Date:
26 March – 24 April 2005

Participants:
Lucyna and Igor Czajkowscy

Distance covered by bicycle:
700 km

After Igor's return from yet another expedition, I told myself: enough is enough! Why am I always staying in Poland, taking care about home and our company, helping my husband prepare for the next journey, welcoming him home after return, listening about what he has seen and been through.? I guess the fun is in sharing all such experiences. Thus I decided to hop on the bike too.

Why Mexico?
It was my idea. I didn't know much about this country: Sombrero, Tequila, Tortilla. I started reading about the Aztecs, Mayas, their pyramids, about the cuisine, siesta, diving. One night Igor was tired with work – as usual – and had difficulty falling asleep. He was in the "I-haven't-been-anywhere-for-a-long-time" mood, so he went to another room to "quiet down at his computer". I was almost asleep when he came back to bed and announced that he had just booked the tickets on-line. What? When? Where to? We talked about it for quite a while. Eventually, we decided to take a loan and fly there. We bought guidebooks, a map, and planned the itinerary. On arrival it turned out that the temperature was high and the distances between destinations were vast, so we had to travel by bus most of the time. Obviously buses were not compulsory, but without them we would have seen just a third of all those beautiful places. And these were my first exotic holidays! We covered a distance of about 700 km by bike.

PLEASE NOTE!
You may develop a serious condition while in Mexico! Whoever visits this country once will want to go back year after year, and possibly even live there.
What are the symptoms?

-	You are delighted with the azure of the Caribbean,

-	You sigh with joy, lying in a hammock under the open sky, sipping a Margarita or a cold beer,

-	You taste everything you can see on market stalls, without worrying about 'Montezuma's revenge',

-	After returning to your country, you don't feel like eating any other fruit, but Mexican pineapples and mangos,

-	You long for the evenings in the rhythm of salsa,

-	You realise that Mexico prides itself on the second longest coral reef in the world,

-	You have visited Maya ruins and cenotes, you have eaten the best shrimps in the world while sitting on the beach, and you still feel like you haven't had enough!

This is an incurable condition and it is our duty to warn you against it! But if you still feel like taking the risk, go on to read our memoirs. You will find some tips there.

Lucyna.