Jan 20 on to San Miguel Allende

Yesterday at the Mexican market at Jojotepec we rubbed shoulders and rear-view mirrors (!!!) with the locals. What a fun experience. Uncountable numbers of fruits, vegetables, knock-off brand name clothing, auto parts, tool and on and on were for sale by over 100 merchants under make-shift tents. Of course we bought fruit, nuts and a couple of clothing items at 1/3 to 1/2 of what we would pay at home. 

Liquor prices are a treat here. Brand name rums, tequila, and wine at 1/3 price!!!!  $.50 per can for beer. 

No wonder that there are a large number of Canadians here with rent like our friend Don who pays well under $500/ month with dirt cheap hydro bills. He has a nice 2 bedroom home with 3 bathrooms and any enormous lawn-courtyard behind his home with shade gazebo and fireplace (both in and outside the house). 

Even though we could have spent weeks enjoying Don and Yvonne's company and the Lake Chapala-Guadalajara region, we knew that if we were going to make panama we must be heading on. 

Today we decided to head on to the historic silver mine town of Guanajuato and then San Miguel Allende. (To keep Jaime happy this is our route )

Our first stop, Guanajuato was a bit of a disaster.  It is so popular that traffic made it almost impossible to get near!  We took a couple of distant pictures, fought with traffic for a while and then bailed out for San Miguel. 

En route we passed the most amazing sight. Thousands of pilgrims were making a 70 km religious pilgrimage to a holly sight north of our route. For many, dozens of busses brought them to road side locations and they just got out and started walking!  They certainly did not seem prepared for such a journey. Most had just the clothes on their back--no food, water, or pack!

Along the highway route there were dozens of road side stands set up for the occasion I presume. They must have been planning on sleeping in the road-side as there was no accommodations en route. How some of the aged pilgrims would make it was beyond us. 

San Miguel Allende is a vibrant place.  In 2008 it was declared a "World Heritage Site".  

Lots of history and home of the start of the Mexican revolution--interestingly started by a Spanish priest

The downtown cobblestone streets and homes are hundreds of years old. Many of the streets are one way because they are so narrow. Driving requires skill and unbelievable patience. 

Unbelievable as it sounds, it was getting dusk--just after 5:00-- and we discovered an RV stop in the center of the old town. Getting ourselves to the exact location was an unbelievable challenge. At one point the GPS took us down a one way cobblestone  street. Suddenly there was an enormous 6 ft high mound of cobblestones blocking our route, with no way by. 

Needless to say we had to back up and find a place to turn around then head the wrong way on a oneway street that was not much wider that poor Dahlia. Next it was down another narrow steeet that actually dead ended--more backing up and turning!  

Eventually we got to a walled compound and steel gate. The gps 

said this was the spot but there were no signs. We gingerly pulled over as traffic squeezed by with one truck actually nicking our rear view mirror before I could move a few inches closer to the curb. 

Fortunately a lady showed at the gate as if on cue. She said we were in the right spot and the one of the owners was only a short distance away. He came and stopped traffic while guiding me back and forth so I could navigate through the narrow gate into  his hacienda-like walled property that housed 3 ancient homes, a small rv site and if you can believe it, three immaculate "CLAY TENNIS COURTS". Unbelievable!  

There were even 5 individual bathrooms, each with shower, sink and toilet!

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Jan 17 Guadalajara

Today it was breakfast at Don's and then on the bus to Guadalajara. 

The bus system in this country is amazingly efficient and cheap. Don drove us the 10 km to Chapala bus depot, but we could have walked 3 blocks from the house and paid the $.35 to make the same ride--that is what we did on the way home. 

The ride into downtown's historical area of Guadalajara was about 50 km and took an hour at a cost per person  of $2.50--air conditioned and very comfortable. 

The history of the town dates back to the mid 1500's. The ideal climate of the area and its agricultural wealth made it an important Spanish city immediately. One enormous cathedral that rivals anything in Rome plus 2 other churches bigger than Montreal's cathedral are the centre piece of the "old town". I do not know where they found all the people to fill their enormous buildings. 

2 huge justice buildings and grand theatre are also impressive along with  a half dozen more stone structures that predate even the existence of our country, dominate the area. 

Mexico is famous for having central squares of "people space" in the middle of their towns. Guadalajara has at least 3 of these in the old town area only a block from each other. Serious planning must have gone into the creation of this city. 

We continue to be impressed by the courtesy, helpfulness, and politeness of the Mexican people. Unlike in Canada and USA, they most often pass you by on the street with eye contact, a smile, and "holla" (meaning hello). It takes a bit to get used to.  It is unfortunate that the upper echelons on Mexican society in government, police, eduction and the state owned oil company have such a tradition of corruption and graft. Far too much money disappears in their hands and does not filter down to benefit common Mexicans. 

