lostCANADIAN in Mexico

Speed bumps, or as they call them down here 'topes' come very frequently upon entering small villages, of which there are many. They have a very bad habit of not marking them most of the time, and they tend to sneak up on you out of no where, especially in blind curves. The one that finally caught me as I sped along was larger than most and spit me into the ditch, catching my leg underneath we were both dragged along sand and pavement, tearing through my shirt and into my flesh. Caught under the bike I was helpless as Mihai sped ahead, ignorant to my situation. A horde of Mexicans were quick to the rescue though and helped drag my mangled body from underneath the bike and help upright it, all the while one of them managed to make off with my new pair of sunglasses. Taunting me from across the street, laughing at this poor gringo's misfortune, I assessed the damage while Mihai finally realized I was no longer following behind and came to the rescue. One destroyed front blinker, and some scratches on the bike and myself, we seemed to be alright.

Off we rode, back out into the country it occurred to me there may be a bigger problem as a cloud of smoke spewed from my engine into my face, obscuring my vision. The sweet smell of precious radiator fluid. Pulling to the shoulder, we inspected the radiator and as suspected, there was a fresh pierce, likely from a stone thrown from trucks ahead. Hope seemed bleak, but once again Mihai proved his mechanical wealth by bringing out some JB weld and patched up the leak, hoping it would hold.

It didn't, as later down the road we pulled over for lunch and noticed it was still dripping on the exhaust and causing a stench. Mihai covered a bigger portion of the radiator with his magical weld and we waited an hour for it to dry, optimisitic this time we will have it secured.

Our destination, Acapulco, seemed far as we sped down this beautiful highway along the pacific coast, through some of the most beautiful mountains and scenary. Due to the stress of a leaky radiator, a throbbing arm that continued to bleed, and the overwhelming heat... I couldn't enjoy the day.

Rolling at last into Acapulco, a city built completely on tourism, we were out of place. Covered in filth, bugs, oil and everything imaginable, and just as the overheating light on my bike came on, we rolled into a McDonalds for some good old fashioned hamburgers. The leak still persisted, but at least we could find a hotel and do a proper patch that could dry overnight. Feeling like complete bums, exhausted from a stressful day, we stripped down my bike in the hotel lobby and went to work. We were outside of the main tourist strip, in a smaller hotel that seemed to be a hotspot for the local mexican people, as kids ran all around, playing in the pool.

We were not too impressed by Acapulco, as it's a very filthy and overwhelming city. The beach was covered in every other sort of debris, the water not as warm, and the sound of traffic not too distant. We longed to go back into the beautiful and safe Puerto Escondido.