Oaxaca – Miahuatlan – El Pacifo – Santiago La Galera – Mazunte – Huatulco – Concepción Bamba – Juchitan – San Pedro Tapanatepec – Jiquipilas – Tuxtla Guttierez
12 days | 776 kilometers | 9.660m elevation gain
Finally back on the bike! It’s been close to a month, travelling with a backpack, not having the freedom of the bike. It feels liberating to be back on the bike. I’ve missed this so much! The motivating honks of car drivers, the thumbs up through rolled down windows, the wind in my face. No more waiting for buses and walking with that damned backpack. Freedom.
But for chronology sake let’s first flash back to five days ago. I flew back from Cuba to Mexico City and it felt great to be back in Mexico. Not like coming home, but more like a place that’s very familiar to you. I rush towards the city center to meet Diana. For a long time I’ve been wanting to go to the Frida Kahlo Museum but having to book it weeks in advance I was always to late. Not this time. I’ve booked tickets while I was in Cuba and asked Diana to join me. Frida Kahlo is the most famous painter of Mexico and has had a remarkable life. It’s great seeing some of her paintings and learn about her story. Afterwards we go stroll through the picturesque neighborhood of Coyoacan. It’s our third date and I feel at ease with Diana, her positive attitude and enthusiasm make me happy. In the night I meet her sister and some friends, have way too much beer and fun in a karaoke bar and together perform my favorite Mexican song Ya Superama.
I don’t really know when I will go back to Oaxaca to start cycling again. One thing is that tomorrow the Netherlands plays Argentina for the quarter final in the World Cup. I hesitate to either watch it in Oaxaca or here in Mexico City. When Diana proposes to watch together here in the city the choice is quickly made. That means I’m gonna stay a bit longer here in CDMX.
The game is at 13h. Diana is late like always and only arrives at the start of the second half. Me, I’m nervous like hell, long before the game starts I’ve taken place at a table in the bar with the most television screens in CDMX. I meet Job (Dutch) and Christian (Danish) and will watch the first half with them.
To kill the nerves I decide to start putting away some pints. The game is an absolute thriller. The first 80 minutes I’m annoyed and disappointed and we’re behind 0-2. Then in the 83 minute we score the 1-2. Is it still possible? And then, deep in extra time, with the last seconds ticking away on the clock we brilliantly score 2-2. Extra time. More nerves so more beer. Nothing happens in extra time so we go to penalties. More nerves so more beer. We loose. Drunk and disappointed I stumble out of the bar with the most television screens in Mexico-City. We hesitate to go out in the evening but my hangover is already about to pop up, I’m pretty tired and tomorrow it’s going to be very early so we decide to sleep early.
At 4am the alarm goes. Diana has treated me to a sunrise canoe trip in the southwest of CDMX in a place called Xochimilco. But therefore we have to be there at 5am. She lets me drive her car through the empty streets of the most populous city of North America. The canoe trip is amazing! Xochimilco is known for its canals, which are left from what was an extensive lake and canal system build by the Aztecs. A thick fog elevates above the quiet water and slowly the sun is rising and breaking through the clouds. We slowly pedal our way through the canals towards the sun rays. It makes for beautiful pictures. After three hours of pedaling the cold is penetrating into our bodies. The cold in combination with a huge hangover on an empty stomach makes me weak. After getting back to land and having chilaquiles for breakfast I feel much better.
I decide to take the night bus to Oaxaca tonight. It’s time. Me and Diana want to chill for the rest of the day and we decide to do so in her place. That also means I will meet her mom, dad and brother. We watch football and Netflix, doze off on the couch and eat. In the night we say goodbye and I prepare for another night bus back to my dear bicycle.



With a cold which I caught on the canals of Xochimilco I arrive in Oaxaca. In the afternoon I go to Uriel and Estralla’s house. These are the people that were so kind to store my bike for almost a month. After dinner with the complete family I get told that it’s another national holiday here in Mexico celebrating the virgin of Guadalupe. We go outside where the boys play around with fireworks. Me, Estralla, Uriel and their daughter Sherlyne take a short ride to the local church where a huge feast is going on. And what is a party without alcohol? One after another drunk Mexican is approaching me with some home made mezcal and of course I also have to drink. With a slight buzz me and Uriel crash down on their sofa to watch music video’s on YouTube. Although there is a huge language and age barrier between me and Uriel we have this very strong connection that’s hard to explain. I like him very much. At night I sleep in the guest bedroom.
Last breakfast with this great family and after some preparations I’m back on the bike. It feels liberating. I still have a terrible cold and am low on energy but life on the bike is calling. It’s great to be back in Mexico. I have a mango smoothie and a great torta sandwich for 2 euros. The ultimate 30 kilometers I feel that my battery is dying. Is it the cold or the lack of cycling the last month? The last 10 kilometers I can’t get ahead anymore. I make it to Miahuatlan where Eduardo has been so free to offer me a place to stay via Warmshowers. I’m offered dinner, a shower and nice conversations. The most astonishing of this evening is that his brother drops by and Eduardo has not seen him for 4 years. The thing that astonishes me is that nevertheless he still made time for me. An unbelievable hospitality. I sleep on a mattress in his papelaria business down the street.






