Day 261 – 279: Southern Mexico

Posted on by Patricia & Dustin

After two weeks off the bicycles to return to the United States for a family cruise we’re back on the road again. In this segment we ride out of Mexico City to explore the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan before making our way toward Oaxaca and southward to San Cristobal de las Casas. We were challenged by significant climbing through the Southern Sierra Madres and insane wind on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. 

February 4 – 22, 2025

  • Day 261 – Mexico City to Teotihuacan – 63k/290m climbing
  • Day 262 – Layover @ Teotihuacan
  • Day 263 – Teotihuacan to Texmelucan – 84k/917m 
  • Day 264 – Texmelcuan to Tecamachalco – 101k/413m
  • Day 265 – Tecamachalco to Tehuacan – 63k/124m
  • Day 266 – Tehuacan to Tepelmeme – 82k/1481m
  • Day 267 – Tepelmeme to Nochixtlan – 54k/780m
  • Day 268 – Nochixtlan to Oaxaca – 79k/763m
  • Day 269 & 270 – Layover @ Oaxaca
  • Day 271 – Oaxaca to Mitla – 44k/247m
  • Day 272 – Mitla to El Cameron – 94k/1146m
  • Day 273 – El Cameron to Jalapa – 89k/1174
  • Day 274 – Jalapa to Juchitan – 63k/327m 
  • Day 275 – Bus to Tuxtla 
  • Day 276 – Layover @ Tuxtla
  • Day 277 – Tuxtla to San Cristóbal – 65k/2014m
  • Day 278 & 279 – Layover days@ San Cristobal

Total trip distance: 7,231 miles (11,642 km)
Total trip climbing: 327,500 feet 
Countries: USA, Canada, Mexico
Mexican states: Sonora, Baja California, Baja Sur, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Mexico, Hildago, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas (15 states!!)
Dustin’s hair length: long enough to participate in “tiara Tuesday” on the cruise haha (see picture below)

Cruise Recap – back in the USA

It was wonderful to take some time away from the bikes and fly to Florida, USA and hop on a cruise with many members of Dustin’s family. We had a wonderful time reconnecting, relaxing, and enjoying the comforts of cruise life. We’re thankful for several members of Dustin’s family who brought us cruise appropriate clothes as well as new gear for our bike trip that we had shipped ahead to their respective homes. Thank you mom & dad, Allison, Ivy, Auntie Sue & Auntie Shell!!!

Over 8,000 guests and crew fit onto our megaship – there was something for everyone. We played mini golf, ice skated, saw amazing shows & never went hungry!
Dustin participated in our family’s “tiara Tuesday” hehe!
We went to the gym on the cruise ship a few times to try and keep our saddle in shape
Many thanks to our family that sourced or allowed us to borrow clothes for the cruise – in this picture we’re wearing a hybrid of our cycling wardrobe (shoes & Dustin’s pants). Patricia wears sister-in-law’s dress & Dustin wears a collared button-down from his parents.

When the cruise was over we quickly readjusted to our former travel spirits and walked away from the crazy cruise terminal carrying our only luggage, rack packs from our bikes. Because there were so many people waiting on Ubers the pricing went into surge so we walked about a mile to get an Uber for 75% less than the cost at the terminal. 

We Ubered to a Fort Lauderdale bike shop where we’d hoped to get Dustin some low/medium light adjusting glasses. It was a Sunday and the shop had yet to open so we sat on the curb and ate sandwiches we’d packed from the ship – yes, we quickly readjusted to our dirtbag lifestyle haha. 

Quickly thrown back into reality – we walked away from the cruise terminal until the Uber price went down each carrying our brightly colored rack packs. Then we grabbed an Uber to a bicycle shop – in this shot we’re on the curb eating cruise ship sandwiches waiting for the bike shop to open.
Wearing his light adjusting glasses we purchased in Florida several days later in Mexico
As seen at the Miami airport – self driving wheel chairs. We’d never seen these before!

