Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

We were there first actually he kinda found us as he had to come back for a second look, nice guy too.

Heya Neil .... been busy playing in Mexico City report coming tonight, we got hit by a bus today with a very small ding and white scuff mark ... our Jesse bumpers worked well.

... nearly lost my footing but managed to hold Maya up or it woulda been dented the other side too :eek1

Heya NCK, cheers for your kind words mate, yeah we have had a few lumps, coupla more things to sort and we are all good.

We are not in a rush ... see you in SA

Heya Sara ... we are making ground now all though it did take two hours to two km today on a Cuota due to a truck prang, todays grand total 137 km in 6 hours :eek1

We will get to catch you guys up at some stage I am sure

Yeah gotta be careful not to transfer the fire to other locations.

Funny, in Mexico City we met up with a friend, the only restaurant we have been to in Mexico and I got a crook gut from that. :huh

Sorry for the delay chaps and chapesses ..... been very busy in the big city......so,

The trip was very uneventful, we only had small milage to do to meet up with Garry and Ivonne from ADV, otherwise known as garryhostel.com

On the way we had time for an Oxxo Coffee



We met at Toluca BMW outside the KTM shed .... yes just a shed while the poofy BMWs sat behind glass(only jealous).





Garry and Ivonne arrived, greetings and smiles were had and we followed them back to garryhostel.com

That is were we are going....



Garry and Ivonne taking the lead





We had the room with the orange wall so I felt at home straight away.

Warm welcomes and next thing the bar b q is out and game on for feed second to none, grilled chicken tacos with cheese mmmmmm.

Step aside Gordon Who? .. the master at work.



A table load of tucker under ominous clouds



The full team from left to right, Ivonne, Garry, Ellen, Ivonnes mum ... and me.



Garry was kind enough to take us into town, as it doesn’t rain in Mexico City ... except for that night ..... we travelled around looking at downtown in the wet ... no worries we had a windscreen, heater and wipers ... saweet.

Coupled with this non rain we were treated to spectacular lightning display which lit up the car time and again like someone was taking our photo time and again.:eek1

Garry pointed out some cool places to go, this was great as we knew then what we were looking for.

We returned home weary and hot the sack given it was a school night for Garry

Got one not long ago but from the local "shine", tasted like really bad Tequila. Too early in the day maybe for the rotgut breakfast....

Because I remembered that you seem to have sensitive guts. Did not have any at the time and really something I won't travel without anymore. Best travel tip I ever had from my doctor but don't wait for the full force of the rotgut/whatever to crook your gut before you hit the pink.



Other than that....Arriba Arriba!

We have our Chinese poo pills, shoulda had one the moment things went wild

Never mind .. no one died.

Not being big city people we probably would have ridden around Mexico City, with the invitation from Garry & Ivonne to come and enjoy their city we took the opportunity to overcome our fears. :eek1

So how to talk about a monster you are scared of only to be befriended by it and even wowed by it.

For anyone in our shoes our advice is make the effort and get into it, whole heartedly.

The only issue we had was when Garry stopped to tank up, I thought what the hell we may as well too, the forecourt was on quite an angle being it was on the hill, if we parked the direction of the arrow the bike would fall straight over so I went in, turned around back to the pump, the attendant got quite upset, then a lady in a Jeep wanted our spot and she got upset.:huh

Gezz I was only gonna top up , given we were in the space first and parked I waved her on to another pump, she got upset at that too .... then the attendant wouldn't turn the pump on, at that point I said come on just let me fill up FFS and we will be gone .... but no that was not on the cards.

The boss man was called over and Garry got involved and the boss man said to the attendant let us fill up despite the bike was pointing the wrong way, I always fill the bike as they seem to spray petrol everywhere when nearing the top ... well he got upset about that too

Anyway, alls well ended well ..... the most and only drama we ever had filling up!! ... not sure if we will be allowed back in Mexico City

......Anyway, Day 1, we took the 43 bus and subway into town leaving Maya to have a rest, I would not want to ride into town and this way we didn’t need to worry about our gear either and of course we are humans not bikers.

First stop was the architecture and arts centre called Palacio De Bellas Artes, this building is nothing short of stunning, a QS’s nightmare as it would be expensive to build.





The Cathedral



The inside of the Cathedral ... unreal!!



This building is sinking at one end, see when you line up the columns it is visually seeable





Monster pipe organ



Chinese food was smelling incredibly good amongst plenty of eateries so that won us over for lunch, what a feed!!





In and around town you can use the hire bikes, ride them them park them up.



Check out the spokes on this wheel, you would need a uni degree just to lace it up! groovy machine.



Walking into the earthquake zone of 85 you can see where the old building still standing today have suffered what can only be described as very large bends, curves and misalignments, in New Zealand they would have been condemned and knocked down, in Mexico they put another metal flashing over it, see this photo showing how bent the building actually is, left hand side of the photo is lined up with the flashing!!.



See the bend in the building



Discovering the old ruins and pyramids beneath the city has been an archaeological win for the city, the building were simply built over the original ones, now they have fenced off the area and are sifting their way through the ruins.



After taking all this in was mind bogglingly deep for me thus bringing on the need of a good coffee fix ... I was rewarded !!!





With the coffee down and smoko over we headed for the Museo Nacional De La Revolucion, we didn’t go to the top as it was outside our budget.



Note the KTM coloured chairs





From there is was the subway --> Bus 43 --> Wrong 43 Bus --> Ooops, change over to Right 43 Bus --> garryhotel.com ..... home James.

In only a few words it was a very fully day.

Bahahahaha!
Keep on Fukengruven!

