are bureaucratic in their own way.   We will ride as a group and cross as a group.   This is partly to ensure that all the paperwork is correctly completed (particularly important as we are flying the bikes out of the US in just a few days) and also because this is border / bandit country in Mexico.   Unfortunately one of our group stops off for photos and then rides straight past the rest of the group stopped for fuel, despite Kevin waving frantically from the hard shoulder and beeping his horn!   We arrive at the border and there is no sign of the missing rider.  We try to call him to no avail.   After a couple of hours completing our exit from Mexico we are ready to start the process to enter the US and still no sign, so we call our Hotel in Tombstone. “Oh yes he checked in about 30 minutes ago” says the very helpful Kristy   However when we speak to him he has missed the Mexican customs completely and entered the US without exiting Mexico.   A big problem as the Mexicans take your credit card details as a guarantee and so if he doesn't exit his bike then they will charge him!    He rides the hour back to the border and arrives just as the last of the group are ready to leave the US side.   He then has to exit the US, and go to the Mexican customs office and tell them he wants to exit Mexico.   When all the paperwork is complete he then turns round and goes back to enter the US again.   The US guards eye him suspiciously as this must have been one of the shortest ever visits to Mexico!  However they do let him back in for the second time in the day.

Our first stop in the USA is Tombstone.   Yes the real thing!  A small cowboy town with great heritage and history.   A evening spent in the Crystal Palace Saloon caps the experience with steaks, ribs and pitchers of beer rounded off with some sipping whiskey at the bar.  Welcome to the USA!

Our final stop off on the way to Los Angeles is at 29 Palms, on the edge of the Joshua Tree National Park.  Inspiration for the name of the U2 album by the way as they stayed there when they recorded it.   The town is there to serve the park and also the nearby US Marines base, which is the final staging post for service men and women before being posted overseas.  There are a number of serious looking guys in town, and it's not us!  The local barber gets visited by a few people but they only really do one style.   The name of the shop is the “Combat Barbers” so you can probably guess what style of cut they do!

And so we are riding across California (another time zone!) towards Los Angeles, or more specifically Hollywood.   We have several nights here to allow for the bikes to be flown to Sydney for Section 4 of the trip.  The ride in is remarkable.  Los Angeles is a total of 420 square miles and the buildings start some 45 miles from our hotel. There is no break in them all the way in.  We queue through typical LA traffic, eg stationary, and glimpse he famous Hollywood sign as we ride in.   The stationary traffic gives us the chance to chat to local drivers who are fascinated by the group of bikes with foreign plates and by the support vehilce with the steering wheel on the wrong side.

A quick stop at the hotel is followed by a long stop at the Sunset Car Wash where we spend 4 hours cleaning the bikes as the Australians have very strict rules on the import of vehicles.   After this we are off to the freight agent, who is super efficient and we ride into the warehouse and literally ride the bikes straight into the crates already lined up for us. As we are stepping off the bikes they are already strapping them down!  

And so after the team photo we are waving goodbye to our bikes for a few days as they fly to Australia and section 3 of Discover Our Earth draws to a close.   We have crossed Central America, visiting 7 countries along the way.  We swam in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and a few hotel pools; visited  ruins, answered the challenges of many borders,   shopped in markets with the locals, ridden some great (and some terrible) roads, stayed in old monasteries, and even had a day in a cowboy town.  Apart from not always being sure what the time was it has been a successful section. 

The group now have a few days to explore Hollywood and Los Angeles before the long flight across the date line to Sydney, and section 4.   The story continues.....

Hot and Sticky

The ride to the Guatemalan border is a little over 6 miles and so we arrive in the cool of the morning. The exit of Honduras is straight forward and so would be the entrance to Guatemala, except for the recently installed computer system. The computer works but nothing will print. If they can’t print the permit for the bike then you can’t get in the country. For the first couple of hours there is no movement. Bikes and Trucks are mounting up and there are now forty to fifty people waiting to get processed. Richard ends up on the wrong side of the counter behind the iron cage trying to fix the problem as they are talking about sending for an engineer! With a bit of luck and patience it gets fixed and the process starts. We lodge one guy at the counter and keep feeding in the documents to ensure we don’t get jostled out of the way. The truck drivers are patient and after another three and a half hours we are in.

The colour and vibrancy of Guatemala cannot be more obvious than in the market at Chichicastanango. It is the largest indigenous market in Central America. The locals are here to trade and exchange and also to sell to the few tourists that make it here. As a group we stand out somewhat as we are slightly taller than the average Guatemalan, who seems to be under 5 feet tall.

The riding in Guatemala is stunning and the mountainous roads are lined with green and beautiful lush scenery which is very memorable. We are only here a short time before we cross to Mexico and the final border crossing before the USA. The Guatemalan side is in the middle of a market and so Guatemala remains colourful, vibrant and bustling to the end. We enter Mexico into the Chiapas region, which only ten years ago was in the middle of a revolution. Our destination, San Cristobal De Las Casas was taken by the Zapatista rebels at one stage of the conflict. San Cristobal is now a bustling town with a strangely large number of good Argentinian Steak Houses. Some of the group take the long stairs to the church overlooking the town, which helps walk off some of the steaks!

After a day riding along the coast we had in land to El Tajin, some of the largest ruins in Central America, originating from the first century and built by the Mayan and Teotihuacan Indians. With 12 “ball” Courts and several pyramids the site is extremely impressive. The stories of the ball courts vary about how the game was played and who played. However the constant theme is that the outcome for the losers seems to have been very bad!

Inland and through the mountains towards to the former hippy hangout of San Miguel Allende. There are still quite a lot of artists, writers and poets around, as well as one of the most stunning and unique churches in Central America. The plaza is not only home to this great church but also to a small bar serving some of the best Margueritas of the trip so far. The town is surprisingly quiet. All becomes clear when we realise that Mexico is playing Venuezala at football and the match is televised. We didn’t let this stop a good night out at a favourite local bar with great local folk music. The band plays wine is drunk and the Mexicans draw the football so its not too bad a night for them either.

On a day off in Zacetecas we have time to do some final preparation for the USA crossing which seems to be the most bureaucratic of the trip so far. We need all sorts of forms and permissions authorised before we take our foreign vehicles in. Zacatecas is another bastion of colonial architecture and also has a Ski lift. Well they call it the Periferico and it goes up to the top of the hill overlooking the town and provides stunning views. Most people spend the day updating bits of maintenance and cleaning on the bikes and enjoying the city. Gunter even walks up the hill just to shame the rest of us.

A big days ride follows as we move north to Parral. A town famous as the location that the USA assassinated Pancho Villa. Allegedly of course. The American riders with us seem certain it wasn’t them, and as we have no Mexican riders we defer to their claims of innocence. And so our timw in Mexico is drawing to a close. We have a few more days before we cross the border and head for Tombstone, Joshua Tree National Park and then Hollywood. Rumour has it the Arnie the Governator will be there to welcome us personally? However its probably just a rumor….