Well as all things must end, our time with the Canul family must too. We are leaving tomorrow for Izamal. We have spent longer than we thought we would with the Canuls and have had a great time. We tried to tell them we were going to leave 4 days ago and they wouldn´t let us. The kept giving us reasons to stay and obviously we were enjoying our time here so we complied with their wishes. We eventually gave them a reason for our leaving that they accepted and they sadly agreed with our reasoning. After all of their questions, including, why do you want to go?, where are you going to next? where are you going to spend more time than here? we finally told them, "Hay un buen tiempo para todos"-or - "There is a good time for everything." We will be sad to see the Canul family house disappear as we roll down the street but our hearts are filled with Yucatecan love and our bellies with great Yucatecan food, Flor and Gladys style. We can only hope that experiences as fabulous and rich as this await us down the road.
As Ken reminded us before we left, "A picture is worth 1,000 words," so we have uploaded a few to tell the story of our time in Merida and Tixkokob, so once again, here is the link to the flickr account.
www.flickr.com/photos/sanuzbord
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tixkokob
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Merida, Mexico
We´ve made it to Mexico! We arrived in Merida last Thursday and spent a few nights in Merida getting acclimated and putting our bikes together. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much so), it took us a couple of days to put everything back together and smooth out all the things we didn´t think to do in the states. Merida is a really cool city. Every weekend there are activities going on in the center of town and they close a couple of streets for the festivities. We went to a free Mexican pop concert, walked around in awe looking at the OLD historical buildings, watched some traditional Yucatecan dances, and we scouted a route on our bikes that we would take out of Merida. Lots of backtracking and going the wrong way down one way streets, but we figured it out, without a map nonetheless. We discovered just how big Merida is and that the city limits extend WAY beyond the historical center we had been walking around quite a bit.
We left Merida on Sunday morning for our next stop, Tixkokob (pronounced Teesh-ko-kobe)-- which is actually the reason that we decided to start in Merida in the first place. Two years ago, when David was in Merida, he met a local man named Elpidio Canul and they became friends. He met his family and visited with him and his family for a couple of days where they live, in Tixkokob. A few weeks before we left, David wrote a letter (in very bad Spanish) to Elpidio explaining that we would be coming to visit. We were hoping that it would get to Tixkokob before us, that we had the right address, and that they would understand David´s Spanish. AND would they remember David? Did they still live here? Would we be welcome?-- kind of a leap of faith considering all that needed to come together.
So, Sunday morning we set our alarm for 7 am thinking we´d leave by 8. But of course we didn´t get out of bed until 8 (up too late the night before) and then took almost two hours to put our bikes together and eat a fast breakfast. Every Sunday in Merida, two streets are closed to traffic for leisurly family bicycle rides (the bici-ruta). One of the streets is called Paseo de Montejo and has many beautiful historical buildings and trees and monuments along it, they tried to model it after the Champs Elysee in France. So, we rode through Merida for a few miles gathering stares (most of which were directed at Leah as females generally don´t ride bikes, especially in bike shorts and chacos and packed with tons of stuff) and soaking in the beauty and "awesome-ness" of what we were doing at that moment. We then followed our scouted route out of Merida for an uneventful and flat 40km, which sad to say, left our butts SORE.
Upon arriving in Tixkokob, we rode into the town square and stopped to decide what to do next (ride to the house?, find a hotel? eat some lunch?). Our question of what to do next was answered quickly when Elpidio yelled from across the street "Dah-veed, Dah-veed!" We met him and his wife and daughter across the street, hugged and exchanged greetings and then followed them home (behind their tricycle cart). Since then we have been staying at the Canuls house, practicing our Spanish A LOT (our brains are getting sore), eating and laughing with them. We think we´ll leave on Thursday, but who knows.
We left Merida on Sunday morning for our next stop, Tixkokob (pronounced Teesh-ko-kobe)-- which is actually the reason that we decided to start in Merida in the first place. Two years ago, when David was in Merida, he met a local man named Elpidio Canul and they became friends. He met his family and visited with him and his family for a couple of days where they live, in Tixkokob. A few weeks before we left, David wrote a letter (in very bad Spanish) to Elpidio explaining that we would be coming to visit. We were hoping that it would get to Tixkokob before us, that we had the right address, and that they would understand David´s Spanish. AND would they remember David? Did they still live here? Would we be welcome?-- kind of a leap of faith considering all that needed to come together.
