San Blas

I had about 400kms to ride so planned to break it up into two sections the first was about 200kms south, a place called San Blas.

 It was a beautiful warm day as I headed south following the coastline but soon there was not much coast to see as the road moved more inland. The temperature increased also with it rising into the mid thirties (Celsius) quite quickly, then hovering up around thirty-eight to thirty-nine degrees. At one point it hit forty and I realised quickly that I had to use my hot weather riding strategies that I learned travelling across the top end of Australia. I stopped for regular drinks and kept my neck scarf wet. I didn’t get to the point of digging into my gear to retrieve my cooling vest, the weather stayed just below that threshold. The cooling vest is a must for anything regularly over 40C.

 The road was nice with a mixture of easy bends and long straights, nothing to talk about compared with the road of 3000 bends. I had stocked up with some travel food so found a shady spot off the road to have some tortillas, cheese and eggs I had boiled. Eventually I came to the turnoff to San Blas and entered into the sleepy little seaside village complete with a central square and rotunda. I didn’t stop in town because I had done some rare research about my next place to stay and was heading for Stoners Surf Camp. 

I found it myself online but then Lee (from Lerma) had told me he had stayed there a night and camped on the beach for 50 Pesos ($4). Undercover parking was good too.

I found the place easily and was able to set up my hammock under one of the beachfront cabanas for 50 Pesos. 

It was a beautiful spot with a wide beach and a long surf break. There was very little development apart from the palm frond-roofed huts and it soon became apparent why. Sandflies. The place was alive with them every evening and morning, causing the owners to burn coconut husks and sit around in a haze of smoke to avoid them. I coated myself in deet and sat out of the smoke.

I don’t really have much of a reaction to sandflies. They are annoying and I feel it when they bite, but after a couple of minutes I don’t notice any itching. I have seen people with terribly scarred legs from sand-fly bites where the itching is so intense that they scratch for days and sores form. These can take weeks more to heal and leave scars. I’m one of the lucky ones.

 My hammock has ‘no-seeum’ mesh and I found out that sandflies are called no-seeums in some places. I always thought it was because you couldn’t see through the screen and I never found that to be the case so the name never made sense to me. The things you learn on a round the world bike ride! It was nice to be back in my hammock again, the first time since I arrived in the US. It was a comfortable sleep with the sea-breeze and the sound of the waves crashing in the background.

The only other guest staying there was Londoner who was just here for a couple of weeks. We chatted for a bit and he seemed to be a bit disillusioned by a couple of girls he had travelled with. He was here on his own and told me about how he was badly sunburned on the face when he arrived but was recovering. He told me he was a banker in London and he didn’t seem to get outdoors a lot. He seemed to be a bit lost but I wasn’t in the life-saving mood and spared him my conversations on, ‘So do you know what you REALLY want…’ I finished my breakfast, packed up and left.