Into Mexico

Days 43-45

We crossed the border to Mexico almost accidentally: nobody checked our passports, asked us any questions, or tried to sell us the visas, permits and insurance that we needed. So we suddenly found ourselves in the 'other side' of Nogales, a crazy place with cars coming from all directions, crowds of people on the sidewalks and in the roads and a heat and humidity we hadn't noticed so much on the American side of the town. All we could do was to get out so we did, fast! 20km down the road we found a whole complex dedicated to removing tourists of their money – everything we'd missed on the border was here and with a sigh, we complied.

We've ridden inland into the mountains and the lushness of the land around here was surprising to both of us. It's wet season so we've seen a fair bit of the rain responsible for the greenery (heavy downpours of big droplets), but the odd cactus amongst the vegetation indicates a different picture in the Winter months. The stunning 250m waterfall we stopped at certainly had a decent flow going over it in any case. Other surprises have not been quite so pleasant. The first time an army truck emerged from a corner driving toward us, complete with men at the ready on the guns on top was a bit of the shock! But we've got used to seeing the army in little conveys on the road and at check points, and the one time we've been stopped and our bikes searched they were a pleasant enough bunch!

The roads have for the most part been fine but slow so far, for two reasons: they've been incredibly twisty coming up into the mountains, and there are a whole host of obstacles ranging from rocks and trees from landslides, to cows, horses and donkeys wandering about all over the place! We also chose to take an unpaved road for part of the journey yesterday rather than a much longer paved section which was interesting – the severity (though not the length) was every bit the match for the Dalton Highway in Alaska. More of that today or tomorrow (depending on if we overnight in the Copper Canyon) when 70km of unpaved road is the only option on the route we want to take. Unlike the USA there aren't many places to stop and take pictures on the roadside in safety, hence the slight lack of photos for this leg of the journey.