Up And Down Again And Again or How We Tried To Touch the Sky - Hore a dolu a hore a dolu alebo ako sme sa snažili dotknúť oblohy

Video from our ride to Paso de Cortez below Popocatepétl and to Puebla
Ako sme sa na Popocatepétl a Iztaccihuatl pozreli celkom z blízka.

Our next steps (rotations of wheels) from Toluca led to D.F. (Districto Federal) over the mountain range about 4,000 m high. There is a couple of options how to get over it, we chose probably the shortest and the least frequented road, leading from Toluca south-east through villages Metepec and Xalatlaco and small National Park Cumbles del Ajusco. The highest point of this road was a mountain saddle 3,600 m above the sea level. In spite of cloudy and quite cold weather, we enjoyed rolling through the pine forests and pastures with a few sheep, up and down, but not too steep. The downhill ride around the Ajusco volcano was one of those gorgeous afternoons when you can just enjoy the comfortable and empty road, good company of your partner and effortless flying though the woods.
From Toluca it was one day up, then it was one day down to get into the outskirts of Mexico City, where a serious adventure began. Super steep streets with pavement in not very good quality, crazy traffic, traffic jams, loud fiesta (celebrations) reminding of new world war... But the most annoying thing were the "topes" - speed bumps, of all possible sizes and shapes, more or less (usually more) invisible, pointless and absurd, we counted incredible number 309 of them during this day, which meant one per every 170 m!
The next morning we found ourselves below the two highest volcanoes in D.F. - Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, creating mountain range between us (and Mexico City) and Puebla, we needed to cross. Martin found a road right between the two volcanoes. It's almost perfect shortcut - we'd "only" have to climb to Paso de Cortez, mountain saddle in 3,700 m above the sea level... But who wouldn't like to take closer look at these two gorgeous volcanoes? We definitely would. Even if it takes a whole day of climbing, 25 km up a pretty steep hill...

Z Tolucy nás naše kroky, totiž kolesá bicyklov, viedli do štátu Districto Federal (tam, kde sa nachádza hlavné mesto Mexika), cez pohorie s nadmorskou výškou okolo 4 000 m n.m. Je tu niekoľko možností, ako toto pohorie prekonať, my sme si vybrali asi tú najkratšiu a najmenej frekventovanú cestu, vedúcu cez národný park Cumbles del Ajusco. Najvyšším bodom tejto cesty je sedlo vo výške 3 600 m n.m. Aj napriek zamračenému a pomerne chladnému počasiu si veľmi užívame jazdu cez borovicové lesy a pastviny s ovečkami, je to síce do kopca a z kopca, ale nie veľmi strmo. Zjazd dolu zo sedla, okolo vulkánu Ajusco, bol jedným z tých nezabudnuteľných popoludní, kedy sa človek len pohodovo vezie, užíva si prázdnu cestu, parádne výhľady a spoločnosť svojho parťáka.

Po dni stúpania a dni zjazdu sa začalo to pravé dobrodružstvo v predmestiach Mexico City. Cesta je extra strmá a vo veľmi zlej kvalite, úzke ulice často zapchaté hustou premávkou, trúbenie áut a do toho zasa nejaká tá fiesta, ktorá zvukovými efektami pripomínala tretiu svetovú vojnu. Zo všetkého najhoršie a najotravnejšie sú, v Mexiku tak nezmyselne obľúbené, „topes“ - retardéry všemožných tvarov, veľkostí, sklonov, menej či viac (väčšinou viac) neviditeľné, zbytočné a absurdné. Baške to nedalo a začala ich počítať. A výsledok? Neuveriteľných 309 retardérov, čo znamená jeden na každých 170 metrov našej dnešnej jazdy!

Nasledujúce ráno nás zastihlo na úpätí dvoch najvyšších sopiek štátu D.F. (a jedných z najvyšších v celom Mexiku) – Popocatepétl (nie, nie je to len detský jazykolam :-)) a Iztaccihuátl (osobne mi tento názov príde jazykolamnejší :-)), ktoré nám zasa tvoria prekážku na našej ceste do mesta Puebla. Piatok v mape objavil cestu vedúcu priamo pomedzi dva vulkány. Je to perfektná skratka. Má to len jeden malý háčik – vedie cez sedlo Paso de Cortez, 3 700 m n.m... Ale kto by sa nechcel pozrieť na tie impozantné sopky zblízka? No my to samozrejme nie sme a nejakých 25 km stúpania do našej doposiaľ najväčšej nadmorskej výšky nás predsa neodradí :-).

Mexican's Highland - Mexická vysočina

Video from our journey around Mexico City from Toluca to Popocatepétl
Video o tom, ako to  chodí na mexických cestách a horách :-)

So here we are, on our way to Toluca, rolling over the central parts of Mexico, still in elevation about 2,500 m. But comparing to "Monarch mountains" the landscape changed a lot - there was just flat agricultural land around us. One would say “lowland” if it wasn't “highland” actually. Only reminder of high elevation was the volcano Nevado de Toluca, beautiful volcano dominating this land, all covered with snow. Second reminder was quite cold temperature, sometimes it's even freezing at night. As we had been always making fun from Mexicans wearing winter boots and jackets during the winter in Cabo Pulmo, when the temperature was still above 25°C (around 80°F), now the situation had switched. One morning we woke up next to the small river, our tent was covered with ice. It barely melted when families from houses nearby came and started to wash their clothes and even whole bodies, head included, while we were packing our stuff with numb fingers. One family came to ask if we didn't freeze in the tent and when they find out I spoke Spanish, they started to ask more questions and we ended up being invited for coffee (as many times before, with great breakfast included  :-)). Line majority of Mexicans, this family also lived in a house built from concrete blocks, probably the worst material for house ever. I know, I know it's cheap, easy and quick build with - and that is more important than healthy and comfortable living, isn't it? During hot sunny days being inside of these houses is like being in an oven and during cloudy, cold days it's like to be in a freezer (not mentioning problems with moisture and mold). Almost nobody has any heater in their houses (they don't really need it, having only two months of colder weather a year). Sitting in this house in this cool morning we are grateful for hot coffee and tortillas and thinking how our lovely hosts (young family with three children) can stand staying here all day long?
Another example of a locals' cold resistance was our next warmshowers host in Toluca, Seth, founder, manager and one of two employees of first cyclo-messenger company in Toluca. Seth didn't seem to be bothered by coldness (Martin thinks it's not only because he was a messenger). During the day it was fine, but after sunset the temperature dropped rapidly and the nights were pretty cold. Mexican houses were cold all the time, that short period of warmth during the day wasn't enough to heat up concrete walls. Seth's house wasn't an exception, so our stay in Toluca was probably one of our coldest we'd experienced in Mexico.
Going higher and higher in elevation, the weather was colder and colder, so we finally used all our warm clothes (which had been just death weight in our panniers most of the time), now, at last, we were very glad we hadn't got rid of them yet.

