Special Update: Bici Nomada, New friends, Benny Vision Productions, Casa Verde Colectivo & San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas!

So to catch everyone up on where we're at......

Prior to arriving in the magical little town of San Cristobal De Las Casas, the team was, my brother Sunny, our road dog Hippolyte from France, and myself. In fact, Sunny and I had gotten into a pretty ugly little bad-mouthing session one morning on the beaches of Oaxaca, and from that point all the way to San Cristobal we had been split up.

I arrived in San Cristobal solo, at night, and thinking I would be here for at least 2-3 days to rest. I figured I'd run into Sunny and Hippolyte, and assumed that as usual they'd be itching to bolt out of town as soon as they were rested up. I had accepted that I'd ride from here to Palenque solo. Boy was I wrong.

We are prepping to leave as I write this, and looking out the window I can count 7 bagged down bikes. There may be at least one more joining as well. Long-story short, my brother and Hippolyte met some cyclists on their way up to San Cristobal who told them about this travelling cyclist hostel in town known as Bici Nomada.

At Bici Nomada Sunny, and Hippolyte met some other touring cyclists: 

Andre from Brazil who is travelling south from Alaska back to Sao Paulo. Here he is with Silvia who works at Bici Nomada.

 Beto also from Brazil has been travelling north from Curitiba, Brazil to Mexico. 

They both met here at Bici Nomada as well, and maybe it was the energy of all the touring cyclists in town but a big plan was made to cycle from here to Palenque as one large group, and we even got some new riders to join..  

Lorena who runs Bici Nomada will be coming with us on her first long ride!

To add to the mix we made a friend in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, who decided to join us as well.

Benny bought a bike in Oaxaca, took a bus to San Cristobal, and is now a part of our team.

We spent more time in San Cristobal than any other stop on our entire journey, and according to the locals here that is a common occurrence. But as you can see in this video made by Ben, we have kept quite busy.. Check out Ben's youtube page here:  Benny Vision

I don't usually stay at hostels but the mix between all the activity that was going on,  the new friends we made, and this epic bike journey we conjured through the jungles of Chiapas, it was better to just ride the flow.. A big bonus to staying here was meeting and hanging out with the epic band Casa Verde Colectivo.. They played a show at our Bici Nomada party, and stayed the night. Not only are they amazing people but their music is off the chain:




Very grateful to have made such great friends here, and to have gotten to know a bit of this amazing place, San Cristobal De Las Casas, Chiapas:

This story wouldn't be complete if I didn't tell you about Masaru and Ruben... These two dudes from Queretaro were a big part of our time in San Cristobal.. They arranged for Casa Verde Colectivo to play, organised the party, and were a big part of our family here.

Masaru, Ruben, & Sunny:

(Photo By Andre Fatini)

A big reason for this update is because today we head off for the wild. We will be going into the jungles of Chiapas where paved roads don't even go. Paradise awaits us, and we will be far from any wifi or internet for at least 10 days till we get to Palenque. From there we split up: Sunny, Hippo, Ben, and I will head to the Frontera Corozal to enter into Peten, Guatemala, Andre will head for the Yucatan, Beto probably to Mexico City soon to get back to Brazil.

Highlight: Las Pyramides de Los Zapotecas (Monte Alban)

7 kilometres up a hill from Oaxaca City, the capital and biggest city in the mountainous Mexican state of Oaxaca, lies the ruins of the capital city of the Zapotec people. It is known today as Monte Alban.

Relatively invisible looking up from the bottom, and with excellent views all around from the top. It is quite an impressive feat of architecture to say the least.

Whoever the Zapotecas really were is beyond what I think we can truly comprehend. They are certainly intriguing for their majestic constructions, as well as the mystery and the beauty of whats left of their time.

According to the information written next to these slabs, they were supposedly made to represent the fallen leaders of the Zapotec rival communities.

Being at the site fills one with wonder. Despite the fact that today it has essentially turned into a large museum filled with camera snapping tourists, like myself, it still makes you wonder what it was like back in the day of the Zapotecas.

Pedal The Globe: Week 15 - Mountains of Oaxaca ==> San Cristobal, Chiapas

Special Video: 7 miles of downhill in Oaxaca!

Uncut/unedited

Pedal The Globe: 14 Oaxaca City - San Jose Del Pacifico

Highlight: Southern Hospitality

You may think that southern hospitality is strictly a thing of the southern United States... I beg to differ. Southern Mexico is a pretty darn hospitable place as well:

  Puebla:
 In the city of Puebla we had the fortune of meeting and staying with Felipe from warmshowers.org... He lives in a sweet house near the University, and is a tour biker who has cycled most of Central America.. As you can imagine we had lots of questions for him. It was so nice and comfortable at his place that we sort of lost track of time and spent something like 4 nights there! In two years Felipe will be setting off on another tour, and this time across all the America's on dirt roads. He is already getting his gear ready, and so far has one of the sweetest touring bikes I've ever seen. It a super suspension aluminium framed bike with fat off road tires, and if Batman had a bike it would literally be this one. Other cool notes, Felipe was the first and so far only hardcore metal fan I've met in Mexico so far.

