Overland motorcycle journey through South, Central and North America, Chile to Canada

How ive got this far I dont know but during the 280km of todays ride I 'hit the wall' with only so much sore arse-ness I could take. Ive been thinking about the seat for so long. I arrived here in Mazatlan, went to auto store fully expecting to buy something or another, butcher it, duct tape it/butcher the moto seat.. and got chatting to the sales fella who actually pointed me in the direct of an upholsterer who operates out of his house just down the rd. I go there, he says sure I can fix it, come back at 16.30.. I did, it took about 45minutes. He used a machete to cut the foam which I found hilarious, replaced my hard as nails foam with new softer foam, put another thin layer over the top, put the same viynl cover back on... Listo! Job done. For this and some funny chat, I paid a grand total of 250 pesos.. Hes called Eluit and operates out of his house on the corner of Raphael Buelna Tenorio and Playa Huatalabampito. No english but if you dont speak spanish, well im...

Riding south to north along the beautiful coastline here, this is easily the quietest 2 day ride throughout my Mexico trip so far. Just passing a handful of cars each day, is definitely my preference. Also, it was cooler the further around the coast I go which was surprisingly refreshing. I'd stayed in the lovely fishing port of Zihuatanejo, Guerrara that night before (actually 2 as its so nice there). What I couldn't quite believe was just how green it was along the coastline - there's a lot more water here than I've been seeing, and I've never seen so many mango trees in my life, generally farmed.  Papayas and coconut, and towards Colima State, banana trees also feature along this route, along with wide rivers and inland hills. The road is awesome for the motorbike - good surface and twisty, especially on the bluffs where I was torn between zooming along and looking at the view. I stopped for lunch at Barra de Nexpa...

Leaving Puebla I took a roundabout 25km to the foot of Paso de Cortes.  This is where the pavement ended (on the east side of the pass) and the hardpack dirt (silt if you're a Geo like me) began for the incline. The next 25km was a series a twists and turns gradually climbing about 2000m through pine forest (I am in Mexico here?) to the top of the pass between two (unfortunately that day, mostly obscured by clouds) volcanoes. Ixtaccihuatl (5230m) is the northernmost, of which I caught a glimpse of its glaciar capped peak from the top of the pass, and Popocatépi is the southernmost (5436m), of which I did not see. There were clouds, a little drizzle and even a little hail on the way up! There were some covered picnic areas at the top where I parked the bike under and had lunch. I actually felt a little out of breathe as I was walking around taking photos. The road on the way down (to the west - towards Amecameca) was lovely - paved and twisty, and over all too quickly - 10...

From San Cristobal to Rancho Evergreen about an hr southeast of the city there's an eco lodge and puppies! Hanging out with this guy (www.world overland.ca) for a couple weeks.. Nice to have some company! Its a nice ride into the lodge too, which is surrounded by pine trees, you're think you were in North America. Parrot hole, nr Tuxla on the way back North through San Cris again.. Its a huge limestone cavern\open Cenote (140m deep) filled with parrots. Puerto Angel on the Oaxaca coast, heating up coming off those hills, looking at 35  - 40degreees now Testing out the GS1200 on the back roads by Zipolite San Cris to Puerto Arista\ Zipolite to Oaxaca hill twisties Hierve en el Agua near Mitla, east of Oaxaca city