From Saltillo to Zacatecas

Day 35 I rested in Saltillo. By rested, I mean that I rode my bike all over the city without my gear.

Day 36 kt:55.8 ta:1853 gps:N 24 degrees 59.181' W 101 degrees 04.954'

When I woke up in Saltillo, I discovered that my rear tire had deflated, again. Patches are only a temporary solution. They should only be used to get you to the next city if you are touring. Since I was in the city, I used my last innertube.
Waking up with the sun is great when you are on the road but not so great when you are in the city. I found a bike shop, laundromat, and an internet cafè, all before they were even open. I probably rode around in circles for about two hours before any of these places were even open. Anyway, I was able to take care of my errands so I still had the rest of my day for fun.
The highlight of my day was when I went to the Museum of the Desert. I learned that 60% of Mexico can be classified as desert. The two large deserts in the north are the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. They are separated by the Sierra Tarahumara. The large desert in the south of Mexico is mostly concentrated in the states of Puebla and Oaxaca and is therefore called the Poblano-Oaxacan desert. The Chihuahua desert used to be under water and was a forrest as late as 12,000 years ago. There is evidence of human habitation when it was still a forrest so I can't help but wonder if humans weren't at least partially responsible for the desertification of the area.
It is nice to be cut off from the outside world. I don't have a cellphone, television, radio, or consistent internet access. Whenever I am in the city, I usually spend a lot of time online, either writing my blog or catching up on the news. I usually work myself into a frenzy reading about the incompetence of the most expensive military in the world. I can't believe that our military lost track of over 190,000 guns in Iraq. Why the fuck are we spending over half a trillion dollars a year that only aids the insurgency it supposedly fights? Our military is great at destabilizing countries but not so great at restabilizing them. Unfortunately, with Iraq we created the mess and we are now obliged to clean it up. You break it you buy it. I have a feeling that we are, eventually, going to abandon Iraq to anarchy until another strongman dictator, like Saddam Hussein, comes along to restabilize Iraq. We will probably financially and militarily support this dictator. So much for spreading democracy but we knew that was a fucking lie, anyway.
Speaking of democracy, how can we call this two-party, tweedledum-and-tweedledee, monopoly on power a democracy. We are not really given real choices. The Republocrats agree on the necessity of having a bloated military, maintaining the prison industrial complex, increasing the police powers of the state, keeping health care private, keeping immigrants out of the country, continuing the drug war, etc... These are issues with which I passionately disagree with the Republocrats.
I will not be in the country during the next election. I considered trying to send in an absentee ballot but that might be difficult due to my lack of a permanent residence. In order to send in an absentee ballot, you are required to contact the Secretary of State of the last state in which you resided and provide them with an address where they can send an absentee ballot. You then have to mail it back to them well before the election date. It would be a better system if Americans who were living abroad were able to vote in the embassies. Even if I could vote in the embassies, I would probably vote for Mickey Mouse or Hulk Hogan as president since I am not really given a real choice. There are only two candidates that I have even a modicum of respect for: they are Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. I only like Ron Paul because he is principled to the point where he is the only congressman who voted against the Patriot Act. However, I disagree with his politics and, therefore, would never vote for him. I will not vote for Dennis Kucinich until he grows the cojones to abandon the Democratic party. Until then, I will never trust him because I learned from the Bill Clinton experience that Democrats lie. The rest of the candidates could all be assassinated and our country would probably be better off for it. We all know that the next president of the United States is just going to maintain the status quo just like every president before them. The Democrats will never impeach Bush because they want to keep the power that he illegally usurped when they are in office.
I am on my way now to Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosi to go on a vision quest. Yes, that is right, I am hoping to find peyote. The peyote cactus is an endangered species but this is only because the U.S. exports their insane drug war. If peyote were legal, which it should be, it could be legally cultivated and, hence, not in danger of extinction. There has never been a documented case of peyote overdose or addiction. It even has strong antibacterial qualities which makes it an effective substitute for penicillin. Why is it illegal? It is illegal for the same stupid reason that marijuana and psychaedelic mushrooms are illegal. The prison industrial complex would collapse without the drug war. When so many people from police to prison guards to D.E.A. agents, depend on the drug war to provide them jobs, they will never vote for a politician who wants to end drug prohibition. The drug war is Frankenstein's monster run amok. It is self-perpetuating war that will probably never end until the system collapses on itself.
Peyote has been consumed for milennia by many Indian tribes: Apaches, Kiowas, Comanches, Tarahumara, and Huichols all have sacred peyote rites, to name a few. The Huichol Indians make a 400 kilometer trek to Real de Catorce or Wirikuta, as they like to call it, to consume massive quantities of peyote at el Cerro Quemado or the Burnt Hill. They believe the gods of their ancestors reside in the hills of Real de Catorce. When the go searching for peyote, they say that they are "hunting deer." I am a mixture of mostly European peoples but I have a small amount of Indian in my blood. Despite the fact that I am obviously white, I have always felt more connected to the Indian part of me than the European part. For this reason, I wish to fulfill my vision quest.
I was so happy to be cut off from Babylon. Why did I have to read the news? It almost seems like a form of self-flaggelation. I am, now, back in the desert away from all those news sources. The only thing that matters is that I survive and I make it to Brazil. I am so much happier now that life is so simple. You know what they say: ignorance is bliss.

