I was able to join the Randy, Jeff and Ron on the first leg of an amazing self-supporting bike trip, which starts in central Colorado and will end at Copper Canyon in Mexico. The trip follows the Great Divide trail, which are mostly dirt roads through some of the most remote areas in the western United States.

The last three days we rode our bikes through mountain resorts, over mountains passes, along high alpine meadows and past miles of sage brushed high plains. Colorado is truly an awesome state with bright morning sun, ominous afternoon clouds, and striking sunsets.

Each person carries their own gear, food, and water on their bikes. Randy pulls a trailer called a Bob trailer, and the others use saddlebags called panniers. For the long trip each uses a mountain bike with front shocks and wide tires. For the three-day journey, I used my touring bike with road touring tires and no shocks. It was somewhat of a challenge staying up right through the 123 miles of dirt, sandy, muddy, rocky roads. But I rode cautiously when needed and rode fast when the roads were hard packed and clear. Coming down the passes my wrist ached from pounding of the washboards and my hands cramped from braking. The guys flew down the mountain past me but would stop and wait every few miles. It gave them a chance to inhale the vistas and me a chance to catch up.  read more here... lee mas aquí... »

Well, here's the financial report on our trip. It was surprisingly inexpensive to live on our trip, and we're pleased with the results.

We spent about $650/person for the entire month in Mexico (which also included $75/person for a deep sea fishing expedition and 4 days on the beach at the end of the trip.). Our airfare was extra - It was about $630 on Mexicana, and well worth it, since they took our bikes for free. (Most airlines wanted $75-100/bike each way. And Mexicana handled our bikes wonderfully in both directions.

Some example prices:

• Hotels cost $15 - $35. We had some really fine places for about $25. All the places we stayed had hot water and a private bathroom. A couple were near-dumps, but much better than some Randy has stayed at some times in the past.
  
• Donation to Virgin of Guadalupe in Manzanilla: $0.10
  
• Lunch of 4 tacos and 2 fresh-squozen orange juices: $2.50
  
• Shower at a hotel (not staying there): $1.50/each
  
• Shower in the market (cold water): $.50 to $.80
  
• Postcards: $.50/each. Mailing them: $1.00/each.

Well, we got to Pie de la Cuesta (Foot of the sunset) on Wednesday afternoon and have been beaching it since. Pie de la Cuesta is a quiet, simple little village about 15 km outside Acapulco, and we found a little hotel we love. Lots of laying around in hammocks.

Yesterday we blew the whole day on a frustrating search for bike boxes (no chance) and finally got a cab and went to the furniture stores rummaging for boxes and we built our own boxes. We have to have them boxed for Sunday's flight, but it's not as easy as just going to the bike store and asking for one!

Sunday's flight should put us in the Denver airport about 6:20 pm, if all goes well!

Heading down the ultramodern autopista we had to find a quick place to stop for the night, because the sun was about to go down.

Nancy's infallible instincts took us off at a little unmarked dirt road that seemed to lead to a village. We followed it and were uncertain whether to go into the village or just plop down our tent nearer to the autopiista. We kept going toward the village because she was hoping for a beer :-)

What we found was amazing. Before we'd been there for five minutes the entire village had joined us and was studying us. There were at least a dozen young children, and there we were chatting with the whole community as the sun went down.

We thought we'd wandered into a hidden village in Guatemala or something, with the one dirt road leading from the autopista to the village. It turned out that this village was founded maybe 40 years ago by people from the mountains of the southern state of Oaxaca who came looking for land. When they founded it (and until 12 years ago, when the autopista was put in) it was three long hours' walk to get there from Tierra Colorada.

The amazing thing is that they're a seemingly isolated people group - "refugees" from Oaxaca, a little disconnected island of people in the middle of Guerrero state. The older people still speak the mountain language, and all speak with an uncharacteristic accent for the region, setting them off further from their neighbors.  read more here... lee mas aquí... »

Some of the wonderful things we have discovered could not have been discovered by gringos like us if we were traveling any other way than by bicycling.

Things that we have discovered:

• Markets called mercados. All fresh foods grown in the local farms, picked recently and sold at the markets by mostly women sitting on blankets and 5 gallon paint buckets. (price for lunch about 25 pesos or $2.50)
• Bathroom etiquette in Mexico: Always bring your own TP, do not flush it down the toilet because the systems can not handle it. Instead put it in the bucket next to the toilet and flush (sometimes) by pouring a bucket full of water from the 55 gallon storage barrel. (costs 2 pesos if TP is included and bathroom is tended and clean)
• Showers can be found in many markets. They're called regaderas publicos and can cost 5-8 pesos (50-80 cents US). What a treat to discover these showers when otherwise we have to take a hotel room to get a shower.
• Siestas: Mexican relaxing time between 2:00 and 4:00. Find the centro of town and find a park bench or a slab of concrete somewhere in the shade. (costs nothing and guaranteed to attract every curious kid around to come check out the bike tourist)
• Internet cafes: a great place to be during the hot afternoons or late evening or anytime one does not feel like riding the bike. The cost is about a dollar an hour (10 pesos an hour) and can be found in most towns with 10,000 people or more.
  

Well, we're in Tierra Colorada this afternoon, just 25 miles or so north of Acapulco, but we wonder if we'll get out of here this afternoon. It's really hot.

We had our longest and hottest day so far, 58 miles, leaving Taxco and heading into the desert south of Iguala, finally stopping in a cactus field somewhere south of Iguala. It was so hot in the afternoon that we'd ride 10 minutes and rest for 30 and have a coke or something.

Yesterday and today we got on the toll road, or autopista for the first time, and it's got nice wide shoulders--but you leave Mexico. No more little towns to mosey through. Just miles and miles of asphalt. It's a good way to get places but a bad way to see Mexico.

Maybe today Acapulco, maybe mañana.

Yesterday and today are big tourist days. We went to the hot mineral springs at Ixtapan, rode 40 miles, and then ended the day with a tour of the incredible caverns at Las Grutas. There are two rivers that run through an incredible cave system, taking 6 an 8 hours to traverse the cave. You can actually do the trip in a raft with the right equipment.

Today we rode an incredible uphill to get to the famous silver city of Taxco, then spent the afternoon shopping for wonderful silver jewelry. Nancy went crazy.

Tomorrow we start working our way toward Acapulco and the coast.

We like the backroads so much we decided to branch out and try a road we knew little about. Even the locals did not know about the road we chose to go to Taxco. Well to make a long story short, we climbed for a half a day on this steep road. We took a break at a new church where this wonderful bell was ringing. We got invited up to the bell steeple but this very old Mexican man, who was older than dirt as well as being the bell ringer. It was Ash Wednesday and we got a lesson on ringing three huge bells with two ropes.

After an hour's break we continued down the road until the asphalt road turned to dirt, and then to a poor dirt road through agricultural fields. We knew we were lost but we being the adventurers we are continued until the sunset. We set up camp at an abandoned schoolhouse in a little agricultural village way up in the hills.

We woke up to an orcherstra of sounds: Pigs on the bass. sheep on the percussion, birds on the clarinet and chickens and roosters as the oboes. The sun rose around pea fields planted all around us and the far mountains appeared as a painted background. Wow, what a way to wake up.

We made it up another 5 miles of the dirt road to a real highway and worked our way to today's destination, Coatepec.