Ephemerica

We are now in the state of Michoacan where the best ice cream in the world is made. Tomorrow, we are going to Patzcuaro where the best ice cream in Michoacan is made. I am already salivating just thinking about it.

Michoacan has treated us very well so far. The scenery is beautiful. Our rides take us up small mountain passes, then down into valleys where we find towns and farmland. We are still doing a fair amount of climbing, though it is much easier than the ride into Tepic and to Guadalajara. The mountians here are very high with several of the towns we have stayed in being around 2000 m high.

Our route out of Guadalajara took us south to Lake Chapala, where we found another community of US and Canadian retirees. We took the long way and rode around the lake on the advice of Latin America By Bike, which is a bit outdated (published in 1993) but still useful. The ride around the lake was scenic, passing strawberry farms and lake views. We even had a “cyclopista” or a bike trail around the top section.

After leaving the lake we also left Jalisco and entered Michoacan. We decided to bypass the city of Zamora. While riding on the bypass road we were passed by a cyclist wearing a helmet and bike shorts (which distinguished him as a recreational cyclist vs someone using his bike for transportation). He slowed down and rode with us for quite a while, showing us how to get back to the main road. He turned out to be a Professor though we weren’t able to figure out where. He invited us to stay at his house in Morelia when we get there in a couple more days.

We also visited the town of Paracho, where most Mexican guitars are made. There are workshops and stores selling guitars, mandolins and recorders lining the main street. As we started down the street after settling into the hotel, we were quickly approached by a guy asking if we were interested in buying a guitar. Matt decided to look at mandolins, so the guy led us around to several homes with workshops in the back in search of a mandolin. When we left the first guy, we were quickly approached again. And again we were led around to many shops, this time none of them had any completed mandolins, only partly finished ones. Matt finally decided against buying anything since we don’t have room to carry it and shipping would have been more than the mandolin itself.

We are currently staying at a language school in Uruapan with our first couch surfing contact. It has really been one of the highlights of our trip so far. Our host, Jesus, runs the school which teaches mostly English but also has some French classes. He let us stay in an empty classroom and has been very generous, even taking us to eat with his family at his parents house. We hiked Volcan Paricutin this afternoon. The volcano last erupted in 1943 so you can see the lava flows and crater from the top.

Matt has enjoyed the opportuntity to ask someone about the new spanish phrases and words that he has picked up in conversations. We also spent some time with one of the english classes, telling them about Seattle and our trip. We couldn’t believe that none of the students had heard of Nirvana or Pearl Jam, but they were of high school age, so a little young for those bands.

We are heading next to Patzcuaro and Morelia, and we will hopefully get to see some wintering Monarch butterflies along the way.

Posted by cindy on March 15th, 2007 | Filed under: Mexico