02/13 Today was a little disappointing. The reason for my trip up here was to see the San Nicolas de Tolentino. My guide book says it’s the most magnificent of all Mexico’s monastic complexes. I mean it was nice and everything but I guess I was a little under whelmed. There were services going on inside so I just rode around the outside checking it out.

Next stop for tomorrow is the Church of San Francisco Javier. The art inside is supposed to take my breath away.

Had a couple long climbs today but nothing too bad. Mex-85 was perfect 90% of the time. For some reason they decided to get rid of the shoulder on parts that needed it most. Without it I had to ride in one of the two lanes next to cars ripping by at 80 mph+. In one of the towns I passed they had a festival going on so I rode over to check it out. There was a cop working there that went to school in Massachusetts so we talked for a while. There was a tonne of food and a band playing but I had to hit the road since the first big climb of the say was waiting for me.

GPX Track

One of the things I needed to do while I was lounging around here for a week was to figure out where I’m going next. After digging through web sites, my travel guide (Knopf Guides – Mexico) and checking to see if my road selections were feasible I think I have a plan. Here’s what I came up with:

There’s a fair bit of looping around to get to places but there are only so many (paved) roads. I wasn’t planning on heading over to the Yucatan but how could I not visit Chichen Itza? There are a so many amazing looking sites that I’m dying to get back on the road again.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell the dentist story. So I show up for my appointment and am told to head upstairs. The dentist lady is there and tells me to go ahead and lay down in the chair. I plop down and am momentarily distracted when she turns on some soft music. A second later a candle has filled the room with the scent of fresh roses. Was something lost in translation? Was I about to get a massage instead of a teeth cleaning? She walked over and sat down next to me and, much to my dismay, told me to open up. No soothing backrub for me. She ended up telling me I didn’t need a cleaning so I left. That seemed weird too. It makes me wonder if the dentist I’d been using back in the States was just going through the motions so they could bill my insurance. Who knows.

Weather in Mazatlan when posted:

Temperature: 24 °C, Humidity: 50%, Wind Speed: 15km/hr, Cloud Cover: few clouds