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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Helped by bus driver

Picked Tehuantepec as my next port of call. Nothing there in particular that I wanted to see it was more a case of distance to cover on the bike in a day.

Scared shitless is the only way to describe the day.

There is a small section of the isthmus of Mexico where the wind blows the strongest. Here comes Dave whistling away happy with his lot in life when I get hit by the winds. Well at first I thought bloody hell and then I thought other things. There was no safe way to ride a bike in those sorts of wind blasts. Managed to get the bike off the road and behind a pile of road gravel. Had to lay the bike down because it wouldn´t stay on it´s stand. Huddling there I had no appreciation that these wind blasts can go on for days. The roads are routinely closed because semi-trailers and buses have overturned.

Over an hour later a bus drove up slowly and stopped. The driver suggested that his bus would act as a windbreak for me if I rode alongside it. Great a chance to get myself out of a serious pickle. It worked and for ten kilometres we chugged along like that. The passengers thought it was great helping the gringo.

This area is just out of Tehuantepec - avoid it or travel only when you know the wind isn´t blowing.

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