So, Sunday morning we set our alarm for 7 am thinking we´d leave by 8. But of course we didn´t get out of bed until 8 (up too late the night before) and then took almost two hours to put our bikes together and eat a fast breakfast. Every Sunday in Merida, two streets are closed to traffic for leisurly family bicycle rides (the bici-ruta). One of the streets is called Paseo de Montejo and has many beautiful historical buildings and trees and monuments along it, they tried to model it after the Champs Elysee in France. So, we rode through Merida for a few miles gathering stares (most of which were directed at Leah as females generally don´t ride bikes, especially in bike shorts and chacos and packed with tons of stuff) and soaking in the beauty and "awesome-ness" of what we were doing at that moment. We then followed our scouted route out of Merida for an uneventful and flat 40km, which sad to say, left our butts SORE.
Upon arriving in Tixkokob, we rode into the town square and stopped to decide what to do next (ride to the house?, find a hotel? eat some lunch?). Our question of what to do next was answered quickly when Elpidio yelled from across the street "Dah-veed, Dah-veed!" We met him and his wife and daughter across the street, hugged and exchanged greetings and then followed them home (behind their tricycle cart). Since then we have been staying at the Canuls house, practicing our Spanish A LOT (our brains are getting sore), eating and laughing with them. We think we´ll leave on Thursday, but who knows.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The crowd gathered 'round
Well everyone, it is the final few hours before we leave Seattle... and the country for a long time. Today we ran more errands, canceled our cell phones (I KNOW!) and FINALLY strapped ALL of our stuff to our bikes and took them for a spin. As you can see we drew a huge crowd on our test ride.
Our ride lasted for approximately two minutes. We didn't even make it around the block! I know what your thinking at you're wrong, we stopped because our hands were cold and we had to dismantle our bikes and pack them up, not because everything fell apart, at least give us until 15 miles into our first ride in Mexico. As you can see we drew a huge croud on our test ride.
Tomorrow morning we head to Merida, Mexico where we will be beginning our journey. Check out flickr for more pics of our final few hours in Seattle.
Good night from Seattle (for the last time) and so long for now, next you hear from us we will be speaking with Mexican accents.
Peace out,
David
Monday, January 14, 2008
Can't Sleep
So it's 1:30 AM, everyone's been asleep for at least two hours and I just can't. Too many things going on in my head. Practicing Spanish, thinking of last minute errands, thinking of family and friends, all on top of hearing Mike snore in the room next to ours. So I get up and try reading to fall asleep, I pick up The Odyssey, not working. So I figure I'll blog a little about what's going on.
The last couple of days Leah and I have been working on our bikes getting them completely ready to go. We finally got them %90 done today and took our inaugural test ride. We have done several things to both our bikes to make them as foolproof and failsafe as possible. Let me tell you a little about our trusty steeds we are taking with us on our journey.
First of all here is some of the criteria we were looking for in our bikes. We had done a lot of research reading people's opinions on different types of bikes, and different set ups for different types of bicycle tours. Ultimately we decided that we wanted old, steel mountain bikes with the simplest, least expensive and most reliable parts we could find. We decided this for several reasons: one, we anticipate that old steel mountain bikes to be the norm in the areas that we will most likely be travelling, therefore making replacement parts easier to find, and making them less likely to get stolen. We also decided that we most likely we will not always be on smoothly paved roads. We have done quite a bit to prepare for the bicycle maintenance part of our journey.
Our first step was taking a bike repair class put on by bike works, a non-profit bike shop here in Seattle. Next we took a wheel building class where we built our own custom wheels (no, they're not spinners.)
So Leah's bike we found on Craigslist.com for $30 It was an old steel framed Schwinn Moab mountain bike. So far we have done the following to prepare it for the trip, not all of this was necessary, we could have take our bike as they were, but for those of you who don't know me all that well, I suffer from the tinker bug. I enjoy constantly tinkering with things to make them just right (or until I break them, then I enjoy trying to fix them.)
As I said Pete was in excellent condition when I got him but he had all original parts on him, some of which are now very obscure and even rare. I thought it best to replace a few of these to save myself from hassles down the road if anything should go wrong. So we have done the folllwing to Pete:
So we went on our inaugural ride this afternoon, check flickr later for pics. We put some weight on our panniers and pedaled off. It was the first time we had been back on bikes for 2 months. It felt GREAT! Everything on the bikes worked as it should and it just felt good to be back in the saddle again. I feel so free when I'm on a bike, I am so exited to get going on our trip.
