¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! ¡Ándale! ¡Ándale!
Clichés, clichés… my image in my head of Mexico and the Mexicans!
“Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in Mexico” has certainly contributed to this.
An oversized yellow sombrero, white poncho, white trousers and a red scarf. This is Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in Mexico. Thanks to his tremendous speed, he outwits his main opponents, the clumsy and hapless cat Sylvester and Duffy Duck, time and time again. “Arriba! Arriba! Ándale! Ándale!” he shouts in his exaggerated Mexican accent and takes off like a rocket.
My funny little superhero with superpowers
This mouse has it all.
My first contact with Mexico, when I still thought it might be a neighboring country of Germany, was through Speedy Gonzales, the cartoon series with the fastest mouse in Mexico. The country and the scenery were exotic, on the one hand probably far away, on the other hand so close and familiar from the TV set in the living room. Sandy deserts and cacti and in the middle of it all, the great children’s hero Speedy Gonzales.
Speedy was the fastest mouse in a whole country, the fastest mouse in Mexico.
“Arriba! Arriba! Ándale! Ándale!” The loud exclamations when Speedy sped through the Mexican countryside at full throttle were also my first expressions in Spanish, or any language for that matter. But it’s not much more than that even today 🙂 What it meant was a minor matter. It sounded good, could be associated with speed, cunning and bravery. It embodied a winner mentality that a small child could aspire to. In a cartoon, the world is simple, good wins against evil. With Mexico’s current not insignificant problems and challenges, a lovable superhero would certainly be most welcome.
So let’s summarize the clichés
Mexicans all wear sombreros, a poncho and have a moustache. They drink tequila and Corona beer. They eat tacos all day long. I think of chilies, fans and heat and a different sense of time.
And then there’s Herbie and the movie “Herbie goes crazy”. A trip to South America, but let’s not get too specific. Just Latin America 🙂
Where the VW Beetle is still revered
So there is a very pragmatic reason why the Beetle can still be found. It is cheap to maintain, very good and economical on gas and it has rear-wheel drive, which very few cars still have.
And because I read so much about the VW Beetle and the car industry in Mexico, I also found out something else, namely about the investments made by Audi and BMW in Mexico, for example.
While I keep hearing about our government in Germany flawed decisions regarding the car industry “Car industry in Europe still on the decline” and “Experts! are convinced that e-cars are also on the decline”, I am surprised that BMW, for example, is investing EUR 800,000 million in its plant in Mexico and will only be producing e-cars there.
And Volkswagen, the creator of the Beetle, is also one of the biggest players in the Mexican market today. VW will invest EUR 1 billion in development there by 2026.
For a long time, Volkswagen only built the Beetle in Mexico. And it is still present. The roads here are bad, lots of potholes, lots of “topes” – these are the small asphalt hills across the road without which Mexicans would probably speed across every junction without braking. The VW Beetle. Short, narrow, rear-wheel drive and rear engine, with a lot of weight on the rear axle. A special car 🙂
Back to us and country no. 30, Mexico.
Unfortunately, we don’t have superpowers like Speedy Gonzales. So we have to keep pedaling and pedaling to make progress. In Mexico, we have 1800 km to go to the border with the USA.
Entering the country was easy. There were maybe 10 other people at the border. I hadn’t imagined it would be this relaxed. Then we set off on our bikes. The first cash machines don’t give us any money, the third machine is gracious and it works. The currency here: the Mexican peso.
The food in Mexico
We soon realize that this country with its Tacos is not for us. There is basically nothing here without meat or chicken, shrimp or fish or bacon.
However, these tacos, which consist of a (soft) tortilla made from corn flour or wheat, have nothing in common with the hard, crunchy chip-like tacos we are used to.
Well, there is no vegetarian version yet, at least not next to touristic sites. So we remain self-catering. And for breakfast, scrambled eggs again, now without the side bananas.
From 34°C to 24°C and from extremely dry to quite wet
In Mexico we pass through several weather extremes. We change from the Pacific side to the Atlantic side.
Avocados were called Palta before Mexico, now they are called Aguacates. There’s hot water for showers again and the hard shoulder isn’t just for us. In fact, vehicles often come towards us in our lane. Sometimes it’s such a mess, India couldn’t be better. (There is no photo of the latter. It’s all over by the time I wake up from the amazement).
And over the next few days we really got a headwind. We turn right into it when we turn off towards the Atlantic coast + uphill. It’s going to be awful.
I’ve signed up with a Mexican cycling group for Mexico. They are there for pretty much everything, should there be any problems, or if you are looking for an overnight stay, or even for my question: why do almost all the signs have holes in them? And indeed, because the wind gets so strong that it bends the signs, they said. And there are probably even traffic lights for how safe it is for trucks to drive, for example. Well, we’ll probably have to fight hard tomorrow.
Giving up?
And then there was the day when I was about to give up. The crosswind with its gusts was merciless and dangerous. Quite often it pushed us onto the road. It didn’t always help to watch the trees and bushes and stopping and dismounting wasn’t always an option either. 35h/km with gusts up to 60h/km. After almost 30km it got a little better. We turned into the wind. Then it came from the front, but didn’t push us around so much. Giving up was not an option as the weather forecast predicts this strong wind in this area for the next few weeks. Well, we made it through the day.
With the hundreds of wind turbines, we could have guessed that with the wind.
Of course, we also had the odd flat tire.
Good morning and “no”, we don’t have a flat tire. I just thought, because of all your questions and thoughts about our material, these truck tire parts are the ones causing us problems. We avoid the visible parts of course, but those tiny pieces of metal are all over the place. We check our tires from time to time, but the pieces break off and then slowly work their way through. Until, yes, until the air is out again.
There is much more in Mexico
Of course, there is more to our journey than flat tires, harsh winds, annoying traffic or food. There is something that not only spoils our appetite or makes the flat tires seem like a ridiculously small hurdle: the continuing flow of refugees.
We’ve been seeing it since South America and here in México too. There are hundreds of them in the towns, on foot or in pickup trucks along the roads. It is such a terrible situation that we have been at a loss for words for months. The doctors and hospitals in the towns are overwhelmed. It is simply terrible.
And of course we also drove through some small villages. Here are some impressions of them and a few other curiosities. Mexico is not only the land of bananas and avocados, but also the land of pineapples:
