Trans-Mexico Part 2 Day #11 San Antonio Huitepec to Oaxaca

Trans-Mexico Part 2 - Day #11

January 12, 2023

San Antonio Huitepec to Oaxaca 72km

Start 7:25am Finish 4:41pm

Total Duration 9:16

Moving Time 5:55

Stopped Time 3:21

Ascent 1,682m

Descent 2,344m

Tour Total 863km

Details at: h ttps://ridewithgps.com/trips/110963422

I slept well under the pine trees at 7,270'. I dozed for eleven hours in the darkness because there was nothing else to do. I was extremely tired and didn't want to be using lights. The cars that passed on the road cast projections inside my tent. I was confident they didn't see me, and that their focus was on the dirt road. It was comfortable on the pine needles. When I got up in the middle of the night I didn’t bother to put on sandals. I slept in my bag not fully zipped. I woke up before sunrise, and it was a slow pack. There hadn't been much condensation in the tent. I had another poop in the woods, consisting of hard balls like deer pellets. My helmet had been delaminating like shedding skin, and my iPhone was at 27%. I was wearing my jacket and my buff. The air was chilly, and the sun was strong when I hit the road.

A car passed as soon as I reached the road. There was also a guy hacking corn stocks in a field directly across from me. The ride began with a steep dirt climb. A man was walking down the road and passed me as I was hike-a-biking. It was demoralizing to start the day with such a sheer ascent on rutted dirt. I absolutely had to make it to a Oaxaca today. I was already two days late. In addition to missing my rendezvous with Michele, I had a work meeting scheduled tomorrow morning.

I slowly wound my way out of the steep valley. The sun was still inching its way above the fir trees. On these climbs I always try to reassure myself that hills don’t last forever. Eventually, there will be a downhill. I had so little strength left. I had been hike-a-biking and attempted to remount my bike. Steep mounts are tough with a full load, and my left foot missed the pedal. I scraped the inside of my foot, and it was painful. My energy was completely zapped. In terms of nutrition, all I had to eat yesterday were tamales and some rice and beans. It was mostly bread and very little protein.

I heard a plane in the sky, the first I had noticed in over a week. Certainly it was either flying into or out of Oaxaca. All of a sudden, I realized that I still had a bag of refried beans. I stopped and enjoyed an impromptu roadside breakfast. I also tended to my left foot, by swabbing the scrape with bacitracin and donning my socks.

The grade eventually mellowed and I was able to ride again. Often while climbing, I’ll click my gear lever hoping that there's a lower gear. There never is. By 9:07am, I had reached the top of the climb. I was at 8,850'. I zipped up my jacket and prepared for the downhill. I descended for a couple hundred feet and then began climbing again. A motor vehicle passed me going the other direction.

The downhill continued and the surface was rugged. Several motor vehicles passed me going the opposite direction. My palms were taking a beating and my fingers were tired from squeezing the brake levers. I wouldn't want to be climbing up this road, and was praying that the route out of the valley wouldn’t be as steep.

I finally reached the valley where workers were paving the road. There were completed sections and dirt sections. Fortunately, some of my climbing was on completed pavement. I admired how the road workers signed the pavement, and had now seen several examples.

There was a taco stand set up on the side of the road where workers there getting their lunch. I stopped for a taco and a Coke. I should have ordered more, but the next town was only four kilometers in the distance. I talked to one of the workers who confirmed that the road was finished through to the village.

I stopped in San Miguel Peras and found a small kiosk in centro across from the covered basketball courts and Palacio Municipal. I purchased four liters of water, a ham sandwich, and a mango juice. They let me charge my devices while I sat outside at a table. I watched a group of school children being given marching instructions. I knew I had one more big climb to Oaxaca. I asked the man at the stand how long it would take by bike and he replied four hours. It was 11am when I left, and my phone was up to 35%. I rode down a hill and then crossed the river.

I was confidently pedaling along the paved road and my GPS started beeping. I was off-route. Ughh! I was supposed to have taken a left up a gnarly steep dirt path that I hadn't even recognized as a trail. I was disheartened. There were piles of dirt from construction. I talked to one of the workers who assured me that it would be a more direct route.