Traveling back to Mexico City went very smoothly – after grabbing food for the next couple days at Aldi (oh how we miss Aldi!) we Ubered to the regional Tri-rail train station and rode the train to the Miami Airport where we caught a shuttle to our hotel before flying back to Mexico City the next day. It sounds like a lot of logistics but in reality it was pretty easy 🙂

Once we were driving through Mexico City in another Uber (that makes 3 Ubers in 24 hours if you’ve been counting) and observing the organized chaos of this massive urban area we looked at each other and said “it’s good to be back”. Somehow we find comfort in the discomfort! 

We had a couple hours to kill before we could get back to the house where we’d stored our bicycles and gear so we decided to check out the Costco. Hi, we’re Patricia & Dustin and we LOVE Costco! It was neat to see the similarities and differences between the Costcos we’d known so well and this one in Mexico City. This Costco had paid parking (but we think you could get a voucher at the register) and had its Food Court outside (imagine that in Fairbanks!). 

What do you do with a few hours to burn in Mexico City? Go to Costco, of course! Notice our “luggage” on the bottom of the cart 🙂

Setup with sandwiches and a salad from Costco, we took a taxi to the house where our gear was stored and got to work reorganizing and repacking our bags so we’d be ready to set off in the morning. Muchas Gracias to Quinn & Beto the family friends who kindly allowed us to store all our gear at their place!!

In the neighborhood where we stored our bicycles, outside of Mexico City, they had a creative dog walking service.

Back on the bikes in Mexico

We were off the next morning by 9am and hoped to reach Teotihuacan but we were fine if either of us called “mercy” and wanted to stop sooner. After an extended period of time off the bikes in addition to pedaling through Mexico City we weren’t sure how we’d do. 

With nerves of steel we pedaled out of the gated community and into the chaos of CDMX traffic. Within the first 30 minutes we found ourselves going down an underpass with heavy traffic and no shoulder and Dustin yelled to Patricia “Honey do you think this is a good idea”. Five minutes later, while trying to make a left turn, we somehow found ourselves in the middle of a five lane wide turning scheme. 

Mexico City (CDMX) traffic is like nothing we have ever experienced – large busses, small van-busses, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, pedestrians, dogs, vendors on bicycles riding against traffic, and all the normal cars as well. We’ve driven in most of the largest US cities yet CDMX is an entirely different species. Here are a few of the mundane pictures – we dared not to touch the camera in the most chaotic situations. 

Back in the chaos of Mexico City traffic – here we unexpected found ourselves in the middle of a 5+ lane left turn. Traffic here is a dance – we took our steps, respected the other participants, and it all worked out 🙂
From spoiled cruise life back to sitting on the curb eating peanut butter sandwiches – we’re adaptable haha

Thankfully, we made it to our intended destination of Teotihuacan and breathed a sigh of relief. Our hotel had a lovely rooftop where we were able to see the ancient pyramids we planned to visit the next day. Our tiny room was off the garage but thankfully we didn’t have to carry 12 bags plus bicycles up several flights of stairs! 

On the rooftop terrace of our hotel dinner is cooking as Dustin plans our next several days.

The next FIVE towns in a row that all started with “Te” we had trouble differentiating them – Teotihuacan, Texmelucan, Tecamachalco, Tehuacan, and Tepelmeme. Whew! We have enough trouble keeping all the towns organized in our brains but when five in a row all started similarly it sure was a challenge!

Teotihuacan – a pre-Aztec ancient civilization

The next morning we walked from our hotel to Teotihuacan, an ancient civilization that pre-dates the Aztecs. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is 20 square kilometers but is most famous for the Pyramids of the Sun & Moon.  

Teotihuacan, an ancient city that pre-dates the Aztecs, was an epic stop. This picture shows Pyramid of the Moon, the smaller of two dominating structures believed to be used for worship.
In the museum they had a model of what the city looked like (this picture only shows half of it!) with Pyramid of the Sun visible through the windows. Teotihuacan is believed to be the largest city in the world at one point in time.
The touristy thing to do in Teotihuacan was to take an early morning hot air balloon ride over the pyramids. We watched as about 60 balloons inflated and then passed over our hotel rooftop.
Patricia watches in awe from our hotel rooftop as the hotair balloons pass over the pyramids.

