It was a bit of a sad day leaving Zacatecas because I really enjoyed my time there, learned to speak a little Espanol, met lots of people, and made some friends. However, it was time to leave. I decided to make tracks to Guanajuato, roughly 200 miles away. I planned out a 50/50 pavement-dirt route. I got a little dirty, it was good for the soul after being in a city for a month..
Its refreshing to be back on the dirt, and out in the sticks. However there were a couple left over mud pits from the rain last week, and of course, my route took me right through them. They didn’t want me to park the bike in the lobby of the hotel looking like this. But I convinced them anyway.
Had a really nice dirt ride for about the last 100 miles into Guanajuato…………
Approaching Guanajuato after the dirt portion of my ride.
So I get into Guanajuato and the place was a complete zoo. Because of the insane amount traffic, it took me 2 hours just to get through the city! I wanted to stay, but every time I stopped at a place, they said, “Sorry, we are full.” I did find one place near the city centro that had a room. It was a dorm room that I would have to share with 5 other people. How much? 450 pesos (40 bucks) a night, no parking – No thanks. It was the end of the Festival Cervantino and the whole town was a mad house. Stop and go traffic through the entire city, even in the underground roads, masses of people everywhere on the streets. I decided to save it for another time.
Its too bad, because it really looks like a very beautiful city in which to spend some time, but it was a complete zoo and I wanted none of it. I got out of the city as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast because of all the traffic.
So I decide to head for San Miguel de Allende about 45 miles to the east of Guanajuato, and I ran across these dudes. Actually, I didnt run across them, they ran across me when they passed me on the highway doing at least triple digit speeds.
Sergio and Rafael. Good guys. They had actually just come back from a motorcycle trip to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego about 6 months ago. We sat on the side of the road and talked bikes and trips for a good couple of hours. It was a nice break and my Spanish came in handy although Sergio spoke some English. Between my terrible Spanish, and his passable English we were able to have a decent conversation.
Anyway, these guys live in Queretaro, close to San Miguel, and they told me that I have to come in town and look them up. They said they will hook me up with tires, a place to change oil, whatever I need. Very cool, I might have to take them up on it.
Well, back to San Miguel de Allende. Not what I expected. Its a very popular tourist town, and the prices are about the same as in the states, but I can immediately appreciate why this place is so popular with tourists.
There are art galleries and swanky little cafe’s and hotels on every street corner, lots of wintering gringos too. I’m not a big fan of touristy places but this is a cute town and has enough to keep you occupied for a day or so.
The main cathedral:
I walked around and took some shots of the streets:
You can get some nice views down the steep streets from the hillsides.
Be careful pooch!
Resistance is futile, you just cant get away from it. And no, I didnt go in.
All in all, its pretty nice little town if you don’t mind all the touristy stuff. One downside was the price of the hotels. Every place I stopped at was 1200 to 2000 pesos a night, roughly $100 to $180 bucks. I shopped around for a good 2 hours, but I still had to spend 500 pesos, or about 40 bucks for my room. However, I did get some pretty nice digs. I was told the normal price was 1200 pesos but as I was walking out the door, it came down to 500. Actually the guy that owned the place was very cool. He is an old ex-hippy artist type and he asked me what I could afford. I told him that I could spend 40 bucks a night for two nights. He said, “deal, pull your bike right in the door.” Pretty cool guy because he had other guests and really didnt need the cash. He was helping me out. He said that when long riders come through, he does his best to give them a good price, because in addition to an ex-hippy, he is an ex-biker as well. That bed was fantastic, super comfy, so I suppose it was worth it. Gotta splurge once in a while I guess. Thanks for styling me out Keith, I appreciate it amigo.
It was a good place to visit with very swanky accommodations and I enjoyed myself, but its time to get back on the budget.
Next stop? Who knows, maybe Queretaro or possibly Morelia as I work my way toward the pacific coast. Sorry the updates have been a little slow, but the Spanish school kind of slowed me down. I’ll be moving fairly regularly over the next month or so before I park my butt for some more school.
Thanks for tuning in everyone……
Hasta luego………