Puebla State (Oct 28 to 31)

October 28
Km’s Pedalled – 66 km’s

Destination – Tecamachalco

Some Notes – I don’t like it here very much. The (old) guy that has the sleeping bunk below me snores, coughs, moans and farts (loudly) in his sleep all night. I don’t think I fell asleep until about 4 am.

Puebla City center

First thing this morning I finished off posting my Puebla City blog post. There was a few places I wanted to check out in the city center before I left town but when I went to pay for another night I was told that they were booked solid tonight because of the holiday weekend. I had planned to stick around one maybe two more nights. But I guess this was my queue to leave Puebla.

It was a bit of a gong show trying to see the last few places and churches that I wanted to see. Last nights research told me that Capilla del Rosario and Templo de Santo Domingo where popular places to visit but they were both closed. I did visit Señor de las Maravillas Templo.

Señor de las Maravillas Templo

In Amozoc I came across Templo La Sagrada Familia and in Tepeaca I came across Ex Convento San Francisco de Asís and Santuario del Niño Doctor. And in San Hipólito Xochiltenango I came across Parroquia de San Hipólito.

Templo La Sagrada Familia

Ex Convento San Francisco de Asís

Santuario del Niño Doctor

Parroquia de San Hipólito

Today I had a crazy amount of people sending me friendly honks and waving to me. I also had a crazy number of dogs chase me. I finally was able to clip one of the dogs in the mouth with my boot. Twenty seconds later I was being pulled over by the police. This was the first time being pulled over in Mexico. I thought for sure kicking an aggressive dog did not warrant a pull over?

Always meeting people

They pulled me over to warn me that the road ahead was very dangerous for assaults. They took my name and photo of my passport. I imagine to help identify my body if it came to that. I suppose that it’s a good idea for me to be warned. But I don’t like having to look at everyone with suspicion.

I checked into a hotel for $150 pesos. And then went straight to find super as it was now dark. It gets dark at 7pm now. Getting back to my room, pushing my bike through the door, and closing the door not 3 seconds later there was a knock on the door. Somehow the local media realized I was in town and an unprepared interview via Google translate followed. This is not exactly a fancy town or hotel. I have no idea how they heard of me. Maybe they saw me bike into town? My toilet doesn’t even have a seat.

Makeshift toilet seat

I was sure I would be in a tent tonight, but it was probably a good thing I wasn’t. It rained a good part of the night. I edited today’s photos until 1am. My foot is really sore. Almost 2 weeks ago when I was in Mexico City, I dropped off my bunk ladder a little higher up than I realized. I landed hard on my bare foot. For some reason the top of my foot is sore when I flex it. The swelling is minimal, no discoloration and fairly flexible (not broken). But the soreness is consistent and not getting better, and it’s the top of my foot that is sore?

October 29
Km’s Pedalled- 74 km’s

Destination – Maltrata

Some Notes – While leaving Tecamachalco I visited Ex Convento de San Francisco de Asís, Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion and Iglesia Barrio San Nicolas.

Ex Convento de San Francisco de Asís

Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion

Iglesia Barrio San Nicolas

54 km’s into my day I enter Veracruz State. I basically biked through no towns today. Unlike most of the cities that had a main road loop through them there was no through roads through any of today’s towns. The weather was awesome except for a headwind. And then midday I had to climb a mountain and it was totally engulfed in fog. It was quite the slog to get through my afternoon. And then I had the steepest switchback down the side of a mountain. I suspect this was one of the steepest descents of the entire bike ride. I could not imagine ever making it up this mountain if I was going the opposite direction. It was frustrating because I was pretty sure I was missing the best valley views of Mexico since Copper Canyon thanks to the fog. Looking over the side of the edge of the road was just fog, everywhere fog. I had no idea how far down the drops would have been. Getting into the valley the vegetation has completely changed from what I have become accustomed to over the last 3 months. There was a town at the bottom of the mountain with no hotels so I biked into the dark until I could find a place to camp.

The views near the bottom of the mountain

October 30
Km’s Pedalled – 59 km’s

Destination – Córdoba

The view from my tent this morning

Yesterday’s switchbacks

Some Notes – In Ciudad Mendoza I visited Parroquia de Santa Rosa de Lima. In Nogales I visited Parroquia De San Juan Bautista. In Rio Blanco I visited Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. And in Orizaba I visted:

Parroquia de San José de Gracia
Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
Rectoría de Nuestra Señora del Carmen
Rectoría de Santa María de los Servitas
Rectoría de Nuestro Señor del Calvario
Catedral de San Miguel Arcángel
San Juan de Dios
Rectoría de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores
Parroquia de Santa Gertrudis
Parroquia de Santa María de Guadalupe (La Concordia)

Parroquia de Santa Rosa de Lima

Parroquia De San Juan Bautista

Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Catedral de San Miguel Arcángel

Always meeting people

Rectoría de Nuestra Señora del Carmen

Parroquia de San José de Gracia

Parroquia de Santa Gertrudis

Parroquia de Santa María de Guadalupe (La Concordia)

Rectoría de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores

Rectoría de Nuestro Señor del Calvario

Rectoría de Santa María de los Servitas

San Juan de Dios

Orizaba was nice city with lots of churches to photograph. It took a good part of the afternoon to visit 10 churches. The area is quite beautiful as the entire city is surrounded by mountains. Leaving Orizaba, I entered jungle landscape. It was so nice to enter jungle. Lots of people love the beach, many people love the desert. I love the jungle.

African Tulip Tree

Lots of honks, waves and people taking photos of me. Entering Córdoba at the hour I did it was apparent I needed to a hotel. I tried a hostel, but it was booked for the night.

October 31

Km’s Pedalled – 13 km’s

Some Notes – There is not a lot happening in Córdoba. I was able to whip off visiting all the churches before lunch. Last night I messaged the hostel in town (that was booked full). They have a bed tonight and are cheap ($150 pesos).

I visited:

San José Obrero
Cathedral of Córdoba
Iglesia de San Antonio
Iglesia de San Sebastián
Parroquia De San Miguel Arcángel

I checked into the hostel early to get caught up on editing and documenting. I left Puebla at least a day or two too early and now I have all my new photos over the last 4 days to organize and edit. By 1am I had all my photos organized and edited