The next day we rode though the Trans-Mexico Volcanic Belt on our way to Texmelucan. We were riding along, in the tropics nonetheless, and observed high snow-covered peaks. Later that evening researching this area we realized we had just rode though some seriously tall volcanic peaks! Luckily we had a clear day to observe these over 17,000 feet tall giants.

We cycled through the trans-Mexico volcanic belt and were treated to a clear day where we could observe several volcanoes. Pointy peak on the left of Dustin is Popocatépetl at 17,800 feet & right is Iztaccihuatl at 17,100 feet.
Popocatépetl’s name means “it smokes” – looks like it was doing just that!

On our way to Tecamachalco, a working class Mexican town, we rode the cuota (tollway) because of the decent grades and nice wide shoulder. The downside of riding the cuota is there is a lot of debris in the shoulder and Dustin picked up a nail in his rear tire. Luckily we had a sealant filled tube and were able to pump it back up and continue riding as opposed to having to change a tube on the side of a busy highway.

Downside of riding on the safer shoulder on the highway – road debris. Here Dustin pulls a 2-3 inch nail out of his tire. You can slightly see a green slime on the nail – this is from the sealant inside the tube.
Sealant fills the hole where the nail was removed. We’d never tried sealant filled tubes before…we were able to add air and keep riding. So nice not to have to change the tire between the guardrail and high speed traffic.
With all the debris on the side of the road we each had a flat tire – here Dustin fixes Patricia’s flat in the calm & safety of our hotel room.
After three punctures (one around the valve) we decided the sealant had done its job…we changed to a new tube on Dustin’s bike.
The downside of using tubes with sealant is once they’re “done” its a messy change and the tube is thrown away (whereas without sealant we could patch this tube numerous times)
Another downside of sealant…its all over the inside of the tire – we were prepared with paper towels to wipe all this gook out.
Creative gas station sink set-up seen along the highway & it worked!

On the way to Tepelmeme we had a huge day of climbing (our biggest yet…little did we know we had much more to come!) & great scenery. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more! We were ecstatic to get to the small town with quite a nice hotel (until the next morning when we had no water).

Patricia climbs on the way to Tepelmeme – to date it was our largest day of climbing (5,000 feet) – little did we know we’d have larger climbs coming up! On the left side of this picture you can see the road and bridge we had come over.

Our next one-night stop was Nochixtlan (easy pronunciation hehe “No-chicks-land”) a super friendly non-tourist town with tons of customized tuk-tuks.

As we go further south we are seeing more and more tuk-tuks for transporting people around the smaller towns.
Vegetarian pizza (with corn!) in Nochixlan – actually really delicious. We devoured the entire thing 🙂

We then did an easy ride to Oaxaca and stayed for three nights. Oaxaca was quite touristy – we weren’t the only blond/brown haired people with blue eyes! In several of the non-touristy towns we have visited people stare at us for looking so different – not in Oaxaca, we blended right in haha! We did a traditional trades of Oaxaca tour with a local guide – it was neat to see old-school sheet metal art & weaving trades.

In Oaxaca we went on a tour of traditional crafts – here is a metal working shop where Senor has been working for over 40 years hand pounding metal into beautiful shapes.
Right in front of us he made these birds out of a flat piece of metal and gave them to us as a gift.
Also on the tour was traditional Oaxacan weaving where blankets, table runners, placemats, and napkins are produced in a variety of colors and patterns.
Dustin tries his hand (and feet) at the loom – it requires a lot of coordination to get the patterns and textures of the final product.
Excited to get her Tlayuda, a traditional food of Oaxaca, also known as “Mexican Pizza” – a giant corn tortilla spread with beans and then covered in cabbage, lettuce, cheese, and toppings.
Dustin’s Tlayuda came with chapulines, grasshoppers – it was listed as “vegetarian” haha. What a trooper – he ate *most* of the grasshoppers!
Barefoot in the city – Patricia waits to have her Chacos glued by the shoe repairman. He did an amazing job and they should be good for the rest of the trip!

Ourside of Oaxaca our first stop was Mitla – another touristy town mainly focused on the Mezcal (alcoholic drink made from agave similar to tequila) industry. Our proprietor knew we were on bicycles “I saw you in the square”. We’re noticing we keep getting taller – or the locals are getting shorter?!

