French Pan-Am Runners Matthieu and Ludo

There we were in the remote mountains south of Oaxaca, grinding up a big climb, and here comes Ludo, obviously a gringo, happily and easily running up the grade with a 20 pound backpack, making better time than we were. We stopped to chat, and it turned out that Ludo and Matthieu are running from Mexico City all the way to Patagonia! And they're planning only 10 months for the trip. They know that that's not enough time and they will be taking some buses on some sections, but they're making pretty fine time!

We were tremendously impressed with how light they are traveling, especially when compared with all the stuff we're hauling up and down the mountains. They have just one small day-pack each, containing one change of clothes and a sleeping bag. They put us to shame. And we met them again 2-3 days later on the coast of the Isthmus, so they're moving at almost the same speed as we are. (We do take more rest days.) Of course they're younger, but that's no excuse. We spent one evening with them and another mealtime before parting ways - we rode up into the mountains toward San Cristobal, and they continued on down the coast toward Guatemala.

You can follow their website at panandina.canalblog.com.