the road to oaxaca

juchitan to la reforma after a full day´s rest in juchitan, we left early and started the ride to oaxaca. the first 26km to tehuantepec was an easy straightaway with a slight tailwind--our nicest morning warm-up yet. the sierra madres stretched along the wide horizon (as if to prove there was nowhere to go but up and over) and with each mile a different ridge line was warmed to color by the rising sun. in tehuantepec we stopped briefly and continued on the barren and exposed road to oaxaca. only in the foothills and already we were already getting a taste of the long climb ahead. but finding our pace was easy in this dramatic landscape of high and dry desert shrubs towered by giant and immaculate coconut palms (!) and backed by a densely layered mountain range. in jalapa we were delayed for 20 minutes to fix a puncture in front of a chaotic schoolyard and at the amusement of its recessing children. from jalapa there was no where to go but up, and we climbed on to see the palms quickly replaced by huge cactus and large plots of neatly rowed blue-green maguey plants, from which the ever popular mescal is made. we were soon delayed again with a stubborn tube and puncture that kept us back over an hour. nothing like mechanical problems in the desert...by 2:30, just as the heat of the afternoon sun really settles in over the land, we continued on, passing more and more maguey farms the farther we climbed into the hills. we stopped for water in a no-name village and almost purchased mescal by accident. mescal liquor is crystal clear and the locally brewed variety is often bottled (perhaps ironically) in used 1-liter water bottles. by 5:30pm we hit an unmapped village called la reforma and decided to call it a day. we were escorted to a casa del pueblo where we were told we could spend the night, so we set up camp on what was essentially the grounds of a community center, which did include access to a well and toilet. we prepared dinner under the watch of several local boys who were impressed by our homemade stove that burns alcohol in a single tuna can. but our nerves began to perk up later, around the time the dark of night and reality began to creep in. we were in a small village in the middle of nowhere and under the curious watch of many locals who had already made their presences known in bizarre ways (must be the bottled water). so we zipped ourselves into the tent early, which promptly put an end to the show, and called it a night. in the morning before dawn we awoke to the amazing sight of many village men down at our campsite (well, actually, their community center) to get morning water from the well and haul it to their steep hillside houses. the night had nearly passed without incident except that bridget appeared to be relaying abby and awoke too sick to ride. not wanting to, ahem, overstay our welcome in la reforma, we caught a local bus to take us the rest of the way to oaxaca. since then, our self-diagnosis is we each had our first bout with giardia as only mexico can brew it. though we have been spendy on water and treating it whenever necessary, you just never know...besides, some of those well water worms are swallowing our chlorine tablets like they`re vitamins! perhaps it´s best time we switch over to the mescal--at least in this beverage the worm is supposed to be there.