Back to Mexico City
Fairly quiet night and unpretentious breakfast ... very basic..
.
We reach Barcelona airport and our long journey begins ... 20 hours from door to door.
Two flights without turbulences for the greatest pleasure of Christophe.
On our arrival at our hotel we are welcomed by "Aurélie", Christophe's niece, by "Gabriel" her son and "Edouardo".
They are going back to France and have modified their return ticket to stay a day with us.
A 10 000 km trip to meet together after so many years... Original no !!!
The next morning we all meet at 8.30 am in the lobby of the hotel for breakfast which we take at "Sanburns". We end up with huge "Pancakes" that we have trouble finishing.
Edouardo working in the morning, we go with "Aurélie" and "Gabriel" to the center of Mexico City and take the opportunity of re-visiting the cathedral, the Zocalo and the "murals" of Diego Ribero. The weather is nice and the temperature is very pleasant.
We are surprised to discover that all the monuments, large hotels and official buildings are surrounded by barricades. Why ?
Quite simple : March 8th is Women's Day and, like every year, a big event is organized by different organizations fighting against the violence suffered by many women as well as the increasing number of feminicides.
We will learn from a taxi driver that men are banned from processions and that these demonstrations often end in degradation and clashes with the police.
We find "Edouardo" for lunch and at the end of the afternoon "Aurélie" and "Gabriel" leave us to catch their return flight.
Evening with "Edouardo" during which we exchange in Spanish for us and in French for him. We choose a restaurant with Spanish specialties, close to our hotel.
Our last day in Mexico is dedicated to the "Museo Soumaya", Museum belonging to a multimillionaire which exhibits 6,000 works including sculptures by Rodin and ivory pieces.
Then we have lunch in the trendy district of "Coyoacan" where we enjoy eating very elaborate tacos.
Quiet evening at the hotel.
Departure for Barcelona
We have been preparing our return for several months by buying spare parts that we cannot find locally.
Purchase of a rear brake kit, front brake plates and various parts for oil changes ... in total 10 kg of weight !!!
Our luggage is ready and our dear kind "Suzy" gives us a lift to Nîmes station, enjoying a good pizza with us before catching our train to Barcelona.
The train trip is relaxing and we reach our hotel in the city center which does not meet our expectations .... Only positive point : we are one minute away from the "Ramblas".
We have an appointment with "Myriam" that we met in Mexico in July 2019 at Zipolite.
What a pleasure to meet again after 3 years... No one has changed... We meet her boyfriend "Joan" and we spend a superb Spanish evening...
On the heated terrace enjoying tapas.
We plan a weekend at the end of June beginning of July either in Barcelona or in Aigues Mortes.
We return quietly to the hotel, crossing different districts, all lively despite the coolness of the evening.
Our plans..
Since the pandemic, many land borders in South America have been closed and we are waiting for them to re-open.
To continue our odyssey we must reach Panama and then Colombia.
But there is no road between these two countries; the so-called "Panamerican" road stops in the "Darien" region, known to be in the hands of the cartels.
The only possibility is to put the camper on a boat connecting Colon to Cartagena in one day.
We don't want to reach South America without beeing sure that the land borders are open and take the risk of beeing stuck in Colombia. In addition, transport between the two countries costs a fortune and it takes about a week in total for this passage.
We scrutinize the news every day on various websites and on December 1st 2021 Ecuador opens its borders with Colombia. ...that's a good sign...only Peru remains closed.
If it does not open its borders, we will not cross into Colombia. We will stay in Mexico and stay with our traveling companion until June 15th. We prefer to spend the end of winter and spring in the sun.
We buy our tickets for a departure on March 3rd from Barcelona with a return on July 10th.
Why Barcelona? Easy to understand : We save 800€ per person flying from Spain instead of Montpellier or Marseille. There is no comparison !!!
Good news, the borders between Peru and Ecuador open on February 18th .... we can continue our journey ... finally !!!
Our plans are to reach Panama to be around May 30th in Colon to drop off the camper at the port.
Then to reach Cartagena by plane and do the paperwork for the temporary importation of the camper, before returning to France around June 15 for a month and a half.
ROAD BOOK 102
MAVROS ODYSSEE