A tak sme sa ocitli na ceste do mesta Toluca, prechádzajúc centrálnymi časťami Mexika, udržiavajúc si priemernú nadmorskú výšku okolo 2 500 m n.m. Po lesoch pohoria Sierra Chincua sme zrazu obkolesení poľnohospodárskou krajinou, jeden by to nazval nížina, keby nevedel, že v tejto nadmorskej výške to musí byť skôr vysočina. Jedinou pripomienkou hôr je vulkán Nevado de Toluca, zasnežená dominanta okolia, cca 4 700 metrov vysoká. A ešte chladné počasie, v noci nám občas aj mrzne. Ako sme si doteraz robili srandu zo zmrznutých Mexičanov, napríklad v Cabo Pulme, kde nosili zimné čižmy a bundy aj pri teplote okolo 25°C, veď mali predsa zimu, tak teraz sa situácia otočila. Keď sme sa jedného mrazivého rána zobudili pri malej riečke, s prekvapením sme pozorovali domácich, ako v nej nielen perú prádlo, ale aj sa v nej celí umývajú, zatiaľ čo my sme so skrehnutými rukami balili stan. Jedna taká rodinka náš prišla pozdraviť a uistiť sa, že sme v tom stane nezamrzli a keď zistili, že rozprávame po španielsky, tak sa s nami dali do reči a skončilo to pozvaním na kávu v ich dome. Ako to tak v podobných situáciách býva, začalo to kávou a skončilo tým, že sme dostali druhé raňajky. Pojedli sme v milej spoločnosti manželov, ich troch detí a sliepok prechádzajúcich sa po dome, na záver sme dostali od pani domu ručne vyšívaný obrus a my sme im na pamiatku dali našu kľúčenku z kaktusového dreva.

Drvivá väčšina mexických domov je dnes postavená z betónových blokov (áno, taká zmenšenina našich panelákov) – asi najnevhodnejší materiál na stavbu domu pod slnkom. Áno, áno, ja viem, je to lacné a rýchle a to je predsa dôležitejšie ako zdravé a pohodlné bývanie, nie? V takom betónovom dome sa cítite buď ako v peci, alebo ako v chladničke, podľa aktuálnej poveternostnej situácie (o problémoch s vlhkosťou a plesňami už ani nehovorím). Takmer nikto nemá v dome pec, ani iné výhrevné teleso (načo aj, keď majú „zimu“ len dva mesiace do roka), takže sediac v skromnom chladnom príbytku našich milých hostiteľov si užívame teplú kávu a tortilly.

Ďalším príkladom otužilosti miestnych obyvateľov bol náš warmshowerácky hostiteľ v meste Toluca, Seth (zakladateľ, šéf a jeden z dvoch zamestnancov prvej cyklokuriérskej služby v Toluce). Večerné posedenia v jeho dome boli jednou z najchladnejších skúseností počas našej cesty po Mexiku, zatiaľ čo Seth behal po dome naboso a v krátkom tričku.

So stúpajúcou nadmorskou výškou klesá teplota, to platí aj tu v Mexiku, takže čoskoro sme využili všetko to teplé oblečenie, čo je väčšinou len mŕtvou váhou v našich cyklotaškách a na chvíľku sme radi, že ho so sebou stále ešte vláčime... 

New Year With Monarchs - Nový rok s monarchami

Here is a short video from our visit in Monarch Butterflies Sancturary
Hore je link na naše video z motýlej rezervácie Monarchov.

Poznámka: pod pojmom „monarch“ nerozumej člena kráľovskej rodiny, ale druh motýľa Danaus plexippus, ktorý ako jediný spomedzi motýľov migruje – na jeseň opúšťa domov v Kanade alebo USA, aby sa pripojil k miliónom kolegov a letel s nimi do hôr centrálneho Mexika, kde na tom istom mieste každoročne prečkajú zimu, aby sa začiatkom marca vybrali na spiatočnú cestu, na ktorej nakladú vajíčka, aby tak dali základ pre nové generácie motýľov – tú tretiu či štvrtú z nich bude zasa čakať ďaleký let na juh počas ich života asi 6-8 krát dlhšieho, než mali ich rodičia a prarodičia... Prečo to robia a ako vedia, kam majú letieť, je jedným z tajomstiev Matky Prírody...

Cycling through the central parts of Mexico means to be one day up and the other down. One day we were climbing up to the hills after Morelia, next day we went down to Ciudad Hidalgo, then up to Los Azufres just to ride down the next day. To get to Sanctuary of Monarch Butterflies wasn't different, but climbing took us two days.

Bicyklovať cez centrálnu časť Mexika znamená jeden deň hore a druhý deň dole. Jeden deň stúpame do hôr za Moreliou, ďalší deň klesáme smer Ciudad Hidalgo, cestou si však ešte odbočíme vystúpať na vulkán Los Azufres, aby sme sa z neho ďalší deň zviezli zasa dole. Dostať sa k zimovisku monarchov nebolo výnimkou, s tým rozdielom, že nám stúpanie zabralo dva dni.

Short But Brutal

There are two Monarch butterflies sanctuaries opened for public. We decided to visit El Rosario first, which required one of our most difficult climbs, although it was short. The first 8 kilometres after village Ocampo were the steepest, hard work even for some fully rested cyclist without Barbora's bronchitis. The last part was so steep and the road in such a bad condition, that we had to walk and push our bikes. An old man walking up the same way offered to help Baška with her bike - he bravely pushed it for some three hundred meters and then he gladly gave it back to Baška. Our impatience grew with each step closer to sanctuary: we hadn't seen more than three or four Monarchs so far, so where are all those supposed millions of butterflies?

Krátke ale brutálne

Z dvoch verejnosti prístupných rezervácií zimujúcich monarchov sme sa rozhodli prvú navštíviť rezerváciu El Rosario. Čakalo nás tu jedno z najnáročnejších stúpaní celej našej cesty (aj keď nebolo veľmi dlhé). Najťažšia časť – z dedinky Ocampo k rezervácii, merala iba 8 km, stúpanie však bolo tak strmé, že by dalo zabrať aj niekomu v plnej sile a nieto nikomu so zápalom priedušiek, ktorý kváril Bašku. Posledné tri kilometre sme už viac tlačili bicykle, ako na nich išli. Postarší pán, ktorého sme stretli cestou, sa ako pravý džentlmen ponúkol, že Baške pomôže a dal sa tlačiť jej bicykel – po nejakých 300 metroch ho však Baške zasa rád vrátil. S každým metrom bližšie k rezervácii narastá naša netrpezlivosť – kde sú tie sľubované milióny motýľov? Zatiaľ sme videli asi tak troch...

