http://www.youreaprickjonrayner.com/ - what more to say . . . i just wanna see the video! and we miss you jon.

Xilitla

Xitlitla is a small Huasteca mountain city built into the steep hillsides.

i meant to record the birds but got the dog.

Basura!

Basura! Garbage! An often heard comment about Mexico is that it is dirty! Well, at times, yes. But after riding 2600 miles through the United States i am not sure we should point any fingers. The United States is 5% of the world's population and conservatively we produce 25% of the world's garbage - granted we can niggle about details but no one will deny that we are number one. Mexico has about a third of our population and produces a 9th of our waste (Forbes). The difference is in distribution. We can afford the luxury of hiding our waste - burying it, paying poorer countries to take it, remote Indian reservations desperate for the revenue. (we have more beer bottles) Mexico lacks resources to address the nation as a whole. I did see a road crew of four guys walking along the highway putting garbage in bags - they seemed to have a preference for plastic but ignored glass. I watched one guy toss a glass bottle against a distant rock, though glass is just melted sand which given time will return to sand and all the faster, now. Two things get old - diapers and roadkill. In Mexico it is mostly dogs - real splatter jobs with pieces everywhere. I saw a dead cow recently, ready to pop! ripe-ola! the occasional horse, the occasional cat, but 90% dog. And one thing you never see in the U.S.A. is diapers - little bundles of baby crap anywhere garbage is dumped - yuck!
Garbage is largely a local affair. One evening i pulled into a mini-super (convenience store) to stock up before crashing in someone's field. There was the usual line up of eight or so men, ages 20 to 60 having a beer chatting. I park my rig and assess my needs while everyone looks on then go in for dinner supplies, water, and a caugama. I walk back out and start packing things up (they are always impressed with my water and beer capacity), all the while answering questions and chatting, in the end i have a couple plastic water bottles to dispose of and look around for a garbage container. Everyone immediately directs me to the end of the porch, still i see no garbage container but then i realize i am standing on a burn pile. I toss the bottles on with the rest of the melted plastic. Why not? we don't recycle water bottles . . . this raises the issue of water but that is another discussion.
Personal spaces, like homes, and public spaces like city plazas and parks tend to be neatly kept. The amorphous public spaces, like rest areas and unpopulated roadsides, tend to become unofficial dumps. They will be posted to be kept clean but are not. Whose space is it anyhow? Not yours, not mine, not anyone locally, if we dump here perhaps the authority that posted the sign will pick it up . . . this is where diapers collect.
I recently camped at a park, Las Cascadas de Micos, in a wonderful shaded site by the cascades. Early one morning i was woken by muted chatter and the swish of brooms on the dirt. I glanced over the top of my hammock to see a half dozen muted figures making little piles of leaves and stuffing them into old grain bags. By the time i drifted back off to sleep they were gone and i awoke to an immaculate dirt floor.

Notes from Administration

A few issues that people have asked about or requested:
1. Comments are open - meaning you do not need to sign in/join anything/get yet another email address to harass me online - just write away and if i don't like it i'll ignore you or if i get pissed i'll burn down your house . . . just kidding . . . you hope . . . take comfort in distance. . . You can ask questions, too.

2. I installed a "donate" button - you can't miss it - big crass orange thing. This little adventure is self financed, that is as long as my lovely tenants pay rent(thank you Scott and Heather!), which is how i intended it. I thought about having a "cause" but i am really not going to solve any global crisis sitting on my ass . . . pedaling - and it struck me as disingenuous because i was going to do this no matter what. I do believe adventures like this have a larger intrinsic value and that is what makes it worth sharing. I, also, recognize that most grand adventures entail financial risk/shambles/ruin. Besides ruin is a relative thing - i could always get a job.
3. I am glad people enjoy the blog. I enjoy writing the blog.

Reserva de la Biosfera El Cielo

I arrived at Gomez Ferias, in the biosphere reserve, late morning and found a wonderful camp ground at the Hotel Posada Campestre (www.posadaenelcielo.com.mx). Shortly, after hanging my hammock i met Blanca and Luis, a couple from northern Mexico on a quick romantic getaway. Luis spoke english and often spent time in Texas but preferred living in Reynosa. We spent the afternoon simply hanging out and chatting for a couple hours which was a great introduction to Gomez Ferias. At Luis' feet is my dog, he camped with me and greeted me each morning. After they left i pretty much had the town to myself. The route i am traveling is not frequented by foreigners and Mexicans were all working to pay off the holidays. Gomez Ferias was small but charming with just enough services to be convenient. The community is a center for nopales, a cactus used in cooking - that is really tasty and they are fields all over the hillsides. I restrain myself from picking bananas from front yards. The reserve itself is quite large and the terrain is rugged - i am told repeatedly that it is not possible by bike - so i slap on the mtn bike tires and head for these impossible hills. Well, they are a workout but appropriate. I meet locals along the way who are surprised to see a gringo on a bike but everyone is friendly, asks questions about my travels, and shares food. The area is a birders paradise as well as having cloud forest hosting a wide variety of flowers and plants that makes it literally one of the three most biodiverse parks on the planet. I learned that flocks of parakeets are very loud and impossible to sleep thru never mind the neighbors donkey, the dogs, the roosters, the parrots, and neighbors to either side shooting at something with a .22 on alternate days. The following photos are on the main road to Alta Cima and San Jose

a picture worth a thousand words . . .

then some maybe. I must see fifty road side memorials a day but this one stopped me.