Today is going to be up, up and more up. I decide that 35 kilometers with 1200 meters elevation gain is enough for one day and I get to spend the night in this touristy town called San Jose Del Pacifico. It’s a sort of hipster town and when I arrive I’m suddenly surrounded by tourists. I have no clue why these tourists are here to be honest. Yes the town is nice, but so are a trillion other towns in Mexico. I feel like it’s just been hyped by someone and now suddenly every house is a hotel and the food prices quadrupled. Anyway. I meet Jullian, a German that is working remotely and is going to do a kind of retreat here. He suggests me to go to Refugio Terazza el Tierra that offers camping spots. I have dinner and cycle back 3 kilometers in the dark. When I arrive the lack of moon light makes it pitch dark. A rocky path goes steep down into the valley. I crash because of the loose rocks but luckily am uninjured. It’s really unclear where the reception is so I have to wander around for some time. I think this is quite a neat place, but right now I can’t see anything. After I put up my tent and have a shower I sit and watch shooting stars at my tent.
I wake up with a great view over the valley. I meet Jullian in the morning and have a coffee with him. It is great chatting but my rumbling stomach is shouting for attention. Time to pack and cycle back to the town where I have chicken from the barbecue for breakfast. Fuck it.
A beautiful curvy road through the mountains today with a lot of ups and downs. In one of the descents I suddenly hear a loud snap and immediately see that my front wheel has gotten wobbly. A quick diagnosis points to a broken spoke. Aii. Slowly I descend a bit more to get to a Comedor where I have a bit more space on the parking lot for reparations.
But first lunch. It’s funny to see that in the middle of nowhere, packed in between banana trees, this comedor apparently has electricity and even reception to show World Cup football on a very small television. I see France beat Moroco while nibbling on my quesadilla. Than behind me I hear someone saying “hola Marino”. Huh. I see my Warmshowers host from two days ago walking in with his family. He is en route and saw a very familiar bike outside and decided to stop and say hi.
Time to fix my wheel. Luckily I have spare spokes with me! So here goes. Taking the outer tire and tube off. Taking the rim tape off. Disassembling the disc brake rotor. Taking the broken spoke out. Putting the new spoke in and tightening it into the nipple. Truing the wheel. Rim tape back on. Tube and outer tire back on. And finally Inflating the tire.
I’m pretty proud of myself by how I handled this situation. No panic, stayed calm, fixed my own problems and most importantly I didn’t let it ruin my mood. In the meantime it’s 4 o’clock and in 2 hours it’s going to be dark. I didn’t nearly get as many kilometers as I wanted but hey, these things happen. I decide to cycle for another hour and then to start looking for a camping spot. I see a house with a very nice garden and stop to ask if maybe I can pitch my tent there. The response is that they are not a hotel. There is no way I can get in between that. Finally I find a very nice palapa (four poles with a roof made of dried palm leaves) next to this mountainous road. I ask the shop next to it if it’s okay to camp there and he doesn’t mind. There is a comedor around the corner so that’s perfect for dinner as well.









