Rest Days

One of the things about traveling is that I really want to enjoy every last second of my time. Alright, fair enough, those of you who know me and are currently laughing - maybe it's not just when I travel. The last few years in San Diego were quite the whirlwind of activities and plans and sports and concerts and whatever else I could fit in.

One thing I struggle with - both with travel and with my daily life - is  being able to just take some time to rest.

Waves and Bungalows

After leaving San Jose del Pacifico, I knew I wanted to get someplace on the beach, and just relax for two days. Maybe set up a hammock, listen to the waves, and catch up on a few blog posts.

Instead... well, my life gets crazy sometimes.

Fog and Cabins

The past week has been pretty crazy - big cities, hurricanes, flat tires, and even when I've taken two days in a city (like Orizaba and Oaxaca), I was busy all day with activities and tours.

So I decided it was time to just relax a bit. I plotted a course to finally make my way back to the coast after my inland detour, and after spending the morning finding parts for the motorcycle, I headed off in the afternoon.

Oaxaca

Oaxaca was one of the first places that I'd added to my map of "places I should go" in Mexico. I was told that the state as a whole was beautiful, and the city in particular had a number of interesting archaeological sites, natural wonders, and other interesting things to see in close proximity. Oaxaca was big enough that I looked for a couchsurfer, and while I didn't find someone to stay with, I did end up finding a good guide - and the hostel I stayed in led to some good adventures as well.

Orizaba

Since I wasn't on the coast anymore, I was able to make my way to a few of the things in the central parts of Mexico that I had been planning on skipping. So my next stop after Teotihuacan was to make my way to Orizaba - and honestly, I wasn't 100% sure why it was that I'd marked it on my map, but I decided to head that way anyway. And I decided that, since I'd been riding like crazy away from the hurricane, I was going to take two days and actually have some time to enjoy the city, even though I had no idea what I'd spend all that time doing.

This one's going to be more of a photoessay than most - the pictures do most of the storytelling themselves.

Teotihuacan

Finally having escaped from the rain, I can actually do something with my day other than race the motorcycle as fast as possible against the impending storms. When I was originally planning where to go in Mexico, I'd marked a few things around Mexico City, but then nixed them after deciding to head down the coast and not go inland. Well Patricia forced me inland, so I resurrected one of the places I'd wanted to go: Teotihuacan.

Absolutely unbelievable, and I'm glad I ended up going that way.

Patricia

I'd gone the whole trip so far without having to use my rain gear at all. It rained a bit while I was in San Ignacio, but I was mostly in a hotel bed with a cast on, so I hadn't ridden during it at all. I checked the weather one night and saw that there was some rain in the forecast, and when I looked a little further, I saw a little blurb about a tropical storm that was going to come on shore near where I was. Well darn, hopefully it won't be too bad, I thought.

Not long after, that little tropical storm became the strongest hurricane ever recorded and I was riding as fast as I could away from it.