01/29 Nice ride today although the wind was blowing pretty hard and I had it in my face most of the day. The shoulder that enjoyed so much yesterday disappeared after the city of La Barca so it was just me and the trucks. Traffic was fairly busy however only 2 vehicles honked when they were right beside me so I’m thankful for that. One advantage of riding on smaller highways is a noticeable drop in road debris. Scenery was limited to farm land and it wasn’t until later in the day that some big hills and (hopefully) dormant volcanoes.

A total of 3 people tried to talk to me when I was riding. This whole not being able to understand/speak to people really sucks.

Once in Zamora de Hidalgo I headed for the very large Our Lady of Guadalupe Unfinished Cathedral. It hard to miss being the 2nd tallest church in Mexico. About 128,000 people live in the city but riding on the streets is a lot easier than big cities in the States. I think it’s because people are so used to bicycles on the road. There were a couple times that someone almost opened a door on me but I keep a closer eye out for this since my accident in Ensenada.

GPX Track

Fast ride for my first day on the road in almost a month. Had a nice tailwind and riding on Mex-23 and Mex-35 was a dream. Both highways had fair-sized shoulders which made for a more relaxing ride. There was a lot of broken glass and tire debris on the road and at one point I dug a piece of wire out of my front tire, fortunately before it dug in and caused a flat.

Ocotlan, considered the furniture capital of Mexico, has been interesting so far. On the way into the city center a guy pulls up in a pickup and asks in English if I can stop and talk. Why not. I pulled up behind where he’d stopped. He just wanted to know about my trip and I was happy to tell him all about it since he was the only person I’d spoken to all day. He seemed very surprised that I came to Mexico given the drug problems and associated criminal activity. Not much I could say to that other than you only live once and a bunch of drug lords aren’t going to stop me. We talked for a few minutes and then I took off.

The only thing that seems different about this city compared to the other ones are the half dozen police officers standing around with fully automatic weapons and bullet proof vests. I took a picture of one of them standing outside a motel. I did ask first but he didn’t say yes or no so I took one. He didn’t seem too thrilled and I half expected to get arrested or at least yelled at.

I checked Google to see if there is a higher crime problem here but nothing popped up. The police chief and two officers were killed today in Morelia which is about 100 miles away so maybe security is a little higher because of that? Or maybe they were guarding the the alter in the church which is dipped in gold?

GPX Track

Back on the road tomorrow. Was out with some friends last night and nothing is worse than riding with a hangover.

School is over! Finished my last class on Friday. I’m still in town and will hang out here for another couple days. Need some time for all my new Spanish knowledge to sink in. The apartment I was staying in wasn’t available past today so I had to get a motel room. Overall I’m glad that I stopped to take the classes but I am kind of disappointed that my vocabulary is still pretty weak. Not knowing words kind of hinders ones ability to form sentences. I’ll keep practicing using some online courses I found and hopefully get better. I definitely know about hundred times more than what I started with so that’s good at least.

Went to a place called Isla de Mezcala today with Beata, Sarah and a guide from the school (and one of his friends). The island is about a 15 minute boat ride onto Lake Chapala, the largest fresh water lake in Mexico. The structures on the island consisted of some old officer’s quarters, a church, an infirmary and a prison. The island was abandoned for a long time so a lot of the original structures fell into disrepair. It didn’t help that people kept stealing the doors and windows either. Restoration didn’t begin on the island until 2004 so there’s still lot’s of work to do.

Took advantage of a beautiful, sunny day and rode in the Via RecreActiva in Guadalajara. Via RecreActiva is a weekly 6 hour event where they clear the cars from certain streets and only pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed on them. About 150,000 people then get to ride along about 15 miles of roadway completely free of cars through the 2nd largest city in Mexico. The whole thing was amazingly well-organized. Cross streets all had either volunteers or police to manage cars wanting to cross the route and every mile or so there were repair stations for people that had flats or other bike issues. It’s a shame more cities don’t promote events like this.

The plan was for me to ride my bike to Guadalajara and meet up with Beata, Diana and Isaac at the place that loans bicycles to people. Unfortunately by the time they got to the bike place there were no more bikes left. We just ended up just walking along the sidewalk checking out all the bikes and people. After a couple miles we made it to a mall at which point Isaac went home and the girls went shopping. I jumped on my bike and rode along with the other cyclists. I ended up riding about 14 miles through the city until hunger set in and it was time to head home.