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You know, it doesn’t take long for inertia to settle in if you’re not paying attention.  I’ve was off the road and back in Sedona for about six weeks and was really comfortable having daily showers, a nice  bed, access to plenty of ice and a stove.  To snap myself out of it, and being only about a 5 hour ride to Puerto Pensaco, MX (Rocky Point), I decided to take a ride to this sleepy fishing port.  I heard there was a motorcycle rally they host each year and it was happening this weekend.  This rally is billed as “The greatest motorcycle fiesta just south of the boarder”, so it seemed worth the ride.  Oh, and it was worth it.

I motorcycled down to Puerto Vallarta Mexico just about 9 months ago and was in country about two weeks.  I learned that the drivers are much more aggressive here, but I know from that trip that Rocky Point is a straight shot on decent roads and only about an hour over the boarder.  I stopped there on the way back from Puerto Vallarta, so I was familiar with this nice peaceful fishing village.  The weather on the ride was beautiful, only I forgot to put some sun screen on so my cheeks, lips and nose got burnt pretty good. I had been warned that with the motorcycle rally, the long weekend and this being the second busiest event of the year here, I might not be able to find a room.  I accepted this warning as a challenge and didn’t book anything ahead of time.

When I got to Rocky Point I went to the hotel where I stayed last time through here when nothing was going on.  They did have a room, but I was only able to book one night because the weekend was sold out.  This hotel is on the outskirts of town so it did not strike me as a good omen, but I wasn’t worried.  So I got the room, unloaded my gear and rode to the Main Street in the old part of town which is where the bike gathering is held.  I actually ended up being at the tail end of a group of bikers riding into town called the “Bling Divas”.  It was an all female group of riders on big banging Harley’s, about 9 strong, playing loud music and decked out in white and pink with lots of sequence.  I thought riding along with them was kind of fun except for the fact that they were all sleeveless and had better toned arms then I do.  The main street wasn’t too crowded yet since it was only Thursday so I took a couple of laps around the block now, figuring it would be busier over the weekend.  Little did I know then how correct I was. 

Friday started amping up around 10:00AM and the Main Street was now filling up with motorcycles and people.  By around 2:00PM the main drag was really getting packed with some bikes double parking two deep on both sides of the street.  Also a lot of the folks that arrived earlier were now already drinking for several hours so it was getting crazier and louder.  By around 4:00PM the street was packed and chaotic with parked motorcycles and pedestrians  The whole time since the morning, there was a steady procession of motorcycles coming onto the street which is a one way.  The street was so jammed that the continuing line of bikes coming down the street had about three or four feet of lane to pass through now.

I guesstimate that it was taking about 30 minutes to ride about a half mile down the street at this point.  Bikers that were stopped and waiting in traffic would rev their engines, or burn rubber with their back tires.  See someone you know as you’re riding down the street, just pull over and talk for a bit while creating another bottleneck.  It was pretty much happy chaos.

Regarding the rules here, I don’t think there were any.  It seemed that as long as you didn’t outright attack someone or really somehow tick off the police, many carrying automatic rifles, everything else was pretty much okay.  Want to drink at a bar, no problem.  The bar is too crowded and you decide to walk out on the adjoining roof ledge and sit, okay.  Walk around with your drink outside, sure go ahead.  Bring coolers full of your own beer, and sometime even a little trailer full of beer being towed by a bike, great.  Sit up in the balcony of a bar and flash your female parts to pedestrians for beads, or stand in the street and flash your female parts to people on the balcony for beads… yes please.  Ride down the street and keep revving your bike that has pipes so loud they rattle your brain and cause hearing loss, have at it.  Park your bike up on the Malecon (boardwalk area) where the pedestrian are walking, sure thing… but maybe only the first thousand bikes or so.  How about installing a siren on your bike and sounding it off as your stuck in traffic so it sounds like the police are coming, super.

There were a lot of motorcycle clubs here all in their vests with club names and logos on them.  I actually took a count at one point of the clubs with large contingents and there were over 25 groups.  Most seemed pedestrian, some were real deal hard core.  One outlaw bike club that are confirmed badasses was also here.  They too were just having a good time.  The male members of this group of course had their vests and club name and the females that rode with some of them had “Property of so and so” on their vests.  The one that caught my eye was one gal whose vest read “Property of Dirt Bag”.  Ah romance.  Only time there was any issue with these particular folks was when they wanted to leave.  They decided that they were going to ride upstream by going the wrong way on this packed one way street with no room to make that happen.  They eventually made it through and I guess it somehow symbolized that they do things their way, although it probably took them a lot longer to get out of there. 

It was a crowded and wild Friday, and not everyone is here yet!

I got up Saturday morning and around 8:30AM went to the coffee shop a couple of blocks away from my hotel.  It was still just brewing it’s first batch of coffee.  In the states Starbucks opens around 5:30AM, but in Mexico… what’s the rush.  On a side note, Sunday I went around 9:00AM and it still wasn’t even open. Seems that the diet center was up and at ’em though and put this ad display out.

Anyway today more people poured into town.  I had a parking spot already so I wasn’t moving my bike for the rest of the day. Today not only did the street seem even more crowded with parked bikes, but on the surrounding blocks people were just parking their bikes on the sidewalks, or any space that a bike might fit.  Today there were a couple of bands playing in the afternoon in the center of this all chaos.  One was a Leonard Skynnard cover band and the other was a band called Mogallion both out of AZ that I’ve seen a couple of times.  On a side note my sister is a big fan of Mogallion and she even has a picture of the lead singer and herself hanging on the wall in her bedroom.  Not to be out done, and to tease her, I got one too. 

Today was just another day in Bizarre-O world.  I realized this rally wasn’t so huge, it was more that 8,000 bikes and wall to wall people were trying to jam onto one street and everyone wanted to be seen and heard.  Today some biker clubs actually brought along canape tents and staked out spots so they had some shade and a place to gather and drink.  Also each group seemed to have their own music selection blaring.  So every 50 feet or so you would be listening another type of mostly Mexican music. 

About mid day I needed a break and took a walk down to where the fishing boats dock and where they sell fresh seafood right on the street.  I thought I saw a stand selling prepared foods when I passed by the other day.  I was correct and found these great seafood and shrimp tacos that were only $1.50 each.  After this short respite I went back to the party.

Interestingly, I found no need to party hard myself.  I only had a couple of light beers each day and then a drink with dinner.  There was just so much going on, you really didn’t need to be buzzed, you were already in a altered world.  The second thing although this party was only on one street that I guesstimate to be about a 1/2 mile long, the step counter on my phone said I walked about 9 miles each day.  I didn’t want to just stay in one spot, so I kept moving and taking in the craziness. By the way, this picture is not of a fire, its just yet another biker burning up his back tire while sitting in line to make it down the street.

Mexico surely gets some bad press about how dangerous it is, but like the US and just about everywhere else in the world, you can find trouble and it can sometimes find you.  I’ve motorcycled in country twice now and covered several thousand miles and had nothing but a great experience.  Sometimes you end up somewhere that doesn’t feel quite right or is making you really uneasy, follow your instincts and leave.  If it’s someplace that just makes you uncomfortable because it’s not like home, great, maybe you will learn something.  Even at this motorcycle rally with all the drinking, biker clubs, young men with high testosterone levels and some genuine bad asses, I haven’t seen one negative instance or issue. 

So I give Puerto Penasco, Mexico a big thumbs up.  You surely don’t need to go to the motorcycle rally here if that’s not your thing.  I have also been here when there were no events and it’s really a great little town on the water, with fresh seafood and nice people… plus it’s only about a hour ride over the border.  Enjoy…