I cooled my heels in Tepic for a few day at the Hotel Santa Maria, what else. The place is run by Juan Ortiz a biker and mad Baja 1000 off road racer. We hit it off and i basically paid for my room for the few days and nothing else. I was treated to free booze and food, run around to get some bits for Herbert including a new rear tyre. As i was about to leave i noticed the sidewall of the tyre had a great chunk out of it, so that stalled me another day. There was a bar attached to the Hotel so this made me the local celebrity as tourists dont go to Tepic.
Thursday morning i loaded Herbert and rode of into the cool mist of the morning to cheers of adios my amigo from the hotel staff and others. I took the road to Guadalajara, a wonderful blend of Volcano cones and lakes with verdant fields. The green interspersed with blue from the rows of Agave grown to feed the growing thirst for Tequila. I reached Guadalajara early in the morning and got to the historic centre without the tourists. Then it went pear shaped a detour by the local police sent me into a labyrinth of lanes and one way streets, two and a half hours later i was free of my maze and heading west a little rattled and tired, wondering if trudging through the mire to see a church and square was worth it. The indomitable detour always seem to lead to places other than where the detour should go back to. I rode on till 4pm then stopped exhausted on the outskirts of a forgettable town. Late in the night the heavens opened and the loudest thunder i have ever heard sounded through the air. The roads outside were awash but by morning the majority of the roads were dry except for the great potholes filled with water.
I continued west towards Morelia again vibrant green all around but ever climbing upwards to around 3500 metres. The altitude was affecting Herbert, he wasnt reving cleanly but i was soon to descend into a valley so wasnt to concerned. Herberts breath restored i contiued past Morelia looking for a hotel, the clouds in the foreground looked ominous. After being refused parking for Herberet i decided to move on toward Cuidad Heraldo at the base of the range stretching through Mexico City. Nothing available then it started raining and got heavier the roads had streams flowing across them with a combiation of gravel and earth from the hillsides. I finally reached a Love Hotel, saturated took a room with a million dollar view for $23 dollars AUS! It poured all night and even more violent thunder and lightning than the previous night.
Fog covered the hillsides in the morning and i made a slow start and headed towards Cuernavaca. The fog lifted and the cool air was just barely warmed by the sun which made for great riding. I was having a fine time riding some great backroads to try and avoid Mexico City, then heading into a National park i was pulled over by the Federalis their version of the Federal Police. A bribe was negotiated so as not to take everything of the bike. 500 pesos lighter and pissed off i rode Into Cuernavaca. I negotiated the cobbled Lanes to the historic centre and found a hotel minutes away from the main square. Cuernavaca is a delightful city with lots of Historic biuldings from the 16th and 17th century. The crowd was colouful as darkness descended and the nightly storm came so did the massive Cuernavacan gay community. Mexico seems a very liberal country considering its catholic penchance.Tomorrow i move onto Oaxaca pronounced Wa Hucka well thats the plan, as has been shown not always coming to fruition
