Veracruz

Feb 5-6.


The next morning brought mixed weather as we traversed up and over another mountain range, which gave us a beautiful view of a cloud filled valley below. As we dropped down into the valley the temperature dropped with us.

The switch-backs going down were so sharp that we had to change the side of the road we were driving on in case semi trucks or busses were going up and needed the wider turn radius to make the corner. The lanes are marked accordingly with big white arrows to show when to change sides and only once did we meet a vehicle at the same time we were supposed to change lanes, so a little dance between bike and car ensued. Thankfully it was a short dance and no toes got stepped on. By the time we got to the bottom of the valley the temperature was 10C and overcast as we were now under that lovely cloud veil instead of above it. We again made good time as the road straightened and the towns became less frequent, just us and the sugar cane trucks mostly, at least until we came upon a procession of people on horseback, trotting down the highway with about 3 miles of traffic backed up behind them. Not sure what that was all about, just another day in Mexico I guess, funny thing is that nobody was honking their horns.
Veracruz is a large tourist town along the Gulf Coast.....the Gulf Coast, we really are getting close to the end of our trip, or so it feels. There are hundreds of hotels to choose from so we decided on something with an ocean view somewhere within walking distance to the main tourist areas.


There is a big shipyard here as it is one of Mexico’s most important ports. The zocalo was very busy as expected, lots of tourists taking pictures and watching the boats come into the shipyards. We took a double decker bus tour of the city, or at least two laps around the 6 block radius of the tour office anyway. There was a group of local bikers taking a break at a cafe, we stopped to see if anyone spoke English but no-one did. We tried to ask a few questions about where they were from and such but they gave us blank looks, then I mentioned to one guy who was riding a 2010 F800GS, that we were also riding the same bike. This brought a big smile to his face and a thumbs up of approval, there was also a couple of Harleys and Hondas in the group, it was good to hear a Harley rumble again.


We finished out tourist duties and walked back to the hotel on a local sidestreet noticing how drastically different the city looks just a couple of blocks off the main boulevard, lots of closed shops, run down or vacant buildings, and of course garbage. We spent the evening reviewing photos and trying to stay warm, the cold winds off the Gulf add a windchill factor to the moist air, plus there is no heat in the hotel as it is normally never needed. Damn Canadians sending their cold winter weather down here.