I had to hike-a-bike the first section, which was all torn up from a new sewer line. I eventually reached a dirt road that was similar to the steep earthen double-track that I had come down earlier. Six dogs started chasing me and barking. I felt like pepper spraying one of them.

The grade mellowed and I was finally able to pedal. Puffy clouds had appeared which made things cooler. I was keeping my fingers crossed. The earlier I got to Oaxaca the better. The sun returned, and I pulled over in the shade to put on my arm protectors and plug in a Duane Train episode. It got steep and I had to hike-a-bike. Some sections I was able to ride and others I had to walk. The sun was drifting in and out of the clouds.

There were many false summits, and I kept thinking I had reached the top. Then I'd come to another climb. I was riding towards the top of the ridge and was passed by a blue pick-up truck going the other direction. There were a collection of houses and structures and I was barked at by a dog. Sections of the road cut through red dirt the color of crimson.

It one point I caught the delicious aroma of something cooking. A white pick-up truck passed me going the other direction, and then a young boy passed me on a bike. I rode by a group of school children as I entered Soledad Peras which was paved. I passed a nice church and a bunch of people congregating in the plaza. A young boy was wearing a New York Yankees cap and I called out to him 'Nueva York!' I pointed to his hat and then pointed to myself. They all stared at me like I was from another planet.

The descent began in earnest at 1:40pm. I was at 9,022' and still on dirt. I came to a T and took a right. The road was wider but still earth. I tried to get cell phone service from Oaxaca, but was still too far away. The attempt cost me two percentage points of battery.

I eventually found myself on a steep, narrow, rugged descent through the pine trees. A huge valley opened up and I could see Oaxaca far in the distance below. Motor traffic was increasing as I entered San Pablo Cuatro Venados (four deer). All of a sudden the highway turned to pavement. I relished the smooth surface as I flew down the mountain. I came to a point were several ridges converged, and I found myself climbing again.

I eventually came to a steep switchback which had been indicated as off-road on my route. My Wahoo was beeping and I consulted my phone. As it turned out, I had the original route loaded on my phone and an updated route on my GPS. I had missed a turn and remained on the paved road. Both routes led to Oaxaca. Thank goodness for the little remaining charge in my power pack.

I rode through San Pedro Ixtlahuaca and was now passing stores, restaurants, motorcycle shops, and the Desire hotel which offered hourly rates. I hadn't seen a Pemex station in almost a week. I'd only passed fuel stands selling plastic bottles of gas by the liter. The road was now thick with motor vehicles of every type; taxis, cars, trucks, and pick-ups with people standing in the back. I even saw a few cyclists.

I rode by Monte Albán and was now in familiar territory. Until now, I hadn't realized how low in the valley the Mayan ruin stood in relation to the surrounding mountains. I had previously approached it from below.

I continued down the hill and into Oaxaca City, and finally reached the Zócalo, or Plaza de la Constitución. Oaxaca City was known as Oaxaca Juarez, for it's native son Benito Juárez, the first indigenous president of Mexico and the first indigenous head of state in the postcolonial Americas.

I heard from Michele who was on a sightseeing tour. There wasn't a OAXACA sign for me to book-end my tour, and I proceeded to the Airbnb in the neighborhood of Santa María del Marquesado. The place was called La Calera. It was an artist's studio compound located in an old converted limestone factory. The industrial nature seemed straight out of Bushwick Brooklyn. Our lodging was across from the studio complex at the top of a steel staircase. It had an outdoor porch and large glass windows. Michele's things were neatly hung and organized, and I felt like a beast with my dirty camping gear that needed airing out.

I took a long hot shower and scrubbed off the layers of dirt. It was a feat to hack away the facial hair to reveal skin on my face. Michele had brought me clothing and shoes, and I felt like a new person. I took a cab into town and met her at Levadura de Olla, where she had a mezcal margarita waiting for me. I enjoyed chicken molé, tostadas with guacamole, and several pints of beer. The tour was finally over, and I had completed the entire Trans Mexico del Norte.