Into the heat

Day 73 kt: 19.5 ta: 859 gps: N 19 degrees 13.387' W 99 degrees 08.535'

I ended up staying in Mexico City one more day because I didn't want to hurry to do my errands: I needed to buy new gloves, burn my photos to a C.D., and mail my photos and Christmas presents for my mom to Austin. Moreover, I wanted to party with Edgar one last time before I left the city. I even drank a little alcohol, though, not quite as much as Edgar who fell off his bike twice while we were riding back to his house from the party. I woke up late and didn't actually leave Edgar's house until 2:30 p.m.
Leaving Mexico City is, thus far, the hardest thing that I have had to do. My actual departure was a very poignant moment. The whole Medina family gathered in front of their house so we could all take pictures together. I tried to hold back tears but ended up crying under my sunglasses. I am really going to miss all of my friends and the Medina family. I am very seriously considering moving back to Mexico City when my journey is over. At the very least, I am going to have to find more time to visit.
I barely made it out of the city because I had to make a few stops. Upon looking at my rear rim, I noticed that there are cracks where the spokes and spoke nipples connect. As the right-sized rims are impossible to find in el D.F.( Believe me, I tried), I had to use another ghetto-rig solution: I used metal epoxy paste to seal the cracks. Right now, my rim is straight and the cracks seem to be well sealed so I am hoping to make it, at least, far enough to replace my rim. I am just going to have to ask around in every city that I ride through. I honestly think that the epoxy paste will hold for a while though I am prepared to ride on my rear rim until my wheel explodes.
My campsite is in the mountains between Mexico City and Cuernavaca, Morelos. I am going to have to get myself back into my nomadic lifestyle. Hopefully, having a warm bed and shower hasn't made me fat and weak.

Day 74 kt:80.8 ta:2198 gps: N 18 degrees 45.849' W 99 degrees 14.342'

My first twenty kilometers of the day was all spent climbing. The rest was all descent. Whee!! I descended over 6,000 feet, passing through Cuernavaca on the way towards a town called Iguala, Guerrero where I will turn off towards Zihuatenejo, Guerrero. Morelos is the state that Emiliano Zapata is from and where he started his rebellion against the Mexican government. I have set up my campsite on a hill overlooking a prison and a Mexican suburb. If you think that American suburbs are monotonous, you should see a Mexican suburb.
I have not gone on one of my political rants in a while but I have seen some things in the news that have caught my eye. The countdown is ticking until January 1st when a new Arizona law making it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal immigrants goes into effect. Upon being caught the first time, the employer loses their business license for a year. The second time, their business license is revoked permanently. I think that this is a completely asinine law but instead of dwelling on why it is stupid and racist I would like to make some predictions:
The cost of construction will rise significantly. Any new roads or buildings will be delayed and go over budget. Retail sales and, hence, sales tax receipts will see a sharp decline across the board as illegal immigrants contribute significantly to the economy. The difference will be so stark that the coming national recession won't be enough to explain the decline. Some businesses such as fast food restuarants and used car lots will see even greater declines. Anyone who has even frequented any of these businesses in Texas can see that illegal immigrants are one of the main demographics which supports these establishments. Finally most of the illegal immigrants who live in Arizona will move not back to Mexico but to bordering states.
I am sure that I have only scratched the surface in predicting the economic fallout from this law. I have based my predictions not on conjecture but on what has actually happened to small towns that passed similar draconian laws against immigrants. Believe me when I say that Mexicans notice these laws as I have had several conversations with random strangers where they brought up the racism of Americans. Those racist bastards in Arizona deserve everything that is coming to them.
Another thing that has caught my eye in the news is the proposal of several of the leading Democratic candidates calling for health insurance mandates as the panacea for our ailing health care system. This is a bad idea. We would only be rewarding those who are primarily culpable for the mess we have today. I have read way to many articles about people with health insurance having to declare bankruptcy after an extended stay in the hospital, to trust the insurance industry to fix our health care system. Any functional solution we come up with will have to cut out the insurance middleman. It would also have to focus on preventative healthcare rather than reactionary healthcare where we wait for people to get sick before we treat them. Early diagnosis of cancer, among other illnesses, increases the likelihood of survival and decreases the cost of treatment.
I also noticed that Congress recently passed a new energy bill that called for a huge increase in ethanol production. While part of the bill calls for an increase in research into producing ethanol from biowaste, which is laudable, the vast majority of the increase will come from ethanol produced from corn. This amounts to another massive government handout to corporations such as A.D.M. Moreover, this will lead to an increase in food prices across the board as farmers will plant corn instead of other crops while trying to meet this artificially created demand. It should be noted that arable land is scarce because we keep on paving over more of it while creating car-dependant suburbia. I am tired of reading about these pie-in-the-sky, technological solutions to our petroleum addiction and global warming. The only way to fix these problems is to reduce our demand: we should heavily tax gasoline and use the proceeds to build better public transportation systems. While we are at it, we should develop bicycle friendly transportation infrastructure as the bicycle is the only true zero-emission vehicle we will ever have besides our own two feet. If more people rode bikes, we would also see the added benefit of reducing obesity and cardiovascular related illnesses which significantly tax our health care system. Right now, I am in excellent cardiovascular shape and I have a single digit body fat percentage. I have several friends who have lost over a hundred pounds from regularly riding their bikes. Come on everyone, join the bicycle revolution.

