D+7 The Road to Oaxaca and Day of the Dead

Nowhere in the world do the dead receive such a warm welcome back home as in Mexico – the country we are soon planning on traveling in, through and around on our adventure motorcycles. The Day of the Dead unfortunately, as I just discovered was over a month ago. So much for research and trying to fit it all in.

The day of the dead experience I was most looking forward to (during daylight hours) of course, are the scenes at the cemeteries; of the vivid orange and yellow cempasúchiles (marigolds) colors that decorate the tombstones. And all the crosses illuminated at night by small candles while the mariachis play their music in the graveyard. Sometimes jumping into an experience with both feet can give you the full effect that we are after. And sometimes, just reading about it may be all that the imagination needs to check off that desire or experience.

But waiting until you have controlled all of the variables for an extremely safe ride is pretty much a synonym for staying at home.

The planned riding that we are after is an entirely different experience than what you get after a weekend or week long ride in the USA.

Everything once we cross over is as foreign as foreign can be. I’ve done enough research to come to the conclusions that “yes” there are plenty of people out there telling us that we could die this way and that way if we continue with our current plans; Yet non of them bothered to, until now, share with me that there was live mariachi music playing at night at the locals cemetery. In my book good research and good preparation is always to be applauded.

I continue to praise myself and my motorcycle riding buddies for our impressive immune systems. While I certainly do not claim to be an expert rider I can certainly keep up with these guys as everyone equally abandons all the comforts of a familiar world with rules, good roads and familiar foods and a mostly common language.

This is why the process of simplifying everything that we do on this ride will be so important.

“Oh mighty one, grant me the foresight to prepare for the things that I now can predict; The fortitude to deal with the things that I cannot; And the wisdom to know the difference between the two and to go on this adventure of a lifetime – anyway.”

Trawlercat 1/2022