Sanctuary El Rosario

The entrance to El Rosario Sanctuary didn't look very representative, actually it looked pretty suspicious. Muddy parking area was surrounded by ugly, dirty looking stands quickly built from wooden planks. Crowd of small children surrounded us like small vultures, tried to sell their cheap souvenir trash (most - or all of it? probably made in China) and asked money for their short, silent, out-of-tune song about Monarchs and our arrival. But soon they found out that it was not as easy to get money from us as from Gringos (tourists from the USA) or Chilangos (tourists from the Mexico City) and they let us be, which we really appreciated.
Employees from the Sanctuary were very nice and helped us to find good place for camping where we didn't bother and weren't bothered by anyone. We even got some firewood (although we didn't need it). To say something to defense this place we must admit that it is still developing, and maybe after some time it will be more representative (or expensive) - but we are in Mexico, so who knows if this isn't just another example of “mañana forever”.
The next morning we finally entered the Sanctuary (still hadn't seen many butterflies). The employees let us to park our bicycles in a small unused building. Entrance fee 45 pesos/person included a guide who lead us to the place with butterflies. We were lucky to arrive quite early - before the big groups of tourists. We had been told that the best time for observing the butterflies was around noon, but we didn't quite agree - we think the best timing is to come around 9-10 a.m. and then wait till noon. Only problem are the rules: officially you can stay on the place with Monarchs only for half an hour - which sounds like nothing for somebody who travelled by bicycle so far to get this life-time experience... But if you are successful (or lucky) to convince your guide to allow you to stay longer, you'll have got an excellent opportunity to see the whole show. But that's not all - you need to have good weather too, sunny and warm day.
If it was beginner's luck our cyclist's luck, who knows, but the truth was we got all of it - it was beautiful sunny day, the forest was silent and still cool after the night. We warmed up quickly, we still needed to climb some more 300 m and our guide walked fast. Suddenly he stopped and pointed out some tree with dried leaves. Wait a minute, it's a spruce tree, it's not supposed to have leaves... And then we finally understood - the butterflies weren't everywhere around us, as we had expected, they occupy just a few, maybe 2-3 dozens of trees, but these were completely covered by millions of butterflies, branches being bent under weight of their bodies... Incredible, just incredible. As the sun came up and warmed the air, Monarchs started to wake up and be more and more active. Just a few of them were flying around in the beginning, then more and more and suddenly we realized we were surrounded, they were flying everywhere, sitting everywhere around us. The blue sky above our heads was full of small orange dots, the green color of forest changed to orange, even the ground was orange, covered by dead butterflies' bodies. And we could literally hear sound of flying butterflies' wings. They are actually pretty loud in this number :-).
We were so fascinated by this theatre that we hardly realized how crowded by tourists this place had become (another reason to be there before noon). On our way back we felt like being in a different forest than it had been in the morning. This time it was full of rustling of Monarch's wings.

Rezervácia El Rosario

Vstup do najväčšej rezervácie zimujúcich motýľov na svete nepôsobil veľmi reprezentatívne. Zablatené parkovisko a nevzhľadné špinavé stánky zbúchané narýchlo z drevených dosiek. Kŕdeľ detí nás obkolesil ako kŕdeľ hladných supov, ponúkajú nám lacné čínske suveníry v tvare motýľov a pýtajú peniaze za svoj tichý falošný spev o tom, že sme dorazili k motýľom... Čoskoro však pochopili, že od nás peniaze nezískajú tak ľahko ako od gringov či Chilangov (obyvateľov Mexiko City) a dajú nám pokoj, čo oceňujeme. Veľmi milo nás prekvapilo, ako bezpečne sa tu cítime - aj keď v nás miestni vidia iba zdroj ľahko zarobených peňazí, nemáme pocit, že by sa nás ktokoľvek pokúšal okradnúť (ako tomu býva na väčšine turisticky atraktívnych destinácií na celom svete).

Zamestnanci rezervácie nám pomohli nájsť bezpečné miesto na kempovanie, kde nebudeme nikomu zavadzať a nás nebude nikto rušiť. Dokonca nám priniesli aj drevo na oheň. Na obranu tohto miesta treba povedať, že je ešte stále vo výstavbe a možno jedného dňa bude reprezentatívnejšie (a tým pádom asi aj drahšie), ale keďže sme v Mexiku, je možné, že je to len ďalší príklad mexického „maňana forever“.

Nasledujúci deň sme mali dosiahnuť jeden z cieľov našej cesty po Mexiku – zažiť to, čo sme poznali z televíznych dokumentov a obrázkov National Geografic, vždy sme si tajne priali to vidieť na vlastné oči, ale nikdy sme nečakali, že sa nám to naozaj splní... Zamestnanci pri vstupnej bráne nám opäť boli veľmi nápomocní, keď nám dovolili naše bicykle bezpečne odparkovať v jednej z nepoužívaných malých budov. V cene vstupného (45 pesos) je aj sprievodca, ktorý nás zavedie k miestu, kde sa zdržiavajú motýle a cestou odpovedá na naše otázky. Prišli sme ešte pred hlavným náporom turistov, ktorý dorazí pred poludním. Väčšina ľudí totiž odporúča, že najlepší čas na návštevu rezervácie je poludnie, kedy sú motýle v najväčšej aktivite. My si však myslíme, že najlepšie je doraziť ráno, aby sme zažili ako sa motýle postupne zobúdzajú a počkať si na poludnie priamo tam. To sa však bohužiaľ nezhoduje s politikou rezervácie, podľa ktorej môžeme byť pri motýľoch iba pol hodiny (čo nám pripadá ako nič, keď sa sem teperíme z druhého konca planéty, tak by sme si to radi užili čo najviac). Ak však máte šťastie, podarí sa Vám presvedčiť sprievodcu, aby Vás tam nechal o chvíľku dlhšie (ten náš nám dovolil viac ako hodinu). A aby ste naozaj zažili celé šou, musíte mať šťastie aj na počasie. To sme my mali, Vesmír nám na tejto ceste stále praje, takže sme sa zobudili do krásneho slnečného dňa, ranný chlad sme čoskoro zahnali pri nasledovaní nášho sprievodcu, stúpal do tých schodov naozaj rýchlo.

Keď sme dorazili na miesto, motýle stále ešte odpočívali na stromoch a my sme márne pozerali okolo seba, kde že má byť to sľubované divadlo. Očakávali sme motýle všade okolo seba a namiesto toho náš sprievodca ukazuje iba na konáre so suchým lístím na stromoch. Počkať, veď to sú smreky, to nebude suché lístie... Keď sme prišli bližšie, videli sme, že to naozaj nie je suché lístie, ale konáre prehýbajúce sa pod váhou motýľov, ktoré ich celkom obaľujú... Nielen konáre, aj kmene sú celkom obalené motýľmi. Milióny motýľov naskladaných vedľa seba a tvoriac tak neuveriteľné motýlie „strapce“, ktoré poznáme z tých obrázkov z National Geographic... Ako stúpajúce slnko zohrievalo vzduch, motýle sa začali zobúdzať a les okolo nás sa začal plniť šuchotavým zvukom motýlích krídel... Myslíte si, že lietajúceho motýľa nepočuť? Verte tomu, že keď ich je pár desiatok tisíc, tak je ich počuť veľmi zreteľne. Modrá obloha nad nami je zrazu pokrytá lietajúcimi oranžovými bodkami, rovnako ako všetko naokolo. Zažili ste niekedy letný pozáplavový večer pri rieke Morave? A teraz si predstavte namiesto komárov motýle... Tak nejak to vyzeralo. Pod „motýlími stromami“ (nie je ich extra veľa, len nejakých 20-30, ktoré vidíme) je oranžový koberec z mŕtvych motýlích tiel...