Tecamachalco:
We arrived in the small town of Tecamachalco the day we left Puebla, and the first order of business was to get Sunny's gear cable replaced. We stopped at the first bike shop we saw on the side of the highway, and Sunny put his bike in for servicing. As we were waiting in front of the bike shop, a friendly man from across the street started waving and smiling at us. The man turned out to be Alex, a new friend and host that night. He came over, and was curious about where we were coming from with our large and heavy looking bikes. Impressed by our journey he immediately invited us to stay with him across the street in his home behind his paint supply store. He lives with his Mother, Father, Brother, and other family members who also help run the business. They fed us dinner, and breakfast. Honestly I have a hard time thinking of a time where I received better hospitality. We left Alex's house in disbelief of how amazing the kindness of strangers can be. Cool note: Everyone in Alex's family were some of the happiest, goofiest, fun-loving people I've met on my trip so far. I left his house with a big smile on my face, and a desire to help others...

Tehuacan:
 The next day we rode to Tehuacan where we had another warmshowers.org host who is an activist, and fights for social rights.. Reyna hosted us at her home, and we talked about activism, the world, corruption, politics, some of the issues she is focusing on, and other things.. It was very interesting, and a sweet bonus was that her mother made us some homemade vegetarian food with handmade tortillas, and later a homemade chocolate atole... Mmmmm... The next morning Reyna rode with us to the edge of town to say goodbye.

Oaxaca City:
After crossing some mountains we arrived in Oaxaca City just in time for festivities week! It was a bit tricky to find a place to stay (without paying) but after some serious message sending on Couchsurfing.org, I finally got a reply, and it was from Jose Reyes.. Jose informed me that there was to be a couchsurfing event at his house that week, and that we were welcome to camp on his yard. It turned out to be a super cool event.. Roughly 20 people were camping on the lawn that night, and Jose invited other couch surfing hosts who brought the 'surfers' they were hosting, and it turned into one big international party of people who were all meeting that day or week.. It was only my 3rd experience with couchsurfing and by far the most fun.. Met lots of people, and made new connections in Mexico and beyond!

San Jose Del Pacifico:
 Ok so this one wasn't free, but I'm putting it on here just because of the sheer badassness of this place! So halfway across the mountain range to get from Oaxaca City to the beach lies a small little town called San Jose Del Pacifico... It lies somewhere near the top of the mountains before it goes back down.. I was a day behind Sunny and Hippolyte, and they were going to wait for me in San Jose. I arrived just before dark, and was looking for the hostel that they were staying at. Problem is it was getting dark, and it was a nasty uphill road. After asking a couple places with no sign of them I started thinking maybe they had left and decided not to wait.. I was told of another hostel up the road so I went in search of it. Having trouble finding it I decided to ask a lady on the side of the road if she knew where this hostel was.. It turned out to be the right lady to ask... She asked me if I needed a room, and judging by the darkness of the sky, and no sign of Sunny and Hippolyte in this tiny town I jumped on it. She introduced me to her father, and elderly man named Mario. Mario took me up all the way to the top of the road where he pointed at a two story cabin up a hill above a corn field. This cabin he rented me for $50 pesos a night. The equivalent of roughly $3.77 American dollars, for a two story cabin with a killer view of the mountains in a sweet little town.. Couldn't beat that deal unless it was free!

Punta Zicatela:
After making it up and over the mountains we finally got down to the beach. Then we rushed about 70k north up the coast to get to where our friend, and ex-bike companion, Eva, had been staying for the past month... I don't think that I mentioned this anywhere on my blog earlier so just to catch everyone up on what happened to Eva: In Mexico City her bicycle with all of her things was stolen. So she took a bus to Puerto Escondido to do some surfing and try to make some money.. We ended up catching back up with her on her last few days in Mexico before she took a plane back home.. So back to the Southern Hospitality segment: During Eva's month in Punta Zicatela she got herself a volunteering position at the cool little hostel, Osa Mariposa, and was essentially living and eating there free in exchange for 6 hours of kitchen work making meals 6 days a week.. During this time she befriended a very cool Polish guy, Pedro Pollak'O, who was another volunteer. By the time we arrived there Pedro had hooked himself up with a house sitting gig in a two story house with a roof deck, yard, and pool.. Since Pedro was staying there all alone, and since Eva and him were good friends he caught wind that we were coming, bada-bing bada-boom we ended up staying at this luxurious beach house for 6 days! It was a nice little reunion for the whole group, and very very nice opportunity to rest our legs a bit!