Dec 1: Manzanillo to Tecoman
Last night we wandered the streets of the old town Manzanillo. As the sunset, thousands of swallows swarmed into the narrow shopping streets to outline the telephone-power lines, poles, transformers…birds packed side by side with all kinds of comings and goings: clouds of birds in the sky as a background, noisy twittering and chirping, fluttering wing noise to be heard over the many sidewalk shoppers below fingering the rich assortment of Christmas lights, wreaths and boughs, ornaments being hawked by the flock of vendors on both sides of the streets. Mixed in were the local indigenous vendors selling cotton and muslin dresses, traditional holiday wear for ninos, straw hats and sandals.
One of the food vendors was selling hot corn, kernels in a cup with mayo, lime, salt, and hot sauce. We could not pass this up again, so purchased a small cup to share while we wndered the streets. Very tasty treat as an appetizer before our later sharing of pork fried rice served up in a Chinese restaurant on our walk back to our hotel on the harbor.
The road today was the toll road: four lanes; two each way, with a wide berm for us to ride. When we entered , we were soon greeted by a sign NO BICYCLES! Whoa…no bicycles and we plan on taking this highway for over 300km. We climbed steeply up the mountainside out of the city to reach the toll road and it goes quickly right back down to sea level and follows the beach for 30 + km. Except for steep and high train overpasses, the road was boring and flat through coconut plantations, along inland lakes, all sea side low lands.
We stopped at a roadside stand selling coconut products and watched the fellow take his machete and quickly hack of pieces of coconut shell: lop off the top, pop in a straw to produce a wonderfully cool drink – add lemon and salt to top it off. Judee also purchase what feels like a pound and a half of coconut cookies for our future nibblings.
Hotels are priced strangely. In Techoman we saw hotel rooms for $72, $47, $35, $26 and took a $20 room with a great little pool – better than all the others. Some will bargain a little in price if the owner is at the desk.
Tonight: fireworks, carnival, everyone out and about in traditional dress. Down the cobblestone streets we followed the parade of colorfully dressed Mexican families to the church, where they crawled on their knees to ask Guadalupe (La Lupita) to help them. The faithful will wear their costumes for the first 12 days of December to show Guadalupe they are sincere. It was explained to us by a lovely woman who wanted to practice her English, that Guadalupe is Mexico´s “Mother”: the one you go to when you need comfort, help, caring. The Mexican people needed someone of their own, since the Spaniards and even the Jesuits were not very benevolent when they took over!!
We bought food at the church and gawked at the adorable babies, little girls and boys, beautiful senoritas and lovely Donas accompanied by their husbands and fathers, may in traditional garb. What a treat for us! Thank the bike god/goddess for bringing us to this spot, the night to share this exciting time.
 |
Pool (at Tecoman?)
|
Vendor
|
 |
Traditional dress 1 |
 |
Traditional dress 2 |
 |
Dec 4: Colima & Comala
Sitting in the restaurant waiting for the cook to arrive, Art and I are reflecting on our couple days in Colima and Comala, two colonial cities, sitting prettily beneath an active, belching volcano. Cities are beginning to look alike, but they are always filled with surprises: Zocolos (central plazas) filled with food stands, curios, and people; in the evenings complete with music and dance performances; an occasional parade with or without horses; young high school cheer squads who do amazing lifts and throws for hours, etc.
Colima has several good museums. We visited two: one filled with antiquities, helping us to understand the various civilizations of Mexico and their time lines. Colima has an indigenous population with burial practices and ceramic figures unique to the area. The ceramics are plump, smiling, dancing dogs and other plump forms. They were very expressive! We learned from our new Northern California acquaintances, Moushe and Dorit, that glazing of pottery was introduced by the Spaniards because they were meat eaters, where as the Indian population of Mexico were vegetarians, not in need of the added protection of glazes.
12-5 Guzman
Today we meet the mountains as we head higher toward Guadalajara. And is it ever gorgeous! Deep ravines spanned by spectacular bridges, valleys spread out between steep cliff sides, some man-made, some natural. There is up, but there is also downs – yeah! We stopped for lunch at the “truck stop” and got a huge platter of Bar-B-Qued pork, tortillas, beans and a wonderful assortment of cheeses and salsas to season our plates. For $9 we also drank two cokes and a Gatorade – not bad!
Up, up, up for at least 30 km and God I thought the up would never stop. We were in the saddle for over 5 hours to go 46 miles! Average speed was 8 mph. Weather got cooler as we climbed – we were dripping through early after noon and cold in the evening. People here are dressed in hats, jackets and sweaters at night. We will need to break out our cool weather clothes very soon.