Day 75 kt:81.5 ta:3093 gps: N 18 degrees 20.825' W 99 degrees 32.086'

The state of Morelos is not very large as I entered it yesterday and left it today. It is noticable hotter as well as more humid in the lower altitudes where I am. The gnats and mosquitos love the heat as it no longer gets cold enough at night to drive them away. This is not to say that there aren't any mountains here. There are, they are just smaller. I haven't had to climb mountains in such heat since I left the northern part of the Chihuahuan desert.
I picked up some tourist pamphlets for the state of Guerrero, today. They only reinforced my decision to quickly pass through Zihuatenejo and Acupulco and enjoy the rest of the beaches of Guerrero. There are apparently a variety of virgin beaches where you can camp right along the beaches. I have no interest in staying in one of the four-star hotels in either Zihuatenejo or Acapulco. I, however, look forward to seeing nesting turtles and ancient stone carvings. The beaches of Guerrero also offer a variety of regional dishes which I can't wait to try. My mouth is watering already.

Day 76-80 kt:20.5 ta: 1291 gps: N 18 degrees 21.946' W 99 degrees 39.917'

I spent the last four days in the town of Iguala, Guerrero dealing with an attack of diarrhea. I really only had full-fledged diarrhea for one day but I stayed the extra days because my kidneys hurt and I wanted to make a full recovery before I hit the mountains. Diarrhea is something to be taken very seriously here: it can be indicative of a more serious illness and can kill by itself because it causes dehydration. I have had much worse cases of diarrhea in Mexico, before. During the Day of the Dead in 2004( also known as election day in the U.S.) I had an attack of food poisoning that caused me to purge food out of both ends and lasted for three days. To combat diarrhea, one must drink a lot of water and find food which they can stomach. The very thought of eating meat or dairy when you have a bad case of diarrhea will make your stomach turn. I find that dry foods such as saltines and amaranth bars are the best things to eat. You generally have to force yourself to eat because you probably won't have an appetite. If the symptoms last for more than three days, check yourself into a hospital because you probably have something more serious than a mere case of food poisoning.
The town of Iguala is not a very interesting place for a tourist. It has about 300,000 residents, according to a local, but about all of the businesses shut down after 6:00 p.m. as if it only had 3,000. I have read but not corroborated that the Mexican flag flying on the edge of the city is the largest flag in all of Latin America. It is pretty big and you can see it from far away on all sides of the city.
I didn't do much when I was in Iguala other than stay in my hotel room and watch movies. I ventured out occasionally to surf the internet or buy food and water. The hotel where I stayed at had a very basic cable package so I had a lot of movies to choose from both in English with Spanish subtitles and dubbed in Spanish. Some of the translations in the subtitles are laughable. My favorite translation was when the translator translated pussy cat in vagina. Vagina is vagina in Spanish. It was one of those jokes with a double meaning that was completely lost in translation. This same movie had a scene where the main character goes to Belize and the soldiers there are speaking Spanish. In case yall didn't know, Belize was a British colony until 1973 and English is the official language there. This just reinforced my opinion that Americans are culturally ignorant.
I took my time leaving the city, today for I did not want to overexert myself while coming off of a sickness and riding into the heat. The mountains are not as high as other parts of the country but the climbs are much more challenging because it is about 30 degrees hotter. I drank and sweated out more water while climbing 10 kilometers, today, than I often do while riding 50 kilometers. I expect more of the same while going towards the coast as most of Guerrero is covered in mountains. Hell, I expect more of the same all the way to Colombia.

