So this last week I was on Vacation from my Vacation. I arrived in Puerto Morelos. It is a small quaint town 20 miles south of Cancun full of Americans and Canadians escaping the winter. It is so small infact that after a week of being her I can’t go downtown without seeing a familar face. (A new feeling that I havn’t felt in the past month) I came here to meet my friend Eric and his family that flew in from Michigan. Eric is one of my best friends, so I knew the 1,500 marathon would be well worth it. He also has probably the coolest family around. They treat me like a son. They were not at the house so I walked down to the beach. We were all so happy to see each other and they had a cold one waiting for me.
The next day we go Charter fishing.
First you catch the bait fish.
This is my buddy Eric. He is my first mate up in Alaska in the Summer. Here he is fishing for fun.
Here he is fishing for money.
His brother Michael
It’s an Amber Jack and it was good eating.
Erics dad got a Baracoda
Allen got a big Swardfish, but you arn’t allowed to keep those.
The best part was just being out on the water with friends.
So I have been driving all day and am about 35 miles from Cancun. I come along this.
There was a man that was thrown from the vehicle laying 35 feet away. There was blood all over his body and the branches that he landed in.
No one had checked the car yet for other bodies so I went down in the ditch and through the prickly bushes and looked the car over hoping to find nothing.
Good, Empty.
I notice that the seat belt was not buckled and looked for anything suspicious. No beer cans, no blown out tires. windshield was still intact, but the drivers side window was blown out and laying next to his body. The door was ripped open so he came out that side of the vehicle. One of his shoes is laying right by the door and I toss it to the people on the road.
This Canadian man was the most medically equipped person on the scene and was speaking both English and Spanish well.
I asked what he needs and what I can do. He requested gloves so he could cheek out the man without getting the victims blood on his body. I run back to my big and dig through my gear. I find one dirty used latex glove that I used to change my oil with. I grab it and go. The man puts it on and starts inspecting the victim. He was alive, but not very responsive. He kept rocking back and forth on his side clearly in tons of pain. The quick conclusion was broken both legs and internal bleeding. He was not in shock yet, but it would happen at any moment. He just needed to get to a hospital fast.
His pants were shredded from the wreck and pulled down exposing his genitals. The man was aware of this enough and he kept trying to pull them up with no success. That was a good sign that he at least knew what was going on even if he couldn’t speak. There was no wallet in his pants and about that time someone found his other shoe. Someone was calling for an ambulance and needed the mans name. No one knew so everyone started looking for a wallet. It was found and the info relayed through the phone.
And ambulance came about 10 minutes latter with a body board.
They strapped him down and me and a few other bystanders helps carry the man to the ambulance.
I hope he makes it.
The ambulance leaves and so does everyone else. There was a cop and one guy signing a report. I pack up and continue on my way.
I am driving at about 65 mph ready to finally get to Cancun. It feels like my bike popped out of gear to neutral. I know that is impossible and in a split second I think “chain” I look down and see it dragging on the concrete.
Hmm…Now what?
I should have broght spare links and a chain tool. Oh well, next time I will.
I try to flag down the trucks that go by.
Nothing.
I hold my broken chain up as cars go by so they know the problem.
Nothing.
I see a big Truck like an old International 16′ with sides on it about 1/4 mile down the road. There is about 5 people using it to collect scralp alluminum from cars and other metal that was just on the side of the road. I push my bike down there to find out no one speaks english. I do the international hand motion/cartoon facial expression language. Show them my chain. Tell them I need to get to Cancun. They nod and tell me to come with them. They will take me there.
I am very leary of this, but I don’t have many options. It was almost dark now. I decide to go for it.
We quickly throw the bike in the truck and take off down the road. Cross you fingers on this one…
Going down the road.
Watch these two videos!
I really want to film this, but I think it is wiser to just let this one play out and not show off all my video equiptment. I am only useing my little point and shoot. I want them to think I am just a poor traveler not worth much.
Shortly after we take off, we turn off on a trail. I can’t see over the sides so I don’t know we are going, but we are on a Toll road. It is limited access, but now we are on a bumpy trail of somesort and it tall all of me and another guy to keep my bike from falling over. I looked at the guy and asked what about Cancun. He lists about 4 towns with Cancun at the end. Oh, I see we have a few stops first. The first stop they tell me to stay in the truck. The others run down and start pitching allumin throught the back door. I step forward and help them stack it. I want to be their friends. We take off again and I smile and laugh and interact with the guys. They are enjoying this and I become more comfortable. I need them to like me.
One guy asks me if I saw a Car on the side of the road. I don’t understand what he means and then think, oh yeah, that accident. I pull out my Camera and show the pictures I took. The guy nods. That is what he was talking about. He starts pointing at himself. and makes crashing motions. I am not 100% sure, but I think he was telling me that the car wrecked because they were in the way picking up scrap metal. They had been collecting all day, and when I meet up with them there truck was just parked in half of one of the lanes on the 70 mph toll road. I think their truck was the cause of the wreck.
This is too weird.
The next stop is a motorcycle mechanic. My heart lifts with excitement, but then quickly falls short when he says he can’t fix it. We keep driving.
The next stop is another motorcycle mechanic, again he can’t fix it. The third stop is another mechanic. I am beginning to lose hope. I wonder what they will do with me? Maybe they would be kind enough to let me stay here at least for the night and I can pay for them to truck me into town in the morning. It can’t be that bad. I am alive at least. This guy says he can’t either. We talk longer and he gets an idea. He grabs some rod and slides it through a link. hmm… He nods and says he can fix me up. We unload the bike and my luggage and the scralp guys leave before I can properly thank them. Just a quick handshake.