Most of the day we peddled up and around a very active volcano. It would spew a large plume of steam and smoke. We got closer and closer as we road up its flanks. What an exciting scene. No lava flow, but we could see the remains of older flows scaring the mountain side
Most of the day we spent in our granny gear, spinning at between 4 & 8 mph. This slow speed puts a lot of stress and strain on my (Art´s) upper body to keep the bike tracking in a straight line. Traffic got heavier as the day worn on and we dropped to only two lanes for the last 40 km with a rough berm. I got testy around 3 pm but worked through it and we finally hit a down hill and we went scraming down for the last 5-6 km into town.
 |
Bicycle repair shop
|
 |
Volcano on the way to Guzman
|
 |
Truck stop |
12-6: Villa Corona – Rode over dry lake beds 109 km!
12-7: Rested in the Balenario (hot spring pools) to recover.
12-8 Guadalajara
We bused into Guadalaraja for a two or three day exploration of the city and environs. We walked all over the old downtown checking for a hotel room ending up at the Hamilton ($12). All the others were much more and some less inviting. Good hot showers, window on the ventilator shaft and hallway, and a bed that had a definite sag in the middle. All in all we slept well even though I (Art) am still feeling uncomfortable sleeping on his left side – the rib cage is still letting me know it´s there.
On a frustrating note today we left our Rough Guide to Mexico on a park bench and walked off. Hours later we discovered our error and went back to look for it – No luck! The guide has been a great help in finding inexpensive accommodations and campground. It will be sorely missed. We are not sure if we can have things shipped to us in Mexico. We have heard stories about customs holding packages and demanding a high tarriff to turn them over. We will try and explore this “receiving” issue in the next couple of days.
We also had to replace our camera in Guad. Thank goodness it went on the fritz in a place that had repairmen and when we found it unrepairable, somewhere to buy a replacement. There is a wealth of products in Mexico, but not always the quality we would like and often much more expensive than in the US. Too bad guide books in English were not available in Guad.
Tlaquepaque is the “Laguna Beach” of Guad. – many, many arts and crafts stores in an expensive, pueblo setting. One store, in particular, showcased architectural furnishings designed by a couple: Mexican architect and his wife, a Spanish designer. The objects were rough slabs of stone held together or set upon organic “dripping” oxidized steel shapes, punctuated with huge, hand-blown glass hearts. The overall feel was heavy and rustic, harkening to the Aztec practice of sacrifice (hearts). These were huge, unique pieces, demanding enormous hacienda-type spaces and, of course, expensive! Only in Tlaquepaque!!
On a more plebian level: we liked ceramic-bronze sculptures of stylized Mexicans riding bicycles created by Rodo Padilla. If Judee can figure out how to ship one home, we´ll own one!!
Tomorrow we return to our camp ground for at least one night, then we hit the road again. I am not looking forward to the pedal up highway 80 with heavy truck and car traffic, repair work and no shoulder on the narrow old road!! We are now in the mountains between 5000 & 6000 feet. It is cooler: sweater and jacket weather.
12-10 Ajijic
The ride out of Villa Corona had been on my mind – the many, many 18 wheelers and most of the 14 km uphill. The actual ride was a “sweat-er”, but the trucks, buses, and cars gave us room and the traffic was lighter at 9 am on Saturday morning. At the top of the hill we stopped and had a great breakfast to celebrate our accomplishment and survival.
Over the mountain pass and on the way into the next valley we were flagged down by a gentleman, Bruce Calhoun. He operates and eco camp high on the mountain side and said we could stay in the camp for awhile if we would like because it was not being used right now. We declined his kind offer because it was till early in the day and we want to check on other opportunities up the road. As an aside, Bruce gave us all kinds of info on other eco camps in Costa Rica, Panama, and Equador. We could volunteer for a month at the camp on the Galapolous Isalands. We exchanged emails and Bruce said he would write and introduce us, in case we choose to explore any of the eco camp options.
Further down the road a snack store owner assisted us (taught us) to use the phone card and we made contact with Susan and Jim Lightfoot who live in Ajijic. They asked us to stay at their home for the night and gave us directions.
What a wonderful home and wonderful couple! They made us feel right at home; walked us around their community after we shared a bottle of great whit wine. Ajijic has many expats: Conadian and American gringos. The town sits on Lake Chapala shore at over 5,000 feet. It is quite cool now in the evenings. We had hot showers and went out to dinner around the corner. Later Jim had said we could use his computer phone , so Judee called her sons. We checked our email and were in bed reading by 9 pm.
