Happy that I’d discovered Campeche the next question was what next in the little picture. This was pretty easy. No way was I going northeast to Cancun. So that left two ways to get back into Guatemala. Either back to La Florida or through Belize. Maps trump Basecamp for overviews, so last night I pulled one out and lo and behold there’s a huge blank section in central Yucatan. Maybe the most remote area in eastern Mexico. And a little road goes through it con nada por 100 miles, from the town of Dzibalchin to Xpujil. It goes through the Meseta de Zoh Laguna.
So Belize maybe tomorrow, assuming this 250 mile route doesn’t turn out to be dirt. Then we’re bivvying.
An hour later the GPS blanks out again and loses my route. It first did this in Georgia. My problems are hardware related I think (I’ve cleared everything through a new profile) and the best Garmin can do for me is to ask me to send it back for repair. Oh sure, in the middle of an RTW. It’ll wait, now that I’m understanding its idiosyncrasies (it’s nice to be able to do this) and I pull over and unpack my duffle, pull out the PC and transfer the route again. No problem. I can do this all day you little bastard. But best not to flash expensive stuff like this around so I do it in as public a place as possible, counterintuitively, and do it fast, and bolt.
Then off through the backstreets of Campeche
Into the country. Temperature? Hot, but getting used to it.
We left early so we’re hungry, before we get to our little road, and stop in a village for brunch (don’t ask)
The final town before our road is old and interesting. Judging from the looks I get no one comes this way
Then our road. It’s fantastic. Barely 1 1/2 cars wide it’s pavement, with about 10 miles of dirt at the end, and winds perfectly between encroaching vegetation endlessly. The should be a must-do for riders going through the Yucatan
For 100 miles!
Then the one other town, paved with red brick, which deceptively gives it a prosperous feel
For about 30 miles we ride through swarms of butterflies. Rather like Texas hill country. Here’s a male.
Then when our road ends it’s a horrible 50 miles of freeway to Chetumal, for a border crossing in the morning. It’ll be ugly.
Track: Palenque to the Caribbean
