Hi there!  Lesley here.  Crashing in on The Chronicler’s domain with some thoughts for you.

Since we arrived in Mexico on Sunday morning, I’ve been pedalling along trying to pin down what it is that makes me feel so generally happy and content to be here.  What in particular changed at the border?  Believe me, there were many things – I don’t think I have ever crossed a land border where the changes have been quite so immediate and so profound.

We arrived from the USA; a country whose culture and lifestyle is also very different from that of Scotland.

So, with no judgement as to what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, here are my impressions so far.

Folk out and about on foot; people in plazas and on pavements, waiting for buses or hailing taxis.  Children playing in the streets.  In the parts of the US where we were travelling, folk don’t walk, and there are few, if any, buses.  Suddenly, there are people around that you can talk to and ask questions of, and share a smile.  Much harder when everyone is in a car.

The chaotic traffic and the lip-service paid to the rules of the road.  Strange as it may seem, this actually makes cycling a little easier.  Because everyone drives the same way, erratic behaviour is tolerated in a way that it is not in more law-abiding societies.  For example, if these two strange vehicles, these loaded touring bikes, discover they need to be three lanes over in order to effect a left turn, there is a pretty good chance of folk holding back while we get there.  In Scotland or the US, it is often a case of dismounting and using the pedestrian phases of the lights – something that can be incredibly protracted.  Crazy, stressful, yes.  But a different sort of crazy…

Real food.  For the first time in weeks, we had food that was made for us from the base ingredients, and not something that came frozen from a Sysco truck.  Our joy on being presented with a ‘burro’ stuffed with grilled beef, cheese, beans and veggies, was immense.  No, it wasn’t a burrito; this thing was made with a tortilla about 70 or 80 cm across, the finished product had about the same size and heft as 2 litre bottle of water, and served two.  There may even have been happy noises as we demolished it.  Yes, real food can be found in many places in both Scotland and the US; but for a hapless stranger out in the sticks, it can be hard to find.  Here, it is everywhere.  Yesterday, breakfast of eggs ad refried beans, cooked to order at a roadside stand.

Ripe fruit.  Folk in the UK and the US are so accustomed to unripe fruit that it has become the norm. The taste of properly ripened fruit is incomparable.

The presence of cheap and cheerful hotels and motels in most settlements; faded glory or great intentions, these wee places are safe and welcoming.

The prices!  Being a poor, beleaguered Brit at the mercy of the current exchange rate, we found our time in the US extremely expensive.  Suddenly, the basics of a travelling cyclist’s life – food and accommodation – are cheaper by two thirds to three quarters.  This in the notoriously expensive, touristy area of northern Baja California.

There you have it.