Dustin seems to be getting taller (or the people are getting shorter) – here is our hotel proprietor in Mitla. Senora truly had the heart of hospitality!

El Cameron, a small mountain town, was our next stopover after a tough climbing day. The hotel left a lot to be desired but after a difficult day of cycling we are happy to have a roof! The room was so small that the bicycles had to be stored in a another room under construction. We each had to take turns moving about the room because we could not both move at the same time & to top it off you had to sit on the toilet at a 90 degree angle because the wall was so close. It had semi-functional air-conditioning 🙂

Our hotel in El Cameron, with laundry drying on the roof, this picture actually looked decent…the accommodations left a lot to be desired.
Knock-off Oreos met the nutritional requirements of all 4 bad for you badges from the Mexican government – perfect for hungry cyclists 🙂

Heading toward Jalapa was another tough climbing day – are you sensing a theme of “tough climbing” here? The scenery was gorgeous and our first Mexican hamburguesa was delicious!

Heading into Jalapa the climbing through the mountains was gorgeous.
Our first “hamburguesa” in Mexico – it was the restaurant right next to the hotel and we were just too tired to look for anything else! Btw – it was delicious 🙂

Isthmus of Tehuantepec

We’ve found ourselves in the skinniest part of Mexico, an isthmus only 200 km (120 miles) wide – pre-Panama canal this was an important trade route to get goods from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. At the same time this area is the thinnest part of Mexico it also had a short separation between two mountain ranges causing, at times, insanely strong winds. We rode into Juchitan on one of the higher wind days and experienced trying to keep the bicycles on the road with 60+ kph gusts – no fun!

Backstreets on the way to Juchitan – a horse drawn cart used for delivery of wood (for cooking).
Yes, we were in a VERY windy area – there were several of these signs along the highway as we struggled to keep our bicycles on the road with 61kph crosswind gusts.
Quick shot of chaotic traffic (this was mild!) – left of Patricia’s head is a tuk-tuk & a “moto” (motorcycle), right of Patricia’s head is a horse drawn cart.
Our first tuk-tuk ride in Juchitan.

In two days time the winds were predicted to be much worse with up to 90 kph gusts and sustained at 50 kph – we were desperately in need of a rest day so this would put the worst winds right in our timeline. In researching other options, we found several cyclists had decided to bus around this super windy area out of a concern for safety. Sign us up! We took the bus from Juchitan to Tuxtla.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec – the thinest part of Mexico with only 120 miles separating the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean in addition to a gap between the mountain ranges allowing for insanely strong winds. The arrow shows the predicted wind direction.
The wind prediction for the day we had planned to ride 🙁
Loading the bikes onto the bus – Dustin is inside the belly of the bus *trying* to ensure they were secured and not damaged. The driver (aka boss) gave us the “andele” when Patricia tried to take pictures haha.
Two bikes and 10 bags – each one with a stapled claim ticket. So we had 12 claim tickets in all!
After an hour the bus stopped for about 30 minutes to allow the drivers time to sit down and eat a meal. There were two drivers each taking turns driving and sleeping in a special compartment right behind the passenger luggage area on the bottom of the bus.

Our bus arrived just past midnight in Tuxtla and we retrieved all our gear and pushed the bikes over to a hotel we had booked just across from the bus station. We didn’t go to sleep until 2am by the time we got all the bikes and gear into the room and settled down. We took the next day as a layover day in Tuxtla, the capital of Chiapas. This is a town we most likely would not have stopped in but with the late arrival of the bus we needed a day before we rode on. We were able to visit the Marimba Museum and learn of this historical musical instrument of the region – it appears the marimba was brought over to Central America by Africans. The museum entrance came with a guided tour, in Spanish – so we understood about 10% of the information haha.

Marimba museum in Tuxtla, Chiapas.
Our tour guide plays a tune on a large marimba – she guided us through the museum, in Spanish 🙂
Some of the original marimbas used gourds to amplify the sounds
The inlaid wood on some of the marimbas was exquisite – one marimba can take up to 3 years to make!