Day 81 kt:42.2 ta: 3946 gps: N 18 degrees 21.393' W 99 degrees 50.891'

I spent another day climbing hills all day in the somniloquent heat. Just about every time I found a shady spot, I took a nap. I like naps and they keep me from overheating. The heat definitely slows me down. I am going to be moving slowly all the way towards the coast as the place is called "Tierra Caliente" or "Hot Land".

Day 82 kt:75 ta: 2413 gps: N 18 degrees 19.300' W 100 degrees 17.912'

What goes up must come down, or so they say. I got to enjoy a long stretch of descent today after some initial climbing. This was definitely nice because it was hot and steamy. Suffice to say, I believe I have officially left the part of the country where it is ever cold. I had a scare today when a bus passed me with about two feet to spare when I was descending a mountain. I was moving a 50 kph and two feet is nothing at that speed. I had almost no margin of error and I was almost forced off the road. If I was forced off the road at that speed, I would almost definitely die, with or without a helmet. At least the driver honked before bullying his way past me. This is not the first near-death encounter I have had on the road and it probably won't be the last.
I could have travelled farther today, but I am a sociable person and probably spent at least an hour talking with people who were curious about my journey. I spent another hour and a half in an internet cafe in Arcelia, Guerrero and found myself racing the sunset to find a decent campsite. I was lucky to find a flat, well-obscured campsite just off the side of the road. At just over 1,100 feet, I am pretty sure that this is the lowest point I have been at in all of Mexico. I expect to sweat in my sleep, tonight.

Day 83 kt:54.3 ta: 1061 gps: N 18 degrees 20.011' W 100 degrees 41.330'

I enjoyed another happily lazy day, today. Finding shade is more than enough of an excuse to rest. Someone told me, today, that this is actually the hottest part of the country. I am inclined to believe this.
If this isn't the hottest part of the country it is, at the very least, the most uncomfortable part of the country when you combine the heat, humidity, and swarming insects. Gnats and mosquitos aren't a problem in the dry desert. The mosquitos aren't as bad as the gnats which swarm you as you come to a rest anywhere. To call the gnats evil or even to use the superlative "most evil" is an understatement. You really don't do them justice unless you describe them as the most evil motherfucking bastards the universe has ever spawned." This is not hyperbole. Tomorrow, I am going to wear my full-length bicycle tights despite the heat because the gnats are that bad.
Today, while approaching the town of Tlapehuala, Guerrero, I saw what could very well be the largest carved head in the world. It dwarfs any of the Olmec heads or the giant heads of Easter Island. It is a giant head about 60 or 70 feet tall sculpted in the guise of Lazaro Cardenas upon his death in 1977. Lazaro Cardenas is the former president responsible for nationalizing Mexico's oil industry and is revered by all. To put this reverence in context, I don't think that there are any statues of Jesus or La Virgin de Guadalupe that come even close to the size of this head.

Day 84 kt: 50.9 ta:3413 gps: N 18 degrees 08.914' W 100 degrees 56.451'

There is a discrepancy between what my GPS and map tell me is the distance to Zihuatenejo and what the signs in Ciudad Altamirano said. It is a difference of 100 kilometers. Unfortunately, I think there are still 200 instead of 100 kilometers.
While I was riding through a small village, that is not on my map or GPS, looking for food, I happened upon a party with band and food and everything. Being that I was ravished, I endured the stares of just about everyone so I could eat something. I was definitely an oddity being the only guero and definitely the only person who rode my bike there. I am used to people staring at me, anyway. It turns out that the party was for a little girl that just got baptized today, though you wouldn't know it from all the debauchery that was going on. As is the case with most religious holidays here, it is really just an excuse to get fucked up. Almost all the men were piss drunk and everybody was dancing to Musica Durranguense which is essentially just Norteño music as Durango is a state in the northern part of Mexico. The men eventually got me to dance with a girl even though I don't like dancing to Norteño with strangers because of the proximity involved. I even drank a little beer. It was literally a little bottle of Corona that even said "Coronita" on the label. ¡Que lindo!

Day 85 kt:33.9 ta:3139 gps: N 18 degrees 01.422' W 101 degrees 06.795'

By the time that I wake up, it will be a new year. While many people in the U.S. will be partying, I will be sleeping. I guess my resolution this year is to be a little bit braver about flirting with beautiful women.
I saw some pretty exotic birds today, but, as birds are pretty elusive creatures, I did not get any pictures. One was blue and yellow but was not a parrot and the other was brown and had a long tail.