Day 37 kt: 80.6 ta: 2038 gps: N 24 degrees 25.682' W 101 degrees 22.858'

I swear that the desert between Torreon, Coahuila; Saltillo, Coahuila; and Zacatecas, Zacatecas is like the Bermuda Triangle of flat tires. There was another flat in my front tire caused by thorns, this morning. The hole in my innertube was very small so I decided to give my patches another try. It has held well, so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is flat again, tomorrow. If I don't have to remove too many thorns, I can fix a flat in less than 15 minutes.
The desert was very undesertlike this morning. There was a gray cloud covering the whole sky. I thought that it might even rain. I should not have doubted the powerful desert sun, though, for, soon enough, the clouds began to clear out and it began to warm up. I am over 6,000 feet here so it is definitely cold at night. There seems to be a new variety of cactus appearing over each hill. I passed through "forrests" of Desert Palms. Mexico is home to about 95% of the varieties of cactus in the world so I am always finding something different. I love cactus and I think that it is one of the most beautiful plants, especially when it is flowering
I am starting to chip away at those latitudinal lines on the globe. Within a week, I will have passed the Tropic of Cancer as it is on the way to Zacatecas. I made a slight change of plans and decided to ride to Michoacan, to see the monarchs, before I go to el D.F. I see monarchs flying south every day now so I feel a sense of urgency to go see them. This way, I won't be in a hurry to leave el D.F. when I am visiting my friends.
I could have covered a larger distance, today, but I took too many breaks. It worked out in my favor, though, because, while I was resting at a convenience store, the owner gave me a whole bunch of dried beef. This is something that I always like to carry so I was happy that I didn't have to spend a whole lot of money to stock up.
Since I have been fulminating on the subject of the drug war and the growth of the police state, I thought I would write a little bit about the police here in Mexico. There are many different kinds of police here and I will try to explain the differences between them and the jurisdictions they cover.
The policia municipal are only found in larger cities. They are usually the least well equipped of the various police forces here. They drive the older and smaller cars, if they even have cars, and they have the oldest and lowest quality guns. Sometimes they carry AK-47s but they usually just have an old revolver or two. I once saw a municipal cop in Mexico City with two revolvers and an AK-47. They can be on foot, horse, bike, motorcycle, or car. Some of them direct traffic but most of them just hang out.
The policia rural are found in the countryside where there might be a few towns that are close together. They drive 4X4 pickup trucks and they mostly seem to hang out.
The policia estatal police the state highways, though barely. They all have cars though their cars are not as nice as those of the federales. Again, I never see these guys doing much of anything.
The policia federal have the coolest toys out of the police forces here and have the largest jurisdictions. Some of them drive new Dodge Chargers and carry M-16s instead of AK-47s. They will set up roadblocks on the highway and collect bribes from truckers who don't have proper documentation. They don't seem to be too interested in searching vehicles, though, at least not so far.
A.F.I. or the Agencia Federal de Investigaciones is kind of like the D.E.A., A.T.F., and F.B.I. all rolled into one. They also have the coolest toys and can set up roadblocks whereever they want. I passed an A.F.I. roadblock, today, where they were searching every car, but I used a Jedi mind trick and rolled through unimpeded. I even waved hello to a couple of A.F.I. agents carrying machine guns. I think that they have drug sniffing dogs, too, but they are on the side of the highway that goes north because drugs go north and guns go south.
The military should not be forgotten when discussing the police here since they run most of the revision points in Mexico. They are essentially an auxillary police force used to fight the drug war. At each post, there are usually several men who search the cars and several sentries who carry G-3 machine guns. Sometimes, there will even be a mounted machine gun at the post. Those in charge of revision carry metal pointers and stick them in the hollows of cars looking for drug or weapon stashes. I rolled through two of these revision posts unimpeded, today. One of them even had drug sniffing dogs though they were upwind from me. I usually just wave hello to the soldiers and roll on through. I am prepared to pretend that I don't understand Spanish well enough to understand the sign that says ,"Punto de revision."
One can not discuss the police or soldiers here without discussing the system of bribery that enriches them. The police here do not earn a lot of money, especially when compared to police in the United States who start out at about $40,000 a year in most cities. They have come to expect bribes the way a waiter in the U.S. expects a tip of at least 15%. The actual process of bribing a cop is more of a negociation than anything. When I lived in Mexico City, I once saw a friend of mine bribe his way out of the back of a police car with a $10 watch that he told them was worth $20. If you are a skilled negociator, you could probably spend less money bribing a cop than going through the bureaucratic system. Considering that every time I have ever gotten a ticket, I have to go see a judge and pay a fine, I don't see that big a difference between the Mexican and American systems. The Mexican system just eliminates the bureaucratic middleman.
The police in the U.S. don't set up random search checkpoints as this has been ruled unconstitional as an unreasonable search. The police in the United States can not detain someone without reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime. It is only a matter of time, though, before the current supreme court deems these searches constitutional. Our government happily exports the drug war abroad but never exports the constitutional principles which constrain law enforcement officers in the U.S. The rest of the world suffers an increase in the police powers of the state all in the name of fighting the great American drug war.
The drug war is doomed to fail because there isn't a cop or a soldier who can't be bribed. American policy makers should go back to school to learn about supply and demand. You can not eliminate the demand by eliminating the supply. As the supply decreases the prices will go up because the demand remains the same. When the prices increase the drug dealers have more money to bribe police and soldiers. Also, no crackhead is going to stop smoking crack because the prices increase. They will just rob two people instead of one to get their fix. I guess I can't complain about American tactics in the drug war, though, because the Communist Chinese government executed opium addicts in mass. The Chinese solution did effectively eliminate demand and hence opium addiction, but at what cost? That is the only effective military solution to fighting the drug war. Are we prepared to go that far to end the drug war?

