02/07 Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I lucked out and found a motel with a TV before the end of the 2nd quarter. Not sure what station I was watching but did I see a freaking SUV advertisement superimposed on the playing field? Is that new? How annoying. I changed the channel to another one that wasn’t doing that. It’s my first Super Bowl in Spanish. The commercials don’t seem like anything special. I guess that makes sense though.

The highway numbers were messing with me today. My map said I’d be on a toll road all day so I was all psyched up to sneak around toll booths. I ended up on a free highway (Mex-43) that was just fantastic. The road was in great condition and there was a huge shoulder. Couple little hils but nothing like a few days ago. I also had a strong tailwind from the SE all day. The wind is supposed to be even stronger over the next couple days so I’m glad I’m going north. All this made up for having to fix my front tire that I noticed was flat right when I was getting ready to leave. It gave me time to chat with one of the guys that works in the motel while I was fixing it so it worked out OK.

I think its time I started looking to replace my poor old front tire. Its not worn through enough to see the tube or anything but it has to be getting pretty thin. The Mr. Tuffy liner I have inside is probably the only thing keeping me from getting flats all day. Maybe I’ll hold out until Mexico City.

When I made it into Morelia I was surprised how big it was. Traffic was crazy. Riding wasn’t bad but I had to wait forever for cars to pass so I could take pictures of things. In the central plaza there were all these crazy looking people in costume tap dancing so I stopped and watched that for a while. After stopping for a beer I cruised around the historic area a bit but decided not to stay. Leaving was a little challenging. Someone had plastered stickers over the highway signs so I wasn’t sure what road I should be on. I ended up just heading north like my GPS said and it worked out.

The town I’m staying in is different from any other town I’ve been in. All the buildings along the main street are exactly the same and the name of the store is written in black letters on the building but there are no signs or anything. I rode right by the hotel. Had to stop and ask a cop for directions. When I was walking back that way to get some food I smelled pot for the first time in Mexico. A scruffy looking guy had lit one up in the plaza not 100 feet from the police officer who was directing traffic. Seemed very strange considering what I’d heard about drug enforcement down here.

When I came back to the hotel the door to my room was open a little. I would have locked it but the lady said they only had one key for it so she didn’t give me one. The main door is locked all the time so I wasn’t worried about it when I left. I’m the only one staying here too. There’s a little kid running around inside. Maybe she opened it. Nothing was missing.

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02/01 A thousand angry roosters. That’s what I woke up to. They were roused from their beauty sleep at 6am just like I was thanks to the neighbors from hell shooting off more damn rockets. That went on until 8am which is when the street music and loudspeakers started up again. Crazy.

The fireplace was nice but I noticed this morning that all my stuff had a thin layer of black soot all over it. Oops. No wonder it looked like I’d been snorting charcoal when I blew my nose.

The morning took a fast turn for the worse when I went to raise my bike seat up to provide some relief for my knees. With the seat raised to the right height, I started to tighten the bolt that crimps the seat clamp tighter. That’s when I hear SNAP. The bolt broke in half and now nothing was keeping my seat from moving side to side. At least it was already as low as it could go. Using my new Spanish skills I asked a guy on the street if there was a bike shop in town. There was and I even understood the directions. Found the place and said a little prayer that they’d have a bolt. They did! Sweet. I was back in business.

The weather finally won and I wore my rain pants for the first time in months. It didn’t actually rain until I was almost in Uruapan but it was still cold. Met a really cool guy just into the city. He’d stopped his car ahead of me and got out to ask all kinds of questions about bicycle touring (in English). Hope he gives it a shot.

Also saw my very first car accident in Mexico (actually on this entire trip). A delivery truck was stopped heading down a hill because the car in front of him had stopped in the road to make a left. A white car behind the delivery truck wasn’t paying attention and slammed into the back of the truck. Fortunately the car wasn’t going more than 10 mph. The driver of the white truck didn’t even get out! He just drove off. The white car was drivable so he took off too. I guess dealing with the police/insurance isn’t worth it.

Staying in a nice hotel (US $23) since it was the only one I could find away from the central area and not on a main road. I need some rest tonight. Not 2 minutes after got here someone started shooting off the same exploding rockets I had to listen to all day yesterday. Love it. They stopped after an hour so I have my fingers crossed.

I found out from some backpackers in Angahuan that the street parties were part of a 3 day wedding celebration. They couldn’t stand the noise either so it’s not just me. Today is also the first Monday of February which is when Mexico celebrates Día de la Constitución (Constitution Day) so there might be some fireworks tonight.

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01/30 Today ended up being kind of brutal. Two things did me in fairly quickly. Number one was the climbing. I didn’t think I’d be going up quite so high. Broke 8000 feet which is the 3rd highest I’ve been on this trip. Made for some great views of the valley.

The weather wasn’t on my side either. The wind was strong and got stronger as I climbed up into the hills. It was also a little cold with the sky being mostly overcast. At the 20 mile mark I was about done. At mile 35 a trail leading up alongside a mountain looked like it could be home for the night but there wasn’t a good place to pitch the tent. Angahuan was only another 10 miles so I just kept going.

