01/31 After a quick 10 minute walk through town I arrived at the trail head to the Paricutin volcano. It winds down a pretty steep hillside for a mile and a half before it dumps you out into the (cooled) lava field. At first I thought about walking but my knees are still sore from yesterday so I gave a guy US $9 for a round trip guided tour on horseback. I’ve been itching to go horseback riding forever so this was perfect.

I sort of expected that I’d be riding with a guide down the hill so I felt a little bit silly when the guy handed the tether over to a kid that couldn’t have been older than 8 or 9. Instead of riding his own horse (or pony), he took the tether and started walking down the hill with the horse and I in tow. No child labor laws here. I got over the oddity of the situation once we started going down the hill and I realized that I wouldn’t have to climb back up.

Now I would have walked if the story I’d heard about the horses had been true. Someone wrote on a web site that they were malnourished but these ones looked pretty healthy. There were quite a few other people getting guided tours so maybe business has been picking up and they can take better care of the horses?

The ride down the rocky trail went OK; only one minor slip. After getting through the trees we rode along a trail that had been cut into the lava field. Nature has made a pretty good comeback and there were lots of cacti, trees and plants growing up out of the rocks. We reached the base area where vendors had set up a half-dozen tents selling everything from crafts to food. After hopping off my ride I was told to come back whenever I was ready to leave.

There’s a “trail” leading to the base that takes you up and over some rocks for a few hundred feet. Good hiking shoes are definitely recommended. The ruins of the old church looked amazing. The lava flowed from almost a mile away and destroyed everything but the front facade and what I think was the rear wall. You are pretty much free to go anywhere so I jumped from rock to rock checking out the area.

On the way out I stopped for a couple tacos that were made using some kind of green flour. They tasted great. Then it was over to where the horses were waiting. The same kid that walked me down the trail brought my horse over and once mounted up I followed along behind as he climbed back up the hill. That 8 year old must be in great shape.

Everything past here is just me bitching.

I have to rant about the thing I hate more than anything else on Earth– loud noise. I understand that the Mexican culture embraces music, especially loud music, but for the life of me I can’t figure why any sane person would tolerate having to listen to the other crap that goes on here. For example, right next door to me kids(?) are shooting off rockets (not fireworks) that do nothing except explode with a bang that’s as loud as a thunder crack. They set one off every 20 seconds or so. They’ve been doing this for almost 2 hours now. Yet no one will do anything. Not quite true though. The block parties have been going on all day and I noticed that when the rocket frequency increased the loudspeaker-driven music volume increased exponentially. The closest party is 5 blocks away and I can easily hear it over my iTouch cranked up to 90% max volume. I gave that up at the risk of going deaf.

It’s not just the music and the amateur space cadets next door either. Dogs are allowed to bark incessantly all day and night, trucks with massive speakers mounted on the back drive up and down the streets blaring out tape recorded advertisements all day, car alarms go off for hours and freaking roosters run around town making noise day and night (mostly night). In this town the roads are bad so instead of trucks with speakers some enterprising chap mounted loudspeakers on top of at least 2 houses. These pump out advertisements from 8am until 8pm or so. Enjoying things that symbolize your culture is one thing but don’t people get annoyed at some point???

12/26 So the grass is greener on the other side. Rain must be plentifully in this area because things are alive and well on this side of the Sea of Cortes. I wasn’t sure what the land was like outside Mazatlan but I’m glad it wasn’t more desert. Baja is the 2nd longest peninsula in the world and pretty much all of it was desert so I had my fill.

I spent way too much time trying to find a place to get some coffee on the way out of Mazatlan this morning. It got to the point that I was about to give up on breakfast and just leave. I ended up having Coke and some kind of shrimp cocktail thing. It was pretty good though.

The ride started off fairly flat but the free highway 15 started meandering back into the hills and stayed that way for the rest of the day. The highway is in a lot better shape than Baja. There are still no shoulders and traffic is heavier but at least there’s not a massive drop if you do have to bail off the road (I didn’t). Saw lots of dead things which made for a stinky ride at times. The biggest thing was a cow. Garbage isn’t as bad as Baja but it can still be nasty in places.

El Rosario is off the main highway and once you get past the huge gate the main road slowly gets smaller as it flows into the homes and businesses that sit side by side on every block. Some (homeless?) guy was standing at the side of the road with his junk hanging out when I first rode past the gate. That kind of ruined the quaint, Mexican village image I’d been forming in my head. The streets are crazy. Very narrow, usually one way and mostly cobblestone which made for some bumpy riding. There’s no way I’m walking around tonight without bringing my GPS. The buildings are very old but things seem like they’ve held together a bit better than the older sections of Mazatlan.

I finally gave up trying to find a motel on my own and asked a guy for help. He pointed up the street and said there was one right around the corner. Sweet. I would have never found it on my own. The only sign is the word “Hotel” painted on a light pole. Paid US $9.60 for a room. I’ve heard about this place from another bike touring web site so I wasn’t that surprised when I discovered how tiny it was or when I saw my very first electric shower head. I tried to ignore the exposed wire while waiting for the water to come out warm which never happened. I ended up taking a very fast cold shower. There are also ants crawling all over the place so I think I’ll sleep with some extra clothes on tonight.

The new seat I bought in Mazatlan hasn’t done anything to help with the chaffing problem I’ve been having for weeks now. After 20 miles it gets to be pretty painful not having 3 layers of skin where you really need it. I stopped and lowered the seat all the way which helped a little. I have one more seat that’s narrower so I’ll give that a shot if this one doesn’t work out. The Brooks went into the garbage before I left. It wasn’t even worth giving it to the bike shop.

GPX Track