Boli sme tak zabratí do pozorovania a fotenia motýľov, že sme si skoro ani nevšimli, aké davy turistov sa sem začali valiť. Ďalší z dobrých dôvodov prísť sem ráno. Vracajúc sa lesom, obletovaní tisíckami a tisíckami oranžových krídel, máme pocit, že sa vraciame iným lesom, než bol ten, ktorým sme sem prišli...

Down And Up Again

To get to village Angangueo from El Rosario wasn't much easier than to get up here, even though it was downhill. The road was horrible, paved by “flat” rocks and even steeper than from Ocampo (and shorter). Our brakes were screaming (literally, Baška had some pieces of metal in the rear break pads, we didn't figure out where they had come from) and the last few hundreds of meters we had to walk again, the gradient of the road was too steep.
Angangueo is nice village with good atmosphere but we didn't spend much time there, we had to climb another crazy steep hill to the second Monarch Sanctuary in Sierra Chincua. That was too much for one day and night found us still in the urban area - where to camp there? We found nice spot in front of a small church. We asked locals from a house nearby - not only they let us camp there, but the church keeper turned the lights on for us and he also let us to charge our phone and laptop in his house. Local kids were enthusiastically helping us to build our tent (most of them had never done anything like that before).

Opäť hore a dole...

Zísť dole do mestečka Angangueo nebolo oveľa jednoduchšie a vôbec nie rýchlejšie, než vystúpať hore. Cesta je vydláždená obrovskými balvanmi a hádam ešte strmšia, než tá, ktorou sme včera vystúpali. Naše brzdy kvília (Baškine doslovne, keďže sa jej do zadnej brzdy dostali kúsky kovu, netušíme odkiaľ a teraz sa snažili orašpľovať ráfik zadného kolesa). Posledných pár metrov ideme pešo, svah je už príliš strmý a máme pocit, že idúc na bicykli by sme sa prevrátili dopredu...

Angangueo je pekné mestečko, dlho sa tu však nezdržiavame, čaká nás ďalšie šialene strmé stúpanie do druhej motýlej rezervácie v pohorí Sierra Chincua a deň sa už chýli ku koncu. Už sa začína stmievať a my sme ešte stále v zastavanom území, čo značne komplikuje hľadanie miesta na kempovanie. Aha, tam je rovný „plácek“ pred kaplnkou, akurát pre náš stan, ideme sa opýtať do susedného domu, či tu môžeme postaviť stan a prespať. Nielenže to máme povolené, dostali sme hŕstku pomocníkov – zvedavých miestnych detí, ktoré ochotne asistujú pri stavbe stanu, väčšina z nich niečo také robí prvýkrát v živote. Kostolník nám rozsvieti svetlo na kaplnke a nechá nás nabiť si mobil a počítač v jeho dome.  

Year's Last And First Day

The next morning the keeper's family invited us for coffee (for the first time in America we'd had it with real fresh milk) and cake - which ended up being good and rich breakfast with eggs, tortillas and fruit. We learned about a new fruit called “Zapote” - looks like big green tomato from the outside and like plum jam from the inside and tastes really good, especially when mixed with orange juice. And our hosting family learned something about a small country in the centre of Europe, called Slovakia, they seemed to be very interested.
After great breakfast and conversation it was time to finish the climb up to Sierra Chincua. This road was even steeper than the one to El Rosario, "one grade steeper and the cars would roll over", we thought. So we had to push our bikes many times during that 7 km long climb. We arrived to the entrance of the Sanctuary in the late afternoon, it was already too late to go to see butterflies.
For entering the last, not paved part of the road to the Sanctuary, each car had to pay 80 pesos. Our two bicycles looked like one car for the guy collecting the fee, he wanted 80 pesos from us. We weren't happy about it (knowing that we'll have to pay another 35 pesos per person at the actual entrance to the Sanctuary) until they informed us the accommodation in small barracks (used probably by local scouts or foresters) was included for us. We got nice room, hot shower (after one small explosion of water heater) and electricity - so we were more than glad. This day was New Year Eve, all the locals went home to celebrate with their families and we were left there alone.
We hadn't really expected such a comfort for our New Year's arrival celebration - in warm bed, watching movie after taking good warm shower. Not really a comfort, you think? For us actually it is, we can now really appreciate small things like this. :-)
The New Year Day we were going to spend with butterflies in this sanctuary. We came before first tourists, even before rangers (which saved us 70 pesos for entrance fee). And also before the local guy who had offered us his guidance service and made us promise to pay him 150 pesos for it (he wanted 300 pesos at first, we explained we weren't rich gringos even though we look like them. Even those 150 pesos is too much for us, so we felt very relieved not to see the guy there). But there were still more locals waiting for tourists to be guided (no matter if the tourists want it or not). This time a small girl was the fastest and became our guide.
The place with Monarchs was quite far from the entrance (about 3 km), which looked much more representative and organised than in El Rosario. There was educative trail, with information about Monarchs and many funny mistakes in English translation. What wasn't so funny was the line creating border between place for tourists and Monarch's colony, being so far from the trees with butterflies, we could hardly see them.

Posledný a prvý deň roku

Nasledujúce, silvestrovské, ráno nás kostolníkova rodina pozvala na kávu (asi prvýkrát za celú dobu, čo sme v Amerike, nám k nej dali ozajstné čerstvé kravské mlieko a nielen tú „bielu vodu“ z tetrapaku...), z čoho sa nakoniec vykľuli vynikajúce a bohaté raňajky z čerstvých vajec a s domácimi tortillami. Tiež sme vyskúšali ďalší nový druh ovocia – volá sa Zapote, zvonka vyzerá ako veľká zelená paradajka a zvnútra ako slivkový džem. S čerstvou pomarančovou šťavou chutí naozaj dobre a osviežujúco. Rodina je veľmi milá a pohostinná a zaujímajú sa o naše rozprávanie o Slovensku. Ako už toľkokrát, aj tu sme počuli „nezabúdajte, že náš dom je Vám vždy otvorený, kedykoľvek pôjdete zasa okolo“. A ako už toľkokrát, sľubujeme, že ak budeme mať ešte niekedy náhodou cestu okolo, tak sa radi zasa zastavíme... :-)

Bohaté výživné raňajky nám prišli veľmi vhod, potrebujeme energiu na vystúpanie tých 7 km do Sierra Chincua. Ktokoľvek postavil túto cestu, musel byť šialený sadista alebo niečo na ten spôsob, máme totiž pocit, že tu dosiahol absolútnu hranicu – ešte o stupeň strmší svah a autá by sa jednoducho prevrátili dozadu. Na toto stúpanie budeme ešte veľmi dlho spomínať a bude nám prirovnaním „na stúpanie do Sierra Chincua to zďaleka nemá...“. Ťažko povedať, či sme strávili viac času pedálovaním asi najnižšou možnou rýchlosťou, pri ktorej ešte vieme udržať rovnováhu alebo tlačením našich verných „tátošov“. Aj keď to bolo len 7 km, k odbočke do rezervácie sme dorazili neskoro popoludní.

