The Deep South - Chiapas

After a very restful few days in the delightful town of Oaxaca I was a little reluctant to leave but, even with a year´s sabbatical, I don´t want to waste a single minute. So leave I did. My next big destination is San Cristobal de las Casas, six days ride ahead. A descent through the mountains, a day on the flat, then rising back through the mountains again - the Sierra Madre del Sur. Leaving Oaxaca I passed through a major Mezcal producing area. I don´t have a particularly refined palate when it comes to Mexican liqour but for me it´s similar to tequila. I didn´t try it on the road, it wouldn´t have been conducive to progress.

Mescal producer and funeral parlour - a mutually beneficial partnership.

Though I was descending through the mountains on this day there were a few rises to tackle as well. As you can see from the picture, the road hugged the hillsides, snaking above and below the contours. I felt pretty good on the ascents, safe in the knowledge there´d be some enjoyable freewheeling down the other side.

Travelling through Mexico by bike is a pretty cheap undertaking and I´m not having to make a particular effort to save money and keep to a budget. I´m certainly not spending more than 100 pounds a week. So when I have been wild camping it´s more to inject a sense of adventure into the trip, create a memorable experience, than penny pinching.

This was a dead cert for a good wild camp - overgrown track, quiet riverside field, not a soul to be seen for miles. So I ventured down the path and was sprung within seconds!

Quite rightly, the farmer whose land I was trespassing on gave me quite a grilling - who was I? What did I want? How did I get over the fence? But he was also incredibly reasonable and when I explained that I was simply looking for a place to camp he immediately consented. It was a lovely spot and, though it took a while for the night air to cool, I eventually had a sound nights sleep.

This was probably my best camp food yet! Left over pasta I´d cooked in the hostel with tasty Oaxacan cheese, fresh bread and some guayaba fruit for dessert. I´m trying hard to use up my fuel as, with only six camps in two months in Mexico, I´m just carrying it around as extra weight. I´ve even taken to cooking porridge in hotel rooms for breakfast!

The second day out of Oaxaca was a long one, 83 miles, but mostly downhill. The hillsides were checkerboarded with agave plantations, used to make mezcal.

It felt so strange to be close to sea-level again, I don´t think I´ve dropped below 1000 ft since day two of my ride. To see readings of just two or three digits on my altimeter was almost unsettling. Arriving in Tehuantepec there were echoes of South-East Asia with exotic fruits, tuk-tuks and these three wheeled variants.

Look, a photo taken of the mountains from below. I am on the flat plains and the mountains, for once, are above me. Not for long...

Hot and sunny, time to look like a bit of a prat and just cover up. Riding flat ground for a couple of days should have been easy but the winds have been ferocious in the last few days. Nearly all head and cross winds. What have I done to deserve this?

A sad feature of the road south has been the increasing incidence and quantity of rubbish strewn along the roadsides. To counter this, it was good to see large banks of wind turbines.

Further evidence that the winds weren´t just to spite me but a regular feature here - roadsigns warning drivers of cross winds.

In Zanatepec I stayed in the rustic setting of Rodrigo´s home, a legendary Warm Showers host who has loads of feedback, all positive, from the cyclists that ride up and down the coast past his home. He was four hours late in meeting me but, happy as a pig in a pigsty, I sat on his veranda reading.

Here is the great man and one of his four sons. Rodrigo teaches English in the local secondary school. He didn´t have any classes on the day I visited otherwise I would have joined him for a few lessons. I may, however, have a bit of volunteering in the pipeline in Guatemala so am currently looking to follow that lead.

Riding on from Rodrigo´s place, back up the mountains towards San Cristobal de las Casas. Another tough ride, uphill and headwinds so strong at times that I had to dismount and push the bike. One of my rules for this trip is to not get frustrated, just accept each situation with grace and forbearance. Not today! I was cursing the wind, cursing the late start, cursing my saddle sores, and it became a strategy for making progress. Distracted from the road and my odometer the miles began to pass by more quickly and, before long, I´d made it to Cintalapa. Here, asking for directions to the nearest hotel, a restaurant owner offered to rent me a room for the night at rock-bottom prices with shower and Wifi. Perfect!

Into Tuxtla Gutierrez, I did have a Warm Showers host lined up but tonight I just wanted a bed and the freedom to come and go as I pleased. So I checked into the city´s hostel and have eaten to my heart´s content, safe in the knowledge it will all be burnt off in the climb to San Cristobal de las Casas tomorrow. Hostels in Mexico have been a revelation - super clean, super friendly staff, communal areas you just don´t get in a hotel, and using simple services like the kitchen and laundry just allows you to bring some normality back into the trip.

Month four of my trip is up, I rode just over 1200 miles last month making it just over 6000 miles for the entire trip. And still going strong!

Excellent Wifi in the hostels has allowed me to get connected with current affairs and I´ve been trying to make sense of the news from America that has sent shockwaves across the globe. I for one never could have predicted it but I think it´s brilliant, both for America and the world. Of course, I`m talking about the new album from A Tribe Called Quest!