We sure are glad to have taken a layover day in Tuxtla because the ride from there to San Cristobal was one for our recordbooks! We only rode a mere 65km (41 miles) but this included a 41km long climb straight up – we ended up climbing over 6,600 feet! Our previous one day climbing record was 5,000 feet so this was a HUGE climbing day for us. The heat and humidity leaving Tuxtla made this even more challenging – we were completely drenched in sweat 10 km into the ride. Thankfully, as we gained elevation the temperature decreased but the humidity stayed high all day. We passed another touring couple headed quickly downhill in the opposite direction and they yelled out “good luck” as they passed.

Break during the 41 km climb – notice Patricia’s shirt is almost completely soaked. The city of Tuxtla is visible in the distance just to the left of her head.
Thankful for this tienda for cold drinks and snacks – Dustin’s shirt is almost completely soaked with sweat.

We were so thankful to have arrived in San Cristobal! Our AirBnB is run by Martin and his father who also run a small print shop – such amazing hosts! San Cristobal where we stayed for three nights is our last big stop before making our way toward the Guatemalan border, just two riding days away.

San Cristobal is set in a valley surrounded by mountains
One of the pedestrian streets was still decorated for Valentine’s Day
Newly weds roll through town in an old timey car
A woman, with a child on her back, sells her goods to patrons at a cafe
Sopa de pan (bread soup) – a traditional Chiapas dish was quite interesting. Bread, eggs, plantains, raisins, carrots, green beans, and cinnamon.
Burger & fries at a vegan restaurant in San Cristobal – the burger had guacamole & chips on it.
View of the town from a church atop a hill.

Tomorrow we leave the comforts of San Cristobal and head back out on the road – we have two riding days to the Guatemalan border. Excited to see what Guatemala holds in store for us!

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28 thoughts on “Day 261 – 279: Southern Mexico”

  1. The picture of Dustin in the tiara is priceless! He’s quite brave to eat grasshoppers! Once again you had some beautiful scenery, and in a few pictures, not so great areas. I’m guessing your legs are really muscular, although I know you biked a lot before you made this trip. I wonder if you notice a difference in your physique. It’s so great to read of your adventures. Continue to stay safe!

    1. Hi Diane – Thank you so much for your constant encouragement here (and on social media) – we really appreciate it!
      We definitely feel stronger some days as compared to others – I don’t think we’re *that* fit and then we pass people left and right on a local hike! Although, I’m amazed at how quickly our muscle memory disappears with two weeks off the bikes.

  2. Wow! As impressed as I am with this wonderful report of your progress on the journey, complete with great photos and commentary, it does not compare with the total awe felt by being aware of your experiences and plans.

  3. Patricia and Dustin,
    An excellent read from the comfort of our US home. Thanks for taking the time to assemble the photos and add your comments. When we met you on the highway in Northern Baja you had already traveled far. But this section in Mexico is totally amazing. Look forward to seeing the rest of the adventure.

    Mark Stanley
    Along with my friend Art, on motorcycles somewhere north of Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja. Yes, motorcycles with electronic ignition, fuel injection and very functional shock absorbers. Until we met you, we thought we were roughing it. Ha.

    1. Thanks for the comment – we remember meeting you guys! Unfortunately meeting up with Art didn’t work out in Loreto but we tried 😉
      Currently sitting in a nice AirBnB doesn’t feel like roughing it either haha!

  4. What a wonderful time I’m having living vicariously through the two of you and your adventure. Loving it. Gracias!
    You just passed through some of my favorite areas of Mexico, all though I haven’t been in probably 35 years. I’m going to send on some of your pictures on to my old college roommate who was a percussion major and a great marimba player. Enjoy and stay safe!
    (BTW Don and I just had chapulines again a couple of weeks back 😉)

    1. @ chapulines – haha – Dustin says its more mentally challenging than the actual taste/texture 🙂
      So glad you’re going to pass on the marimba pictures – there was waaaaay more to that museum than I could appreciate as a non-musical person!

  5. I truly enjoy your posts! I am in awe of you two. What an adventure! Continue to travel safe. Love the pictures.

  6. Hope you enjoy Guatemala. I was in the Western highlands most of the time. So beautiful. Take care, stay well.

  7. What a wonderful update. I can’t believe Dustin actually ate grasshoppers. Enjoy the journey and stay safe. Looking forward to seeing you as you continue the journey through Guatemala.