Na naše nemilé prekvapenie, pri vjazde na prašnú cestu k vstupu do rezervácie musíme platiť „vjazdné“, ako pre auto, čo je 80 pesos. Ale sklamaní sme len do chvíle, keď nám na otázku, kde môžeme kempovať, ukazujú ubytovňu pre miestnych lesníkov a skautov. Máme k dispozícii pohodlnú posteľ v ktorejkoľvek izbe, ktorú si vyberieme, elektrinu a teplú sprchu (explodujúci bojler je v cene) – čo viac k silvestrovskej oslave potrebujeme? Že je to to na silvestrovskú oslavu príliš skromné? No pre nás ani nie, my dokážeme takéto drobné výdobytky ľudskej civilizácie náležite oceniť a sú pre nás vlastne vrcholom luxusu. Všetci miestni odišli oslavovať v kruhu rodiny (silvestrovská večera doma s rodinou a novoročný piknik – tak sa tu oslavuje príchod nového roka. Všetko je samozrejme sprevádzané búchaním petárd, tie majú Mexičania vo veľkej obľube a práskajú ich pri každej príležitosti – čím hlučnejšie, tým lepšie, svetelný efekt nie je až tak dôležitý ako ten zvukový.), takže sme tu úplne sami. Osprchovaní, zachumlaní v posteli do spacáku strávime silvestrovskú noc pozeraním Dobrého vojáka Švejka. :-)

Aj keď je skôr zvykom vítať nový rok s opicou, my ho tento rok privítame s motýľmi. Dnes je to asi prvýkrát, čo sme Mexičanom vďační za ich nedochvíľnosť. Náš sprievodca, čo nás včera, dalo by sa povedať, prinútil, aby sme mu sľúbili, že využijeme jeho sprievodcovské služby, za 150 pesos – a to chcel pôvodne 300, horko ťažko sme ho presvedčili, že my nie sme bohatí gringovia a zjednali sme to na polovicu – tu mal byť o 9:00, o 9:20 však mileradi vyrážame bez neho. K vstupnej bráne sme dorazili ako prví turisti a dokonca ešte pred príchodov oficiálnych strážcov rezervácie – čo nám ušetrilo 35 pesos na osobu na vstupnom. Nestihli sme to však pred príchodom miestnych, čo tu na turistoch zarábajú (jedna dodávka s miestnymi nás na kúsok aj zviezla) a tak máme zasa sprievodcu, či sa nám to páči alebo nie. Tentokrát je to však našťastie len malé, asi 12-ročné dievčatko.

Naša malá sprievodkyňa nás vedie po jednoznačnom a dobre značenom, asi 3 km dlhom chodníku, ktorý je lemovaný náučnými tabuľami a celkovo to tu vyzerá o dosť reprezentatívnejšie než v rezervácii El Rosario. Náučné tabule si so záujmom čítame – nie že by sme sa z nich dozvedali niečo nové, všetky informácie o monarchoch už poznáme z El Rosaria, ale zabávame sa na vtipných chybách v anglických prekladoch. Cestou míňame odbočky na vyhliadky – tam sa zastavíme cestou dole, teraz sa ponáhľame za motýľmi. Keď sme, ako prví dnešní turisti, dorazili do cieľa, sme sklamaní – páska označujúca hranicu, za ktorú už turistom nie je vstup povolený, je od stromov s motýľmi dosť ďaleko, sotva ich dovidíme. Ale keďže sme tu prví a strážcovia tu ešte nie sú, povoľuje nám naša sprievodkyňa ísť aj za hranicu. Prehovorili sme ju, že už ju nepotrebujeme a môže sa vrátiť naspäť (dali sme jej 60 pesos, vyzerá sklamane, čakala aspoň 100, ale nám aj 60 príde celkom dosť za 3-kilometrovú prechádzku po lese, priemerný mexický robotník zarobí za celodennú fušku na slnku 150 – 200 pesos).

Prechádzame sa priamo pod stromami obalenými motýľmi, ktoré vyzerajú, že im vôbec nijak nevadíme. Kým príde prvý nával ľudí a strážcovia, stihneme spraviť zopár pekných záberov. Počasie sa však s nami nepekne zahráva – vyzeralo to na teplý slnečný deň, avšak práve keď už sa motýle začínali prebúdzať k aktivite, vystúpila sem hmla z údolia, objala všetko svojou mokrou chladnou náručou a zdá sa, že sa rozhodla ostať tu celý deň. Pre motýle to bolo jasné znamenie, že majú ďalší deň „voľna“ a zaujali svoje nehybné pozície v strapcoch na stromoch. Takto to má zasa inú atmosféru a podarilo sa nám zopár fotiek motýlích strapcov v hmle. Okolo poludnia, keď už sa to tu zasa hmýri turistami, nie však motýľmi, keďže hmla nevyzerá, že by si to chcela rozmyslieť, sa rozhodujeme k zostupu. Z vyhliadok si vychutnáme pohľad na jednoliatu belobu a čo je tam dole si iba predstavujeme. Za ušetrené peniaze za sprievodcu si aspoň ideme dať obed.

Bol to nezabudnuteľný zážitok jednej z mnoha mágií našej Matky Prírody, myslím, že na túto novoročnú oslavu len tak nezabudneme. :-)

