Dispatch from Chiapas Day 5

Today is our first down day since we arrived in Santa Fe, Mexico City by motorcycle. We are now at an elevation of 8500’ and staying in a high end AC Hotel by Marriott, a five star hotel with a crappy restaurant. The hotel beds, linen, heated pool and other amenities make this an excellent place to stay; same rates as a Motel 6 back home.

Yesterday I scheduled a massage for Todd and I. So why a massage you might wonder? Imagine wearing a helmet on your head for around 7 to 10 hours a day for the last several days. Now add a little buffeting wind at say 70-94 mph. At that speed we move faster than any flying bug. Oftentimes the helmet or the windscreen receives the splatter. While this is happening you are firmly seated watching everything go by including what we encountered such as a pack of stray dogs, a horse, many sheep, a rooster, pillows flying, spills from sugarcane, garbage, car and truck parts. You either dodge it or run it over.

After four days of total road concentration and riding what I call the tail of the dragon; we need body maintenance in the form of a massage and poolside time.

My friend Todd received a two hour massage and today is paying for it. My masseuse used something resembling a cross between a taser and what felt like a bee sting to zap away at my neck, shoulders legs and entire back. Then she acted as though she was a chiropractor and proceeded to stretch me. Today I am two inches taller.

I never complained I just let her do what she felt she was trained to do. The strong ointment that she used was a great pain relief. Her finishing touch was a hand sized toilet like plunger that she used to cup me after suctioning a small backside section at a time. Ninety minutes later I could say I was good as new and taller too.

Travel always changes people, if ever so slightly, and hopefully it teaches us something. Today I read allot. I read everything from Prince Harry’s book called Spare; to one about a drug smuggler; more appropriate you might say?

Many will say that by traveling somewhere new you gain a deeper understanding of who you are, what you want out of life, and what fulfills you. Bourdain the chef and world traveler used to encourage his readers to let the moment guide you, and to just go with the flow.

Thankfully we are doing just that for the past two days. Tomorrow at 0600 we ride. We ride in the direction of Veracruz.

On the road the motorcycle is our direct connection to the Mexican soul if we let it be. We smell the good, the bad, and the ugly. Some of the times it’s garbage burning, decaying food products or even a lovely bakery smell.

In any good book the character always learn something along the way. I don’t know about the others but, I have already learned that there’s just way too much news back home bombarding me.

It’s only been about two years ago that Yoda Roberto opened up the entire Mexican country for us riders. Today we are all extremely thankful that he did. I am certainly one of the riders that has fallen under the Mexican spell.

Traveling through Mexico on a motorcycle may now be the last legal drug that we have, said a more knowledgeable rider than I.

What’s the most exciting thing that has happened to you in say this week? Well, you just read what we did today. It’ might be way more exciting than sitting on a couch for 7-10 hours back home.

As a motorcycle rider we are here for the love of riding, for the thrill and the adventure of seeing new places, for the excitement of being in a foreign country, and for the joy of being in control of life, nature, and the riding machine that’s below our butt.

End