We rode our bikes to meet Fedrico, who is from Guatemala, we went to coffee with him and talked about our trip, Guatemala, Central America, politics, history, safety, and had a really nice time. On the way home we both were feeling some of the excitement starting to set in. We were finally on our bikes, four days away, talking to someone from the area, it was all starting to hit home. Then I got to speak with Billie, my little sister who also leaving on a grand journey. She and her boyfriend, Cole, are leaving for South America on January 15. They fly into into Rio De Janero, Brazil and plan to travel for...as long as possible, they are thinking Octoberish. She was making her last round of calls today and tomorrow before turning off her phone. We too will be doing that in a couple of days. All of these things have made it hit home just a little more that we are finally about to do this, I am sure it still won't hold a candle to the feeling we will have when we arrive in Merida, Mexico at 8PM with all of our bikes and have to catch a cab to a hotel (trying to communicate in Spanish.)
Well now it's 3AM (yes I'm a slow writer...and reader)
Buenas Noches,
David
We have installed:
New Rear ca
The last couple of days Leah and I have been working on our bikes getting them completely ready to go. We finally got them %90 done today and took our inaugural test ride. We have done several things to both our bikes to make them as foolproof and failsafe as possible. Let me tell you a little about our trusty steeds we are taking with us on our journey.
First of all here is some of the criteria we were looking for in our bikes. We had done a lot of research reading people's opinions on different types of bikes, and different set ups for different types of bicycle tours. Ultimately we decided that we wanted old, steel mountain bikes with the simplest, least expensive and most reliable parts we could find. We decided this for several reasons: one, we anticipate that old steel mountain bikes to be the norm in the areas that we will most likely be travelling, therefore making replacement parts easier to find, and making them less likely to get stolen. We also decided that we most likely we will not always be on smoothly paved roads. We have done quite a bit to prepare for the bicycle maintenance part of our journey.
Our first step was taking a bike repair class put on by bike works, a non-profit bike shop here in Seattle. Next we took a wheel building class where we built our own custom wheels (no, they're not spinners.)
So Leah's bike we found on Craigslist.com for $30 It was an old steel framed Schwinn Moab mountain bike. So far we have done the following to prepare it for the trip, not all of this was necessary, we could have take our bike as they were, but for those of you who don't know me all that well, I suffer from the tinker bug. I enjoy constantly tinkering with things to make them just right (or until I break them, then I enjoy trying to fix them.)
- Replaced the crappy gear shift system for some sweet old bomb proof friction shifters
- Built our own custom wheels with some sweet oldschool hubs
- new rear cassete and chain
- replaced the brake blocks
- installed front and back racks (back rack was a sweet Christmas present from Chuck & Lynne)
- installed fenders
- toe cages
- new brake cables
- two water bottle cages
- kick stand
- bike computer (distance, speed, etc. - vital for navigation)
As I said Pete was in excellent condition when I got him but he had all original parts on him, some of which are now very obscure and even rare. I thought it best to replace a few of these to save myself from hassles down the road if anything should go wrong. So we have done the folllwing to Pete:
- Replaced the front brakes
- put on a front rack (the original back rack stays, it rocks)
- replaced the wheels and hubs
- upgraded from a rear 5 speed cassette in back to a 7 speed (sweet - now i can go slower up the hills!) this involved getting some help from Dave McLean, the bike guru that taught our bike maintenance class, and all around awesome guy
- Installed a new crank set, the old one is awesome, french made TA Cyclo Touriste, but totally obscure, they don't even make some of the replacement parts anymore (I'm keeping it, don't worry)
- 3 bottle cages
So we went on our inaugural ride this afternoon, check flickr later for pics. We put some weight on our panniers and pedaled off. It was the first time we had been back on bikes for 2 months. It felt GREAT! Everything on the bikes worked as it should and it just felt good to be back in the saddle again. I feel so free when I'm on a bike, I am so exited to get going on our trip.
We rode our bikes to meet Fedrico, who is from Guatemala, we went to coffee with him and talked about our trip, Guatemala, Central America, politics, history, safety, and had a really nice time. On the way home we both were feeling some of the excitement starting to set in. We were finally on our bikes, four days away, talking to someone from the area, it was all starting to hit home. Then I got to speak with Billie, my little sister who also leaving on a grand journey. She and her boyfriend, Cole, are leaving for South America on January 15. They fly into into Rio De Janero, Brazil and plan to travel for...as long as possible, they are thinking Octoberish. She was making her last round of calls today and tomorrow before turning off her phone. We too will be doing that in a couple of days. All of these things have made it hit home just a little more that we are finally about to do this, I am sure it still won't hold a candle to the feeling we will have when we arrive in Merida, Mexico at 8PM with all of our bikes and have to catch a cab to a hotel (trying to communicate in Spanish.)
