I tried to stay off the toll roads thinking I would miss the Mexico I came down here to see. The free roads go through all the small towns and you can't really be in a hurry. On the secondary roads you have endless opportunities for snacking. I stop at fresh fruit stands like this all day long. Fresh fruit, fresh juice or whatever. I'm always trying to stay in tune with my hydration and nutrition level, thinking it's important for staying alert and safe on the road.

Lunch stop - Gulf coast

Hwy. 180 to Veracruz is a super ride. Veracruz is a super City. The Veracruz malecon (central sea side road) is not to be missed. Sit at a table on the street drinking cappuccino at a cafe' across from Navy ships and big fishing boats. Tons of people watching and no American tourists.

This is the view from my $61 / night room, Mocambo Hotel. I had to spend two nights here!

Out of Veracruz I saw a Volcano on the map and had to check it out. It was kind of foggy and drizzly, never did see the thing. This is sugar cane country and trucks over loaded with cane are dropping cane all over the road wherever there's a bump.

So far the whole trip has been rosy, nothing but friendly people, great food and good weather. I thought I would try to make a little time and take a toll road, 180D to the state of Tabasco where I could maybe camp near the sea. I was flying along making good time on great roads. I needed a break and some gas around the big oil town of Coatzacoalcos.

Wakeup Call:
I pulled off the toll way for gas. After gas I walked the bike and parked between some cars. Soon a big Mexican dude came over talking to me. I rapped with him a little, did my normal formal greeting and went to shake his hand, normal right? But no. It was like grabbing at a thick muscled stub that wasn't making any attempt to shake, even if it could. Wow! Then he said something I didn't understand. I said "perdóneme, hablo español muy mal" "Sorry I speak Spanish very bad". This always gets a smile but not here. It was feeling tense. Then before I knew it he had his hands all OVER ME fingering my chest and sides up and down. I blew him back with a shove. We both stood our ground while I maintained a stone face stare. He started rattling out some Spanish jive about my inadequate locks on my saddle bags. At that moment I knew my suspicions where right, he wasn't a friendly Mexican that was a little slow but a big aggressive dude wanting to shake me down! I was ready for anything. I'm way to aggressive for my own good and I know that. My stone face was deepening and I stopped speaking Spanish. Next he reached inside my helmet, which was clipped on the sissy bar, and took out my sunglasses. I coiled slightly in a relaxed attack stance and was ready to "pull the trigger". Some more jive, I continued my death stare. After a moment the sunglasses slowly were put back into the helmet. The Spanish jive talk and the stare continued for what seemed like forever, but it was only seconds. Then he slowly started walking away, but first he scanned me and my gear slowly up and down. The whole time this was going on an even bigger Mexican dude stood leaning against a car talking on a cell phone watching, he was one car over. I looked at him a couple times with a "Hey what's up with this" look. He gave me no comfort at all. He was probably in on the whole thing and talking to his buddy up on the toll road saying "Hey! hear comes a gringo tourist to your spot, get ready!".

WTF, I motored out and stopped about a half a block away in front of some shacks. I needed to stow my rain suit. The mind is kind of racing now. Did I let it get to far? Was I over reacting? No, nobody touches me, especially like that. I look for justification, why did this happen? I blame it on me not looking particularly tough with my rain suite on and he didn't see my flaming skull decals until he looked me over. 'OK I'm over it' but it's still in my mind. Before I know it another big Mexican, I swear it was the first ones brother, came up to me and started aggressively talking to me. I was VERY FIRM but pleasant and just crammed my suit under my bungee cords and got the hell out of there.
I think I was a little paranoid at that point!

Several days later I'm in Belize liken life. I drove onto the Belize City public beach and started chillin out under a palapa. A couple of hippie type vans were parked about fifty yards away on the beach with some Belizian's hanging out. A while later I started chatting with one of them. We talked for a while and then he asked me if I had trouble with any Mexicans during my trip. Not thinking the above story was anything I said "Not really". He said "Ya, some Mexicans like to play the piano". I said. "What?". He said, "They like to play the piano!". I stood there with a stupid look on my face for a moment then, light bulb! "Yeah! A Mexican did play the piano on me a few days ago!" My Belizian friend started practically rolling on the ground with laughter knowing exactly what I just said.

