8.26.06 - Another Dry County?
Shot, stabbed, kidnapped, killed. Words people use to describe what (COULD HAPPEN!)
during ABM's Motorcycle Mexican forays. (Still beats staying at home and watching television any day).
So far, the worst that has happened was some wise-ass sticking a little hunk of bubblegum onto my back pack, speaking of which....
BACKPACKS:
Are the hottest thing for sale in bordertown, Nogales. Maybe it's the "Pah-kee-toes" (little ones) going back to school. Every other storefront is selling the hell outta them. The tightly-packed together storefronts push curios, clothes, eats, & cuban cigars...ghetto-blasters blare Mex Polkas, Spansh Rap, nothing in English. Some are micro versions of say, a GAP store, with curvy young sales Senoritas, bare midriff, jeans so tight, you see the outline of EVERYTHING... "Cali-en-tay" (HOT!) Baby..
Grabbed some Mexican insurance:
1). You gotta re-insure your American vehicle for travel into Old Mexico.
2). Americans WILL NOT provide this service, gotta be a Mexican company.
3). A MC costs $12-$18/day, depending on liablity, collision, or both. Longer you stay in Sonora, lower per day cost.
Nogales, Mexico. Rough border town. Humans, drugs, are regularly routed north thru this international port of entry. 4 years ago, I let the border patrol talk me out of crossing over on another black bike. Today I said..."F" it, and took the chopper. At the crossover back into the states, the customs agents spent their time looking
OVER the bike instead of looking for stuff IN IT. Expect an hour wait at the border when crossing back north. To get in, just drive across, no problem. The roads through this city are a minor nightmare. Rough,sometimes cobblestones, huge holes, the main drag is three lanes on each side--NO PAINTED LINES TO KEEP TRAFFIC SEPARATED--Tough to know what lane you're in..(If they painted lines, nobody would pay attention to them anyway!) There are almost no traffic lights. Labor is cheap here, they just put a couple cops at a few intersections..otherwise, it's every man for himself-the bigger, more powerful, louder the vehicle, the more right of way. Just like Vietnam. The loud-ass, big and powerful ABM chopper got all the room it needed. Kids (and adults) were absolutely drop-jawed, and freaking out on the bike, & the farther south we blasted, the freakier, and more intense the stares. Mexico is a land of 125cc hondas. We're riding an 1800 cc bike with open pipes, so yeah, they do stare, (and SMILE).
Good Gas: Any PEMEX (petro-mexico) station will sell decent pump gas 87 or 91 octane at a price below what we pay. The government controls the price. The quality is good. Trying to figure out what you owe is impossible without help.
MEXICAN STOPLIGHT: A SIX-INCH TALL SPEED BUMP WITH 80 MPH SPEED LIMIT JUST BEFORE AND JUST PAST. I hit one of these bastards 70 miles south of the border--locked brakes, and slid over it doing about 30, scraped paint off the bottom of my frame. Message: get to a town, slow down, and since you must slow, expect an encounter with a small army of kids & adults running out with arms full of nuts, dried fruit, coconuts, trinkets, jewlery, and copper pots, & LARGE GREEN PARROTS IN CAGES......
(but no beer), at each speed bump you encounter.
MEXICO 15--ABM rode south to the Santa Ana/Magdelena region, 120+ miles into the heart of Sonora. Usually a desert, the heavy summer Monsoon rain has turned this brown-dry landscape into a rainforest. Grass along the divided four-lane, and in the median was at least five feet high. You'd never see a Havalina or Deer until it was too damm late, but hey, that's Mexico, dude. You learn to live with less service,
a little extra danger.
WHAT?? ANOTHER DRY TOWN?
Advised by the lady who sold me insurance, ABM arrives in "Magdelena", Mexico. With a name like that, shoulda known...but the 100 degree heat, & the buzz of the ride slowed my senses...Didn't dress for a religious ceremony...she said it was a big TOURIST DESTINATION...
YEAH, A DESTINATION FOR MEXICAN TOURISTS! In fact, the quaint little town is kind of a religious retreat..Several dozen people were rubbing and touching a ceramic statue of their patron saint...and here I am wearing a long-sleeve STURGIS SHIRT with some titty-babe on the back. Small wonder nobody would smile...I'd like to kick that insurance lady's ass. (It's a wonder they didn't shoot, stab, kidnap, or kill me??),
but hey, that's Mexico, dude...without the Cervezas, at least in Magdelena.
during ABM's Motorcycle Mexican forays. (Still beats staying at home and watching television any day).
