Perote-Puebla: Crazy drivers and no shoulders

145 km (90 miles) – Total so far: 2,042 km (1,269 miles)

At 5 o´clock my alarm rang like usual – I was awake 100% immediately and I jumped out of bed. Very fast I got dressed because the temperature in the room was beyond all bearing! Soooo cold! I packed everything, took all my panniers downstairs and loaded the bike in record time to be quickly on the road again.

All together it was 5:45 when I started. I was thinking to take the highway (again a toll road!), because the locals had told me that I could easily cycle along on the wide shoulders. Unfortunately I think I must have missed the right turnoff so I ended up cycling on the free road.

In the beginning the road had 4 lanes which was ok, but after it narrowed into 2 lines and cycling turned into a nightmare. Really dangerous. All cars drove agrressively and the drivers passed me very close all the time. About 3 times I needed to escape off of the road when a monster truck was coming behind me….
The most challenging thing was to keep the bike upright while I was climbing. The road went up to 2500m. There were a lot of pine trees around. When finally the downhill started I couldn´t go faster then 55km/h because the road was paved newly with still a lot of small stones, like split, on it. Whenever a truck passed me by I got a nice „small-stones-shower“.

Wonderful. At the end of the downhill the road kept going straight for a while, but now I had strong headwinds until I got the junction where I could take the toll highway in the end. Finally I could enjoy the nice shoulders the locals had announced! This time the heavy traffic on the highway didn´t bother me, but soon the road again started to climb slowly but steadily. I could feel it and I see it on my GPS that I was cycling up all the time. Anyway I was in a good mood, happy and very motivated.

I was going very fast. Still 50kms to go to Puebla. I knew Puebla´s height was 2175m and I was cycling at the moment at a height of 2390m, so I knew the road would go downwards very soon….Finally I arrived in Puebla and I went to the center to look for a hotel. I found a nice one close to the zocalo.

I took a shower and went to eat. I ordered an argentinian steak of 300g and a glass of wine. (The first one since I´m cycling). But when the waiter brought everything, the steak was a big disappointment. It was really small, not what I expected and not what they were advertising. I complained, but that was their size of steaks. What they could offer was to bring a second one, but of course I rejected that. Well, I learned the lesson. Steaks in Mexico.
I went to get me a beer and I returned to my room to sleep.

Early in the morning leaving Perote
Early in the morning leaving Perote
Cofre de Perote, originally Naupa-Tecutépetl
Cofre de Perote, originally Naupa-Tecutépetl
Puebla state
Puebla state
Alchichica lake
Alchichica lake
The mountains waiting for me...
The mountains waiting for me…
Volcan lanscape
Volcan lanscape
More mountains to climb...
More mountains to climb…
Landslide zone
Landslide zone
Pass the 2400m
Pass the 2400m
Cactus plantation
Cactus plantation

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