Cirque de Copper Canyon 2012 w/Big Bikes

[Johnnydarock]

El Fuerte is located on the banks of a pretty good sized river...Rio Fuerte. This is probably the reason why we got eaten alive by some no-see-um bugs.


Today's ride is pretty easy. It's 68 miles from El Fuerte to Alamos. The road sees a lot of traffic so its kept in pretty good shape...except for maybe a 10 miles section in the middle....but it's still not bad. The road begins right next to our hotel off the zocalo and is paved for about 10 miles till you get to a large dam.


There's a few critical intersections...but if you just keep asking for the road to Alamos...you should be pointed in the right direction. No sooner did I let Dan and Monte get ahead of me and they stop at the local beer dealer...in the middle of nowhere.


The road is pretty flat most of the way and on some sections Dan and Monte got it up to 85 mph on dirt. Had to take a picture of my bike next to some abandoned building in the middle of nowhere.


It only took us about three hours to get to Alamos (even with a lot of stops). Found the Hotel San Juan for about NP$400.


Alamos used to be the capitol of Northern Mexico and has a lot of old world charm. I wondered around that afternoon to take some pictures.








Ran into this girl getting married.


I lost Dan and Monte but I figured the town wasn't very big so I didn't think it would be a problem to find them. I found the shoe-shine guy who told us where to get lunch and he hadn't seen them. So I wondered around and went into three different stripper bars looking for them...Here's a picture of one.


I didn't think a town this size could maintain three stripper bars...and that's just the ones I found. Well...wouldn't you know it...they were in the park drinking a 12 pack.

[MoodyBlues]

Opps. Got out of order by not showing me visiting my family in Phoenix.

[Trail Boss]

Originally Posted by Montek

ITS DISNEY WORLD IN FLORIDA - more foriegn travelers are shot, stabbed, car jacked, and killed aroound disvey world than in mexico our lovely news agencies fail to point that FACT out. Makes mexico feel pretty safe now doensn't it. before we go off on travel advisories, perhaps we should get our own house in order!!!!!

Orlando may be the most dangerous place for foreign traverlers but Orlando is not even close to being the most dangerous city in America. Detroit has the most violent crimes, by far. FBI crime statistics

Now, back to the ride report.

[Johnnydarock]

Hey Trail Boss (World's Fasted Slow Rider) - I like your response. Especially the quote from Tricepilot "Nice bike. Have you taken her to Mexico? All bikes want their owners to take them there" You know the best thing about meeting Dan and Monte on ADVrider was the subject of "danger in Mexico" never came up in the conversation. Our wives all gave us a hall pass and I'm worth more money dead than alive anyway so my wife said "have fun." And you know... we didn't get killed and EVERYBODY we met was great!.

John
(and the cervesa was cold and plentiful)

Note to everyone else...Please don't turn my blog into a debate about traveling in Mexico. Just go and have fun!

[GoinPostal]

Originally Posted by Johnnydarock

Note to everyone else...Please don't turn my blog into a debate about traveling in Mexico. Just go and have fun!

+1

[MoodyBlues]

Cousin Eddie: How do you like yours, Clark?
Clark: Oh, medium rare, a little pink inside.
Cousin Eddie: No, I mean your bun.

So we were at the ultimate taco stand as you saw above and he had some beautiful large green jalapenos roasting on the side. We had some peppers previsouly in the ride that were so mild you could eat them like a banana.

Well Monte asked for one and we were just going to share it.

Monte took the first bit off the end of it and had the facial expression of "oh.....shit." John saw this but didn't want to be the first one to punk out and pass, so he ever so carefully bit the pepper just short of the seeds and then he quickly followed it with huge bite of taco and passed it to me with a smile. You bastard...

Not wanting to be out done at the taco stand in El Furete on a Wednesday night I bite it off and tried to play it off. I felt like Dumb and Dumber eating the chilis in the burger scene. "It's not so hot... more spicy than anything."

That thing was hot! I love spicey food and chilis, but damn! Paid for it the next day, I know that!

[RexBuck]

Great report fellows. Thanks for taking the effort to post.

Didn't get into the main Copper Canyon when I was down there this year. Your reporting inspires me to make sure I get in there next year.

Was in El Fuerte at the end of Jan - I fed the little bastards well so they would be ready for you guys


And I know you guys know this but, the orange 800 is the fastest!

Originally Posted by Johnnydarock

We didn't run into any drug runners in El Fuerte but I did get bit...only on the lower legs by some no-see-ums.

[MoodyBlues]

RexBuck,

Yep, thats them! We first noticed them in the hotel center and thought they were some type of gnat as they were so small and the way they just buzzed around. Learned otherwise the next morning when we walked down to the river. We had put on some OFF! repellant on but I guess I missed the back of my arms and when I swatted my arm, I pulled back a handful of bloody smashed bugs. Lesson learned there.

Thanks for keeping them fed until we got there!

[SchizzMan]

Originally Posted by moodyblues

opps. Got out of order by not showing me visiting my family in phoenix.

[SchizzMan]

Originally Posted by MoodyBlues

That thing was hot! I love spicey food and chilis, but damn! Paid for it the next day, I know that!

There's a sure fire way to prevent that other burn. PM me for the closely held secret.

[Johnnydarock]

We walked around Alamos a little more and ran into a wedding.


I wondered why Dan was taking pictures...until I saw these shots. Turns out he was more interested in the photographer.


The local cops recommended we go to Las Palmitas (SP) restaurant where they had a cool bar.


Some food porn.


The town all lit up at night.

[passing through]

Thank you gentlemen, that was a very entertaining write up. Makes me want to head south myself. Of course, for me heading south of the border means Montana, but still...
Also made me hungry and thirsty.

[joenuclear]

Originally Posted by passing through

Thank you gentlemen, that was a very entertaining write up. Makes me want to head south myself. Of course, for me heading south of the border means Montana, but still...
Also made me hungry and thirsty.

From the Tar Sands?

[Johnnydarock]

Rolled out of the Hotel San Juan and headed north.


Stopped in Guaymas for some road-kill chicken.






We didn't want to cross the border in the dark so we stopped in a crap-town just south of the border called Magdelena. Stayed in a place call Motel Las Suites....but they were far from suites.


Wondered around town and found our second best taco stand of the trip.


They didn't sell beer so Dan made a trip across the street to the Tecate store.


And the tacos.

[MoodyBlues]

I really liked the "Build your own taco bar" idea they had going here. You order your meat, which was a fresh great cut of beef flank steak, they grill and chop it up, then you go to the bar for all the topping. Cucumber? Shredded cabbage? I just followed a local thru and built my like his. Lots of veggies and some fresh roasted chili salsa... damn good.

Warning the salsa on the top of the bar in the red bowl... use vary sparingly!