Day 38 kt: 98.9 ta: 1271 gps: N 23 degrees 35.350' W 100 degrees 57.811'
Today was another peaceful day in the desert. After riding on a highway, that was well populated with truckers, for the first 30 kilometers, I turned onto a "highway" that had very little traffic. I had the road all to myself most of the time. Despite the lack of traffic, there are still little towns every 20 kilometers or so. I am well stocked up on everything but it is nice to know that there are places that I can get food and water. Goat herding seems to be the main form of economic activity here.
Speaking of goats, I ate cabrito for the first time, today. It seemed like they must have slaughtered it out back because I was picking goat hairs out of my food. Despite the goat hairs, the cabrito was delicious. I am not going to cop out by saying that goat tastes like chicken. Goat meat has a unique flavor that tastes kind of like chicken but a little different. For about $13, the cabrito was the most expensive meal that I have eaten in Mexico, thus far.
Being the gastronomical adventurer that I am, I am always looking for new foods to try. Sometimes I discover new favorite foods. I am hoping to eat iguana when I am on the beach. I have eaten the intestines of cows, which is called tripa, but I have not worked up the courage to eat the eyes or tongue of the cows. I have even tried grasshopper, though squeemishly. If you think about it, dried grasshopper is not too different from dried shrimp, which I have also eaten. In Saltillo, I tried pan de pulque for the first time. Pulque is a creamy alcohol that is made from the mezcal cactus. It is used as the leavening agent in the bread. I can't wait to find out what new flavors I will discover as I continue south. I have not gotten sick yet as my body can metabolize raw meat.

Day 39 kt:38.6 ta: 3018 gps: N 23 degrees 41.513' W 100 degrees 53.324'

I thought that the road between Basaseachic and San Juanito was bad. But the road, nay trail, that leads to Real de Catorce is far worse. The path is so rocky and steep that I had to get off of my bike for the first time and push it uphill. Believe it or not, this is actually more exhausting than riding uphill. When I was taking a break, I asked Ja to provide me with the strength to push my bike up the remaining 30 degree inclines. Ja provided strength in the form of a man who helped me push my bike up the hill. Even with help, pushing 80 pounds of bike and equipment uphill is neither easy or fun. By the time that I reached Real de Catorce, I was exhausted and famished. I ate three hamburgers at once. I probably could have eaten more but that would have been gluttonous. Anyway, Real de Catorce is beautiful but I can't seem to find peyote here. The man who helped me push my bike uphill told me he could help me find some in the valley, tomorrow morning. Even if I don't find peyote here, I would consider this trip worth it for I met a hippie from Guanajuato who told me I could stay with him when I pass through.

