01/01 Lot’s more hill climbing to start the New Year off. After the first huge climb I had a nice long decent down into a valley followed by a nice long climb back out of it again. Great views dropping down into the valley. Saw a fox munching on something down next to the road. Being sans camera no pictures.

I was hoping Magdalena would have a camera shop but I think I might have to wait one more day. I walked around for while but a lot of places are closed for the holiday and it would be hard for me to tell if place sold cameras without being able to see in the store. Since I’ll be in Guadalajara for a few weeks I’ll have some time to look around there for one. Or have one shipped if need be. I don’t stay with my Mexican hosts until Sunday night so I’ll have to find a place for tomorrow night.

Met a guy named Manny while I was sitting outside an ice cream place. He just rode right up on his bike, hopped off and then sat down and started talking. He gave me his card and it looks like he owns a store that sells opals and various other gems. Really friendly guy. It was too bad I couldn’t understand him.

The wind and long uphills helped me break what I think is my lowest average speed for the day, 8.9 mph.

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12/31 Happy New Year! I’ll be ringing in 2010 in style with some sugar cane, apples, yogurt and a big bottle of Tecate. I suppose I could wander around town and join in on the celebrations but I have to be in Guadalajara in a couple days and staying out drinking won’t help. Can’t wait to see what the next year brings.

The last day of the year started out on a sour note. I lost my camera. I think it bounced out of the bag I keep it in while I was riding down the first hill out of Tepic. I noticed it was gone at mile 9 but there was no way I was going to ride back uphill for 9 miles looking for a probably broken camera. Hopefully I find a place to buy a new one tomorrow because I missed out on some good pictures today. Saw 2 volcano, a huge lava field and lots of incredible views of the valley I rode down into.

Skipped the toll road today and took 15 all the way. I guess it wasn’t that bad but it was very busy. No shoulder for 90% of the way of course. To add to the craziness more than a hundred car/truck loads of New Year’s party goers were driving in huge caravans to some unknown destination. I got plenty of waves from everyone passing by.

Had an amazing BBQ lunch at a place called La Sierra. Met my very first cocaine drug dealer there. His name was Eddie and he lived in California for 25 years so his English was very good. He’s not in the business anymore and unfortunately his time as a millionaire drug dealer cost him 4 years in state prison, his marriage and he can’t visit his kids because they are in the US and he’s not allowed back. He didn’t blame anyone but himself but we both agreed that the “war on drugs” is a joke. I left a good impression when I told him the big news.

The big news is that I’m going to take a Spanish class in Guadalajara for 3 weeks. I spent the day in Tepic yesterday trying to find a good school and get registered (on short notice). Classes start 01/04 and I’ll be in the “intensive” course for four hours a day, five days a week. They had a number of housing options available so I decided to try to get the most out of this so I’m going to be staying with a Mexican family associated with the school the entire time. The cost of staying there also includes 3 meals a day. Hopefully after this I’ll be able to carry on somewhat of a conversation with the people I meet. The class and housing cost a bit of money so I have to skip the side trip to Cuba that I was planning. Maybe some other time.

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