Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story and Guide

Table of Contents

Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story and Guide

Contents

Introduction

Section I - Preparing for your Mexican Adventure

1. The Basics of Preparation - Physical and Mental

The Right Motorcycle

Basic Bike Requirements

Climate

Clothing

Safety

Health

Notes on Foods

Maps

The Malinche Complex

An Overview of Mexican History

2. Entry into Mexico and Travel Basics

Basic Requirements to Enter Mexico with a Vehicle

Insurance Information

Do You Need to Speak Spanish to Tour Mexico?

Money: The Peso

Accommodations

Roads and Traffic

Mexican Road Rules

Night Travel

Section II - From an Old Dream to Reality

3. A New Bike and Reflections

4. South to Chihuahua

5. Chihuahua

Section III - South to Oaxaca

6. The Ride to Zacatecas

7. Zacatecas

Zacatecas to Guadalajara

8. Aguascalientes and Tepatitlán

9. Guadalajara

10. The Ride to Morelia

Heat and Exercise

11. Morelia-Toluca-Cuernavaca

12. Oaxaca

13. Crossing Cold Mountains to Veracruz

Section IV - 1971 - Revisiting the Past

14. The Ride to Yucatán

15. Beating the Packaged Tourists to the Mexican Riviera

Section V - Finishing the Ride

16. Leaving 1971 for Today’s Veracruz

17. Biking Mexico in the 2000s

Section VI - Appendices

1. Budgeting, Camping and Culture

Budgeting

Camping Out

Mexican Culture and Customs

In Summary

2. Trip Log

1993 (Approximate Dates)

1971 (Approximate Dates)

3. Basic Bike Information

4. Preparation List and Extra Items

5. Clothing

Acknowledgments

About the author

Other ebooks about Mexico published by Sombrero Books

Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story and Guide

by William B. Kaliher

SOMBRERO BOOKS, B.C., CANADA

Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story and Guide documents Bill Kaliher's travels off the beaten track in 1971 and again in 1993. With travel tips and sound advice gained since his first trip in 1964, this is a book for the armchair traveler, the bike aficionado, and Mexico fans. Read it before you cross the border, then tuck it in your backpack or purse as a reference on the road.

Changes in Mexico over the years

Cultural differences

Driving tips

Historical facts about Mexico both before and after the Spanish conquest

Cities, regions and sites you might want to visit

Insights gleaned from six decades of visiting Mexico

Mexican motorcyclists and Bike Clubs

Like the author, I also traveled many of these roads in the late 1970s. Bill Kaliher's descriptions ring true and bring back a wealth of memories of a simpler time in Mexico, when adventure and discovery awaited the traveler around every bend. - Carol Wheeler, Editor-in-Chief, Mexconnect.com

I am a Harley rider who has toured Mexico twice by auto with Bill Kaliher. On our first trip, Bill patted a thick book resting on the console and said, 'If anything happens to me, call the people in here. They will help you.' We lunched with multi-millionaires one day and squatted to talk with peasants in a shack the next, all Bill’s friends. He never needed a road map, even in Guadalajara, a metro area of over eight million. Everyone knew him in small towns like Catemaco, Puerto Escondido and Tapalpa. - Milford Burriss, retired businessman and South Carolina legislator

I think Bill has driven the entire country of Mexico. He has an accurate answer and, usually, an anecdote about every place I've ever asked about. My wife and I were fortune to travel with him in the Catemaco, Veracruz area and I couldn't believe all the little, almost unknown places he showed us. Thanks to Bill, our vacation tour became a very interesting and unique travel opportunity rich in details and lots of fun. - Alejandro Lastiri, motorcyclist and businessman

About the author

William B. Kaliher is a widely published author and a regular contributor to Mexico Today. He has been traveling Mexico's highways and byways since 1964. A born storyteller, he holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of South Carolina.The author can be reached by email, or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or on his webpage.

Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story and Guide

ISBN 978-0-9952889-4-2

First Ebook Edition for Smashwords 2016

Published by Sombrero Books, P.O. Box 4, Ladysmith, B.C., V9G 1A , Canada

Text, map and photographs copyright 2016, by William B. Kaliher, unless otherwise indicated. Note: the regular print version of this book has twice as many photos, but in black and white. This ebook version has fewer photos but they are in full color. 

Contents

Introduction

Section I - Preparing for your Mexican Adventure

1. The Basics of Preparation - Physical and Mental

The Right Motorcycle

Basic Bike Requirements

Climate

Clothing

Safety

Health

Notes on Foods

Maps

The Malinche Complex

2. Entry into Mexico and Travel Basics

Basic Requirements to Enter Mexico with a Vehicle

Insurance Information

Do You Need to Speak Spanish to Tour Mexico?

