Although we’re back on the road again, we’ve had five days off in Guanajuato, Morelia and Patzcuaro. We are very much enjoying this area, but we also want to do some solid riding again and put some mileage under our belts. However, this is highly unlikely as just ahead of us is the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary and Mexico City – the largest city in the world!
We really enjoyed the more modern and industrial town of Irapuato. It is not a typical tourist destination, however the town square was a mix of old and modern features, such as the pretty coloured fountain show. We stayed with Couchsurfer, Andres, who kindly gave us a tour and insights into the city in which you don't typically get as a tourist. Thanks so much for having us Andres and your mum too!
At times we tried to get onto the toll roads ('cuotas') as there is not as much traffic, the roads are well groomed, generally flatter and there is a wider shoulder, but we were turned away twice and initially disappointed. However, by cycling on the free roads ('libre') we cycled through many small villages, giving us a fuller experience of Mexican life as they are rather different to the cities we stayed in. One night, we were having a break and playing cards next to a closed restaurant. After a while, the owner pulls up with his wife and strikes up a conversation with us. Turns out he lives much of the year in Chicago working while his wife runs the restaurant here in Mexico. After some time, he invited us to stay in their spare room which we were very happy and grateful to accept. The next morning we helped set up the restaurant for business and enjoyed watching Ramon's wife whip up fresh tortillas with ease.
Summary of towns we stopped in:
Guanajuato: We had the pleasure of staying with Kay (couchsurfing) in Guanajuato. It was a very colourful town that had tunnels for vehicles (initally constructed during the mining era) running under ground so not to fill the innercity with traffic. The mummy museum was weird as you literally got to see babies, men and women ´mummified´due to the temperatures and type of soil they were buried in. I bet ya these people never thought they'd wind up in a museum where people from all over the world come to see them! The highlight for us here was attending the local symphony orchestra with Kay. A little bit of Beethoven - I say, I say! Thanks Kay for having us on such short notice, we loved the view from your beautiful house.
Morelia: We stayed in a hotel here for two nights, compliments of Couchsurfer host, Paulo. We couldn't believe our luck! It was right in the downtown area and so we could have lazy mornings sleeping in and watching nothing much on TV before strolling around the city in the warm afternoon sunshine, taking in various museums and resisting many sweet delights in the mercado dulce (sweet market). On return from our excursion to Patzcuaro (by bus) we stayed with Paulo one last night in his home and experienced intenstine, brain and eye meat tacos (a speciality) with him, his brother Gabriel and friends. They were a great bunch of guys and we hope to see some of them again when they visit New Zealand.
Patzcuaro: We stayed with SERVAS hosts, Maria and Pablo (and their three beautiful dogs), in another pretty colonial town with all the central buildings painted white and reddish-brown. Even though it was grey and rainy we enjoyed visiting our first pyramid ruins in Txintzuntzan and Ihuatzio. Also, we viewed the oldest olive trees in Latin America in the courtyard of an old Spanish Monastery. Thank you to Maria and Pablo for having us in your Alaskan log cabin and spoiling us with delicious meals and interesting conversation.
Bee and Ro loves:
'Panaderias' which are bakeries filled with all sorts of delicious Mexican pastries. The great thing about them is they are not overly sweet and are so cheap. We love how you just walk, grab a tray and tongs and you select what you want. Each pastry costs between 1 and 6 pesos (10-60 cents) and they are oh so good!
Bee and Ro hates:
'topes' which are speed bumps. There are multitudes of them in Mexico as no one follows the speed limits but we are finding they are really cramp our coasting style! "Pinche topes!"