Your trip sounds wonderful. I rode up to Alaska from NY and back and wrote about it in The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle. Rode a BMW and my husband on his motorcycle. I invite you to enter to win a free copy! http://thebestchapter.com. Diana Bletter

Hi Kiwi's good to see you having a good time. How's the two up working for you two? Got into a rhythm yet (no not that one).

Missing you guys.

Hi There, a buddy of mine told me to check out your ride report.. Started at the beginning and got sucked in!! 4 hours later I finished the thread. Wow what an adventure! Sorry to hear the mighty DR crapped on you.. must have had a lemon. Anyway you both are an inspriation to continue on with your dreams through thick and thin.. Great story and look forward to reading on ... Now that I have caught up..

Hell yeah ... gruven our way south ..... slowly

Heya Diana, saweet, will take a better look and enter

Heya mate, yeap gettin back into the Grüve again and smiling again. .... see -->

Two up is ok, bit more work for me swinging the old tart around .... and the bike won't be too long and I will have arm muscles again.

Enjoying the riding, went down to 16T front again and find that much more friendly gearing for Mexico cos unless you are on the Cuotas you can't pack a pace very often, also easier in the slow and tighter stuff and it smooths that lovely 75 degree twin out.

Likewise missing the good times but we will catch up again soon I am sure, you back in Oz now?

Luv to you both

Andi & Ellen

Thank you so much, your words are truly appreciated ..... hopefully you won't get bored now cos we are in for plain sailing

..nutha report coming in the morning, we are stuck in Oaxaca due to the teachers strike blockading the city exits and down town so the place is bought to a stand still so tomorrow is a forced office day :eek1

Sounds very good. Yep back in Oz hopefully for the shortest of times. House went on the market yesterday so hopefully we can sell it nice and quick. We have had some interest already so all good. Still uming and ahing about where to spend summer.

Getting into town we stopped at the correct place to go to the Zoo to start with, walking through the gardens and lake along the way, the water probably not drinkable but making beautiful colours.





The Zoo, first to to say is it is FREE ... yes FREE, could not believe it.

First thing you say is well it must be crap if it is free, NOT ON YOU LIFE!! this place is incredible, well kept and great facility, I saw animals there I have not seen before and to be fair I went mad with the camera, I will bore you will only a few shots ... the rest you will have to go see for yourself.

Grizzly bear



A Busy turtle :eek1



A Lyncs, beautiful cat



Monkeys



Camel



A lion



Rhino



Giraffe



....last one, Panda bear



No more or I will bore you to tears ... but I just loved the place

After leaving the Zoo I was half spent ... certainly not expecting the amount of stuff to see and do, next stop the Museum ... yawn ... not much of a Museum fella really and given I am an insomniac I use the opportunity to go to sleep.

The Museo Nacional De Antropologia



Ok in we go, 57 Pesos each (about $5.00) so not too bad, first thing is have a coffee to refuel, secondly I didn’t need my lunch as I had a huge feed of eating my own words.



This place blew my socks off, starting at the Maya section we wondered through, the displays and setup is astounding, we continued our way around the Museo for the rest of the afternoon before meeting a friend for tea at 6.30pm.







Central waterfall feature in a single span monster roof, very impressive to say the least.





Mayan stuff



Beautiful rock carvings



Pre internet books , check out the detail















We also have visual confirmation that Gangnan Style is also a remake from hundreds of years ago ... just a copy cat

The original



The remake



The latest BMW 1200GSA :huh



I would have to say am very impressed and this is an understatement, it is incredibly well done and seriously worth while going to, from a non Museo dude you can take that as given!!

On finishing our epic Museo visit and still fizzing from the Zoo we met up with Sean who met in Hermasillo.

Sean took us for a small tour then we went to Villa Maria restaurant for tea.





The food was beautiful and the atmosphere outstanding and fun with mariachi band singing away at full noise.



On our way home we continued our tour getting a great insight into Mexico City, a huge thanks to Sean for taking us out for tea and showing us around .... Sean, spot you back in NZ mate!!!

Was another semi R&R day building the extra chain guard for Maya to help keep the chain a little cleaner, also cleaned the air filter and made some brackets for the windscreen.

I had to stay close to the banos due a tummy upset.

That evening was special, Chinese New Year.

Getting into February, lots of our Chinese friends start to remind us that Chinese New Year is coming soon. Ellen has to do something to show she is still Chinese so making dumplings is on her to do list.

Dumpling making is very time and effort consuming. It’s been a while since she had made any of them. Ivonne helped Ellen to get some pork mince from their butcher shop, we also got all the ingredients we needed for the dumplings.

In the making, Ellen couldn’t find a suitable rolling pin. She was looking for a solid round stick, not too big but not too small. After trying a handle off an egg beater, she decided to find something more “Chinese” to do the task.

Ellen thought about Andi’s alloy wheel bearing dolly in his tool box. It’s an aluminum stick, worth a try. Ellen got the stick out, washed it three times with detergent, here we go, got the right tool .... Andi is right “The World Is A Workshop”





Ellen always complains about me using kitchen utensils to fix my motorbike, now the table has turned, it is Ellens turn to use my tools as a kitchen utensil so yeap “The World Is A Workshop” use what ever means you have to make it work.



We had our dumplings made and cooked professionally, we had a proper Chinese meal for the Chinese New Year. Garry, Ivonne and Ivonne’s mum seemed to like Ellens dumplings, at least we found a good excuse to get us wearing the party hats and drink wine.

Ivonnes mum



Garry



Ivonne



Ellen



Me



Garry with his supercool ktm tie ... looking a tad worried about what we are going to say about him



The mob




On a side note Garry had never tried them before so was completely outside of his comfort zone and was bullied into trying them and he even enjoyed them, onya mate well done.