The man welds a link while I talk to his brother. His brother speaks good english and I entertain him by showing where I have been and practicing spanish and english with him. I really don’t feel like it. I want to watch what the guy is doing with my chain, but I need to be polite and get as many of them to like me as possible. The chain now has a welded link and He tells me to put it on. I tell him I need a chain breaker to get the chain on. On the husky the chain can not simply be slipped on or off. Part of the frame is in the way. He doesn’t understand so I put the bike on a bucket and take the back wheel off. He tries to put the chain on and now understand what I mean. He has a look of disapointment. He knows what he has to do. He cuts the link and a piece of metal shoots out and breaks the glass on a mirror of their scooter. They all start laughing, but I feel bad about it. He brings the chain over to the bike. wraps it around where it needs go and then I disconnect the battery terminals. He welds the link the the chain half in place. It was a good thing actually because the second weld was so much better than the first.
Finished product.
I take the bike for a test. I run up and down the road slowly a few times then we inspect the chain. It is holding up. It is working. It should get me 30 miles to Cancun. During all this the family is out watching their son weld the strangely dressed Americans motorcycle. I pack up the bike and am ready to go. They ask me if I am hungry. Of course I am. All I had to eat today was a plate of octopus. They take me inside and I eat venison stew with the family. They had the head mounted on a wall. They were so nice, giving me refills and bread and tortilla shells. Refills on Coke. They were so interented in my story. What was I doing? Why am I here?
After dinner they invite me to stay for the night. I am thrilled. I didn’t want to be driving on a welded link looking for a hotel in Cancun. I quickly accept the offer. They give me a towel for the shower and get cleaned up.
The bathroom
They set up a hamek for me and give me the tv remote. Guess what is on? FMX Freestyle Motorcross. I watch it with the Mechanic for a while then he tells me he has to go home. He lives down the road. I watch TV a little more than fall asleep. I wake up around 6:30 and gather my things. I get a little tour of the house from the Dad. The dad shows me some photos on the wall and tells me that he works for the school system and his children all go to college, and do well in school. You can tell how proud he is to show the American his home and talk about his family.
Dad takes the sheet off the bird cage for the day.
I take some photos of the tools in the shop.
I ask the Dad how much I owe for everything. He says for my America Friend 10 pesos. I gave him 20 and shake his hand and thank him for everything.
This would never happen in America.
Chain Story Part 2
I leave the house and slowly drive to Cancun. I stop at the first gas station I see. I get cholcate milk, water, and a phone card. I call my friend eric’s dad’s cell phone. They are here now and said they would have the phone on them.
Answering machine.
my message:
“Hey Rick, this is Luke, I made it to Cancun, but I’m running on a welded chain link. I’ll be fixing that today in town, and I’ll see you at the house when I get it fixed.”
Finding a motorcycle shop in Cancun is not easy. The guy at the gas station gave me shady directons to a place that did not exhist. Here I am driving through busy traffic on this chain link that I am expecting to go at any moment. I see a starbucks and pull over. Starbucks offer free internet. Just not the starbucks in the states. I do a quick search and post here about looking for a chain. I get a few leads and take off. On the way to a place, I stumble across a bmw motorcycle dealer. I stop in. They don’t have the chain, but they say they can get one, just bring the bike in. They are really pushy and I am remembering some guys had a bad experience with these guys over on the HUBB. I am getting a bad feeling about these guys. I tell them I need to check another place. I don’t like things being pushed on me. Another shop is 1/2 mile down the road. They tell me I have a 520 chain and they only have a 525 in stock. It will take a week to order a new one. hmm…
Back to the bmw dealer. They demand that they take the chain off so they can get the exact some one. They don’t have a chain tool, so they grind it off.
Now I am stuck here. I hope they come up with something. I give the mechanic 1,200 pesos and he takes off on a moped searching the town. I do some stuff on the internet on the dealers computer and talk to the saleman for a while. Business is slow. They need to sell 8 bikes a month to stay in business.
December they sold 9
January they sold 3
February they sold 2
I get something to eat and the mechanic returns with a chain after a few hours. It is not an O ring chain. Just a little dinky guy. He measures the length and cuts it with a stone grinder. We put the chain on and close it up with a master link. I tell them I want to get an O-ring and they try to tell me how strong and awesome the chain they got me is. I tell them I’m riding to Panama, and they assure me, this chain is great and will be no problem. I leave and drive straight to the other motorcycle shop.
The guy here remembers that he has a good 520 chain, but he doesn’t think it has enough links because he ordered it for a crotch rocket. I count my links. 122.
His chain is long enough. Man, I wish I would have known this first. I paid 1,200 pesos to drive my bike 1/2 mile only to get a new chain again. They have no master link, but they do have a chain breaker so we get the chain on the bike. It was $100 USD, but now I have a chain I can trust, and I do have that little dinky chain as a back up.
It’s around 3 p.m. and I am back on the road fully ready to go!
I wake up from Ciudad del Carmin and take off for the day. Only 400 miles to Cancun. I am on the road early and the day is beautiful. Then it starts raining. I can’t complain though, this is the first rain I have encountered this whole trip. No rain in 4 weeks is amazing.
I get lunch. I just pointed at somthing and waited to see what it was.
Octopus, and a lot of it. I finished it off chatted with the locals, learned some more Spanish then took off.
I was riding the coast of the carabean, and it was beautiful, but really really windy. It was just tiring me out just doing 60 mph.
