We left early this morning away as the sun rose, to beat the heat and because we had a big days riding of us.  Once again it seems to be a long way between anywhere.

It certainly wasn’t as humid today, and we made plenty of stops to keep hydrated, although it was a tough ride.

We stopped at a tiny shop for drinks and a cool and got ‘chatting’ to the lady who owned the shore who was swinging in her hammock.  She told us there was ‘muchas curvas’ coming up (many bends), but only for about 20 kilometres, maybe half an hour.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, after chugging up and down behind three trucks, we stopped with our tongues hanging out, and Paul was really sweating hard and exhausted. He said to me ‘that sweet old lady was a bloody liar!’.

Wherever we stop, we normally get at least a few people staring, but this time there were a few people interested enough to chat.  They speak so quickly here, and with a lot of different words from the Spanish we have learnt that it’s very difficult to understand them. They don’t speak English at all (and why should they?). Still, Paul understood one chap enough to know he was a fisherman and wanted us to go out in his boat to take us to the famous tunnel formation in the sea.  Sadly, we didn’t have time today. I turned to Paul, and he said only about an hour and half to go, 40 miles.

However, fate had different ideas and 10 miles from our destination, we had another puncture! We couldn’t believe it, Paul was hopping mad! Still, he took his time, and repeated all the processes for the third time this trip, using the replacement inner tube that we only got on Saturday.  We were set and ready to go in less than hour this time. The relief we felt on arriving at our hotel tonight after 9 hours on the road was tremendous, So, now we have another job for tomorrow, inner tube hunting. This mornings job was headlamp bulb hunting, as they like to continually blow on us too.  All part of the day’s riding, and we are beginning to take these things more in our stride.

Up before dawn this morning, after our three nights in Puerto Vallarta, we were hoping to break away before the humidity rose.  However, as breakfast was included or was it? Turned out to be only fruit and coffee was free), we were held up a little bit, because although it said on the wall it started at 7.30, it didn’t really start until 8! No matter, after a couple of eggs over easy, we were back upstairs, packed and ready to wheel the machine back out of the hotel lobby, to hit the road.

Actually, setting off, there was a lovely soft breeze blowing, as we left the coast, and turned inland. Despite it feeling a very hot 23 degrees celsius for a while, it wasn’t until after our second stop of the day around 11 that the humidity built up again.  We had decided to wear our mid layer jackets over t-shirts, which normally act as a wind stopper beneath our bike jackets.  This was a lot better because it meant that there was no struggling with unwieldy jackets and body armour stuck to your body, on a cold clammy patch!  

During a stop, about an hour away from our destination, we encountered the Mexican army en masse, they were all running into the service station to buy drinks and ice-creams, as the poor devils were riding along in the scorching heat in their fatigues and helmets.  There was about 80 soldiers in total, so the queue in the shop was quite long when Paul went in for ice creams. They all had their rifles in there with them, but were very friendly and courteous toward us. We have encountered the military only at roadside checks before, since we entered Baja California, we have been through about 8 of these, and so far have been just waved through with no problem.

Today's route took us along the coast on and off, and inland a little, past much more green hills with a mountainous backdrop, followed by what must have been more arid lands, as we turned a corner to find an oasis greeting us, low in a valley. The oasis was filled with rows of coconut palms, interlaced below with banana plants- a truly wondrous sight.

The people continue to be friendly, if we smile at them, they will smile back, and sometimes have a small chat. They have beautiful smiles, and are busy people getting on with their lives, in tough weather conditions, which must dictate so much of every day for them.

Tonight we are in a small coastal town, Manzanillo. Paul has spent a long time looking at our route, and trying to find the best way for us to cross over to the east of Mexico, we have our plan in place for tomorrow, and then we shall see.  We shall leave at sunrise, ride for 7 hours or so, and have time to look around, and cool down in the evening.

We awoke in pools of sweat, as we had fallen asleep. The four fans in the strange little ‘bungalow’ we had chosen to stay in barely moved the stale air around the room, despite the window being open and covered with a mosquito net.

We wondered how we will manage this humidity? Since 11 am the previous morning our skin had been clammy and dripping. It may well be that we need to forgo our motorcycle jackets, and pack them on the back somehow.  Obviously, we wear them for safety- but there comes a point when if you overheat, your rationality can become compromised, so we needed to think carefully. We both have breathable goretex motorcycle suits, but it is impossible to have something that is suitable for every occasion. Later on in the trip, we will undoubtedly need the weather protection and insulation they provide, but for now…………….perhaps not.  Of course all the Mexicans ride in shorts and a vest, and who can blame them in this heat.