So far, the worst that has happened was some wise-ass sticking a little hunk of bubblegum onto my back pack, speaking of which....
BACKPACKS:
Are the hottest thing for sale in bordertown, Nogales. Maybe it's the "Pah-kee-toes" (little ones) going back to school. Every other storefront is selling the hell outta them. The tightly-packed together storefronts push curios, clothes, eats, & cuban cigars...ghetto-blasters blare Mex Polkas, Spansh Rap, nothing in English. Some are micro versions of say, a GAP store, with curvy young sales Senoritas, bare midriff, jeans so tight, you see the outline of EVERYTHING... "Cali-en-tay" (HOT!) Baby..
Grabbed some Mexican insurance:
1). You gotta re-insure your American vehicle for travel into Old Mexico.
2). Americans WILL NOT provide this service, gotta be a Mexican company.
3). A MC costs $12-$18/day, depending on liablity, collision, or both. Longer you stay in Sonora, lower per day cost.
Nogales, Mexico. Rough border town. Humans, drugs, are regularly routed north thru this international port of entry. 4 years ago, I let the border patrol talk me out of crossing over on another black bike. Today I said..."F" it, and took the chopper. At the crossover back into the states, the customs agents spent their time looking
OVER the bike instead of looking for stuff IN IT. Expect an hour wait at the border when crossing back north. To get in, just drive across, no problem. The roads through this city are a minor nightmare. Rough,sometimes cobblestones, huge holes, the main drag is three lanes on each side--NO PAINTED LINES TO KEEP TRAFFIC SEPARATED--Tough to know what lane you're in..(If they painted lines, nobody would pay attention to them anyway!) There are almost no traffic lights. Labor is cheap here, they just put a couple cops at a few intersections..otherwise, it's every man for himself-the bigger, more powerful, louder the vehicle, the more right of way. Just like Vietnam. The loud-ass, big and powerful ABM chopper got all the room it needed. Kids (and adults) were absolutely drop-jawed, and freaking out on the bike, & the farther south we blasted, the freakier, and more intense the stares. Mexico is a land of 125cc hondas. We're riding an 1800 cc bike with open pipes, so yeah, they do stare, (and SMILE).
Good Gas: Any PEMEX (petro-mexico) station will sell decent pump gas 87 or 91 octane at a price below what we pay. The government controls the price. The quality is good. Trying to figure out what you owe is impossible without help.
MEXICAN STOPLIGHT: A SIX-INCH TALL SPEED BUMP WITH 80 MPH SPEED LIMIT JUST BEFORE AND JUST PAST. I hit one of these bastards 70 miles south of the border--locked brakes, and slid over it doing about 30, scraped paint off the bottom of my frame. Message: get to a town, slow down, and since you must slow, expect an encounter with a small army of kids & adults running out with arms full of nuts, dried fruit, coconuts, trinkets, jewlery, and copper pots, & LARGE GREEN PARROTS IN CAGES......
(but no beer), at each speed bump you encounter.
MEXICO 15--ABM rode south to the Santa Ana/Magdelena region, 120+ miles into the heart of Sonora. Usually a desert, the heavy summer Monsoon rain has turned this brown-dry landscape into a rainforest. Grass along the divided four-lane, and in the median was at least five feet high. You'd never see a Havalina or Deer until it was too damm late, but hey, that's Mexico, dude. You learn to live with less service,
a little extra danger.
WHAT?? ANOTHER DRY TOWN?
Advised by the lady who sold me insurance, ABM arrives in "Magdelena", Mexico. With a name like that, shoulda known...but the 100 degree heat, & the buzz of the ride slowed my senses...Didn't dress for a religious ceremony...she said it was a big TOURIST DESTINATION...
YEAH, A DESTINATION FOR MEXICAN TOURISTS! In fact, the quaint little town is kind of a religious retreat..Several dozen people were rubbing and touching a ceramic statue of their patron saint...and here I am wearing a long-sleeve STURGIS SHIRT with some titty-babe on the back. Small wonder nobody would smile...I'd like to kick that insurance lady's ass. (It's a wonder they didn't shoot, stab, kidnap, or kill me??),
but hey, that's Mexico, dude...without the Cervezas, at least in Magdelena.
posted by americanbikerminute at 4:23 PM
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