Day 542
Petroglyphs and Pavé
We pretty much had the journey to Puerto Vallarta in the bag. Just a few shorter days of riding and getting ourselves from cycle-touring mode to relaxed-holiday-with-family mode. Neither Tom and I are normally the type to enjoy a beach holiday but after 18 months on the road I’m pretty certain we will cope!
We left the mountains behind and cycled towards the coast. We knew wildcamping could be difficult so had a campsite in mind. Everywhere was fenced off so as the afternoon drew to a close it was to be happy campers for Tom and I. Except it wasn’t as the place was closed up all behind a locked gate. We knew that there really wasn’t going to be much option over the next few miles so I took the plunge and asked a family enjoying a barbecue in their garden if they could help. Within minutes Andrea and Josephine had abandoned the family get together, jumped into their car and told us to follow them. Ten minutes later we were popping up our tent at Andrea’s home. We even had use of the bathroom, awesome! We had rather musical night as the neighbours were celebrating a saint’s day for ‘Our Lady of Guadeloupe’ the patron Saint of Mexico. Some prayed at shrines in the streets, over 3 million made the pilgrimage to the Basilica named for her, and some played Mexican pop music on full volume through the night.
Slightly bleary eyed and humming one of the many new songs I had learnt last night we set off. We were still trying to keep off any busy roads and Komoot happily suggested some lovely farm tracks. A local farmer was able to advise us that Komoot had forgotten to mention the deep mud, and though it meant a mile of backtracking we were saved from that particular joy. I was struggling to stay awake and as we were stopped outside a hotel, Tom took pity on me and booked us in. I was asleep within minutes, bliss!
Now it was time to get into tourist mode and we headed uphill to see the Alta Vista Petroglyphs. This area was home to the ‘Tecoxquin’, or otherwise known as ‘Throat Cutters’ who lived here around 2,000-5,000BC. They were mainly farmers and fishermen and lived in small villages in this area, trading their goods as far as Sinaloa. They held religious ceremonies based on shamanism, an ancient religious practice, a way to communicate with their gods and spirits through an altered state of mind and consciousness, achieved by using psychotropic plants and tobacco. So not a lot unlike a Saturday night out for many in this present day! They also had the rather unpleasant habit of cutting the throats of enemies, a pastime thankfully no longer a present-day ritual.
The site has over 56 petroglyphs or carvings in the rocks. Created perhaps 5,000 years ago the significance not fully understood today. The last of the Tecoxquin died out in the early 1,600s due to smallpox, discrimination and war. Locals still talk of ‘The White Ghosts who walk these hills’. The modern day Huichol people still use the site as a place of worship. It was quite a challenging ride to the site but easier for us on our bikes than the Canadian family in a car we passed. A local guy sat on a rock was apparently the toll keeper. We paid our fee, 50% discount for cyclists and headed into the past.
From here we joined the old highway to Puerto Vallarta. It was a mix of dirt and pave, or cobblestones as we say in Yorkshire. A bit of a roller coaster of a route, but great fun, I just needed my full suspension bike! Our destination for the night was Agua Termales Neuvo Ixtlan. A series of pools filled with natural hot spring water. For the princely sum of £9 each we soothed our aching bones and then set up camp for the night. If only every night was like that!
Then that was pretty much it. After a few more miles on the old highway we re-joined the tarmac and the traffic. A fun evening was in store though, Claudia and Oscar offered us the use of their holiday property, and so Tom, and I along with fellow cycle tourers Chris and Paul are playing house for a few days while we wait for Cindy and Jed!