We were ready to leave by 8, or 7, we were unsure because the time keeps hopping backwards and forwards by an hour.  There was no breakfast for us. We had used  our newly purchased Jetboil cooker to make up our rice and sardines for tea last night, which was all the food we had with us  

We rode for about an hour, and stopped in a small town Zapalcuan, outside of a police station. Whilst I went into the minimarket for some supplies, Paul rang his Aunty Bren fro a catch up. As he was talking to her he said ‘I’d better put some air in that rear tyre it’s looking a bit flat’. After eating the ‘mystery meat’ sandwich I bought Paul, he looked again at the tyre and, oh, it was a bit more flat- we had a puncture!

We quickly decided that Paul should remove the wheel and change the puncture himself, despite a great lady trying to direct thim to a ‘mecanico’ around the corner. Paul hunted for somewhere there would be shade long enough for him to do what he needed to. Ah great, there’s some in the square, under the tree, so he pushed the bike over and got started.

Of course it wasn’t long before we had a crowd of people around us, all having a look and shooting questions at Paul in their rapido Spanish.  He was very patient, trying to answer them all, whilst also trying to keep them from ‘helping’ with removal of the wheel and tyre, with their screwdrivers and things. One most helpful little boy was called Jesus, and after a lot of different suggestions, and kicking and pulling of the tyre every time Paul turned away it emerged that his Papa was a mecanico working around the corner.  Paul asked him to take the removed inner tube to Papa for repair, and they negotiated a price of 30 pesos (about $1.50).

In the meantime, we had a visit from Jaume, the town pastor, who told us off for parking on the village square.  Paul apologised, telling him we hadn’t realised- and he told us to make sure to respect the rules of Mexico in future,  but that if anyone else challenged us, we should tell him that Jaume said it was ok. I was popping to the shop for drinks, and otherwise residing on a bench under a tree, shaded but still not exactly cool.  We had made another new friend in the toothless shoe-shine man, who was thrilled every time something went right in the proceedings.

At one point, I took out my litte electric fan, which I can hang around my neck for a quick blast of breeze, and the biggest toothless beam appeared across Senor shoe-shine’s face.

Jesus returned with the news that the inner tube had too many holes for repair, but as Paul had fitted the other one, it was no problem, and a point was reached for the wheel to be re-seated into position.  Jesus proved himself to be very handy and helpful with this job, until the last points were reached, and the wheel kept moving from side to side in its place.  We needed money, so we asked where the bank was and I was despatched with Jesus, four blocks on the left to the bank. A useful job to be done, but also meant that Paul could finish off what he was doing.

On our way to the bank, Jesus chatted along, and I managed to understand most of what he said. One thing I clearly understood was that he wanted some fresh coconut milk from the seller who was peddling up beside us.  I didn’t catch all of their conversation, but I know it involved tyres, moto, Englishes! No doubt at this point, after an hour of being in the town every body knew our predicament.

The ATM was of course out of order when we arrived at the bank, but ould be working in ‘20 minutes’, so Jesus and I returned to Paul and Senor Shoe-shine.

We started packing away, and Paul told Jesus he’d like to buy another inner tube, and they set off together with Jesus in the sidecar for some laps of the town.  Mr Shoe-shine was so excited by this he ran round pointing and telling everyone what was happening.

As Paul and Jesus passed Papa’s shop, Jesus called out ‘Papa’ and Paul said Papa looked up in sheer astonishment, as they sailed past.  Of course everyone in town knows each other, so there was a lot of calling out, and at one point a friend of Jesus’ was riding alongside them on his motorbike, cheering and laughing. No replacement inner tube was to be found though, so they returned to the square. This whole experience was topped off by Paul having his boots shined so he could see his face in them.  

We set off feeling very welcome, and happy, but with adjusted plans for the ride, as time had been eaten away.  We rode another 60 miles to Puerto Vallerta, a very busy tourist town, with high rises which seems very American. At the third hotel we tried, we had success (its difficult to find secure parking in this kind of place), and Paul came out beaming. The hotel is in the old town, so much prettier, our room has a sea view, and best of all, we were allowed to wheel the bike into the hotel lobby! It now sits proudy there for everyone to file past as they enter the hotel.  This was absolutely no big deal for the staff of the hote, and they couldn’t believe we wouldn’t be allowed to do that in England.

Phew! What a day.

After  Loreto our next nights stop was at Ciudad Constitucion. It was not a long ride, so we left later in the morning. The mistake we made at that point was keeping our air conditioning on for too long before leaving, and stepping out into scorching heat, perhaps 35 Celsius already.