Day 40 kt: 38.5 ta:303 gps: N 23 degrees 53.095' W 100 degrees 59.133'

I came to Real de Catorce looking for peyote but, alas, I did not find it. It is not a secret anymore that peyote can be found in the vicinity. The sad truth is that too many people come to Real de Catorce looking for peyote and it is harder and harder to find. It is definitely endangered around here. This would not be a problem if the cultivation of peyote were legal as people could plant fields of it for consumption.
When I left town, this afternoon, I was sad that I did not accomplish my goal of finding peyote but I was, nonetheless, happy that I came. In the morning, I woke up to the symphony of the roosters crowing and walked around the cobblestone streets. When I returned to the place I was staying, I was thrilled to find a woman selling tamales and champurrado. Champurrado is one of the many reasons I love Mexico. It is a hot chocolate beverage that also has cinammon and sometimes almonds in it. It is thickened with masa. Being that this is the first time that I have found champurrado after crossing the frontier, I drank four cups of it. That alone made my day.
To leave Real de Catorce, I followed the same path from whence I came. The descents along the path were so steep and rocky that I walked my bike along large portions of it because my brakes would not stop my fully-loaded bike. It took me a lot longer than I would prefer to descend into the desert valley but I am happy that I made it out of the mountains alive.
When I reached the junction in the highway where I needed to turn, some men told me that there was a hill outside of the city where a bunch of peyote grew. I figured, what the hell, I can set up my tent in the open desert and go searching for peyote. I saw many cool varieties of cactus and many holes where it looked like something had been dug up, but, alas, I did not find peyote. Maybe I will look again in the morning but I feel like I have to keep moving.

Day 41 kt: 24.2 ta: 400 gps: N 24 degrees 00.196' W 101 degrees 02.019'
happy gps: N 23 degrees 53.173' W 101 degrees 02.019'

Today, I travelled a lot farther in the spiritual realm than in the physical realm. It was an unusual day in the desert. It rained last night when I was sleeping and there was a fog blanketing the desert when I woke up this morning. After breaking down my campsite, I figured that I would try one last time to hunt for peyote. With the fog and the many forks in the path, it was easy to get lost in the open desert so I marked a waypoint in my G.P.S. device where I left my stuff. I then rode off on my bicycle about a kilometer and a half from my campsite and began my search. I did not have to search long before I found what I was looking for, in abundance. I then extracted a button that was about four inches in diameter and rode back to my campsite. The peyote was my breakfast this morning.
As far as I can tell, peyote does not like rocky or grassy areas but prefers sand. It mainly grows at the bases of desert bushes and barely pops up over the surface of the soil. If this is not enough information to help you with your hunt, I have provided the exact coordinates, above, for a nice peyote field. I could see at least three plants from these coordinates and was able to find many more by walking around this area.
To try to describe a peyote trip to someone who has never tried it is like trying to describe the color blue to a someone who has been blind their entire life. You just have to try it to know what it is like. It is not as bitter as I expected. Both beer and coffee have more bitter flavors. I definitely felt different but can not describe in words how I felt. There were no tracers or visual effects. Though I felt different, I can not say that the peyote had a debilitating effect. I felt like I could work under the influence if my dilated pupils did not freak out my customers. Granted I only consumed one good-sized button, whereas, when it is taken ritually, it is taken in much greater quantities.
After I started coming down, I ventured into the town of Vanegas to find some food. I was ravenous because I hadn't eaten anything, except the peyote, all day. I ate two plates of chicken in mole sauce. It was quite delicious. Though the effects of the peyote had worn off, the woman at the food stand knew exactly what I had been up to because my pupils were still as big as saucers. She just kind of chuckled as she asked me if I had eaten a cabezita or little head as peyote is often called. She did not care that it was a crime to extract peyote. She was just happy that I was patronizing her food stand.
I was able to get a little bit of riding in, today, after my late lunch. It remained overcast all day but looked particularly gnarly ahead so I set up my camp about an hour early. I did not want to ride into the lightning, thunder, and heavy rain that lay ahead. The sunset was quite beautiful as they often are on these stormy days. I will go to sleep tonight with the satisfaction of knowing that I accomplished one of the goals of my journey.

Day 42 kt: 94.7 ta:1553 gps: N 23 degrees 52.629' W 101 degrees 44.157'

My only goal today was to get back on the highway going in the direction of Zacatecas. I achieved that and added another 40 kilometers on top of that. Tomorrow, I should pass the Tropic of Cancer.
I ate in two restuarants, today, and both of them were strange places to be. The first only had one picture on the wall and that was of Elvis in a cowboy hat. There was a little retarded kid there who was torturing a poor kitten. The second was right next to an electrical substation but had no electricity. It looked like it was going to rain so I asked the owner if I could set my tent up out back and he told me I could stay in the covered porch area which was even better. He even busted out a peyote button and started eating it when I told him I had just come from Real de Catorce. At the second restuarant, I even ran into a pair of Austinites asking for directions to Real de Catorce. What a strange coincidence, no?

