Riding the roads of Mexico, so far, has been a fairly safe experience. You do encounter road surfaces with quite a range of quality and some, like these, are in the process of construction. Nevertheless, they do get you from A to B and some have had wide shoulders to ride on. 99% of truck drivers have been highly respectful and waited behind me for a gap in traffic to pass. The 1% who don't give you quite a fright but I've lived to tell the story!
After putting in such a big, fairly relentless shift in the States, I told myself that I would stop at the first opportunity in Mexico for a decent break from the bike and just relax. I have been so incredibly lucky to stay with Perla and her family in Nuevo Casas Grandes and have felt so at home here. I couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous, intelligent, welcoming and good humoured host and it will be a wrench to leave tomorrow.
I have been introduced to many facets of Mexican culture during my stay, none more interesting to me than food. On Sunday night Ismael, on the left, cooked us a mighty asador - BBQ - of beef, chillis, potatoes etc and gave me my first clamatas- beer mixed with tomato juice, lime juice, salt and pepper.
A friend of the family, Eduardo, runs four ranches around Casas Grandes and invited me out to see how they are run. It was really interesting to see how the desert conditions are carefully managed to get the best out of the land, successful ranches don't happen by chance, you need to put a lot of effort into them. Eduardo is pretty fluent in English as he attended a local Mormon school in his youth; run by Americans, all the instruction was in English.
Babysitting! I had to make myself useful during my stay and lend a hand. Andres, the brother of Perla, left his kids with us while he attended a meeting. Absolutely loveable kids, incredibly sweet but after a few hours running around after them, trying to get a better handle on my Spanish, I was exhausted! I guess it doesn't help that I was out in a bar until the early hours of the previous night (just making the point that I'm not too old to go out for a night on the tiles).
Spencer is an American guy living in Casas Grandee who is passionate about promoting tourism in the area. He works with local artists and renovated traditional homes to help boost tourism (above making money). I completely agree with his view that warnings about safety in the area are unfounded as regards tourists. Yes, there have been some issues with drug cartels in Northern Mexico in the past but these problems are now over and tourists were never targeted. If I'd listened to some friends' advice I would have completely skipped this area and missed out on so much. Thank goodness I decided to follow my own instincts, have faith in the people's and just crack on with the journey.
Paquime is one of Northern Mexico's most important archaeological sites and, while there are probably going to be greater treasures to see as I get to the south, this was a great introduction to Mexico's indigenous culture. The area also boasts great potteries based around the small town of Mata Ortiz. I was severely tempted to buy a piece but was unsure of how it would last the journey strapped to my bike. 
More earning my keep, a morning spent in the local primary school. Any hopes of sitting back, observing from the back of the classroom son evaporated as I was asked to lead a few activities for the whole class. Good fun but exhausting! Six days immersed in Nexican culture has been fantastic and, though I am my harshest critic when it comes to Spanish, my listening skills are slowly picking up and, more than just ordering a beer or meal, my conversational level is improving. A lot of local dialect to grapple with still! 
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