Friday – Batopilas, Mexico

Rest and recover day today

I had had a restless night sleep, so after a bit of a lie in we headed up to Carolina’s for breakfast, on the way we had to get past a truck load of rocks which were being carted up these steep stairs one by one or two by two, that is hard yacka and they had a long way to go!!!

During breakfast I said I wanted to stay another day before thinking about an attempt on the ascent or getting a truck, Vincent was happy to stay another night as well, so afterwards we paid for another night and went for a wonder across the swinging bridge for a few photos, there were some naughty kids up the hill who threw some rocks down and hit Vincent in the back, bad lads!! There seems to be no river crossing for cars except put the hubs in and make your own!

After that we looked at maps again and read info books, my AAA book on Mexico and his Lonely Planet of the same. Then we wandered up the street for a look and found an internet cafe, where we grabbed a machine for a short while just to check email etc. It was a satellite uplink and not very fast, but it was OK for the moment, I had nothing urgent to respond to at this time. I asked about hooking my laptop up, he said after 8pm I could do so, so I may get a chance to upload the previous day’s effort.

As we headed back towards the square, we saw a truck load of military dudes packed into the back of a ute come past us and stop and start walking around the town square area, obviously showing their face! I took a blurred photo, I was a bit hesitant to make it too obvious, for obvious reasons, we had no idea who was the goodies or the baddies 🙂

I checked my bike for damage again and found the hand guard had been pushed in quite hard but the pannier was the thing that took the brunt of the fall, I may need a whackometer as I seem to have lost some packing space!

We decided to go for lunch, it was now nearly 2pm and this time we went to the house that had been closed before, the rock carrying chappies had made good progress as well 🙂

While waiting for the food to be cooked we had a coke each, out of heavy glass like they used to be sold back home and the taste is definitely better 🙂 You also get an idea of the safety bars in place everywhere, that is Carolina’s across the way, the place we were at is a private home and has no name.

The food was great, this is a chook filled enchilada with cooked rice and the inevitable refried beans, it came with tortillas and it all tasted excellent except the beans, I am not a fan of these and will have to learn how to say none of them from now on, it is wasted on me!(it is the brown looking mush top left 🙂

Well, it took a while to cook and it also took a while to eat, it was gone 3pm by the time we headed back, the rock boys were finished, I bet you they were glad 🙂

Then I saw the motel owner with a Chihuahua and this place is in Chihuahua state 🙂 😆

We sat around during the arvo, I went and worked on my blog with the hope of getting it posted this evening, I could either do the laptop thing, or take a USB key up with the images and use theirs. I had been thinking on and off about the ride up and decided gradually during the day to make the attempt, if I drop the bike a few times, then so be it, so I did not bother checking out a truck or anything. I was still apprehensive but if I could get through the first section down here while still fresh, then the bits up top should be OK. There were a group of tour guides in Creel though called The 3 Amigos, who could have been contacted, so the option was still there. Around 6m I asked Vincent if he wanted a beer, he said sure thing or words to that effect, and we were soon sitting down at a different bar we had found up the road. This one was built around an old building and was quite nice. It had a sign that I am sure means The Pisser 😆

It was Friday night and we had seen some musicians setting up in the main square earlier, and while we drinking we could hear some brass type music, but not full songs, maybe just practice for later. We went up after a few more beers and checked it out, a lot of people were around, including a lot of plain clothes people with BIG guns, fully automatic although I have no idea what type. Everyone looked happy though and the band seemed to be playing towards a certain group of people, we thought maybe drug lords or something like that.

We found a comfortable place to sit and we were not bothered in any way, so after we saw others drinking in the open, we went and bought some and had a few beers also(apparently it is illegal in Mexico to drink in public, but not here this evening) 🙂 There were some nice girls getting around for a change, so it was a fun evening, I managed to take this photo without seeming too obvious about the real subject and it was not me and V, that’s for sure 😉

After a while the band had a rest from their efforts and launched into a game of soccer against the kids, 6 against about 20 and they looked very skilful 🙂

We ended up chatting with a builder from Chihuahua called Alexander who told us that there would be a festival tomorrow for the big man, the head honcho called El Presidento. He had good English, but we were unsure still what he meant, local boss or official. There were many men with guns and this guy was being protected by them, we even saw some people in camos, private security maybe, so who knows. He was providing free beer and whenever someone got too boisterous, the gun boys would pounce and shut them down, nothing aggressive, just behave yourself and go away type thing. I never felt uncomfortable during the evening, except the same music was being played over and over, we ended up grabbing a chook burrito later on before calling it quits. We had talked ourselves into staying another day by now, maybe the festival would be fun 🙂 It was nearly midnight before we crashed out.

Day – 0 miles and 0 km
Trip – 38,612 miles and 62,140 km

Cheers
TravellingStrom

USACanadaMexico

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