A Longish Ride Through Central México

Left on Friday , tourist activities on Saturday , back on Sunday
9 Motorcycles, a Vstrom 650, TIger 900, one BMW F850, and 6 R1250 GS
630 kms one way, 1260 kms round trip
Highest altitude 2650m, lowest 500m
Highest temp 45°C , lowest 16°C

This is my first time visiting the area, it is famous for all the water, natural sites and semi-tropical vegetation, known as the "Huasteca Potosina"
We stayed in a town called Xilitla, which is on the south edge of the area.
To get there we have to cross Sierra Gorda a mountain range with awesome views, but the weather did not cooperate, lots and lots of haze due to the crazy heat.

Here is the route


We met at a gas station on Friday at 8:00AM, we were on the road at 7:50 AM , a first for a group ride
I left home at 6:45 AM as I had to cross the city during morning rush hour, arrived early but had time to grab an expresso.

The group getting together:

Posing at Pinal de Amoles, the highest point of the route, halfway crossing the mountains, no one told us the inferno we had to ride through before reaching Xilitla, the ride started to get warmer to the point where I was thinking it can not get any hotter, and on the next turn I would get another blast of a dragon breath until we reached 45°... it lasted maybe 1 hr , I can not really tell, my wet vest felt like it dried in 5 minutes, I had to keep my helmet completely closed, where I usually leave a small opening, the air was warmer outside than the inside of my already stifling helmet, eventually temperature descended to 32° and we stopped to rest, about 1 hour before arriving to Xilitla.


Peña Bernal

Arriving at the hotel


I got a room with a view

Later the group spent time at the pool cooling down and we ordered food.
By 9PM I was exhausted ...

continued ...

 

On Saturday we had an appointment at 10:00 to see the Surrela Garden of Las Pozas, this was created by an englishman between the 1940's to the 1980's, his name was Edward James, more info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Pozas

The garden is awesome, it does transport you to a fantastic, almost unreal experience










Afterwards we had a refreshing drink


Went to see the water pool where a river starts, it felt glorious swimming in the cool water

 

Riding back home, normal temps, no more riding through hell