Road Rash Chronicles

Mexico - Part 2

When we last checked in with our fearless skaters, we shared in their travel woes to Mexico, we learned of their stretching limitations by Mexican standards and we heard about the younger, faster, fitter Yucatan team. In this installment, I will transport you to Tuxtla, the land of dust and noise....so sit back and get ready for the journey down memory lane.

The Road Skate (our last day in Merida):

After skating in circles at the track in Merida for almost a week, the teams were super excited about the road skate we were going to take to some ruins outside of the city. After a short drive both the Yucatan and Canadian teams met up at the side of the road and got ready for a 15km - 20km mini race. The slower group (group 2) were taken to a location a bit further up the road so that they wouldn’t have to navigate some of the more steeper hills. Looking back however, there were no hills that would have posed us any problems. I am sure we could have handled them with ease. Speed however would have been another issue. There is no way we would have been able to pack skate with group one.

I had raced out of the truck and donned my skates in record time as I saw that group one was quickly approaching. My goal was to jump on the pack and do my best to hang on for dear life. It kinda worked that way for about 5k. I drafted behind Ray (aka Jaguar) for a few k’s until I started getting some pretty bad toe and back pain. (Remember I was skating with a broken toe). The road conditions were not great but not super bad either, but the combination of my back and toe pain was too much for me to handle at that speed. As a result, I couldn’t stay with Ray and ended up falling back. At one point I had to stop altogether and relax but that only resulted in a car picking me up. The driver said she couldn’t leave me by myself and I had to either skate in a pack or be chaperoned. Anyway, we met up with Caroline shortly thereafter but the lady would NOT let me out of the car. After asking about 4 times, she simply drove right to the ruins passing everyone. I never felt more useless. I was not impressed but there was little I could do. Basically, the whole road skate was a bust for me but it was probably best for my little toe.

The Ruins:

After the race, the teams regrouped and got some great pictures before heading out to what I felt was the best collection of ruins we had seen thus far. It was just amazing. I can’t recall the name of the place but I hope we get to return there one day. It was stunning. Mini groups formed based on touring speed around the site and I did my best to spend some time in each one. Of course, the most entertaining was the Race Team group. Or more aptly called the Stephane Tremblay Babysitting Club. I tell ya, I am surprised that man wasn’t arrested! He has the energy of a 5 year old boy trapped in a 20something year old body. I can’t imagine the trouble that he could get himself into if left unsupervised. Whether it was chasing lizards with sticks and stones or throwing rocks everywhere, it was a challenge for the rest of the group just to keep up with him. Next year we will have to bring stronger medication. ;)

Week 2:

Tuxtla

At the airport, ending our first week, we sadly said goodbye to some team mates who decided not to come to Tuxtla for the second week of racing. The flight from Merida to Tuxtla was fast and relatively uneventful. However, upon landing I did get a strange twinge in my gut but I quickly brushed it off as a side effect to the meds I take when flying. (Big mistake)

The first thing we noticed was that Tuxtla was no Merida. It was like comparing Ottawa to New York City. Where Merida was a village like town (small city feel), Tuxtla was a bustling city with lots of dust and dirt and cars everywhere. It was city life all the way. You could see the pollution in the air and could definitely feel it in your lungs within a day or two. Cough Cough.

What was immediately evident while heading into the city was the car to taxi ratio. Where as here, there is about a 9:1 ration of cars to taxis, in Tuxtla it was the other way around. Every car was a taxi and every taxi honked its horn every 5 seconds. No shit! It was the constant soundtrack to the city. You could not get away from the honking. It haunted you at night and was relentless during the day. It was never ending. You have to experience it to understand the consistency of this noise. It is something I will never forget when I think about Tuxtla. That and the sidewalks, which proved more of a hinderence to my team mates than myself. I guess I am more coordinated in the walking department.