Los Azufres And What We Didn't Expect to Find On the Top of a Volcano

Cycling:
From San Pedro Jácuaro almost 20 km long climb from elevation about 2,000 m to more than 2,800 m above the sea level. The road was pretty steep and not in the best condition, with only a few places to stop and catch a breath, but luckily with very little traffic.
Learning:
- that Baška can climb the steepest hill despite of the sore throat, in the first day of her period, in the cold weather and with annoying husband behind  :-)
- that the hot springs in Los Azufres are very well hidden (or they don't exist?), instead you'll find resorts offering bath in hot water on the top of this volcano
- that all these “hot springs” are here thanks to geothermal power plant and drilled wells and huge plastic pipes distributing hot water to different resorts
- that one night in Rancho Viecho, one of resorts /camps which didn't look too crowded or too expensive, cost 99 pesos (6,7 US dollars) per person and we could camp wherever we wanted
- that the best time to take a hot bath is between nine o'clock p.m.and eight o'clock a.m.
- that 40°C water is more than hot enough, 35°C is perfect
- that bicyclists are found everywhere
- that there is no cave, despite the signs saying it
Living:
Barbora hiked to visit a small canyon close to our camping spot we had found yesterday. The “sap gatherers” are passing around our tent and don't seem to be bothered by it. All the pine trees around have deep cuts with plastic bottles on the bottom to collect their sap. Why? We didn't figure it out, we guess it is probably for incense burners in churches.
Then we started climbing up to the top of Los Azufres, visions of hot springs are boosting up our motivation to climb this crazy slope. Especially Baška felt miserable (sore-throat and some Christmas home-sickness), but little by little she is also fighting the gravitation, which for this time works very well (we found out that gravitation sometimes didn't work exactly the same way here in America as we were used to from Europe). After some tears, drops of sweat, many curves and couple of views of the valleys below, we reached the top of Los Azufres. Our search for some “natural” hot springs was unsuccessful. Some workers told us that only spring of this kind was somewhere close to Laguna Verde, which was on the other side of volcano, too far and too down for us. So we kept searching and followed the biggest clouds of steam, hoping they would lead us to some big springs - but actually and causing our big surprise, they lead us to geothermal power plant, built almost on the highest point of this volcano. How strange but perfectly logic. Now we understood where all these huge pipes came from, each one distributing hot water for pools and resorts below. We met a guy who worked in this power plant and gave us water. After short conversation we found out he was a cyclist too and his dream was to ride from Alaska to Patagonia. So we gave him some advice and told him about warmshowers.org. Our choice for camping was resort with camp named “Rancho Viejo". Although we usually prefer not to pay for nights, we didn't mind it this time - after this long and cold day it was very satisfying to spent a couple of hours in hot water, just relaxing...

Christmas In the Fog

Sounds like name for some punk band  :-). Anyway, that's how we celebrated this Christmas. From Morelia headed up into the mountains, we spent one day just climbing up. It was quite hard work, on the lowest gear, in average speed about 5-6 km per hour but we didn't regret it. The road was winding on the steep slope with huge deep valley below us and, sometimes, with high rock walls above us. Everything was green, we passed through forests with deciduous and coniferous trees covered by many different types of vines or some dendrophilous plants (most of them we hadn't seen before), and through small villages and ranches with avocado orchards or corn fields (reminding of rice fields in Asia). Little by little we were climbing towards the top of these wonderful hills, sweating a lot, but enjoying empty road and really fresh air (after a long time). As we climbed higher and higher, the gray clouds were closer and closer. It started to rain at night and kept raining whole morning till noon. It was December 24th, for us it is the first and the main Christmas day (in Slovakia we celebrate Christmas for three days, all if them are public holidays). Even after it stopped raining, everything was still soaked in thick white fog. It made special atmosphere of this day - in some way it was truly Christmas atmosphere (it reminded us of Christmas more than decorated palm trees or plastic Santas in their red and white coat while everybody else was wearing T-shirts and shorts). And we got Christmas presents too - finding out our elevation was almost 3,000 m, which was our record so far. And after all that climbing, we were rewarded by amazing 20 km long downhill ride through foggy forest. It was also one of our coldest one, not for being wearing just shorts anymore...
At the evening we improvised in making our traditional Christmas celebration. We prepared potato salad, traditional Christmas dish, it tasted like at home, even though we had to improvise and substitute some of the ingredients for what we could buy in small villages around here. We lighted up a candle in empty can, listened Christmas Carols from our laptop and thinking of our family and friends. Christmas atmosphere was perfect.  :-)

Generous Alexandro And His Mean Wife

It was on our way out of Morelia, once again we almost run out of water. We were looking for some "purificadora" to refill our bottles, but couldn't find any (like many times before). Suddenly a man, passing us on his moped, stopped on the side of the road, and waived on us. We are already getting use to this, locals are often curious when they see us, and usually want to take pictures with us or chat a little. Alexandro was not an exception and he also wanted to help and asked if we needed anything. “Just drinking water”, was our answer. Alexandro went to a close-by corner store and bought 10 litres bottle of water, we filled our bottles and he took the rest. But that wasn't all, then Alexandro took us to his son's bakery and we could choose whatever we wanted. And finally he invited us to his house. Well, why not, it was almost dark anyway. So we stayed with him and talked almost whole evening about Slovakia and Europeans.
Alexandro, as many Mexicans, thought that all Europeans were awfully rich and every man had at least ten women and so on... So we had to correct him, that we were not British, Dutch, French nor Italian, and that central and eastern Europe was something very different from the west. Alexandro was really disappointed that Martin had never had more than two girls at a time :-). For a while we were also watching TV, which persuaded us again that we didn't miss it at all.
We were almost ready to go to bed, when Alexandro's wife finally came home. And evening peace was over. She just greeted us briefly and then had some short and sharp argument with Alexandro. Then she left. We were half-way ready to pack and go but Alexandro told us it was ok and we didn't have to worry. In half an hour, or so, his wife was back and this time she had longer speech also with us. From what we could understand she was not happy at all that we were there without her husband telling her anything, she was repeating that this house was also hers and this was not the first time Alexandro had done something like this... It was kind of fascinating to observe how she was behaving exactly in the same way as women in “novelas“ - Mexican TV shows (soap operas), which are so popular here in Mexico. Even her make-up was the same. Is this the influence of TV? Are these “novelas“ reflecting the life in Mexico or (because Mexicans are brainwashed by them since their birth) are Mexicans reflecting these TV shows? At the end she asked Alexandro to choose whom he prefered - his wife or some strangers? Then she packed her mattress and went to sleep in their son's bakery. We left too, in spite of Alexandro's convincing that it would be ok and we should have stayed (it was almost midnight, after all), but we felt bad and didn't want to make any more troubles.


One good thing about cycling in the middle of night is that the roads are almost empty. After about an hour we found quite nice place for camping in hills far from any village and from any angry Mexican woman :-).

Eat, Love, Pray

Eat
It was in one of these small villages after Quiroga, named El Tigre. It looked like whole village was just small family restaurants. The ones on the left side of the road offered “carne asada”, which is something like barbecue, all restaurants on the right side offered ice cream. Beingwe just after breakfast we chose the right side.
After climbing pretty steep hill, we arrived to another small village, similar to El Tigre (even its name was almost the same), but this time with no ice cream, just all different kinds of meat. Many items on the menus were new and unknown for us. We were especially curious what “cecina” was (in Slovak language it sounds very funny). And after that climb we were hungry, too. So we chose randomly one of the restaurants and asked what cecina was. We were told it was baked sun-dried meat and given a small piece to try. Tasted good. But we chose classic meal “carne asada”. For 55 pesos per dish we were fully satisfied. The dish, prepared on the wooden stove right in front of our eyes by two ladies, consisted of three big pieces of meat with plenty of vegetable (avocado, tomatoes, grilled onion, cucumber, lime), bowl of beans (not spicy, mexican food is usually not very spicy at first, they make it spicy by adding salsa, which is always served separately, so everybody can make it as spicy as they like) and endless amount of fresh hand-made tortillas, which were continuously prepared and brought to us until we finished our meat. Unlike typical Mexican, we prefer “agua de fruta” (fruit juice) from Coca-cola. We were given several options, we chose orange and pineapple and then observed the fruit being changed into delicious, refreshing, healthy drink. Each of us got full jar of juice and we drank as much as we could. A glass of "agua de fruta" coast 5 pesos (a glass of "refresco" -  Coke or any type of artificial soda, is usually for 10 pesos), we were charged for two glasses each, but we had actually drunk at least four glasses each :-).
It was hard to leave, we were so full...