I slept terrible because there were street dogs barking next to me all night. It did make for a funny scene though when I, in the middle of the night dressed only in my boxers, zipped out of my tent to throw some rocks to those bastards. Too bad there is no footage of that.
Today the statistics promised me an easy day with a lot of descending, however there is a terrible lot of climbing in between all the going-down-fun. After leaving the Pacific Ocean in Puerto Vallarta on October 9th, two months and six days later I’m finally reunited with this ocean and its tropical climate. Damn it’s hot and humid again here. My body is not used to this anymore and decides to sweat it all out in a lightning fast pace. Tired but satisfied I arrive on the Pacific shore in Mazunte. I see another bicycle tourist from Canada rolling into town. I also meet another older Canadian guy that’s been living here for a while. After telling him I want to camp on the beach somewhere he suggests me a somewhat quieter beach just up the road. So I go there. I roll my bike up the beach, have a swim, sip on a beer and enjoy the setting sun wrapped in my towel. Life is pretty good but it will get even better.
A lady arrives on the scene and she looks at my bike with interest. We start to chat. We connect.
“I feel like I have to offer you something.. You want a shower?”
“Nah, I’m good, don’t worry, I’ll shower again tomorrow or the day after!”
“You know what? I live around the corner, you want to sleep in a bed tonight?”
“Well.. a bed is always nice. But seriously I will be fine here on the beach.”
“You are going to sleep in a bed and have a shower tonight, trust me you’ll love it. Follow me.”
“Okay then!”
Her name is Catriona, she is 37 and lives part-time in the UK and part-time here in Mazunte. Her house is amazing. All the houses here have traditional palapa roofs, made from dried banana leafs. Catriona’s apartment is completely made with natural materials and it feels like you are somewhere in between a house and in the midst of nature. She goes out to have dinner with a friend and leaves me alone in her apartment with full access to shower, Netflix on her laptop, the little cat, and her bed. Soon I’m fresh and horizontally chilling. Funny how a night can take a different turn so quickly. When Cat comes back we talk and connect some more. Her sister died not long ago and she is still processing all of this. Her story strikes me and she teaches me some valuable life lessons. When asking for my bed, she tells me we’ll sleep in the same bed. I’m being awkward because I don’t know if this is an attempted hook up or not. I decide to just go along and see what happens. I take off my clothes and crawl into the same bed with a lady that I didn’t know a few hours ago. I can imagine that the one who’s reading this, is now on the edge of their seat, thinking “what happened, what happened?!?” Well, long story short, nothing happened. But also a lot happened. Because I fell asleep next to a beautiful lady holding her hand and with a feeling of a deep connection. For me that was way more valuable and meaningful than any type of hook up.







The next day we walk into town, have breakfast, and walk back to her place via the beach. I pack my stuff and I say goodbye to Catriona. I cycle to Puerto Angel where I have the best ceviche cocktail ever and it is payed by a Mexican guy that lives in the states that I have a chat with while ordering. Overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude I leave again. Man, the world is such a nice place with such great people. And again, it will even get better. A few hours later I walk into a gas station for a beverage and an ice cream. I get to talk with an older lady and a younger lady. The usual: where I’m from, where I’m going. And also, where I’m going to sleep tonight. Again, I don’t have an answer ready. And again, I get invited to come and crash at their place. Me and Julietta (16) exchange numbers and I get told to follow the address that she’ll send. The house is on top of a bitch of a climb, so soaked in sweat I introduce myself to her dad Alfredo, her cousin Roy and her grandmother Patricia that I already met in the gas station. Within seconds I feel like I’m part of the family. After I’ve freshened up, Alfredo tells me to get ready to go into town. Me, Alfredo, Julietta and a friend of hers go to the cinema to watch Avatar 2.
The next day I’m trying to tell the family that I’ll be on my way again today. But I get told that there’s no way that I’m allowed to leave.Haha, okay. Me and the complete family get ready for a day at the beach. We hike towards a secret beach that only locals know and are the only one at this beautiful spot. When snorkeling me and Roy spot a sea turtle of about a meter long! Snorkeling is incredible here. We have lunch with bread, cheese and red wine on the beach. A great day. At night me, Roy and his friend go out in the city. Roy and his friend “score”, but due to the fact that I’m a little bit older than the crowd I’ll take a rain-check this time.
We got home late yesterday, but we wake up pretty early. Reason: World Cup final between France and Argentina. After a thriller of a game, Lionel Messi crowns himself the GOAT and gets to lift the trophy. After extra time and penalties it’s already late and I decide to go pedaling tomorrow. Roy wants to go to the beach so me, him and Alfredo tick of 3 other bays of the 7 bays of Huatulco to do some more snorkeling. In the evening friends of the family drop by for an amazing barbecue. I buy desert to say “thank you” for an amazing stay with an amazing family that for three days I really felt I was part of.







Cycling time. I’ve set my mind on arriving at a beach that Alfredo suggested me. It takes a lot of energy but I make it to Playa Concepción Bamba just before sunset. I put my tent up and the views are amazing. Nobody is here. I take a shower in the ocean, make a tuna salad sandwich and type in my diary.
The next day is hilly. When the hills are finally gone and the terrain becomes more flat, suddenly there is this crazy headwind that’s taking a beating out of me. In a bike shop in Salina cruz I decide to get a new chain. They turn out to be really nice guys and also remove some play in my front wheel and pump up my tires to my desired pressure. The rest of the day I’m pounding my way through the wind and I treat myself to a hotel room.