Well now it's 3AM (yes I'm a slow writer...and reader)
Buenas Noches,
David
We have installed:
New Rear ca
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Time is winding down
After almost exactly one month Leah and I are leaving Hawaii tonight. From here we head back to Seattle for 6 days where we will be finishing the overhaul on our bikes, packing stuff in our panniers, realizing we have WAY too much stuff, throwing stuff out that won't fit or we don't think we will need.
No matter how many blogs or books we read on bike touring, how many packing lists we check out or how many maps we look at, we still really can't anticipate what it is going to be like. I have trekked, backpacked, hitchhiked and roadtripped, but I have never bike toured. We're bound to throw more things out that we'll realize we don't need and that weigh too much on our ascent up the first big pass and bound to curse ourselves for not bringing something else.
This is also a time of personal reflection for ourselves. A couple of days ago I just found out that a friend of mine in Australia passed away a couple of months ago from cancer. He was a great kid, a lot of fun to be around, he was a dj on the radio and was a laugh a minute. My heart goes out to his parents and family. Events like these cause me, like most of us, to reflect on my own life situation and emphasizes the notion that in life there are no constants, anything can happen. As I think about this I think about the luck that I have had in my life. I feel so lucky to have the awesome family, friends, and opportunities that are present in every aspect of my life.
As we head off on our adventure we are aware of some (never can be aware of ALL) of the dangers that we could face (plenty), we know that ANYTHING can happen. Obviously traveling as we are, on bikes, on dangerous narrow roads, in remote areas, sometimes dangerous areas or cities, places where at times you have to be just as careful, if not more, of the police as the common thug (if there is such a thing), causes us to be slightly more vulnerable than your average backpacker. We want you all to know that we have done what we can to prepare ourselves and plan to take all possible precautions as we go along.
As we tell people about our plans for our journey we have received ample amounts of encouragement, well wishes and "Oh man, I wanna come"s from our family, friends and even strangers. We have also received no shortage of valid expressions of concern for our safety (parents especially). I don't want to sound cheesy, but we want you all to know how much we appreciate all of these and more importantly how much we appreciate and value each unique relationship we have with each of you (even if you don't know us and are just checking out the blog - really!). We love you all and hope to see you somewhere down the road.
Peace out for now,
David
No matter how many blogs or books we read on bike touring, how many packing lists we check out or how many maps we look at, we still really can't anticipate what it is going to be like. I have trekked, backpacked, hitchhiked and roadtripped, but I have never bike toured. We're bound to throw more things out that we'll realize we don't need and that weigh too much on our ascent up the first big pass and bound to curse ourselves for not bringing something else.
This is also a time of personal reflection for ourselves. A couple of days ago I just found out that a friend of mine in Australia passed away a couple of months ago from cancer. He was a great kid, a lot of fun to be around, he was a dj on the radio and was a laugh a minute. My heart goes out to his parents and family. Events like these cause me, like most of us, to reflect on my own life situation and emphasizes the notion that in life there are no constants, anything can happen. As I think about this I think about the luck that I have had in my life. I feel so lucky to have the awesome family, friends, and opportunities that are present in every aspect of my life.
As we head off on our adventure we are aware of some (never can be aware of ALL) of the dangers that we could face (plenty), we know that ANYTHING can happen. Obviously traveling as we are, on bikes, on dangerous narrow roads, in remote areas, sometimes dangerous areas or cities, places where at times you have to be just as careful, if not more, of the police as the common thug (if there is such a thing), causes us to be slightly more vulnerable than your average backpacker. We want you all to know that we have done what we can to prepare ourselves and plan to take all possible precautions as we go along.
As we tell people about our plans for our journey we have received ample amounts of encouragement, well wishes and "Oh man, I wanna come"s from our family, friends and even strangers. We have also received no shortage of valid expressions of concern for our safety (parents especially). I don't want to sound cheesy, but we want you all to know how much we appreciate all of these and more importantly how much we appreciate and value each unique relationship we have with each of you (even if you don't know us and are just checking out the blog - really!). We love you all and hope to see you somewhere down the road.
Peace out for now,
David
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