Love
We were very happy for just downhill ride to Morelia after that splendid lunch. The weather was perfect, the road in good quality and with very little traffic and nice views, so we enjoyed it very much. Sometimes it's hard to explain why we do this whole bike trip thing, but in the moments like this one, we understand it perfectly. For moments like this life is worth living...

Pray
Enter any big city in Mexico by bicycle is usually complicated, stressful and dangerous. Morelia was not the exception. So we prayed a lot not to be smashed up by some crazy cab or bus driver (they are the most dangerous) or not to suffocate in heavy traffic. The air quality in Morelia was extraordinarily bad. All the cars seemed to be adjusted to produce the biggest amount of exhaust fumes possible. In addition to that,  workers repairing the sidewalk were using generators or compressors with combustion engines. Simply, the whole city was hidden in one big cloud of smog. Something like in hell? Actually (and surprisingly) there really was a hell in Morelia - right on the main square. It was part of Christmas decoration, together with over-sized Saint Family and Three Kings. The devils were bright red, half naked and made from latex.
The downtown of Morelia is one of UNESCO heritage sites and is beautiful, with many historical buildings, churches and long old aqueduct. It was worthy visiting, we only wished we could breathe
there more easily...

Jedz, miluj, modli sa 

Bolo to v jednej z malých dediniek za Quirogou, táto sa volala El Tigre. Tvorená bola vlastne asi iba reštauráciami lemujúcimi cestu. Tie na pravo od cesty ponúkali „Carne asada“ (pečené mäso), zatiaľ čo tie na ľavo všetky ponúkali zmrzlinu (poriadok musí byť). Keďže sme akurát po raňajkách, volíme ľavú stranu.
Neskôr, po zdolaní strmého stúpania, sa ocitáme v ďalšej, veľmi podobnej dedinke, dokonca aj jej názov je podobný. Ale už tu nie je žiadna zmrzlina, všade iba pečené mäso rôznych druhov a na rôzne spôsoby. Niektoré neznáme názvy jedál v nás vzbudzujú zvedavosť. Čo je to napríklad tá „cecina“? (Pre nás Slovákov to znie celkom ľubozvučne :-)). No tak sa na to poďme spýtať. Aj tak nám z toho stúpania už vyhladlo. Ktorú reštauráciu si ale vybrať? Keďže všetky ponúkajú to isté a aj výzorom sa podobajú ako mexická rodinná reštaurácia mexickej rodinnej reštaurácii (na klasických plastových stoloch je väčšinou aj ten istý obrus), k slovu prichádza náhodný výber – táto to bude. Dostalo sa nám vysvetlenia, že cecina sú na slnku sušené a na ohni opečené plátky mäsa. A rovno jeden dávajú na pec, nech môžeme ochutnať. Objednávame si „Carne asada“ a sledujeme, ako nám dve ženy pripravujú náš pokrm – pre každého tri pláty mäsa, opečené mladé cibuľky, to všetko obložené množstvom zeleniny – paradajka, uhorka, avokádo, k tomu miska fazúľ (mexické fazule nie sú vôbec pikantné. V skutočnosti máloktoré mexické jedlo je pikantné. Pikantná je salsa, ktorých je na stole väčšinou výber z viacerých druhov. Podáva sa ku každému jedlu, ale vždy oddelene, nech si každý dá podľa svojej chuti). A samozrejme neobmedzené množstvo čerstvých ručne robených tortíl, ktoré sa tiež pripravujú pred našimi zrakmi a priebežne sú nám dopĺňané do košíčka na stole, kým máte na tanieri čo i len jedno sústo, tak vám stále prinášajú ďalšie a ďalšie čerstvé tortily, bez ohľadu na to, koľko ste ich už zjedli. Za 55 pesos na osobu sa naozaj dobre najeme. A na pitie „Agua de fruta“ - ovocná šťava z čerstvého ovocia (narozdiel od drvivej väčšiny miestnych dávame prednosť tejto možnosti pred Coca-Colou), tiež pripravená priamo pred našimi zrakmi z ovocia podľa nášho výberu – volíme pomaranč a ananás, každý z nás dostáva plný krčah, z ktorého si nalievame jeden pohár za druhým, nie je nad čerstvú ovocnú šťavu. Pri platení sa nás pani kuchárka / čašníčka / pani domu pýta, či nám môže každému zarátať 2 poháre (pohár je za 5 pesos). Čoby nie, veď sme vypili každý aspoň 4. Na záver sa ešte pýtame, či by nám nepredali zopár plátkov toho sušeného mäsa – na cestovanie je to ideálne. Odchádza sa nám veľmi ťažko – sme tak plní...
Po výdatnom obede nás našťastie čakal príjemný zjazd do Morelie. Počasie príjemné, premávka riedka, dobrá cesta s malebným okolím a peknými výhľadmi, užívame si to. Niekedy je ťažké vysvetliť, prečo robíme to, čo robíme, ale vo chvíľach ako je táto, je to jasné. Pre momenty, ako je tento, sa oplatí žiť...
Vjazdy do väčších mexických miest pre nás bývajú často značne komplikované, stresujúce a nebezpečné. Modlíme sa, aby sme aj týmto mestom prefrčali bez komplikácií a bez zrážky s taxíkom či autobusom (tí sú najnebezpečnejší) a aby sme sa nezadusili výfukovými plynmi. Kvalita ovzdušia v Morelii bola extra nepriaznivá, keď sme tam dorazili. Ako keby miestne autá boli špeciálne upravené tak, aby produkovali čo najviac znečistenia, ako je len možné. A v ich snažení im pomáhajú pracovníci opravujúci chodník používajúci miešačky a generátory na spaľovací motor. Skrátka celé mesto je zahalené v sivom smogu. Znie to ako keby sme objavili peklo? No pravdou je, že sme ho naozaj objavili – priamo v centre na hlavnom námestí, hneď vedľa Betlehemu s postavičkami v životnej veľkosti. Čerti a čertice sú tiež v životnej veľkosti, žiarivo červení ako ich plamene, polonahí a z latexu.
Je tu však aj veľa ďalších zaujímavostí k videniu, centrum Morelie so svojími historickými budovami, kostolmi, katedrálou a dlhým akvaduktom (ktorý je k videniu aj na 50-pesosovej bankovke) je zaradené medzi pamiatky UNESCO. Morelia určite stojí za návštevu – len keby sa tu dalo voľnejšie dýchať...