We rode for only 31/2 hours, but the heat exhaustion we experienced was immense. By the time we reached Ciudad Constitucion we were ready for nothing other than holing up in our hotel room with cheese and ham and waiting for the coolness of the next morning. Next morning found us making our way for the ferry at a more even temperature having made use of the fan but not the air conditioning, much wiser.

Our ferry was to leave at 8pm for Mazatlan on the mainland of Mexico, but we were concerned to get there early, because we had tickets to collect and were unsure of whether these were for collection in town, some 10 miles from the port, or actually inside the port. As it turned out it was extremely straightforward, we collected the tickets easily, paid some sort of port authority tax, then set ourselves up to wait the 3 hours before embarkation.

During this time we met two Bulgarian cyclists, who had begun their journey in Deadhorse, Alaska and had been riding for 520 days, all over the USA. Their goal is also Argentina. They aim to take two years. We also met a German couple who had shipped their motorhome into Baltimore, three months ago and had driven across the USA before turning South, their goal is also Argentina. They also aim to take two years. It turned out all three of us sets of couples had ridden 16,000 miles to arrive at this point! Fascinating.

This helped pass the time until we had to board, when bizarrely I had to board as a foot passenger, whilst Paul rode on. So my helmet and tank bag had to go through the X-ray machine, whilst I sweated along wearing my bike coat. We are less sure of leaving our luggage or coats behind on the bike now, and feel we should be more careful. Once onboard, the ship was wonderful, all very spacious, spotless, and the staff courteous. .

The crossing took 14 hours, then we disembarked as we had got on, with me being a foot passenger. Consequently, when Paul had to pay 20 Mexican pesos to come and get me (?!), he found me extremely hot and bothered already. So, off we set late in the day again, with the Celsius soaring up to 37, and us both discovering very quickly what it's like to be in a tropical climate!

The surrounding countryside in our way to San Blas tonight was just beautiful, stunning tropical green trees interlaced with purple grandmother pop out of beds, in great swathes everywhere. This later gave way to a lot of banana plantations. We saw bananas for sale, 3 kilos worth for about £1. There were also coconuts, mango and watermelon, all of which we will try. San Blas is on the coast, in fact our "bungalow" is on the beach, but there is no respite from the relentless heat. It's possible we may have to rethink our route through cooler climes.

Even though we were up before dawn this morning, the quick exit we planned just did not materialise. That just happens sometimes. It was to be another larger day than normal, as Baja California North and South is not very populated, and we are aiming for the larger towns to ensure somewhere secure to hide the bike away at night.

Alongside the main road, still Highway 1, we come across roadhouse type places every so often that sell cold drinks, and beers, but are literally a room in someone’s home. There were a few larger towns, with more shops and facilities, but still fairly basic. One of these towns is San Ignacio where there is the Jesuit Mision of San Ignacio dating from 1728. The Mision was extremely beautiful, particularly against the blue skies of today. What, however made it especially poignant today was the singing from the congregation at Sunday service.

Whilst enjoying a cold drink, and idling some time on the square at San Ignacio we met two guys Dave and Jorgen from California who had been riding the trails of Baja California. We enjoyed spending half an hour swapping stories.

Moving on, the temperature had heated up considerably, so we found the next leg a little more hard going, entering into desert lands again, as the road cut through the centre of the peninsula, before taking us back down the stunning East coast.

When we left those guys, back in Guerrero Negro, Jorgen had a problem with his bike that the guys were taking a look at it. Their parting words were ‘if we can’t get it fixed, we’ll see you on the road to Loreto’, if they did fix it, they would be back on the trails. In fact, we passed them one more time, and they twice passed us throughout the rest of the day - so we guess it wasn’t fixed.

On our last stop of the day, we had just made a pass by and waved to a guy on a bicycle. We were taking the shade, and he rolled in to a stop, giving us a wave. After he had collected himself we got chatting, with him. What a great guy, Charles was from Quebec and had started his cycling journey there on April 21st. He had meandered through the USA, and his ultimate goal, like ours is Ushuaia, Argentina. He expects it may take another year, as he ‘only goes slow’. Charles had found the weather challenging today (like us, it seemed very humid), and was looking forward to pulling off into the cacti to pitch his tent very soon. Actually, later he admitted that last night he had pitched near one of the cafe roadhouses, and maybe had a few too many Tecate beers, so had been a little restless during the night, particularly with all the howling dogs. We wished Charles all the luck, and safe travels, before moving on again.

We ate some local Mexican cuisine tonight, once again, delicious- but even more so because this time we were serenaded by two guitar playing Mexicans singing us ‘happy songs’. So far, our introduction to Mexico has been incredibly friendly and warm.