Day 43 kt:92 ta: 1391 gps: N 23 degrees 15.975' W 102 degrees 20.012'

My gear is breaking down on me but I continue moving. The extra 4 liter bag of water that I carried on my rear rack sprung a leak and was rendered useless. I was carrying about 4 liters too much water anyway. It was extra weight. The plastic part on my G.P.S. device which clips onto my handlebars has some microfractures in it and does not function optimally. I am going to try to fix it with superglue and if that fails, I have been imagining several other solutions. Today, I popped another spoke on my real wheel. My rim seems to be fubar and I think that I am going to have to replace it. Even when I disconnected my rear brake the tire was rubbing against my bicycle frame which is problematic because this will rip holes in the sidewalls of my tire leading to chronic flats. I thought that I was going to have to hitch a ride because my bike would not roll. Luckily, I popped my spoke next to a work crew that was clearing overgrowth and trash from the side of the road. There was one point when the entire work crew stopped what they were doing for about half and hour to help me fix my bike so I could, at least, roll unimpeded by unnecessary friction. It took a while, but after loosening most of my spokes and clipping one more, we were able to make my wheel straight enough to ride. It is only a temporary solution, though, and I am on my way to Zacatecas with only my front brake. I probably won't be able to get it fixed, tomorrow, because it is a national holiday (More on that shortly). Unfortunately, I am probably going to have to shell out the big bucks for a new rim.
Tomorrow is el 20 de Noviembre. It doesn't really have a special name but there is a 20 de Noviembre street in just about every city in the Republic of Mexico. It was on November 20, 1910 when Francisco Madero issued his Plan de San Luis Potosi which was a call to arms against the dictatorship of the aging Porfirio Diaz. He claimed that Porfirio Diaz had fraudulently stolen the elections. The next day, people in the north heeded this call and, shortly thereafter, Porfirio Diaz abdicated power and fled into exile. Francisco Madero was released from jail to assume the presidency. Thus began the saga of the Mexican Revolution. It started out relatively bloodlessly but, after Fransisco Madero was, later, overthrown in a coup d'etat and executed, the powderkeg, that was Mexico, exploded. This period of the revolution pitted the Constitutionalists forces against the anti-Constitutionalists forces and did not end until the Constitutionalists forces consolidated power and drew up the Constitution of 1917. After the revolution was over, 1/15th of the Mexican population, at the time, had died in warfare.

Crossing the Desert, Again

Day 27 kt:38.6 ta: 973 gps:N 27 degrees 00.347' W 105 degrees 20.317'

I left the city with about four hours left until sunset. I spent some time at the internet cafe and, later, went to pick up my part at the taller de torno. After spending some time fixing my front saddlebag, it is now as good as new. Most of my riding, today, was flat and I can tell that it is flat all the way to Jimenez, Chihuahua and I can tell that it is going to remain flat because the distance on my GPS and that on a sign, on the side of the street, matched when I was about 50 kilometers away. It will probably be easy riding, tomorrow, but I could definitely be wrong.
Normally, in the desert, the number one hazard to my survival is dehydration. For this reason, I like to leave the city for the desert with no less than 10 liters of water. Water is always on my mind. I am intimately aware of the amount of water that I am carrying at any time.
The second most dangerous hazard to my survival is probably rattlesnakes. It is warm enough here that the snakes are not hibernating. For this reason I always step carefully when I am looking for a campsite. After selecting a campsite under a bridge, today, I walked by a large snake hole but did not see any snakes. I would like to see a rattlesnake in the wild some day, though, at a distance.
Desert scorpions and Black Widows are probably tied for third place. Both are potentially deadly and both could crawl into my sleeping bag unnoticed and bite me when I get in. Today, right before sunset, when I was looking for a place to put my tent, I saw a black widow. It was underneath a bucket that I had flipped over. It was bigger than I expected and I had to agitate with a stick to see the red spot on its abdomen to make sure it was what I thought. It indeed was. This was a picture perfect female specimen. It was quite beautiful. I took a picture of it and then left it in peace. I then promptly chose to put my tent about 100 feet away from it on the other side of the bridge. My tent was well zipped up so no black widow could enter. I see no reason to kill a creature because it poses a threat to me.

Day 28 kt:90.3 ta: 880 gps: N 26 degrees 17.558' W 103 degrees 52.862'

The land is flattening out and the mornings are not as cold as they were in the mountains. This makes for easier, though, less scenic riding. Jimenez seems like one of those towns that grow in the middle of farm and ranch country; like a smaller version of San Angelo, Texas. There is a tractor dealership there.
It should be pretty flat all the way to Torreon. This means my camping options are pretty limited. I am sleeping under a bridge for the second night in a row. Hopefully, there won't be any headwind as I ride, tomorrow.

Day 29 kt:101 ta: 737 gps: N 26 degrees 17.558' W 103 degrees 52.562'

The land is still flat, though, I can see the blue silhoettes of mountains in the distance. The desert is beautiful. Sometimes you just need to look a little more closely to find the beauty.
Despite the scarcity of water, life abounds here. There are large amounts of insects, birds, reptiles, and desert rodents. I don't always see them but I hear them scurrying away, in the brush, as I ride by. I have seen many hawks the last couple of days as they seem to be the top predator around here. I even had the priviledge of seeing them hunt.
Today, I discoverd that they will, indeed, let me ride on the toll roads for free. There are many posted signs that say that no bicyclists are allowed but that doesn't seem to bother the gatekeepers who blithely allow me to continue on my journey. The toll roads have big shoulders and seem to get less traffic so I don't feel like I always have to watch over my shoulder when I ride. There seems to be less places to stop and stock up on food and water, though.