Day 86 kt:60.6 ta: 3576 gps: 17 degrees 51.697' W 101 degrees 22.704'

I don't think that I have mentioned it but Guerrero is one of the drug trafficking hot spots of Mexico. Last year, narcotraficantes threw a couple of decapitated heads of police officers into the police headquarters in Acapulco.
I met someone, today, who I would consider a victim of the drug war but who the government considers to be a criminal menace. He served 16 years in prison for transporting 700 kilograms of cocaine. Granted, this is a whole truckload of cocaine but the heavies transport boatloads of cocaine. He was not the boss, just the person who transported the merchandise. All one had to do was look around to see that he wasn't lying about this. I counted at least 9 people in the extended family who shared a two-room shack constructed from discarded wood and metal roof shingles. Moreover, two of the women were noticably pregnant. There is no plumbing or electricity in this stretch of highway. The family was sharing a meager breakfast of tortillas and the Mexican equivalent of parmesan cheese. Despite their poverty, they shared their breakfast with me and I accepted as I consider it rude to decline people's generosity. As far as I can tell, the only ways to make money in these parts are by selling sodas and chips to those passing by on their way to Zihuatenejo and through drug trafficking. It is no wonder that many people choose drug trafficking because these people are lucky to make $5 after subtracting the cost of the products they sell as very few people pass by these parts.
The man, who will remain anonymous in respect to him and his family told me that there are many people who get busted with truckloads of cocaine without ever knowing the true contents of their cargo. The transaction usually goes something like this: the owner of a "transportation" company approaches said person and tells them that their driver is sick and ask them to transport their cargo which is usually disguised as something legitimate. The narcotraficantes can pay them less than someone who knew what the cargo was. Moreover, if the driver gets busted with the drugs, he is usually too afraid of reprisal to point the authorities towards the man who contracted them. The man who contracts the driver is usually a leutenant and not a heavy, anyway. Many innocent men have fallen victim to this scheme.
The man was resentful of the 16 years he had to serve in prison especially when there are those close to power who he termed "intocable" or untouchable. He mentioned, of course, the brother of former president Carlos Salinas who was strangled to death in his car 3 and a half years ago and the sons-in-law of former president Vicente Fox. These are not entirely baseless accusations as I have read the same in the Mexican press. When Carlos Salinas's brother was killed, there was a blown up picture of the strangled corpse on the front page of the news the very next day. The article did mention that the murder was probably drug related but I doubt the government ever did a follow up investigation.
I had to move on, though I wanted to listen to this man some more as he spoke from a perspective that I can only imagine.
Further down the road, I happened upon the aftermath of a cockfight. I was attracted by the commotion as I usually don't see suck a large group of people gathered in one place in the countryside. There, on the ground, lay two dead roosters. I did not get to see the champion as the owner had already left with his rooster and his winnings. It should be mentioned that, personally, I consider cockfighting to be cruel, but I was not about to lecture 20 grown men, some of whom had been drinking, about the evils of animal cruelty. Anyway, it is not like they just throw the roosters away. They cook them and eat them. The owner of the house offered me cocaine but I graciously refused explaining that my father was a drug addict and that it was probable that I have a genetic predilection towards cocaine addiction. Moreover, as I have never tried cocaine, I did not want to have an overdose many miles from any kind of medical facility. I told the owner that I was hungry and asked if I could have some food. He was happy to have something to offer me. After I had stuffed myself and tried to offer remuneration, the owner's wife refused payment. I thanked them profusely and went on my way.
The owner of the house where they had the cockfight asked me a question which I have heard many times before: Why don't Americans want Mexicans in the United States? I grow weary of apologizing for my countrymen. The answer is complicated but I have decided to simplify it. My response: most Americans are racist and jealously guard their wealth. I think that these people understand that not all of us are like that as I am a white American who has gone through the trouble of learning Spanish. I guess that I am an ambassador of good will for my country. There are, however, few people like me and lots of people who fear and hate Mexicans in my country.
I finally topped out the mountains and got to descend for about 40 kilometers. There were several times when donkeys got in the way when I was hauling ass. I almost killed myself laughing when one almost fell down while running from me. I should make it to the coast, tomorrow.

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