Creel South Continued

As we headed further south through the Sierra mountains the geography of the land continued to change and the the flora changed as well, at the higher elevations we were in pine forests as we decreased in elevation the land opened up and become more high plains grasslands

river

as the rains move through the country side the river levels rise and fall rapidly, this small creek was a raging river only 2 days previously and was 2 meters higher at the peak flow.

The main roads through Mexico have so far been well maintained and a great deal of money is being spent to upgrade those that aren’t. However, the roads into these smaller villages are not. This road as with many others are still just a single track, rutted, rocky and a road with no culverts or bridges over the creeks and rivers making it at times impossible to travel through these areas.

corn field

Corn and chicken are the mainstay food source for the locals and most of the work is still done by hand or with very limited machinery this is especially the case in the more remote areas, the corn is all cut and stacked by hand and the crops are not abundant by any means, no where near what we see in fertilized and irrigated fields of N.A.

Ridge Top

Rocks

After riding 70 km through the mountains and further down into the valley and more range land the towns became larger and once again the road improved.

road

Shortly after this part of the road we were once again travelling on pavement and heading east towards a major city.

Shrine

Mexico is still very Catholic and as you drive down the roads you see many shrines, most are just small wooded structures with a small statue inside. this one however was much larger and carved into the rock wall.

Down to the Valley

Here we go again from the high Sierra Plains to the valley floor and a significant increase in the temperature from the comfortable low 20 C to the mid 30 C. At this point all is well as the road snakes down from the high plains, little traffic and very few big trucks makes for a great ride. It was at this point that i started to hear a strange noise coming from the rear wheel of the bike. I have this nagging feeling that what i am hearing is not good. I’m still over 100km from the nearest town and moving towards the dessert. About half way down i no longer have rear brakes hmmm this really isn’t good. We get down to the valley floor and it’s time to check what is really going on back there. Pull off to the side of then road up on the centre stand, off come’s the back wheel to investigate the problem. One of the sealed bearings in the rear wheel are no longer sealed and there are pieces of metal every where. Although i have a selection of parts no wheel bearings. Still close to 100km from the nearest town what are the options, leave the bike take the wheel and see if i can find a place to fix the bearing, likely not to have a bike when i return or pack the bearing with grease put it back together and hope to make it to the city. 30 min later back on the road off to the city.

An hour later we spot a Honda dealer go inside using my fantastic 5 word spanish vocabulary explain the problem to the mechanic and once again off comes the wheel into the shop and he starts removing the bearing. meanwhile all i could think of is it’s 6pm this mechanic is beating the bearing out of the rear wheel of my bike and i have no idea if he can get an new bearing nor can i make sense what he is telling me. I hope I’m not here for a week waiting for parts. 5 minutes later he jumps on a scooter and away he goes, only to return with a new bearing and seal. 30 minutes later were off trying to find a hotel in the dark in a Mexican city, counting my lucky stars and hoping that tomorrow is uneventfull.

the next day see the 2 Americas that i was riding with the day before head north towards home and i am once again on my own heading south riding the Autostrada great road but… straight and mind numbing off to the next stop.

Suspension Bridge

off the autostrada and up onto the mountains brings you to this long suspension bridge across a ravine that leads to an old mine.
The bridge is known as “Puente de Ojuela” (Ojuela Bridge) by the locals. the built in 1898 and was resorted in 1991 as a tourist attraction and is 314 meters long.

Looking back across the bridge

Looking down the ravine

Entrance to the Mine

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