Motorcycle road trip Mexico part 1

Departure day is here and it is time to start the engine and set off on a motorcycle journey through Mexico. From Cancun to La Paz, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, 9000km, right through the heart of Mexico.

After nearly a year of waiting for COVID restrictions to be eased and after 6 months of preparation, it is time to head off to Merida in Yucatan, our first stop. Read also: Gearing for a Motorcycle trip through Mexico

In Cancun, our landlord is seeing us off. We have rented two Airbnbs from him for 6 months, and he is very involved in our plans. Advising us on States where we better should not go, and road safety.
His feelings are mixed about this adventure, he keeps telling us it is dangerous, but we go anyway. We are confident he is a little overprotective and we trust our own gut instinct on these road trips.

I travel with my son as I did in the Philippines for the bigger part of the road trip there following the Pan Filipino Highway. Read also: Motorcycle Road Trip in the Philippines

This time we ride different bikes and we have a SENA to communicate while driving.

We leave Cancun in the early morning rush hour. following the libre to Leona Vicario, on to Sitilpech where we will stop for lunch in an old hacienda.

We booked our first hotel in the old city center of Merida, a city on the other side of the Yucatan Peninsula. And although we call our road trip “From Pueblo to Pueblo” that only refers to the roads we take, no highway no toll roads whenever possible. Literally from village to village #FromPuebloToPueblo.

Why do we do that?

We like the comfort of cities during our stops for repairs if necessary, for internet access to work, after all, we are digital nomads and for other conveniences of a big city, like shops, ATMs, plenty of gas stations, and good restaurants.

After our lunch in the beautiful hacienda in Sitilpech we pass through Izamal, the little yellow and umber-colored city with its huge monastery in the middle of the town, and the remains of a pyramid.

But we decide not to stay long, for rainclouds are gathering.

The streets of Merida flood easily during heavy rains. And we hope to reach the hotel in dry riding clothes. But we are wrong there. The sky turns almost pitch black and lightning is everywhere, among the clouds but also hitting the ground very close by, we can smell it.

It is very scary, so we stop under a viaduct and wait out the storm. Together with more stranded road users. The road is a river, the sky is like night and it is difficult to see 5 meters ahead because of the heavy rain.

We have to stop 2 times because of heavy rains and arrive soaked in the hotel in Merida. The city center is better traveled by canoe than a motorcycle.

We are longing for comfort food

We are longing for comfort food, and decide to indulge ourselves in fatty food at the German Beerhause. Lovely rich pork sausages and mashed potatoes, rich flavored potato salad, that will cheer us up and warm our bones.

Merida is a fun city for a visit, we stayed 6 days, before moving on to Campeche. We visited the Zoo, the big sunken rock parc, went on several day trips to Celestun, Uxmal, and Progresso to name a few, and spent plenty of time in the old historical center. And we had lunch on the other edge of the famous crater of Chicxulub, that’s where the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs hit. We chose to eat on the not-so-touristic side of that crater.

We paid a visit to BMW Motorrad to try their new bag collection which is absolutely stupid and shopped ad the huge Kawasaki dealer shop for the last gear.

Do you want to ride our road trip yourself? Download the GPX file including a pin for the restaurant in the hacienda there on the website of MotoTravel