Money: The Peso

Accommodations

Roads and Traffic

Mexican Road Rules

Night Travel

Section II - From an Old Dream to Reality

3. A New Bike and Reflections

4. South to Chihuahua

5. Chihuahua

Section III - South to Oaxaca

6. The Ride to Zacatecas

7. Zacatecas

Zacatecas to Guadalajara

8. Aguascalientes and Tepatitlán

9. Guadalajara

10. The Ride to Morelia

Heat and Exercise

11. Morelia-Toluca-Cuernavaca

12. Oaxaca

13. Crossing Cold Mountains to Veracruz

Section IV - 1971 - Revisiting the Past

14. The Ride to Yucatán

15. Beating the Packaged Tourists to the Mexican Riviera

Section V - Finishing the Ride

16. Leaving 1971 for Today’s Veracruz

17. Biking Mexico in the 2000s

Section VI - Appendices

1. Budgeting, Camping and Culture

Budgeting

Camping Out

Mexican Culture and Customs

In Summary

2. Trip Log

1993 (Approximate Dates)

1971 (Approximate Dates)

3. Basic Bike Information

4. Preparation List and Extra Items

5. Clothing

Acknowledgments

About the author

Other ebooks about Mexico published by Sombrero Books

Introduction

It’s three in the morning and I don’t speak the language. What’s worse my lack of fluency isn’t the main problem. Drizzle cutting the fog does nothing to ease the anxiety-induced perspiration soaking the Mexican truckers and farmers crowded together on the narrow, serpentine road. Not a woman or child is to be seen. They’re huddled helplessly in truck cabs. Giant rocks echo, each cracking like individual lightning strikes across the shrouded mountains. Every man strains to see upward. Clack–clack–then more clacks in the distant night signaling huge stones coalescing into a cascade of gigantic rocks rumbling down mountainsides. The pungency of my own fright-induced sweat might overwhelm their odors, but no one cares. We glance at the two thousand-foot drop-off, then up and down the road, before darting behind the nearest big rig once again.

The horrific sounds stop and a tangible stillness fills the night. We wait for our hearts to slow and our breathing to become normal. Then it’s relieved grins all around. Laughter and slaps on the back from my new buddies precede a great deal of rapid explanation. I don’t understand a single word, but the tenor carries the meaning. It’ll be ten or fifteen minutes —twenty if we’re lucky— before the next avalanche and we repeat our futile retreat. Each time, I laugh at myself for seeking safety behind a semi. There would be as much hope of damming the Mississippi with the rig as using it to stop those huge tumbling boulders.

* * * * *

Road along the edge

The scene described above occurred on my first motorcycle ride through Mexico in June, 1971. The roads have greatly improved since then, reducing the chance of avalanche. Still, rock slides are only one potential hazard you may encounter, and few are as dramatic as tumbling boulders.

I’ve traveled Mexico by virtually all-possible methods since 1964. A tour by motorcycle can be exciting, rewarding and challenging. In 1971, I rode from Columbia, South Carolina, to Yucatán, Mexico, on a SL Honda 175. I spent more than two months touring the country. The total trip exceeded ten thousand miles.

In 1993, at age forty-eight, I again ventured south by motorcycle. From El Paso, Texas, I cycled as far south as Oaxaca. That trip, on a Honda Nighthawk 250, was over 4,000 miles. Both trips were solo. Those grand tours and other shorter bike rides taught me many aspects of motorcycling and visiting south of the border that should be useful to anyone.

Aside from the border crossing and deciding what sites you want to visit, there are five major considerations for a biker traveling in Mexico: the size and type motorcycle, clothing, roads, driving conditions and the people (this means you as much as them). Addressing these issues before leaving will reduce the chance of unpleasant problems. This guide will provide useful information on each of those topics.

I’ve purposely written this guidebook differently. You’re going to ride with me on this adventure. While this is a motorcycle story, it will assist anyone planning to travel Mexico. In the first section of the book, I suggest what and what not to do. Each advice chapter is highlighted with an experience from my own travels. If you just want to enjoy the ride, skip to Section Two. But, the following pages are worthwhile before heading south.

The problems a gringo faces traveling by car are magnified for a person traveling solo on a motorcycle. I’ll touch on issues ranging from cultural differences to the odd —to us— placement of traffic signs. My focus on potential problems should help the newcomer. However, I’ve found the occasional difficulties insignificant in comparison to the rewards.

Before we kick off, there are several rudimentary facts and observations to understand. Many of the basics concerning Mexico are not what most people assume. But, if you’re patient, you’ll find more favorable than unfavorable differences in the culture and people.

Section I - Preparing for your Mexican Adventure

Map of Mexico, with author's routes in 1971 and 1993:

Map of author's routes in 1971 and 1993. Click here for a higher resolution pdf version of this map.

