Mexico City & Palenque, Mexico

Well you may have noticed that on our next destination section on our blog Mexico City had a question mark next to it. After stopping for two nights in Toluca, a town just outside of Mexico City, we had decided that the big city thing wasn´t for us. We headed to a BMW dealership in the outskirts of the city to look at getting a new front tyre. While we were there we met a Mexico City resident and fellow GS rider, Andrew, who was horrified by the thought we would miss out on seeing his city and he immediately offered to spend most of his Saturday showing us around town. We were so excited it was one of those things that happens on travel documentarys and you watch it and think, ¨sure yeah, but if I go there I´m not going to meet all those interesting people¨.

We were delighted at the prospect of having a local guide so we took Andrew up on his offer. He also had a BMW motorbike and he found us a great little hotel where dropped off our cases and then we followed his darting and weaving in and out of the notorious Mexico City traffic. The city was amazing, 20 million people live in this city (Andrew seemed to know about a third of them by the way!) and the energy and intensity of it were palpable. The Saturday markets were so full of colour, life and atmosphere, we could have stayed there all day, but we moved on to cruise through the main city square, which was huge and teeming with people. Again the architecture, history and culture in Mexico have been major highlights. This country has so much heart and soul. We then spent the afternoon having lunch with Andrew´s friends and it was the best meal we have had since we´ve been in Mexico. Andrew was so generous and welcoming and we are so thankful that because of his kindness we didn´t miss out on seeing the world´s biggest city. That night we were absolutely exhausted we crashed in the hotel and woke to the sound of a roaring lion, the hotel, for some reason has a pet lion? wierd I know. It made us miss our cat!

We spent another day in Mexico city relaxing in the park and checking out one of the many museums. In the park we noticed that wrestling masks are really popular? I don´t know why. The next day we decided to hit the road and head east. At first six months seemed like forever, now it hardly seems like enough time and there is so much to see. We spent one night in Cordoba and another by a lake in Los Tuxlas, a beautiful area. We wanted to live there, start a farm, grow lavender and maybe keep bees... it was that kind of place. Yesterday we had a huge day driving and went all the way from the lake area to Palenque (about 500 kms). Right now we are staying in little cabanas in the rainforest right next to Palenque. We saw the ruins today but were a little too tired from yesterday´s riding to really take it all in.

The open hearted friendliness of the Mexican people has made our stay here so much more enjoyable. When we were in Toluca so many people were so kind and interested, a special thank you goes to Carlos from Honda who took so much time to help us out.

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Next Stop:
Heading east before we make our way down into Belize.