Skip dropped me off in Harlingen, Texas, which is pretty close to Brownsville. Here's him dropping me off:
So I biked an hour or two into Brownsville. I asked the guy at the tourist info place if there was anywhere I could camp out, and he asked how old I was. I guess some RV parks let senior citizens camp there, but that's it. I thought I was going to have to stealth camp somewhere, or go to the beach and camp (about 20 miles away), but the dude at the tourist info place, Felix, said I could stay at his place if I wanted. So I did. The next day, I went into Matamoros and got a Mexican tourist card. I told them I was biking across Mexico, and they wrote "transito" on it and made it out for 30 days. I argued with the guy for a while, saying I needed more than 30 days, but he kept telling me that for transit you can only get 30 days. We go back and forth for a while, and I'm like come on, man, and finally he changed the 30 into 180. So I can be here for 6 months. Other people I've talked to say I wouldn't have any problems even if I overextend what it says on my tourist card.
In Matamoros, I decided to take a bus to Victoria, because the border area is where a lot of the violence is, plus there isn't much to see or do between Matamoros and Victoria. I stayed in a hotel for the night, and biked into Llera. Here are some pictures I took on the way to Llera:
Crossing the Tropic of Cancer:
I was told about this place - it's supposed to look like the sights on a rifle:
Once I got into Llera, some friendly people greeted me as I biked by. I didn't actually know I was in Llera, so I asked them where I was and where I could find a motel. They told me, but then they suggested (and insisted) that I could stay at their place. So I did, for two nights. It was a grandma, mother, and her three children. They were the nicest people ever. They didn't want me to leave either - they were worried about how dangerous it is for me to be biking on the roads in Mexico. They fed me well too.
El Cielo, a UN designated biosphere, is probably the coolest place I visited. It's in the mountains above a town called Gomez Farias. To get there, you go 12 km, almost all uphill, to Gomez Farias, and then it's another 6 miles up a really rocky and difficult road to get to the first village in El Cielo.
On the way to Gomez Farias:
This was after Gomez Farias, on the way up to El Cielo. It took me more than three hours to go 6 miles. Usually you have to pay someone with a 4x4 the equivalent about $50 USD or so to take you up there. The rocks were big and there were a lot of loose rocks so I couldn't even ride the whole way, I had to walk my bike a lot of the way. It got dark when I was about 90% of the way there, and I was bonking severely, so I set up my hammock and went to bed (which I am pretty sure you aren't supposed to do there).
I got to Alta Cima early the next morning, but I forgot to take pictures of Alta Cima. From Alta Cima, I paid for a guide and went on horse (the road is even worse after Alta Cima) another 4 miles or so to a village called Valle del Ovni:
These next few pictures are a little past Valle del Ovni. They are of a village called San Jose:
This was on my way back down to Alta Cima, where I camped for the night for 25 pesos (a little less than 2 USD):
And these were taken biking back down from Alta Cima/El Cielo to Gomez Farias (the road is pretty much like this the whole way):
This is a road they are building that starts where the road to El Cielo starts, but there isn't very much of it completed:
After this, I had the best meal of my trip in Gomez Farias for 37 pesos. It was strips of steak, fried potatoes, fried onions, tomatoes, beans, rice, lettuce, and a few other things I can't remember, almost all fresh and locally grown.
Then I biked into Mante, met a cool dude who spoke English well, and drank a bunch of beers with him. He had a space where he let me camp for the night. The next morning I left and started biking towards Tampico, which is a big city on the gulf. Some guys in a truck gave me a ride for about 30 miles, and then I biked the rest of the way. I probably biked 50 or 60 miles total. Coming into the city was crazy - the traffic was ridiculous, and it was getting dark. I am pretty sure I would have been killed about 20 times today if I hadn't had my mirror. That and the fact that I have incredible biking skills. Anyway, I found a nice cheap hotel and paid for my room. Then I saw a message on my phone from a dude whose couch I wanted to surf, and he was letting me know that I could stay at his place. Well since I had just paid for my room, I called him, and I will be staying at his place tomorrow night. I spent the last few hours in this internet cafe uploading these pictures. I hope you enjoyed them! Time to find some tacos!
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