A race against time, Road Trip to Punta Allen
During my stay in the Philippines, I rode off-road because I had to. The road to my house for example was partially off-road. I did it without thinking and on the Kawasaki Dominar 400. Not really a good bike for that. Now, here in Mexico, I did my first long stretch off-road to Punta Allen, an unpaved road full of potholes and thick slippery mud.
54 kilometers to and back, so 108 km off-road from the entrance of the park Sian Ka’an to the sleepy little village on the beach named Punta Allen. It is not much, a town square, a statue, a restaurant near the sea and a picturesque little church with a stunning view. A few houses and that is about it.
And it takes a lot of driving skills to get there. At some points, you actually drive almost on the beach, but most of all the road is in horrible condition. It is an array of endless potholes and when it rains all the dust turns to slippery and sticky mud and potholes fill with water, making me uncertain what lies underneath.
This ride starts in the Tulum Hotel zone
After that you find yourself on an unpaved path, entering the nature preserve called Sian Ka’an. There is a registration list and an entrance fee. Although the road is bad, the views are stunning! They truly are, they catch you by surprise and are breathtaking, probably because the rest of the road is all about focus not getting caught in an endless cue of potholes while riding through the bush.
Punta Allen is a sleepy little village on the beach
No paved streets in Punta Allen, we were greeted by a huge lake on the main street when entering, I forgot to film that. But it is worth the ride. Check out for yourself in this video. Don’t skip the part at the church!!
But, we ran out of time, with the remote location not offering any light after dark, and the road being so bad, without cellphone reach, that was not a place I wanted to be after nightfall. We should have left earlier and it became a race against time.
About mud and sticky mud
Now there is mud and there is mud, but this mud is like clay, it dried up and was hard to get off. Here is the before and after video of the bike, the guy cleaning it deserves a nomination for car washer of the year!
Are you riding in Mexico?
We, my son, and I upload some of our rides for you to download for your GPS. Just click here and find your ride. That page will be updated regularly after we have done a ride that we really enjoyed and think is worth the while. Punta Allen was such a ride.
I have some photos for you!
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I will post photos of every town, village, and anything that I love while riding through Mexico all the way from the Yucatan peninsula to the other side.