  8. Continuing to send prayers for safety and health. I’m thoroughly enjoying following your incredible journey. ❤️

  9. What an amazing adventure! Thank you for sharing your progress – and educating us on local culture!

    Here’s my question- how do you plan ahead, or are they on the spot decisions? From the motels, the tours, all the way down to getting your Chacos fixed! You all inspire me with your ability to find the right resources.

    Stay safe and keep smiling, we love following you on your adventure!

    1. GREAT question – this type of trip takes a LOT of logistics. So I had 5 hours of biking today to think about this answer haha!

      How do we plan ahead? It is a mixture of many different ways – other cyclists blogs, youtubers, WhatsApp group of cyclists riding “The Americas”, and our own research. Just like anything in life you eventually find a rhythm with planning (and get much better over time). Looking back at how much time and effort we put into Alaska to Seattle and now we almost can do a day at a time – when we returned from the cruise to Mexico City we were almost day by day. Also one’s priorities change – for us it’s water, food, and shelter…all the rest is on the back burner until those are taken care of.

      I used to put days into picking an accommodation for vacations – now I can pick an place to stay in under a minute haha – sometimes this turns out great and other times it doesn’t. We’ve used AirBnB for tours – it just makes it so easy – and they’ve been fantastic. The Chacos getting fixed is one of those nice to get done things but is certainly not a priority – we try to keep a mental, or actual written list, and those things get taken care of when we’re in a town for 2-3 nights or more. Dustin is the real champ here – he has a keen eye to spot the resources we need…I’m usually so tired I just can’t be bothered!

      Our most recent planning was certainly more extensive because we’ll soon be hitting the Darien Gap and we had to figure out how we’d go over or around that dangerous area. So we had to backwards plan from transportation that we wanted to book, in this case a boat, to get around the Darien Gap. Yesterday, while I was doing the blog (and the taxes!!!) Dustin rough planned all of our riding days to Panama City so we could estimate how long it would take. Now that we have a rough plan we can more detail plan each day (route, water, food, shelter, etc). Planning like this everyday gets exhausting and that’s why it was so nice to hop on the cruise with Dustin’s family – we didn’t have to plan anything 🙂

      So nice to hear from you – glad you all are enjoying following!!
      Patricia

  10. Such an interesting blog you are creating. I always get a little jolt of delight when your newest entry hits my inbox. My daughter in law teaches elementary music and uses the marimba as part of her ORFF style teaching. I plan to send your pics on to her. I love that the tour was in Spanish, I suspect you smiled and nodded a lot! As always, you are in our thoughts and prayers for a safe, fun, and joyful journey. Lisa

    1. Glad to hear you are enjoying the blog & you’ll be telling your DIL about the Marimba Museum. Yes, we did smile and nodded often and then got so excited when we actually understood something! Thank you for your thoughtful comments & encouragement 🙂

  11. It is fun keeping up with you while laying in my living room recliner with a fractured ankle, which happened when I slipped & fell in our living room. I pray for your continued health & well being for this entire ride. Sorry we came so close, but didn’t quite meet in Miami. Those self driving things in the airport were weird! Keep having fun & be safe. God bless.

  12. We have a strong partnership with the Lutheran church in Guatemala if you need any more contacts. I’m sure you’re set, but just letting you know. Thanks again for another great update.

  13. OK, you got me! Just when I think I’m used to your adventurous spirit and not too surprised, you throw in eating grasshoppers!! You made me cringe. Why do we think its ok to eat some animals and gross to eat others??

    So glad you had a respite on the cruise. I love that you are not out to set a record, but take advantages of tours and your own sight seeing.

    Godspeed!

    1. It’s pretty amazing how few species we actually eat – cow, pig, chicken, etc. Our stomachs of steel haven’t been holding up so well lately haha – last night it was bread for dinner!
      Thanks for your comment & encouragement 🙂

  14. Your ability to document this amazing experience is soooo impressive. Thank you for sharing. I’ve learned a lot and I’m looking forward to the next country and new adventures.

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