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2017 MexTrek #6, Oct 26th to 29th 2017

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Just realized this will conflict with Roll the Bones.

A coin flip my make the decision for me.
 
I'm amazed I dodged RTB, F1, and Harvest Classic. Sad to find out the CMRA races are the same weekend precluding my racing buddies, once again, from making the trip. Can't make every card fall into place...but we got close!
 
Real is only 202 KM from Galeana. That's 120 miles, give or take. 3 hours in the saddle. This should be the no brainer destination for Dia De Muertos. Real is such a hoot.

Where is "Real" Mexico? Cant seem to figure out what that is short for...

I am tentatively interested in staying for Day of The Dead.
 
Real de Catorce is a spanish colonial town, translated as "Royal Fourteen". it is accessable by a dual sport or 4 wheel drive only road up a valley, or on the official highway, a 10+ mile long hand laid 3 lane cobblestone road older than the US. At the end of a highway is a tunnel, about 1/2 mile long, with walkie talkie traffic control and a nominal toll. Exiting the tunnel into Real is a time warp.

cb5c5f809edaf18c6b7bb6ba6492e052.jpg


If you've seen "The Mexican" with brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, a lot of the movie was filmed in and around "real". If you haven't seen the film, it is actually really really good, for Brad Pitt movie. Brad exiting the tunnel.

brad-pitt-on-donkey-the-mexican-2001-BPHAHW.jpg


Hotels are $40 tops ( I stayed at the one in the movie...before the movie), a bed in a smaller hotel $8. Donkey rides $10 to the high mountains and plentiful Pejote plants and guided "trips", lol.

real-de-catorce-ahora.jpg
 
Real de Catorce is a spanish colonial town, translated as "Royal Fourteen". it is accessable by a dual sport or 4 wheel drive only road up a valley, or on the official highway, a 10+ mile long hand laid 3 lane cobblestone road older than the US. At the end of a highway is a tunnel, about 1/2 mile long, with walkie talkie traffic control and a nominal toll. Exiting the tunnel into Real is a time warp.

cb5c5f809edaf18c6b7bb6ba6492e052.jpg


If you've seen "The Mexican" with brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, a lot of the movie was filmed in and around "real". If you haven't seen the film, it is actually really really good, for Brad Pitt movie. Brad exiting the tunnel.

brad-pitt-on-donkey-the-mexican-2001-BPHAHW.jpg


Hotels are $40 tops ( I stayed at the one in the movie...before the movie), a bed in a smaller hotel $8. Donkey rides $10 to the high mountains and plentiful Pejote plants and guided "trips", lol.

real-de-catorce-ahora.jpg

Nice!! That seems pretty incredible.. How long did it take you to get back to the border from Real?
 
Google puts it at 6:25 thru monterrey and big highway. Through Galeana and Linares its 6:35. Plan on it being a 10 hours day with a nice lunch. Although it is only 318 miles. But, heres something I didn't realize...from wiki. This may sttetch too long for many if we return to Mission on the 2nd, Thursday.

On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children's altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta is filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.
 
21.3 Pesos per Dollar today. Anticipating 25 to 1 in near future.

I first visited Mexico in the short period when the old peso slipped from 7 to 20 to 140 in a matter of weeks. Everything sold on the street was essentially free. Unsophisticated folks didn't know what was happening. This will still happen in rural locations to some degree.

$1,000,000 of cash invested in pesos on my first trip would only be worth only $328 today. From the mexican perspective, 7,000,000 pesos invested in the Dollar could be exchanged for 139,100,000,000 pesos today. This helps explain why real estate and dollars are the true currencies in mexico. Pesos are just for day to day.

Lets put it into perspective. $100 cashed into pesos on Mextrek 2016 (18.3:1) if unspent, are now worth $85.91 (21.3:1). By Mextrek 2017 (25:1), $73.20

The point? Expect bargains next Mextrek.
 
Sometimes you can play the exchange rate both ways to really make out. I was there last week and found a sports bar catering to Americans, ESPN playing on multiple screens with US games . All prices were in USD but they also accepted pesos of course at a rate of 13:1 They had a $1 slider special that night. I had converted USD to peso coming in at over 20:1 Paid my bill in pesos so got sliders for 65 cents each.

Also gasoline prices jumped big on Jan-1. Up to 40 percent increases overnight.

_
 
Registered and paid. Gotta find a new steed since I let my last one out of the stable.
 
Sometimes you can play the exchange rate both ways to really make out. I was there last week and found a sports bar catering to Americans, ESPN playing on multiple screens with US games . All prices were in USD but they also accepted pesos of course at a rate of 13:1 They had a $1 slider special that night. I had converted USD to peso coming in at over 20:1 Paid my bill in pesos so got sliders for 65 cents each.

Also gasoline prices jumped big on Jan-1. Up to 40 percent increases overnight.

_
thats what i was goin to say that any bargains r goin to b matched with gas price increases n gas in mex was already more than US prices to begin with, i feel for da common folk cuz they get screwed either way, especially when da mex govt owns da pumps
 
DRnky is getting a nice rebuild and a bunch of final touches that should make it finished and complete by this run. 2015 was ugly, 2016 was better, I'm expecting this go around to be praiseworthy.
 
I'm all in !!!

Cowboy, you're new here. Give us an introduction....name, bike, experience, goals, funny stories... you'll find this is about the best group of guys on earth on this site.

And don't forget to sign up on the google form in the first post.

Pedro
 
I always post these two recommendations for our trips:

#1. Get a Baofeng uhf vhf radios. A UV-5R or newer version UV-5RA on ebay or Amazon. For $25 delivered it has dual band, fm radio, flashlight, charger, and earpiece. Has good range, 3 or 4 miles. If we all have same channel set there is zero chance for losing a rider.

Think star wars: red leader, red 1, red 2, red 3, red 4. All accounted for.

2. Use the offline functionality in google maps on an old (or current) smartphone. You can download areas of interest and save to your phone. No need for gps, garmin, or mexico files if you do this. The google map is very detailed and what you download is searchable even offline. Its a great, free, tool. And can be updated from the hotel via wifi each evening as needed. A "burner" phone, aka old and outdated, is the perfect phone to strap to your bars and use for nav. No reason to display a flashy iphone 7 to the locals.
 
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