Day 30 kt:103 ta:1163 gps: N 25 degrees 34.409' W 103 degrees 23.404'

Today, I wanted to ride straight through Torreon, Coahuila but I saw the perfect urban campsite as I was leaving the city. My campsite is in an urban wasteland type area with lots of overgrown bushes obscurring my tent. I am pretty sure that not many people go here because I had to make my own trails through some horrible, thorny, dead bushes.
I didn't notice until I was at my campsite, but I popped my first spoke of the trip, today. This is a problem that lightweights such as myself almost never have with their problem. With all my gear, though, my weight is a lot closer to the American average. This is about the only repair that I am not prepared to fix on the road. I can always keep rolling with this problem, I just may need to disconnect one of the brakes. Fortunately I am in the city and shouldn't have too much of a problem finding a bike shop to replace my spoke.
This is a large urban area as Gomez Palacio, Durango and Torreon, Coahuila are twin cities of the desert. They aren't even 10 kilometers apart and they are effectively one big city. There are probably more than a million people that live here.
Hopefully, after getting my bike serviced, I can be on my way after lunch. I am on Mexican time, though, so my hopes aren't too high. That is what I get for waking up at least two hours before anyone else.

Day 31 kt:42.8 ta: 411 gps: N 25 degrees 29.889' W 103 degrees 06.551'

There are a lot of bicyclists here in Torreon. It is definitely a common mode of transportation here. Since we cyclists are a lawless bunch, they had to pass a law in Torreon making it illegal for bicyclists to go the wrong way down the street. I still ride whereever I want however I want.
The first chunk of my day was spent fixing my bike, wondering around markets, and surfing the internet. It only cost $3.50 and only took half an hour to fix my bike. The bike shop was right across the street from one of those huge, labryntine marketplaces. It is always fun to get lost in these marketplaces, observing the sights and smells of every hidden corner.
If you have a sweet tooth to indulge, Mexico is the place to be. This is where the flavors of chocolate and vanilla were discovered, after all. You hardly ever have to travel a few blocks without running into a dulcería or candy shop. This is not to be confused with a nevería/paletería which sells ice cream and popsicles, a pastelería which sells cakes, nor a panadería which is a bakery that mostly sells sweet bread. All the dentists in this country must work overtime. Anyway, being the lean, mean, fat-burning machine that I am, I indulge whereever I go. I hardly ever have a meal in the city without also having dessert. I have even found a couple of useful survival foods in the dulcería. One is called a palenqueta de cacahuate which translates to peanut candy bar. It was lots of calories from fat, sugar, and protein and it keeps well without refrigeration. The other useful survival food is called até. For those of you in the United States, this is what we call fruit leather except they don't sell até in thin strips like in the U.S. It is sold in kilogram blocks for about a dollar. A pack of 20 palenquetas de cacahuate cost me $2. I am now well stocked up for my journey into the desert.
I found a nice little mesquite grove to camp out in today. There have not been any fences in the desert since I left Torreon. This is nice because my camping options are less limited.

Day 32 kt: 31.3 ta: 333 gps: N 25 degrees 36.528' W 102 degrees 54.613'

I wanted to try to ride 100 miles through the desert, today, but my hopes, along with both of my tires were deflated when I rode through a briarpatch. I have had pretty good luck with flats until recently but, boy, did my luck run out. Those who have ever owned and ridden a mountain bike should know that fixing a flat caused by thorns can be one of the most hellish and Sisyphaen tasks. I spent, at least, three hours, underneath the hot desert sun, with ants crawling all over me, picking out thorns from my bicycle. At least, the ants weren't fire ants and, at least, I had the partial, moving shade of a 6-foot-tall mesquite tree. I wanted to make sure that I got all of the thorns out because they can become embedded in the tire and cause chronic flats. My eyesight has always been good and this served me well for there were some tiny, little, pernicious fuckers stuck in both tires. I had to use the point of my small knife blade to dig out all of the thorns. By the time I finished fixing both flats, it was already the afternoon and, by the time I finished eating a late lunch, there was only two hours left until sunset. At the end of the day I was happy that I didn't have to fix any more flats because that would have ruined my day.
This trip, for me, has been more than just a long bike ride. It has been a spiritual journey as well. Religiously, I am what you might call a dirt-worshipping neo-pagan. I prefer not to label my spirituality, though, because I don't expect anyone to think exactly like me. Anyway, I worship the sun, moon, winds, mountains, forrests, etc... I feel like I prove my worth as a young warrior from the bicycle hippie tribe by riding over mountains and confronting strong headwinds. Bicycling is a metaphor for life. Well, for me, bicycling is my life. Sometimes in life you have to overcome obstacles to continue on. Every hill, headwind, or flat tire is only a temporary obstacle on the way to reaching my goal. I am now stronger and wiser for having dealt with this adversity. Humanity thrives on adversity. It is what forced us to adapt to new environments. I am confident that I can conquer any obstacle in my path.
I have still not seen any fences for a long time. It would be gallons of gluttonous, gasoline-guzzling, gleeful fun to have dirt bike here. One could ride for many miles unimpeded. That being said, I have my tent set up in a wide-open space about a 100 yards from the highway. It is beautiful here. There are large patches of beige-colored sand interrupted by a variety of desert succulents and bushes. The sunset over the mountains, today, was beautiful. It seemed almost like a reward for my patience in fixing my flats. I feel ready for tomorrows challenges.