A lonely road slicing rural Yucatán

1. The Basics of Preparation - Physical and Mental

The Right Motorcycle

A cracked and broken stone lane slanted steeply off to the left from where I rested at a roadside fruit stand. I was in high mountains and it was cold. I talked with some curious Indians sheathed in layers of brown, burlap-type ponchos. Several invited me, in broken Spanish, to visit their villages. I wondered what ancient pyramids and buried ruins lay down that rarely used path. The area was centrally located between several famous archaeological zones. The map showed two approximately parallel east-west roads north of the secondary road I was traveling. The closest was an incomplete dirt road perhaps fifty miles north with a paved road fifty miles beyond that. No other road or town marked that section of the map, not even the primitive lane urging me on.

I was on the edge of a huge, virtually unexplored area in modern Mexico. I badly wanted to answer the call to adventure. I knew less than a mile down the trail, ninety-nine percent of the people would have never seen a white man. Only a few would speak Spanish, much less English. If I went, I’d have to keep the hardiest two Indians with me. I would encounter at least two Indian languages, and perhaps others. There was no telling what never-before-seen ruins dotted the rugged area. With luck, I’d see rituals and lifestyles few people have witnessed. It would be an adventure rarely possible in the modern world.

Reality hit and utter disappointment broke my heart. I looked at my street bike and, for a second, even foolishly considered trying the road. I wanted to go, but there was no way. At most, I had two weeks left for exploration. If I were injured or used up my entire two weeks in this partially explored region, I needed a bike that could quickly bring me out. The street bike wouldn’t have made it five miles on the rutted and cracked stone lane, even if I rode slowly. I explained I’d have to return another time. With great regret, I threw my leg over the bike, hit the starter button and eased onto the highway.

Deciding what bike you should take to Mexico is always difficult. On my trips, many people scoffed at the small size of my bikes for such long journeys. However, I safely and successfully made both trips, while many larger bikes never make a thousand miles in Mexico. The SL 175 allowed me to take many small, rough roads and trails I could only consider on the 250. With a 450 and up, I could never have contemplated many tantalizing side trips, even in the most perfect weather conditions. A combination trail and road bike is probably the best overall choice for someone traveling alone or who has never visited Mexico.

The reality is that bike selection often depends on what you can afford, what you have at hand, how many people are going and how much time is available. Those factors will influence your decision. My comments on roads and traffic should be considered in conjunction with the following information when choosing your bike.

If you tour is strictly on paved roads and you’re in a group, a larger bike is fine. If traveling solo or with one other person, a smaller bike should be considered. Long stretches of lonely roadway, easily a hundred miles, become a problem if you have mechanical trouble. A 250cc or smaller bike can be easily loaded onto a passing pickup and hauled to the next town. If you’re sitting alone beside a cactus in the desert, you may not want to leave your $6,000-plus 750 while you seek help.

If you have trouble, even the smallest pueblos usually have a shade tree mechanic who will be of some aid. People still stop and help others along the roads. Twice a day, the government-sponsored Green Angels traverse major highways in a heavy truck with a variety of equipment to aid stranded motorists.

If you are going only a few hundred miles into Mexico to party at a beach resort, or if your time is limited, then I see no problem with a large street bike. Such a motorcycle is okay for all of Mexico if you recognize its inherent limitations. The country now has a series of expensive toll roads much like our interstates, which allows fairly easy street riding.

Ruins at Ixtlán del Río

To put the motorcycle choice into perspective, consider the small archeological ruin, Ixtlán del Río, just off the excellent Highway 15, which runs from Guadalajara to the coast. One could not ask for a better mountain road for a large street bike. However, a few years ago, the ancient ruins would be almost inaccessible. Although they’re only a few hundred yards off the highway, a huge railroad embankment cuts the access road. It’s steep, and the tracks tall. There is little possibility of a street bike crossing without becoming lodged on the first rail.

If you are on a limited budget or are traveling to remote areas, all emphasis should be on your machine’s size and ability. Its care becomes more important than clothes. If trouble arises, your bike is the one thing that can carry you home.

In conclusion, if you have a small or combination bike, use it. If not, use what you have, expecting some limitations to your exploration. The trip is so worthwhile! If I only had a scooter, the time and money for another trip, you might pass old Bill puttering along at 35 mph. But I’d be on the way to having the time of my life and another great adventure.

Basic Bike Requirements 

If your planned trip will carry you beyond the main roads and cities, the following assortment of equipment is critical for roadside repairs.

1. Unless you are a good mechanic, don’t travel to Mexico without a basic, easy-to-understand repair manual. If you don’t have one, ask your dealer for the company’s more detailed upkeep and minor repair manual. 

2. A small flashlight that stores easily

3. An adjustable end wrench should supplement your bike’s tool pouch

4. Extra fuses

5. A small can of oil

6. A couple of links to repair damaged chain

7. Extra spark plugs

8. A can of Fix-A-Flat (I’ve had a flat from a thorn)

Climate

Once, after visiting Mexico, I returned to work in late