With that said, the team jumped in taxis and were quickly driven to our new home for the week. The dorms. Ah...the dorms. Where do I begin. And let me remind you that this is MY recollection of this place. I am sure that there are team members who loved the place..... ha ha

The Dorms:

Lets just say that the minute I walked in the place I knew that it was going to be an adventure. After picking up your one pillow, one bed sheet and food tickets for the week, we were shown to our dorm room which consisted of 4 bunk beds. The room was no bigger than 8 feet wide by maybe 10 feet long and considering we all had at least 2 pieces of luggage and skate bags, it made for a very tight fit. 8 men in a small room with no air conditioning....what was I thinking? Oh wait, it gets better.

The bed were made of wood but the bases were old fashioned wire spring netting. So just imagine your buddies ass hanging down in your face all night. Lovely. And the mattresses? Well, they were dark blue and about 5 inches wide and at first I thought they were patterned with polka dots but upon closer inspection I discovered that they were stained with....well everything you can imagine. And it was best you didn’t imagine for too long!!

The bathrooms were worse. Of the 5 stalls, none had seats and only 3 had doors. Toilet paper hung outside the stalls on the far wall and there were signs reminding people not to flush the paper down the toilet. Yup, you read that right. Paper was to be put in a bin beside the toilet. Yup. So you can just imagine the spring like fragrance of this place. And after only 1 day, all the toilets broke down and were blocked. What a joy that was. All in all, the bathrooms are what did me in . And did I mention no hot or warm water. Ya. That too. I lasted a night and ran out of that place screaming the next morning. Ray, Mike and Wilby were not far behind. For $12 a night, a clean bathroom and a hot shower, not to mention a reasonable bed, it was the best $12 bucks I have ever spent. For those who stayed, I take my hat off to you. Especially the women. I would have thought they would have been the first to leave. But I am not sure what their accommodations were like. Maybe they were better? Either way, I learned there was a limit to my "roughing it" standards.

Race Week:

Remember that flight I mentioned above? What started out as a "twinge" in my gut on the flight to Tuxtla turned out to be full out warfare against my body. Montezuma finally arrived and for the next 4 days I wasn’t able to leave my newly found hotel room, and while there, I pretty much camped out in the bathroom. No food and barely anything but Gatorade for days on end. I lost about 7 pounds in 4 days! It was a miserable experience that I never want to relive.

Needless to say, I missed all the races and couldn’t even cheer my teammates on. I spent about 2 hours at the track and other than that, I really couldn’t manage my time there. I needed constant access to "facilities" that were just too far away. That was what pissed me off the most. After all, I knew I wasn’t going to win anything but participating in providing support was just as important. I had to wait for updates from Ray or others each night and I only made it for one dinner in the whole week. I missed all the ceremonies and award stuff as well. It was a bummer for sure.

By the 5^th day, Friday, and 30 Immodium pills, it was slowly coming to and end. I finally managed to leave my hotel room and visit the marathon race for a few hours with Kim who was still suffering a bit herself. There, we said most of our goodbyes to the team as they finished the event one by one and got ready to return home that day or the next. Ray, myself and Kim were heading out on our own adventure to San Cristobal later that night, so we had to get our butts in gear and find a rental car. I have never been so happy to leave a place in my life. I couldn’t get out of Tuxtla faster. I am not sure if it was only because I was so miserable while there or if the city itself was not my thing but I still have a hard time finding anything memorable about the place.

The Jaguar:

Ray mirrored my views on Tuxtla but had his own issues with the city that far exceeded my complaints. In fact, it was in Tuxtla where we were introduced, for the first time, to the "Jaguar". A Tuxtla inspired creation comprised of 3 elements. One part rage, one part hunger and one part fatigue. Mixing parts of uneven sidewalks, blaring taxi cab horns, and mystery dorm food was all it took to mutate our soft spoken and often speechless Ray Vermette into his alter ego we have come to know as the Jaguar. A quick tempered, foul mouthed and easily agitated beast who attacks without prejudice at the slightest provocation. Once transformed, no man nor child was safe from the Jaguar.

As we laughed, teased and poked fun at our little Jaguar, little did we realize, Kim and I, that over the next 4 days, Ray’s mutation and influence would infect us as well transforming us into our own alter egos.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Jaguar, Pantera and the Minx are set loose on an un-expecting mountain town.