From Captain's Log... or Over the Hills And Far Away

December:
21st – Zacapú to Quiroga, 47 km,
Still on hwy 15, half day uphill, half day downhill, nice pine forests around and not too much traffic.
22nd – Quiroga to Morelia – Irapeo, 56 km,
Again half day up and then amazing downhill ride to Morelia, little traffic, close to Morelia the road began to be more crowded. More hills waited for us after Morelia.
23rd – Irapeo to somewhere in the middle of hills between Morelia and Ciudad Hidalgo, 27.49 km,
Whole day climbing up the hills, the road was steep, narrow, curvy and with steep slopes above and below us, but with almost no traffic.
24th – from the hills to Huajúmbaro, 34.29 km,
For a while we kept pedaling uphill, fortunately not very steep. We were surprised to find our elevation to be about 2,900 m. Then nice but cold downhill ride for the rest of the day(some 20 km), unfortunately the road was quite in bad shape.
25th – from Huajúmbaro to San Pedro Jácuaro, 26.6 km,
Another perfect downhill ride almost to Ciudad Hidalgo, short conversation with locals convinced us to visit Los Azufres, so we went to San Pedro Jácuaro and started climbing up to Los Azufres
26th – San Pedro Jácuaro to Los Azufres, 25.04 km,
Almost 20 km long climb from 2,100 to more than 2,800 m above the sea level. The road was pretty steep and not in the best condition, with only a few places to stop and catch a breath, but luckily with very little traffic.
27th – Los Azufres to San Pedro Jácuaro, 12.87 km,
The same road as yesterday, but in opposite direction, we enjoyed the evening downhill ride in spite of bad quality of the road.
28th - San Pedro Jácuaro – Aporo, 38.44 km,
Downhill ride to Ciudad Hidalgo, where we left hwy #15 and climbed up very steep but short hill. The road to Aporo was nice and with little traffic and without steep hills.
29th – Aporo to El Rosario (or San José?), 28.57 km,
The road to Ocampo was fine if not for too many topes (speed bumps). From Ocampo up to Sanctuary of Monarch Butterflies we experienced our steepest hill we had ever ridden by a bicycle (or pushed the bicycle up), with many curves and quite a lot of cars.
30th – El Rosario to Angangueo, 10.82 km,
Road down to Angangueo was very bad, made from rocks cemented together, super-steep and absolutely not bike-friendly.
31st – Angangueo to Sierra Chincua, 6.78 km,
Another crazy hill up to elevation of about 3,100 m, the first part from Angangueo to first serpentines was the most difficult, the road was straight and very very steep. The last two kilometers to Monarch Sanctuary was on the dirt road. Only a little traffic.
January:
1st – Sierra Chincua to San José de Rincón, 25.69 km,
Nice downhill ride to the lowlands (well, still in the elevation of 2,600 m). The main road was very narrow, in bad quality and quite busy.
2nd – San José de Rincón to Villa Victoria, 34.65 km,
We rode through many small hills with short uphill and downhill rides, with farm fields with the spread habitations all around us. At the end of the day we came back to hwy #15 which was very busy but with nice shoulder.
3rd – Villa Victoria to Toluca, 44.95 km,
Cycling below the volcano Nevado de Toluca, mainly through farmlands, hwy #15 was very busy there, but entering Toluca was without problems. 4 to
7th – Exploring Toluca and finding some nice bike trails there, 25.32 km.

8th – Toluca to Xalatlaco, 45.07 km,
We started climbing the mountains between Toluca and Mexico City to volcano Ajusco. From Toluca we rode mostly downhill on main roads with heavy traffic, to Xalatlaco uphill on quite good road with not much traffic on it. The real climb started after Xalatlaco and was pretty steep, luckily almost without any traffic.
9th – Xalatlaco to San Miguel Ajusco, 32.97 km,
Climbing to the mountain saddle in elevation of 3,600 m. The road lead us through pine forests and pastures with sheep, lthe slope was pretty steep in the beginning, but later it was fine and we really enjoyed it. Perfect downhill ride to the saddle under volcano Ajusco with no traffic at all was disturbed only by topes (speed bumps) built with no reason there... The rest of downhill ride to San Miguel Ajusco was also very nice, through pine forests and with views of Cumbres de Ajusco. San Miguel Ajusco is built on the top of very steep hill with view of Mexico City far down below. The roads there were narrow and pretty steep. We found a bike trail leading to Mexico City.
10th - San Miguel Ajusco – Ayapango, 52.42 km,
Super-steep descent to the outskirts of Mexico City, we were cycling whole day through once small villages, now creating one huge agglomeration. The biggest trouble of the day were topes, we counted 309 of them today (which means one per every 169 m)! and buses stooping and blocking the whole traffic every couple of meters.
11th – Ayapango to Paso de Cortez, 36.05 km,
We reached the elevation of 3,700 m which was our record so far. From village Amecameca it was about 25 km uphill, quality of the road was good and even though the climb was very steep, it looked easy compared to the climb to Monarch Sanctuary :-); the road was busy because it was Sunday.
12th – Paso de Cortez to , 18.7 km,
Whole day on a dirt road, only a few kilometers at the end of the day before were on asphalt, but we enjoyed it anyway because of the nice pine forests and no traffic.
13th - to Puebla, 42.1 km,
Mostly downhill ride through farmlands with amazing views of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, on good and not very busy roads to Cholula, then in city traffic to our warmshovers host's place.
14th - 20th visiting Mexico City, no biking
21st – Puebla to Cuautinchán, 30.38 km,
To get out of Puebla wasn't very difficult but the exhaust fumes from cars almost killed us. Otherwise the road was easy with only small hills, with farmlands and pastures around. Character of the land is quite arid, it looks like we are in the desert again.
22nd – Cuautinchán to Tecamachalco, 42.48 km,
The first part of the day was something like dream of all cyclists, mostly downhill on a good road with very little traffic, through arid farmlands to Tepeaca. From Tepeaca to Tecamachalco we rode on the road #150, very busy road but with shoulder. Mostly downhill, (especially after Tepeaca), if not for topes it would be very nice ride. Very soon after Tepeaca the view of volcano Orizaba opened. From Tecamachalco we rode on the road #714. The city was very busy, full of cars and their exhaust fumes. The reward, after we climbed a small hill from downtown of Tecamachalco, was beautiful view of volcano Orizaba in the evening light.
23rd – Tecamachalco to Azumbilla, 55.45 km,
On the road #714 to Caňada de Morelos then to Azumbilla and on the road #150 to Caňón de Rio Blanco. To Caňada de Morelos we were biking mostly downhill, with one bigger hill before and after Caňada de Morelos. Nice downhill ride to Azumbilla, but in very cold fog. Before Caňada de Morelos there were farmlands all around; around Azumbilla there was mostly desert.
24th – Azumbilla to Orizaba, 48.12 km,
Fog, fog, fog and curved road. Super-steep downhill ride with super-sharp curves and traffic changing its organisation in every curve (traffic from the left lane had to go to the right lane and vice versa). Very cold and very wet day.