Nothing much in the way of scenery. The mountains were OK but I like trees on them and these are pretty bare. Tomorrow will be different. There are boat tours that run you up the Rio Grijalva, Mexico’s 2nd largest river so you can see the Canon del Sumidero. It’s an 18 mile long fault with canyon walls that reach heights up to 3,280 feet. The tour is about 6 hours so we’ll hang out here for another night.

US $7.94 for the el cheapo room at the motel we’re staying at. It’s the worst room I’ve ever stayed in though. Funny how that happens. I guess I can just say the worst thing about it to put things in perspective. There’s a used condom on the floor by the bathroom. The strange part is the fact that there were no curtains on the front window and it faces right out into the street. I hope I wasn’t expected to put on some kind of performance tonight because I’m too tired. I’m definitely using my sleeping bag tonight. Pete’s in the next room so I can yell over if any bugs try to devour me–one section of the adjoining wall doesn’t quite make it up to the ceiling. I’d change motels but the timing of the tour kind of screws things up a little. It’s the Hotel Posada de Sonia if anyone wants to visit.

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I’m having them shipped to a bike shop that I found online. It was my first stop where I got here. The owner speaks English/Spanish but had no motivation whatsoever to help me order the tires. I’ll name names after I pick them up from his store. Bike shop people are either really nice or really dickish. There doesn’t seem to be a middleground.

I cheated and jumped on the toll road today. My GPS showed all kinds of tight, winding turns on the free road and that’s not good sign with all the hills. My legs were starting to feel it and another day of heavy climbing would have hurt. There were some long climbs on the toll road but these roads were designed to nearly identical standards as the US Interstate Highways System so cutouts were made to avoid really steep grades. There are also bridges. There are virtually none on the free roads. If a valley is in the way you are going down it and then right back up.

My friends Marten and Karin are a couple days behind me but we talked tonight and I should have some company for the weekend.

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To me it seems like people just don’t care the same way they don’t care about following other kinds of normal regulations like speed limits, no passing zones, stop signs, driving in actual lanes (not side-by-side in a lane either) or red lights. Driving like a manic is one thing since its not a visible thing (if you don’t count the makeshift roadside memorials at every curve in the road) but tossing out your garbage is a pretty simple thing to not do unless you just don’t care.

The government is useless too. There are virtually no public garbage bins outside the main tourist areas in major cities. Stores owners sometimes leave cardboard boxes out for people to use. The highway through Baja and the toll roads are the only roads that have roadside stops with garbage bins. The ones on Baja were usually overflowing but its a start. There are no “chain gangs” cleaning up the roads. Why not? I’m sure there are prisoners here. I’d guess that having the police/guards outside would be dangerous since the drug cartels would have a field day so maybe that’s a bad idea. Thanks useless War on Drugs. And is there some reason why plastic isn’t recycled? At least 80% of the garbage lining the roads are plastic bottles. Maybe ban them? Oh that won’t work because then the US distributors would start crying. Thanks NAFTA.

I know there are bigger issues here but getting people to respect their country seems important. Haven’t people heard the phrase, “A clean home is a happy home?” It has to bother the people that live here. I know the horrible drivers do because I see other drivers get pissed off at them all the time. Next time I run into someone I can actually talk to I’m going to ask them about it.

Anyway, if I kept my eyes from looking at the side of the road or my nose from smelling all the freaking dead animals (thanks speeders) the ride today was awesome– hilly, but awesome. The canyon I mentioned before was beautiful. The road ran alongside a huge dry river bed that must look incredible during rainy season. Lots of big and small lizards running around too. I did have to avoid a lot of broken glass (litter/leftover from accidents) but for the most part the roads were in good shape.

The town I’m in is kind of rougher than the other ones of this size I’ve been in but it’s not too bad. What possessed me to stay in a motel right across the street from a church is beyond me. This one even plays little melodies every so often in addition to ringing every 15 minutes.

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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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The views were nice back down into the valleys but none of the pictures really turned out. The only real excitement happened when I ran into a huge traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Turns out a delivery truck had run off the road. It took 3 tow trucks to pull it back out because of the angle it was at. I was hoping the police would let me ride by but no luck. Had to stand in the sun for half an hour.

Patzcuaro is pretty interesting. It sits along the very large Lake Patzcuaro. The entire town has a very traditional look to it. The houses are made of adobe and/or wood and the roofs are tiled. The streets are mostly cobblestone. The UN even named it one of the 100 Historic World Treasure Cities. I did a little reading and would have skipped the fish I ate had I known that up until 2007 the towns along the lake used to dump their sewage directly into it. Maybe it came from somewhere else.

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The seat change made a big difference. My miles were low for the day but even if I’d ridden longer I think the discomfort would have been tolerable. The skinnier seat is the way to go it looks like.

The highway is still horrible for riding on. Further north it wasn’t as bad because there wasn’t drop if you did run off the road. All day today I had to ride with a shoulder drop and fairly busy traffic (car/truck passes at least every 20 seconds). The toll road, with its wide shoulder, would be nice but I don’t think the scenery would be nearly as good. It also skips a lot of the little towns that I like riding through.

Rosamorada is another town that only has one main road leading from the highway down into the town center. Navigating in smaller towns like this is so easy because the tallest building is always the church and it always sits next to the town square which is where all the stores and most of the motels are. The motel I found was only US $7.75. No hot water but the room is much bigger than the place last night. This place doesn’t have a toilet seat either. I might have to start packing my own.

You get tell not a lot of Americans visit this place because the entire time I was walking around people stared like I was from another planet. A few people tried to ask me things but I have no idea what they were saying. Sucks for both of us because I always have a bunch of questions from things I’ve seen during the day and there’s no one to ask.

In one of he outdoor bars I dropped in for a beer. The bartender and 2 customers were up at the counter (guy and girl). The guy kept trying to pimp out the girl to me which made for an uncomfortable drink because he kept using the p word to describe her and the group at the far table probably heard him (a kid was sitting at the table too). Needless to say I didn’t hang around.

I was going to have PB&J for dinner but this guy set up a hot dog stand right below my window and boy does it smell good.

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Beautiful scenery along the highway pretty much all day. The free road ran more or less parallel to the toll road but it wasn’t as flat which worked out perfectly because the views were better. There was one stretch where they joined together and I got to enjoy a luxury that I haven’t had since I left Mazatlan–a wide shoulder. It was kind of funny in a couple spots where they had rumble strips set up to slow traffic down. There would be a dozen street vendors lining the road with booth set up to sell what mostly appeared to be shrimp. Some of them even tried sell me some.

Staying at a motel in Acaponeta tonight. It’s a pretty big building and I thought it might be too expensive. It was only US $12 though. When I walked inside I looked up and was surprised to see that there’s no roof. It must get a little wet in here during rainy season. Walked around the town square for a bit checking out the sights. The central cathedral is huge. First town I’ve seen with a fountain in the town square too. There were lots of vendors sells pretty much everything on the outside edge of it. I bought a big chunk of what I think was honeycomb. Also got a big bag of dried fruit. Hopefully none of this makes me sick because all the food is out in the open and there were lots of bees enjoying the honey. No flies though so I should be OK.

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