PEDAL BIKES AND SAINT

MISSIONS OF SIERRA GORDA, MEXICO: MARCH 7
The BMW BOYS have electric start. They are gone before I kick the Honda alive and lift the side stand. In most Latin American countries, I have passed bicycle races accompanied by police out-riders. Mexico has religious processions. I am close to Landa de Matamoros and pass a procession heading towards Japlan. They have around sixteen kilometers to walk.
Landa Matamoros is on what passes for a main road here in the sierra. The church is beautiful. I sit under the dome and make my death prayer. Students of photography from Mexico University throng the exterior. One aims her camera at me. I do likewise.

HELLS ANGELS FROM QUERETARO

SIERRA GORDA MISSIONS, MEXICO: MARCH 7
Jalpan is more a village than a town., The population slightly exceed five thousand. Of the Sierra Gorda missions, It was founded first and completed in 1774. I have a large room with an emperor size bed in the Maria del Carmen Hotel on the church square. Water is hot in a power shower. I should be happy. I am miserable. The hotel is vast. Its chill atmosphere is a reminder of pre-Glasnost Russia.
I leave to visit the missions at a reasonable hour. Landa de Matamoros is my first target, 18 Ks. I spot a line of BMW bikes outside a restaurant on the outskirts of town. The BMW Bike Club of Queretaro is breakfasting. I halt and present myself. The bikers seat me at the head of the table. They are of much the same background as my friend Don and his biker friends in Dallas, successful businessmen in their middle years. They are indulging an unfulfilled desire of their youth. They were too busy then, or short of funds. They are good companions, cheerful, funny, generous and intelligent.