Four Flats in 24 Hours!

Centro Ecologico Sian Ka’an (CESiaK) Biosphere Reserve is a 1.3 million acre protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, the largest protected area in the state of Quintana Roo.  We are going to do a four-day, self supported bicycle trip in the Reserve.  We will be riding along the Boca Paila Peninsula, a narrow strip of land with a road that extends for approximately 56 kilometers from Tulum to Punta Allen.  There are beaches on one side of the peninsula and protected wetlands and mangrove lagoons on the other.  Our plan is to spend the first night in the Cesiak tent cabins, which are about 15 kilometers from Tulum.  The next day we will continue riding towards Punta Allen to Xamach Dos for two nights.  On Sunday we will ride all the way back to Tulum.

All afternoon we tried to let the tour begin but we were plagued with flat tires.  It started on Wednesday night with the flat that Sammy got in the driving rain while we were riding to dinner in the dark.  After dinner, Aimee got hers while riding double with Sammy (Mexican style) on our way home.  Of course we didn’t have any extra tubes or tools with us.  John offered to speed walk both of their bikes back to the hotel while Aimee and Sammy rode double on his bike.  Yesterday, there were more flats. We went to install a rear rack on one of the bikes at our hotel and it had a flat tire as well.  While Marco changed the tire, we went to exchange Aimee’s bike for the other one at Nelly’s house. Surprise!  That bike had a flat tire as well!  At 5:30 pm, four repaired flat tires later, Aimee, Sammy, Azor, Brook and I began our trip into Sian Ka’an.  We were pleased to roll into Cesiak just before dark two hours later.  The 360 degree view from the top of the restaurant was stunning; aquamarine ocean to the east and green lagoon or bay to the west.

Coatimundi

John:  Since we had not heard from Mark Goodwin by 5:00 pm and could not let him know how to get himself to Cesiak to meet us, I volunteered to wait at the bus station and bike with him once he arrived.  I didn’t know which bus he would be on, or if he would show up at all that evening.  I was thinking I best get myself on the road by 7:00 pm.
So I was glad to see him get off the bus at 6:35.  Once in the Reserve, in the twilight we saw a critter with a distinctive shape crossing the dirt road.  It looked familiar to me but it took some online research to recall that the animal is a coatimundi, which Eydie and I saw plenty of in Costa Rica years ago.

John:  On another note, two nights ago I developed an earache and couldn’t sleep well.  Yesterday my case of swimmer’s ear got worse, so I started using eardrops and a course of azithromycin to stop the infection.  This combination worked for me in Fiji, stopping the infection quickly.  No such luck this time.  Last night I had a fever and the ear wept a bit of fluid.  It’s still fairly painful and annoying.  I’d like an ear doctor to examine it but I’ve no good ideas on how to make that happen soon.  We are now in a remote location, Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, a one-hour bicycle ride from the town of Tulum.  I am guessing that the nearest ENT practice is in the area of Cancun, a two hour drive by private car, or more by public bus.  Adding to my concern is that today is Friday.  Specialist care may not be available tomorrow or the next day.  I’m not sure what to do.

Brook:  Azor, Sammy, Aimee, Mom and I didn’t see a coatimundi but we came across a really long line of leaf cutter ants.  The line stretched for about 100 feet and then swerved off the road further than we could see.  This is the first time we’ve seen leaf cutters in the wild.  The only other place that we have seen them is the Montshire Museum in Norwich. 

Mark: Riding on the bus, the mystery was mounting as to whether or not my family was going to be at the bus station in Tulum. This could prove important, as I was not quite sure where I was supposed to be going, dark was approaching, and my Spanish is essentially nonexistent. I was picturing having to sleep on the side of the road somewhere. Immediately after getting off the bus, lo and behold, I heard my name being called and saw John reading on his iPad in an empty bus station. What a relief! He had a bike ready for me to ride to our destination. After many hours of sitting on my butt in buses and planes, it was great to be on a bike exercising. I was also enjoying the smells and the heat of the Caribbean environment again.

Sammy: I wasn’t sure about biking until I got a small mountain bike, a distant cousin of my bike back home, the Mountain Lion. I inherited the Mountain Lion from Brook and then Azor. Before I rented my bike from Braulio, I had to ride on the seat of my mom’s and John’s bigger bikes. It was very uncomfortable riding double with them.

I’m not used to biking on my own so I got tired very quickly but I wanted to keep up with Brook and Azor so I got tired even faster. When we got to Cesiak, Azor, Brook and I jumped in the ocean. The waves were bigger than we expected. I was relieved to be there. Our waiter that evening was nice. His name was Geronimo. The next day we went to the beach again. We played a game where we pushed each other into the waves.