Day 33 kt: 101 ta:966 gps: N 25 degrees 39.406' W 101 degrees 57.508'

I covered a lot of ground, today, despite having two more flats. The first flat was probably caused by a stubborn thorn. I dug out two more of those sneaky, evil, little fuckers that had escaped my vigilance the day prior. The second flat was caused by a faulty patch. I am determined to make it to Saltillo using patched instead of my last innertube. There are two important things to remember when using patches to fix a flat: always rough the tube using sandpaper and always deflate the tire completely before putting on a new patch. Otherwise, the patch will probably fail shortly. I still don't have a lot of faith in patches and I am resolved to leave Saltillo with no less than four innertubes.
There seems to be an even greater variety of desert succulents in this part of the desert. Some deserts are just sand but this desert is a thriving ecosystem. I could run out of food and water here and survive because I can identify several varieties of edible cactus that also have water stored inside. If worse comes to worse, I could always live off of grasshoppers and prickly pear, both of which are in abundance here. I could even have a survival party with 5 others and have rattlesnake cooked in maguay leaves. Mmmmmmmm, delicious. That being said, I will not run out of food or water here because there seems to be a prototypical dusty Mexican desert town every twenty kilometers or so.
This highway seems to be a major trucking corridor so all the little towns have at least one tienda de abarrotes or convenience store where I can stock up on food and water. Many of the restuarants here have names like "El Caminero" or "The Trucker." If they don't have trucker related names, they have pictures of semis right next to La Virgen de Guadalupe.I have had some close encounters with the rigs on the highway, but, for the most part, this highway has more than enough spare capacity for a wee, little bicyclist. There were mostly two lanes, today, so I aggressively claimed one as my own. Most drivers defer to me because they don't want to clean the mess off of their windshield or grill.
Out of all the American corporations here in Mexico, there is none more ubiquitous than Coca-Cola. They have an amazingly efficient distribution system here. If I were an economics teacher, I would use them as a case study for how a corporation from the developed world could tap into developing markets. Coca-Cola is in places where there is no plumbing, electricity, or even paved roads. They have developed a number of products for the local market here based on tropical fruit flavors. It seems like most people here prefer Coke to water, not unlike the U.S. I have a feeling that I could live in a rural village in communist North Korea and still find Coca-Cola. Communist dentists need jobs, too, after all.

Day 34 kt:110 ta: 2505 gps: N 25 degrees 25.459' W 101 degrees 00.155'

I woke up this morning and there was another fucking flat in the same tire. Flat tires are the bane of my existence. Again, I was determined to make it to Saltillo without using my last innertube. I put another patch on a little hole next to the original patch and it held air all the way to Saltillo.
My determination to use patches was matched only by my determination to make it to Saltillo before the sun set. I almost gave up near the end for the wind-less, flat terrain was replaced by ascents with a noticable headwind for the last 40 kilometers. But, I kept on pedalling with my determination being rewarded by a descent the last 10 kilometers into the city.
The road, today, was mostly not the nice highway, with two lanes going in each direction, of yesterday. It was replaced by a narrow, undivided highway that had only one lane going in each direction. To make matters worse, there were still a lot of truckers that follow the same route. I had more than one scary encounter with semis with double trailers passing me with, what seemed like, inches to spare. I learned from these encounters, though. Whenever rigs would approach from behind, I would move into the oncoming lane and wave them past me. If there was a conflict of interest between me and two oncoming rigs, I would pull off the side of the road and let them pass. Those who rule the road on these two-lane highways have either the biggest balls, biggest engine, biggest truck, or some combination of the aforementioned three traits. I have seen many people successfully attempt some brave maneuvers in passing slower moving vehicles. I have won a few games of chicken with the truck drivers as they attempt to pass some old jalopy around a blind curve. One always has to look at the traffic ahead of them as well as behind them if they wish to survive these highways on their bicycle.
When I was travelling through the desert, today, I saw some monarch butterflies flying south towards Michoacan, Mexico. They fly from Canada to the hills of Michoacan every winter to breed. They are supposed to cover everything. The trees and the mountains are blanketted in a sea of orange. This phenomenon only happens in November and December so after visiting Real de Catorce, I am going to fly like demon to el D.F., where I will stay about a week or so, and then to Michoacan. Even if I don't get to see the monarchs in full force, Michoacan is supposed to be very beautiful.