I see a big-ass snake crawling into the bushes next to the road. Damn those things move fast! My prayers have not been heard, because today the wind might even be more severe. It blows so hard that it even is dangerous for me at some times. Multiple times I get thrown off the road. I am leaning with an angle of 30 degrees into the wind, but if a truck passes by and takes away the wind suddenly I have to correct for this 30 degrees. Concentration is vital. A moped is having a hard time as well, he is scared. A truck notices and decides to keep driving next to him to block the crosswind for him. Then later I come across five hikers that are walking next to the big road getting back to their cars. At least, that’s what my European mind thinks. The last guy holds his empty water bottle up and I understand the gesture. I stop to give them the last of my water. We chat and to my disbelief these are absolutely not hikers. These are Venezuelans that are walking, I repeat, walking from Venezuela to the United States. And now I get to think about it, this morning in the hotel I also talked to a family from Ecuador that is making their way to the US to apply for asylum. That’s how slowly it dawns on me that this might be an equally big refugee flow to that we have been seeing across the Mediterranean sea. The US is to South America what Europe is to Africa.
My Oaxacan friends Uriel and Estrella hooked me up with an address to stay in San Pedro Tapanatepec. The house literally is a barn. I try to connect with the friendly people that are offering their place to a stranger but we fail to connect. The lights go out at 9PM and I guess that means bed-time for me too.
The day after begins with a nice and steady climb on a beautiful road through the mountains with little traffic. Spirits are high. At the end of the day I decide to go stealth camping for the night. I see a nice river meandering away from a city called Cintalapa. I fill my water, do groceries for dinner and via Google Satellite I marked some potentially good camping spots next to the river. I follow a dirt track that is supposed to go parallel to the river and I have to cross a smaller stream of that river bare footed. When I try to reach my marked spots I stumble upon fences and barb wire. There is agriculture everywhere here and the farmers have made it very clear which land is whoes. I follow the same dirt track for kilometers longer to find an opening that would get me to some grass along the river. I cross two more streams bare footed. And where does the dirt track lead me to? A fence. No way I’m going back, so I decide to open the fence, push my bike through and close the fence again, dedicated to at least find the river I’m looking for. In the mean time the sun is setting. I ride further, open and close more barb wired fences and eventually get stuck in a maze of barb wire. I get chased down by an angry flock of cows that are trying to get the intruder off of their lands. In the meantime it’s dark, I am filthy dirty and my moral is busted. I ask some farmers how the hell I get back to the main road and they give me the directions. Back on asphalt and with broken moral I cycle to the next town to find a hotel for the night. It felt like a defeat.
The next day I make it to Tuxtla Guttierez. Here I will take some days rest and spend some Christmas time.










Beautiful stories
Thanks csaba, leuk dat je nog steeds vaste klant bent
Of de Mexicanen zijn idd de meest vriendelijke mensen of het ligt vooral ook aan jou dat jij de een na de andere leuke ontmoeting hebt
En het wordt steeds leuker zoals je schrijft , dus kom maar op met die mooie verhalen we kunnen er geen genoeg van krijgen
Veel plezier, blijf genieten en op je hoede xxx
Wauw wat een verhalen Marijn! Heerlijk om bij weg te dromen. Wat geweldig dat je dit aan het doen bent en met ons deelt 🙂
Thanks Maarten, super fijn bericht!!!
Hé Marijn, we genieten van je verhalen en kijken iedere keer uit naar het volgende avontuur. Wat een vriendelijke mensen overal. Maar zal zeker ook aan jouw open houding liggen. Geniet van alles en op naar het volgende land. Groetjes Karin en Ans
Was weer zeer de moeite waard, en wat ben je heerlijk aan het genieten. Ga zo door
Hee Marijn, tsjonge bijna ongelofelijk dat je steeds weer die vriendelijke mensen treft. Maar ik ben het met Miriam eens; zou ook aan jou kunnen liggen. Ga door man het is nog maar een ‘stukje’ Grtz ook van MJ
Zou zeker kunnen, Theo! Je eigen gedrag en uitstraling is een spiegel voor andere mensen. Groetjes terug 🙂
That’s a great story 😉
why is there sand mounds small mounds