September 27th Teotihuacan to Tlacotalpan Culture and Cornish/Mexican rain!

Teotihuacan (pronounced Tea-or tea -war-can) - storm clouds a brewing!

I awoke early as I wanted to be at the Pyramids before the crowds, which I hate. I thought I'd read that the site, which is huge, opens at 9am. I got there at 8 am with the intention of riding around the perimeter to recky the place first. But after riding up one side for about a mile I noticed a gate was open - with hope rather than expectation I went to the reception and to my surprise they issued me a ticket and asked me for the princely sum of 140 pesos - just over £2. It was that much because  had to pay to park the bike. Mexicans get in free on Sundays, which is the busiest time. I think that's a nice idea. Today I walked in and saw the Sun Temple which is the largest of the numerous pyramid structures. It is ginormous, I couldn't believe the size of it. But what was even more pleasing, there were only about 4 other people here. Not only is it visually stunning, it is historically fascinating. Apparently it is not an Aztec temple at all, it precedes the Aztecs by approx a 1000 years, built around the time of Christ. It was a City with a population of 25,000 and the ritual purpose was to worship and  sacrifice! It was believed that this place was holy, was at the centre of the Universe and was where mortals were turned into Gods. I tried standing at the altar stone, I stood on the top of the Sun and Moon pyramids, but it didn't work, I l still got PI**ED on big time. I think it may have been God saying 'Don't be so presumptuous'.

Farewell - and still no crowds (perhaps they'd seen the weather forecast)

After my really wonderful morning experience, I departed just as the drops began to fall. Back at the hotel I quickly packed up, had some breakfast (lovely people who ran it) and for the first time since England, put on my full waterproof gear. This was Cornish rain persistent and grey skies off loading their merchandise. It was around 15 degrees, so not warm. By 11.30am I was on the road and the gear was doing its stuff, keeping me dry and toasty. Whilst day dreaming I missed the turn on the motorway and finished up doing an extra 24 miles to get back to where i should have been- must concentrate. I find the start of the day and the ends are usually, where I make mistakes.

We appeared to be gradually climbing into the mountains where it was getting darker by the second, but there were breaks in the cloud with the occasional glimmer of blue sky. It continued like this for around a 250 miles and wasn't too unpleasant. It was a new road and consequently there were no services to be found. I wasn't unduly worried as I had my jerry can with a gallon and a half. But in this weather I'd prefer to top up at a garage, than have to fill up by the side of the road, in the worst of the weather. I would only use my spare petrol if I really had to. I started to climb again and I could see that the weather was seriously worsening ahead, it was worse than anything I'd experienced previously, this weather had no beginning, nor end - it was sheer black! It felt like night.
At first it wasn't too bad as I slowly continued to climb, but on reaching what I assumed to be the summit it quickly got worse, it was like the Texas/Louisiana experience
but it wasn't easing - it was getting worse and now I was travelling steeply downhill with torrents of water accompanying me. After two miles of this I saw flashing Blue lights ahead and gingerly touched my brakes and slowed down very gradually. There had been an accident and a pickup truck had completely overturned and shed its load right across the two lanes. Unlike in England, the police weren't closing the road, they were just waving people around this vehicle and onto the hard shoulder, with just a rudimentary red flag. It was so bad it was difficult to see, after witnessing this my flashing indicators came on and I reduced my speed to about 25mph - still there were cars whizzing past me at over 60mph. I saw one nearly loose control as it aquaplaned across a river gushing across the road.
This became very scary indeed and no sooner would you descend to what you thought was the bottom, it began to climb again. This lasted for 40 or so miles,with each mile getting progressively worse. The road and galleys were filling up with water and streams were running of the mountainside and onto the road. The last 2 miles it turned out, were even more heavy, my clothes began to leak here and there, but this was Noah weather so was to be expected. I saw a sign saying Toll ahead and for the first time I was happy to pay and seek the comfort of civilisation.  I was hoping for a shop or restaurant to take shelter and drink something hot - there was nothing. I paid my fee and soldiered on, thinking there must be something here soon. I could see a lightening sky someway ahead, so was encouraged, but as I pulled away the bike was stuck in first gear and the automatic system did not appear to be working, I had to manually change gear. The fuel gauge was on reserve and I braced myself for a roadside stop to fill him up. Just as I was contemplating this, there was a roadsigns saying fuel 1km. I wasn't too worried about the petrol situation but the thought of shelter was very appealing. I pulled into the garage and with the blink of an eye the rain had stopped.
I filled up and switched the engine back on and to my relief the gearbox was functioning properly and even better news, within two miles I was in blazing sun and 32 degree temperatures. Looking backwards, you could see this hot moist air hitting the mountainside and forming dark clouds and rain. I was informed by the manager at my last hotel that this was the wet season, but I had never anticipated rain of such biblical  proportions. 

The next ninety miles were a joy as I warmed up, dried out and enjoyed the sub tropical weather and landscape. However this was my second long day in a row, (7 1/2 hours) for a relatively short distance. God knows what the real tropics will bring. Tlocotalpan is a seaside town, but not one you would want to spend any length  of time there. Its interior is marshland and as I was to find out after eating my tea I was scratching all over - Mossies!!
Back in the room I covered myself in insect repellant, but don't any chap do what i did and get some on my Bawbag. It's been a day of extremes, (especially temperatures, in more ways than one) but in a funny kind of way, enjoyable.