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Deane, Alex, and Jim's Motorcycle Trip to Mexico - 2004 | |
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April 24, Villahermosa to Hopelchen - 310 Miles |
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Starting out from Villahermosa, we got lost for a while, but soon got on the right road. This was another big city with lots of fast Mexican drivers. This morning we saw the only car accident on our trip. A taxi driver and a bus driver tried to bluff each other out, and neither gave in. It was only a bump, but we marvel at the fact that while the Mexican drivers drive fast and cut in and out while taking chances, one just doesn't see cars with dented fenders, etc.. After a ways, we rode right along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, with three toll bridges where large rivers or inlets come into the shore area. The bridges were quite new, having replaced toll ferries in very recent years. Then along about 70 miles of gorgeous and deserted white sand beaches. The Gulf is really beautiful here, south of Villahermosa. Having not been able to make our allotted number of miles to get to the town and ruins of Uxmal, we stopped short in the small town of Hopelchen. We were hot and tired, after an afternoon at 97 to 103o F. We had made about 300 miles in nine hours, which is pretty good in southern Mexico, where we rode through several little towns with lots of "Topes". The roads along the lower Gulf are much better than we had encountered in the last few days. We rode into the "Centro" (plaza) of Hopelchen, and were greeted with a nice park-like plaza and a quite pretty church.
In the plaza we stopped to ask if there were any hotels in town. The woman Alex asked said "There it is", indicating the "Los Arcos" hotel, right on the square. Alex asked if she recommended it or any other one in town. She said "That's the only one.". So that settled that! This started an adventure.
The hotel looked to be permanently under construction, and was next door to the sales place for agriculture pesticides, fertilizer, and other products. We enquired of the owner of the hotel what the rate was for a single. He said 86 Pesos. Well at the current exchange rate, that is about $8 US - yes, $8! Since it was the only hotel in town, we registered, and wondered what one gets for a single type room for $8. Our three rooms each had one bed and one chair - that's it, for the main room, although the room was large and had a nicely tiled floor and nicely painted walls. The bed had one pillow and two sheets - that's it. The bed was nice and soft, courtesy of about 30 years or more of use. The ceiling fan provided air movement. Telephone? - Who needs a Telephone? TV - Who needs TV? At the time of check in, we were issued one towel, one small bar of soap, and one small roll of toilet paper. The bathroom had a toilet, but none of our three toilets had a seat to go on it - the lower ceramic part will have to do. The shower had no shower curtain, but the catch basin for the shower water was at a level below the rest of the bathroom floor. Did it have hot water? Well, in the morning one of the three rooms had hot water, and the other two did not.. Alex inquired about getting a Cerveca (beer), and was told ,OK, but you have to buy it before 7:00 PM, because on Saturday night the sale of beer ends at 7:00. Also, after 7:00 PM, if he wanted to drink his beer, it had to be in his hotel room. So Alex and Jim had 10 minutes to buy and drink their beer at the only restaurant in town.. Then at about 7 PM, a whole army of teenagers arrived on the square pedaling "PediCabs".
This happens every night in the summer, and is a way for the teenagers to make money, pedaling the town adults around town for a leisurely ride. It seemed to be a fun thing in the town. The next day several of these cabs were actually used as taxi's for the town's people. In the following days, we were to find these spread all over southern Mexico and used as everyday conveyances and as full fledged taxies. The bed was Ok, and with the air outside cooling off, we all had a reasonable sleep. |
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