Passing through the small towns offered something new for me. Purepecha Indians live in the small, mountainside villages in this area and the differences between their culture and those of the Spanish population I’ve seen so far is striking. Women of all ages wear very colorful dresses and usually have their heads covered with a scarf. I haven’t seen any outright signs of poverty but the houses and condition of the streets makes it pretty clear that money is a lot harder to come by. Other than the main road running through the town most of the streets are either rough cobblestone or dirt.

In Angahuan I stopped at a visitor information center and asked if there was a motel in town. The answer was no but there was a place with cabanas. That worked so I asked for directions which I didn’t understand. The streets are all cobblestone so after a bumpy five minutes I was very surprised to see a hotel. The sign even said English speaking, internet and hot showers included. I pulled up to see how much it was and found out they wanted $31 US. Too rich for my blood. The sign was also misleading. No one spoke English and there was no internet. The English I normally don’t care about but it would have been nice to ask about getting a guide to visit the volcano. I’ll just wing it tomorrow.

Finding the cabanas was just dumb luck. I’d asked a few people where they were and the last guy pointed behind him– he was standing in front of them. There wasn’t a sign so I would have ridden right by considering the place didn’t look any different from any other building (it’s at N19 32.908 W102 13.661). It looks like there are two cabins. They are up on a hill so I have a nice view of the city. The door doesn’t lock but there’s a big stone fence surrounding the property so my stuff should be fine. The cabana is one of the best places I’ve stayed for the price. It was only $18 for 2 nights, there’s hot water, 2 beds, a table and a fireplace! I asked the lady about buying some firewood and when I came back she’d stacked a pile of it outside my door.

The big attraction here is the Paricutin volcano. In 1943 it erupted sending lava pouring down into the village of San Juan Parangaricutiro. Today only the church’s twin towers are visible. The lava completely covered everything else. My guide book says the church is accessible from town via foot or horseback but I’ll try hiking it tomorrow since my butt needs a rest.

Today must be a holiday because in the last town I rode through about ten teenagers were walking up the street in what looked like Halloween costumes. I was too tired to take a picture so I kept going. In Angahuan there’s a lot going on. The streets are filled with roving groups of musicians and street dancers. While eating some tacos at a street stand I asked the guy across from me, an English speaking drug dealer with silver front teeth, what the party was for. He made it sound like this happens here every weekend but I kind of doubt it.

Oh yeah… this morning as I was riding along the highway two guys in a pickup stopped ahead of me and when I got close and asked if they could get a picture. Kind of a funny thing to have happen. Also, when I was climbing up the mountain another pickup stopped and the guy driving asked if I wanted a lift to the top. It was tempting but I passed. Nice of him to stop and ask though.

GPX Track

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.

Weather in Guadalajara when posted:

Temperature: 15 °C, Humidity: 44%, Wind Speed: 3km/hr, Cloud Cover: n/a

Little update since its been a few days. Still in school although I changed my classes a little. For the first week I was the only student in both my morning and afternoon classes. Then on week two some more people joined in the class. The new people actually knew a little Spanish so it was kind of awkward for me to have to go through the lessons using my halting, child-like Spanish skills. I switched over to private classes so I can cram more learning time in. Picking up everything has been hard. Learning a new language is 100% all about memorizing things and there’s a lot to remember. My sentences are starting to take shape a little and my vocabulary is a lot better. I doubt I’m going to be able to have constructive 2 way conversations with anyone when I leave but if I can get the basics down I can always practice on the road.

The place I was staying didn’t work out so I moved into a school-owned private apartment. The people there were awesome but the room was too loud and I had to sit outside to get internet access. The new place is a 15 minute walk from school but its 100x quieter and it has wireless.

One of the 2 things I ordered from the States via eBay arrived after just a week. It was a GE 26695 VoIP In-Ear Headset/Earphone & Inline Microphone. Got it for when I’m using Skype. It’s crap. The headphone part is fine but the microphone is terrible. Even with the PC mic volume all the way up recorded sounds are barely audible (Skype’s software even warns about it when making a call). The background hissing is also distracting.

The other thing I ordered, the immersion heater, hasn’t arrived but I saw one in a store and bought it since it was only US $2.65. Some of them don’t have a long life expectancy so I’ll hang on to both if the other one gets here before I leave.

Oh, I tried grasshoppers for the first time yesterday. A friend of mine, Beata ordered something off the menu called Delicious Crepe. Well on the English section of the menu it had the real name of the dish: Grasshopper Crepe. She went ahead and ordered it and we all tried some. The little hoppers had been fried up and seasoned with various things. I had 3 and thought they were pretty good. Will I start riding with my mouth open now? No.

After the grasshopper dinner we took a taxi to Guadalajara and watched Sherlock Holmes (in English–good movie too). I’ve had a cold for the last few days so the 40 F rainy weather was kind of brutal but I had a great time. They had a Dairy Queen at the mall too. First one I’ve seen in Mexico.

The pics below are just random ones from different days last week.

Weather in Guadalajara when posted:

Temperature: 9 °C, Humidity: 61%, Wind Speed: 4km/hr, Cloud Cover: n/a