I think the common people are finally starting to address this situation. Rarely a day goes by where there are not protests against something. In our bus trip we saw many hundreds of people holding up traffic as they marched to support some issue--fortunately for us they were walking in the other lane!😃

Throughout the last week many protests actually shut down towns as people protested the 20% increase in gas that was compounded by the recent devaluation of their currency. 

This situation has been both good and bad for us. Locally produced food here is now ridiculously cheap, but gas prices are the same as we pay in Canada. 

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Jan 16

Now that we have a phone card (I still cannot believe we get unlimited talk anywhere in Canada/US for less than $10!) it makes keeping an eye on things at home very easy. 

Jaime wants us to print a map of our daily progress. Thanks to Google maps this is pretty easy. We use google maps all the time now. It is amazing how you can down load a map in wifi and that it remains on your devise even if you are not in a wifi or cell area. Your phone is indicated by a blue dot in the screen and tells you exactly where you are. Seems like magic!!

Here are our daily runs so far in Mexico:

First travel day

Second travel day:

Third travel day :

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Jan 15

Weather in Mazatlan is sunny and clear with much higher humidity than you might expect. High today was 26 but the breeze makes it feel much cooler--too cool for us. We are heading to Guadalajara tomorrow. 

You sure meet some interesting people here, many Canadians, and some Americans as well as a few from other counties. 

One couple we met was from Switzerland. They have been on the road for the most part of 30 years!! Most of there years were spent seeing all of Africa, with the last 7 years in South America and Australia. Now they are in North America for a few years. In that time they have gone through 4 vehicles and are now on their 5th. The first two were Mercedes Unimogs but they found their last 3 converted Toyota Landcruisers to be superior with complete living quarters inside and a tent that pops up if you want. Very interesting couple who may visit us in Kelowna in 2 years. 

Another couple beside us had been coming from Maryland for the past 27 years. If you can believe it they come to the same spot every year.

It seems every camper here has an interesting and unique story. 

  

The Malecon sea wall has statutes like this in many locations along a distance of several kilometres. It makes for a nice bike ride--all flat!

I bought fresh fish for supper. Today's catch. 

The old part of town is usually missed by tourists but has an old European charm to it. 

Night time cools down to just under 20 degrees. This makes it quite comfortable and almost too cool. 

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Jan 13

Guymas was great. Fantastic restaurant, great weather, nice place and private beach. However we chose to take the long route to Mazatlan (just under 1,000 km). This was probably the longest day-trip of our holiday so we thought we would get it over with. 

It was a great ride through Mexico's "San Joaquin Valley",  fruit of every description. 

Dahlia cruised at 120 km for the most part and we reached Mazatlan by 5:00! 

Charlie! I found high gear!!

The industrial farming in the area was amazing with hundreds of acres of green houses and irrigation everywhere. Of course we bought oranges and grape fruit dirt cheap and they tasted wonderful. 

In Mazatlan we lucked out and got a downtown rv site right on the water!

Sadly the last of my $15 overproof has "vapourized". Oh well time to test some real Mexican tequila. Fortunately we have a distillery just down the road from here. We will be visiting the spot where Chaydon and Diego stocked up. 

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Jan 14.

Our location on the beach is wonderful. Palm trees throughout the campsite; a short 30 pace walk and you are on the beach. 

We even have a buddy VW van from Victoria staying tight next to us! There are lots of Canadian campers here and only a few American. I guess they believe all the media coverage of how unsafe this country is. We have found the opposite. The people have been extremely kind to us. We have not heard any travellers talking about unpleasant experiences. 

As you can see the famous Malecon beach walk was not overly crowded even though it was a Saturday. The temperature and people who we have met have been a real treat.

While Adrienne spent time on the beach, I took the bike and rode off to a local bar. Here I watch the Seattle Seahawks get killed by the Atlanta Falcons. Most depressing. However what made up for it was the meal and beer at that I purchased. I could not believe it when they gave me the bill for a total of five dollars US. 

I think I could spend a few extra days here just for the food!!

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Jan 12

First thing this morning it was through the Mexican border, which took about 30 seconds. We did not have to get out of the car and they did not look into the van. We were both surprised.

Once through the initial border we had to drive another 21 km to go through a second border check. From this boarder check we got our vehicle permit and the tourist permits required for both Adrienne and I. $110 US and we were on our way south to Guymas. 

It took five hours and next thing we knew we were on the beach at the hotel Cortez.  We left the Nogalos at 7:30 in the morning and it was 2°C. On arrival in Guymas it was 28°. Finally we are getting in the temperatures that we enjoy.

On route parts of this area heading south are definitely a bread basket. There was several thousand acres of grapes in the wine region, and many acres of greenhouses. However where there was no water it was a true desert, and not terribly appealing. 

There is an enormous amount of road construction going on in the route that we took but the nice thing is everything is back to kilometres and litres. 

Gas prices took a bit of a jump in Mexico. I guess it was recently increased by the government which caused numerous situations of civil disobedience in main cities within the country.  Definitely no gas deals in this country. It is basically the same as in Canada.

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