May 1 - Tehuantepec to Oaxaca - 160 Miles

This western part of lower Mexico must have been having a drought for several years.  We saw the results of this in very, very dry hills and valleys through which we rode.  There were more fires burning, so the valleys were again full of smoke.

This was another day of riding in the rugged mountains, riding curves up, riding curves down, riding curves up, down....  Riding the curves was fun, and there was little traffic, but it still took more than four hours of actual riding time to ride just 160 miles.

One interesting piece of landscape that we saw was the growing of Maguey plants, which are used to extract Mescal, the essential ingredient for Tequila.  Alex had told us of reading about the dwindling supply of these plants, partly due to the increased demand for Tequila and partly due to the fact that it takes so long for the plants to mature to the state where the Mescal can be extracted.

In these dry hills, we saw hundreds of small and large plots of Maguey plants which were young and seemingly doing well.  The plots were on very steep hills, where the natural plants had been completely cleared away and the plot burned in preparation for planting the Maguey plants.  If one added up all of the plots for more than 100 miles, it would surely come to many hundreds of acres, perhaps even to a couple of thousand of acres.  Here's what they look like, the plants with the long tapering, sharp leaves.

This little display was arranged in front of a PEMEX gas station, for a display of local plants.  The Saguaro cactus were growing all around there, with some varieties looking exactly like those in Arizona, and some looking somewhat different but related.

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