Ajijic
|
 |
 |
Susan & Jim view |
Octalan, Racers |
 |
12-11 Ocotaln
Susan fixed us a delightful breakfast with coffee and saw us off to blimb the mountain our of the lake country. The climb was long and challenging but we had the opportunity to see a number of young and old bicycle racers as we climbed. We stopped to take pictures of the lake and the valley and the racing kpeleton. The steepest part of the climb was very hard…particularly since we had forgotten to release the drag brake!! The long downhill was a blast: twisty, turny, blowing the seat off…we actually got cold in short sleeves. The Mexican riders were wearing tights, jackets, or arm warmers. The road today was one of the best we have ridden in Mexico: broad two-lane, good surface, wide berm and reasonable traffic flow for a Sunday.
Octolan is a town that rides bikes: old, young, police, families and couples. It was a sight to see Mom and daughter on their bike followed by Dad and the boys on their bikes.
12-12 La Baraca
This is the 12th and last day in the festival of Guadalupe. For 12 nights we have been listening to fireworks, rockets, all night music at body shaking volume – this country really knows how to celebrate its “Mother”. We rode a short 27 miles to this town, knowing it had a Guadalupe church to immerse ourselves in the final day and night. We got our $20 room, stored the bike by 12:30 and went off to find street food and check out the activities on down the streets draped with decorations.
At the church there were groups of dancers in Indian (Aztec/Toltec/Mayan) type costumes performing; hundreds of people brought huge sprays of roses to place in the festooned church; children were all dressed up to walk beside their parents who crawled on their knees down the loooong aisle. If I lived here, I would attend a church with a much shorter aisle. As with all festivals, stalls with all sorts of wares, trinkets and food abound.
Today there is a bull fight at 4pm. We don´t plan to attend, but did check out the bulls with everyone, high on the walls above the brick pens surrounding the ring. One aspect of this festival we didn´t want to miss was the fireworks tower: a structure made of bamboo scaffolding extending at least 300 ft into the air. At 10ish pm they light one of the hundreds of fireworks that mechanically spin, sending sparks, fireballs and color all over. They light one aspect, then the next. Some of the crowd only a few feet away. The finale: two long arms dropped from the top creating a propeller parallel with the ground that spun wildly propelled by jets of fireworks – spinning a lit figure of Lupita on one side and Jesus on the other – WOW! This sort of thing in the USA would be a lawyers dream!
A crowd of 10,000 people moved about the square and church like river currents. We spoke with people who wanted to practice English and were curious who we were. Earlier today the Chief of Police introduced himself to us and showed us his home in case we needed anything. We have been told that we offend people by declining their hospitality – these warm and friendly people are so generous, if only my (Judee) Spanish were better we may accept more often.
12-14: La Piedad
Today we lay over in La Piedad. Art is not feeling well. The ride yesterday we through lovely agricultural valleys, not difficult, but with a head wind. I think Art probably picked up something in the crowds at the festival – and since we stayed up late for us, was probably a little run down.
I went in search of breakfast with Art sleeps. Like last night looking for dinner, there are only two restaurants in a city of 100,000 people, but like the rest of Mexico, its streets are overflowing with food vendors every where, especially near bus stops, hospitals, parks – places where people wait. For 10 pesos (about $1) one can buy 4 tacos or 2 quesados or 3 sopitas or corn on the cob, or hot cakes, or pasterias, or soup or ……In a restaurant breakfast for two of us runs about $10, dinner: $12-$20 depending on the type of food: traditional Mexican fare or steak/shrimp. The more ex-pats or tourists in a city, the more restaurants available, and the more hotels with the level of services and cleanliness we prefer. Some traditional Mexican hotels can be pretty awful: peeling paint, mildew, no hot water, questionable plumbing, few light fixtures (some that work), HARD beds on cement risers, no furniture, and a few bugs thrown in for good measure. Since we tend to like the small or non-tourists towns, we have experienced all types of accommodations and sampled all types of food.
We met five Rotary Exchange students yesterday, three from Turkey, one German, and one from Bolivia, all going to school and living with a Mexican family for the year. Akron Rotary gave that opportunity to several students each year. It was a pleasure to meet these students enjoying the same priviledge, here.
As I sit here in the unfolding clear, brilliant sunlight of the morning, the park is filled with birds, the streets with traffic. Boys in a pickup stop and load the cab with girls from the bus sotp and the boy all pile into the truck bed. An older gentleman is playing a guitar and projecting loudly, traditional Mexican songs. There is a hustle bustle, a peridox to the underlying “tranquillo” of strollers, bench sitter and many, may people engaged in morning greetings and conversation.
Enough poetry. Less than two weeks to Christmas and ever present Santa Claus, even here in Mexico. I must get to the Internet and wish one and all a wonderful holiday!
To North Central Mexico 3
