Tehuacan - The eleventh step ... Los Africanos Perdidos - CycleBlaze

September 13, 2021

Tehuacan

At around eight o'clock this morning there was a small ceremony in the little square in front of the hotel, the hotel being right next to the municipal building.  I assume it was part of the build up to the national independence celebrations on Thursday.  Lots of important sounding music and songs, a small speech and lots of fireworks being set off.

Heart 1 Comment 0

We left the village along its main road and I must confess that it has made a very good impression on me.  We seemed to have headed for its scruffiest part when we entered yesterday and that gave us the wrong idea.

We started climbing immediately but we were in no rush, stopping to take photos and just to catch our breath and chat with one another.

Leigh takes to cactus petting.
Heart 4 Comment 1
Scott AndersonYou should pop this into the pannier and take it home. It would make a swell pet.
Reply to this comment
2 years ago
I was still blown away by the number of tall cacti on the hillsides. Underfoot, the ground was full of small Mammillaria.
Heart 2 Comment 0
Heart 2 Comment 0
Heart 0 Comment 1
Bill ShaneyfeltReally liking all the cactus pictures, even if I can't find good IDs
Reply to this comment
2 years ago
You don't want to sit on this one.
Heart 0 Comment 0
Heart 0 Comment 0
Heart 1 Comment 0

There was a lot of climbing today but somehow it didn't feel as steep as yesterday.  There were two short sections where Leigh walked her bike yesterday but today she rode the whole way.

Heart 0 Comment 0
The indicating the boundary of the Biosphere Reserve. Outside of this area the mountains have been hacked to pieces by primitive marble and onyx mining.
Heart 0 Comment 0
Scarred hillsides behind Leigh as we climb out of San Antonio Texcala.
Heart 1 Comment 0

Once we reached the top of the final climb the downhill into Tehuacan seemed to go very quickly - a third of the distance covered in a fraction of the total riding time.

A nice cycle path to take us back into Tehuacan.
Heart 0 Comment 0

As we entered Tehuacan we spied a restaurant specializing in pork, including the very popular crackling.  We hoped to get some of the crackling with our lunch but somehow that got lost in our communication with the lady serving us and we weren't going to make a fuss about it.

Our lunch meat being massacred. on the left of the picture is a pig piece of pork skin cooked to crackling. It seems very popular here and we must try it sometime.
Heart 0 Comment 0

We're back at the Casa Real Hotel for the night.  Tomorrow, if all goes well, we hop on a bus to Oaxaca.

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 408 km (253 miles)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 7
Comment on this entry Comment 2
Scott AndersonThis looks like the best day of your tour so far. The cacti are amazing, but it all looked good.
Reply to this comment
2 years ago
Jean-Marc StrydomThis side trip was great. We really enjoyed it.
Reply to this comment
2 years ago