Hanging out in Hidalgo de Parral

Day 24 kt:94 ta:3338 gps N 26 degrees 55.355' W 106 degrees 19.836'

Today was a fun day for riding for I mostly rode downhill, especially at the end of my journey when I descended over 3000 feet. I swear I rode downhill for the last 20 kilometers of my trip. The descents were more fun, too, because I could see farther ahead so I wasn't afraid to just let go of the brakes and zoom downhill. The ecosystem has changed back into a desert ecosystem. There are no more pine trees or manzanillas. They have been replaced by desert succulents and oak trees. The scenery is beautiful.
I was going to stay at a motel tonight but I did not have enough cash and there were no cash machines in Balleza.Oh well, I just have to camp, instead. I have to make it 97 kilometers to Hidalgo de Parral with only 76 pesos which is around $7. I can do it because I have lots of food and water.

Day 25 kt:96.63 ta: 4727 gps: N 26 degrees 55.811' W 105 degrees 39.995'

I made it to Hidalgo de Parral from Balleza with the small amount of money that I had. I was mostly ascending the first half of the day and mostly descending the second half. Hidalgo de Parral seems like a charming town. It was an old colonial mining town so it has lots of narrow colonial streets built for horse carriages. Too bad, if you drive a car here.
I am staying in a place here called Hotel Monarrez. It is the place the taxi driver directed me to when I asked where the cheapest hotel was. It is a charming place with cold water only and toilet seats for all of its toilets. Toilet seats are a luxury here in Mexico so I am always grateful. The truth is, that after camping in the mountains for several weeks, toilets are a luxury. Considering that I hadn't showered since Chihuahua City, the cold shower I took there was the best cold shower of my life. The Hotel Monarrez also seems to be the favorite place of hookers and couples who have no other place to do it. This is no problem but the noise they make is often distracting. The doorperson here gave me an excellent local tea called te de zorillo or skunk tea. I will stay here through tomorrow, The Day of the Dead.

Day 26 I stayed in Hidalgo de Parral

I wake up with the sun, therefore I wake up much earlier than most of the Parralenses as the people from Hidalgo de Parral are called. I went to find the taller de torno but it was not open yet. I got to eat the first tacos of the day at the taco stand next to the workshop. They were quite delicious. I eventually found a machine shop that could make the part I needed. It will, only, cost $15 for all eight pieces. Try replacing any specialized part like that in the United States for that price.
Hidalgo de Parral seems to appear in the pages of Mexican history books disproportionately for a city its size of about 120,000 inhabitants. It was founded in the seventeenth century as a small mining town. There was silver in the surrounding mountains so the town become a city by the early nineteenth century. It was the capital of the republic when Benito Jaurez brought the government of Mexico here while fleeing from French forces. When the American Punitive Expedition came here under the command of General John Pershing, they were driven out of town by a riot of townspeople. This is also the town in which Pancho Villa was killed. I went to the spot where he was assassinated. There is a museum there dedicated to him.
Since it is the Day of the Dead, I thought I would buy some pan de los muertos and share it with el general at his tomb his tomb in the panteon or cementary outside of the city center (His bones were actually exhumed and put in one of the corners of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City). The cementary here is huge and was filled with people. People brought flowers and food for their ancestors. They cleaned up and deweeded around the tombstones. There were groups of people singing and playing instruments at some of the gravesites. It was a very beautiful thing. I wish we celebrated the Day of the Dead in the United States.
Mexico is a land of contradictions. It is flooding right now in the southern states of Tabasco and Chiapas and yet I haven't seen a drop of rain since I left Austin. I am sure this will change once I make to the jungle. The government which, at one point, conspired to assassinate Pancho Villa, now celebrates him as one of Mexico's greatest folk heros. When I went to put a flower on Pancho Villa's tomb, it was closed off and an arrangement of flowers had been left by the municipal government of Hidalgo de Parral. On the same day that the Mexican Navy found 23 tons of cocaine in a ship off the coast, I was rolling through a military checkpoint unimpeded. The soldiers were more curious about my trip than what was in my bags. I still remember how the soldiers in the first checkpoint, I rode through in Northwestern Chihuahua, were listening to narcocorridos while they were searching all of the cars and the trucks. The narcos that I met in Guachochi were some of the nicest and most generous people to me even though they carried guns. I kind of like being in a land of such contradictions. It is always fun to make ironic observations.