Lessons learned:
- People with way more experience then I dealing with hustlers suggested I could of handled it so the situation wouldn't have escalated as far as it did. I know they're right. I was caught by surprise and I let it happen. I will use a suggestion early on the next time, "Llamo a la policia" I'm calling the police.
- Be aware and study any person or persons who come up to you. Mexicans are generally a little reserved and polite. If someone is loud and in your face it's a RED flag. Your being tested for your weaknesses.
- When parking always have the bike pointing out with everything attached so if shit hits the fan all you have to do is step on, stick in the keys and take off. My bike was pointing in, between two cars, I would have had to back it out first.
- Keep the pepper-spray handy, right front hip pocket ready to draw with ease. If you can't get to it, it won't do you any good. In this case it was under my rain suit and I would have had to dink around a little to get it.

Fun Motels:
OK, In Mexico you see Motels like this on the outskirts of every major City.

On my sixth day in Mexico in the state of Tabasco I was running low on sunlight. I for sure wasn't going to make it to my planned destination where I thought I could camp for the night. Just before entering the City of Villahermosa I see a Motel like this one, Motel del Sol. I pulled in and at the gate was a booth where a woman was taking money. It was just like entering a drive-in movie. Inside the compound looked like rows and rows of self-storage stalls. In my best (rusty) Spanish I asked how much for the night ("Cuanto por noche"). The woman in the booth rambled and all I picked up was "por la hora, por la hora"(for the hour). I wasn't getting it and kept asking "?Cuanto por total noche?". Finally she said "Trescientos cincuenta peso" about $35 bucks. This is expensive for Mexico but I was ready to call it quits for the day. The woman seemed surprised I was interested. I asked if I could see the room. It was small but very clean with a huge bed, huge TV and best of all each room had its own private garage stall, great for bike security. I took it.

The sign in front said restaurant and bar, after parking I strolled out onto the compound looking for the bar hoping for a little socializing. Didn't see anything, I walked into the office and asked. The woman in the office seemed pissed and I think said "room service only". Bummer, but what the heck so I went back to my room and ordered by phone, Pollo enchiladas con mole y dos cervesas, about 5 bucks.

Waiting for the food I flicked on the TV, it was cable but only had about six channels and two channels were hard core porn. Wooo, Scanning the room I noticed three foil packets of you know what next to the bed plus lotions and some stuff I wasn't sure of. The bathroom had a normal toilet plus a toilet with what looked like a fountain in the middle. I must have been a little slow that day but it did finally hit me, I was in a s-e-x Motel. I've heard about places like this when I lived in the Dominican Republic but never saw one. The garage stalls are so you can hide your vehicle so nobody knows you're there. Funny!

Waiting for my food the phone rings, a female voice was I think asking me something. This is one time I had NO idea what was being said, I could only imagine &@#. I just said in my best Spanish, "No, solo quiero comida gracias" (No, I only want the food thank you).

The room had a dumb waiter so you never saw the server. The food and beers came I took the stuff off the dumb waiter and placed the Pesos plus tip in its place. I spun it around and closed the little door then heard a faint "Gracias".

The food was fabulous and the beers hit the spot.

Back On the Road:
From Villahermosa I headed north on the free Hwy. 180. This road skimmed close to the Gulf and is in good shape, great scenery and a lot of fresh fruit and juice opportunities.

State of Campeche, Mexico.

Great cruising on a thin strip of land - Gulf coast in the state of Campeche, Mexico.

At Champoton I headed south on 261 to 186 east. From the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean Sea, Hwy. 186 is a newly paved road but it had a lot of dips. It was to the point where I had to slow it down to under 60 MPH so as not to bottom out, weird.

I was somewhere between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean camping out in the jungle. Things were looking eerie. The Jungle is dark and dense right up to the edge of the road. Wherever you see a spot to pull over it's loaded up with garbage and crap probably left over from workers waiting to get picked up after work or who knows.
The ground was wet and spongy like thick weavings of moist plants. I was glad to get the tent up and cool down. This is the jungle.

Belize:
I rode my bike to the Caribbean Sea, I like the way that sounds. I still have over a week before Heidi flies into the Belize City airport. The only thing I need to do is find and reserve a place for when she is here and be at the airport when she arrives. Vida es buena.

My first night in Belize somewhere between the northern border and Belize City. The trail I picked turned to standing water. I back it up and park it for the night.