Jan Weitner riding his XT from Terra del Fuego to Vancouver

Angels in Mexico

24.221 kms
In Central America I was really heating up. Standing still is almost impossible. The heat rising up from the engine takes away all your breath. Taking a drink on the road was rewarded with a boiling hot saddle afterwards. You can not hide from the sun. Hardly and trees to take cover. After crossing the Mexican border at the San Christobal crossing the road is going up to an altitude of around 3000 meters making me feel more at ease. It gave me a good feeling crossing the last Central American border. I got tired of the border crossings. They consume lots of time, you get crazy of the people on the border offering you 'services' to get the paperwork done, the custom people love forms, copies, decontamination charges, pesos and dollars. After seeing all these borders you know how it works. Try to be slower than the custom officers and they will do their best to get you rapidly on the road again. Some chit chat here and there really helps!

An American biker who I met before entering Mexico advised me on where to stay and where to eat in San Christobal de las Casas. I ended up in the cheapest hotel and had dinner in the most expensive restaurant.... these americans..... With an temperature around 20 degrees it was a perfect city. I decided to stay for a while before leaving for the west coast. In Christobal they have a sort of 'blauwe theehuis' making me feel at home. From Christobal the road continued to the South coast where I landed in Puerto Angel along the '200' road. Everybody told me about the beaches so I wanted to find a deserted beach. I found Playa Ventura not completely deserted: one hotel and something you could call a restaurant.

After a full day of driving I reached Acapulco staying in Hotel California. You can check in, but you can't check out... A pretty bizar and cool place. Some interesting people were staying there. One was a retired bomb dismantler his speciality was the WWII 500 pound bombs in Europe. His stories were breath taking. Here I prepared La Moto for the last 6000 km in North America. The owner of California liked motorcyles a lot and helpt me doing my maintenance. In the mean time I hung out at the Zocalo for a bite and a drink. Drinking is required here. One liter of water each two hours. Keeping your clothes dry here is impossible due to the humidity of to much %. Acapulco is one big museum for VW beetles. Driving at night in an old beetle with the wind blowing through the tiny windows is really great.

Back to the 200! That road is the most beautiful road of Mexico right along the west coast. Going up to 150 meters going down to sealevel with endless views on the coast passing villages like Puerto Escondido, Acapulco and many many beaches. Although the landscape is extremely nice, there are hardly any tourists, nor people, nor hotels. I found my first hotel in Manzanillo around 01.30 AM. Breaking again my rule of no driving in the night.

The crash
From Manzanillo I continued to Puerto Vallarte, Mazatlan and Guaymas. It looked like I was going to reach the US pretty soon. The highway from Mazatlan had seperated lanes for going North and South. You see hardly any traffic there and I was thinking I almost made it! One more day from Tuscon, Arizona....
Suddenly a car with dark windows enters the highway from the left. I was a bit pissed about this as the highway was empty and they just pulled into the highway before me. They were hardly accelatering and I was cautious passing on the right side as the car was acting a bit odd. After 30 seconds I got sick of it, horned and passed on the right. Right when I was passing they changed lanes rapidly and hit my front wheel. Braking did not help anymore. These &^#$&#!^* idiots hit me on purpose. I was ready to shoot these dickheads. Maybe it was fortunate that I did not have a gun.

I was kissing the high way for quite some meters. Damn. Some people stopped shortly afterwards, one even saw the accident and said he was going to chase the car as it ran off. People asked if everything was fine and everything felt fine all body parts were still there. They helped me pull my bike on the side of the road and said suerte and ADIOS! This is not my day.... Some cops stopped after the crash and helpt me fix the bike. They said it was impossible to find the car that crashed me. They did not even try... but I appreciated their help.

I continued driving to Hermosillo which was 140 kms from the accident but things start to hurt while driving. The handling of the clutch was becoming incredibly painfull. I got in 5th gear and kept on driving to Hermosillo. At the border of the city. I parked the bike at an 24h open shop. They would take care of it. I took a taxi to a hotel and checked what the dammage was. Coincedently a private clinic was located next to the hotel. The next day I found out my left hand was broken. It explained a lot. They put a cast on it and wished me luck.

Together with some other (I thought) minor injuries I went back to the hotel. What to do now? I rested for 5 days in the hotel hoping things would get better and find a solution on how to continue. Then a miracle happened.... I got into contact with the Moto Guzzi Club USA and they started an incredible rescue plan coordinated by Patrick Hayes. Things started to move. They asked me to drive to the US border, take the Nogales crossing and continue to Tuscon to stay at the first Guzzi hero named MIKE. Driving was ok with one hand but getting it in 5th gear was not my favourite activity. Due to the cast I could not wear my jacket anymore, luckily the temperature was friendly. At the toll stations and US border everybody was looking a bit strange at my arm. Is it broken? Yes..... mmmmhhhhh..... From Tuscon I drove to Yuma were the second Guzzi hero PIERRE put my bike on a pick up truck and we continued together to San Diego. The two days in San Diego with Pierre were great. The second day my hero from San Francisco PATRICK HAYES came over to drive me up all the way to San Francisco! I couldn't believe it!!!!!! And now I know it... these 3 guys have reached GUZZI ANGEL status for me and I am going to buy a GUZZI!