Acambaro, GTO to Zinacuarto, Michoacan

Andy: We left Acambaro at about 8:30 this morning and easily found our way out of town by just following the signs to Zinapecuaro. For the life of me I could never remember that name if it weren't on the signs. Light traffic and slight hills were pretty much the norm. Zinapecuaro itself had terrible pavement leading into it and a lovely square at the middle of the place where we stopped for a few minutes to drink and afix our water bottles with bungee cords so we didn't break any more bottle cages (Ted broke one yesterday but we brought two extra). Speaking of water we have figured out a good water system. We carry on the bikes between four and five liters (about a gallon) each. Over the course of a day we drink it all in addition to a refresco of about a liter each at lunch. I brought our camping water filter and have discovered that it doesn't need to be pumped as long as it has a drop from the source to the destination gravity does the work very nicely. It's a little slower but we have the time and we really don't like the task of pumping. The wter tastes fine and it saves the world from a few more plastic bottles. From Zinapecuaro we started into a climb that lasted at least two hours. By the end we were in pine forests and small towns made of wood, instead of the ubiquitous concrete. When we finally descended we did it very slowly through the town of Cd. Hidalgo and finally to Zitecuaro, where I sit typing in our 150 peso hotel room a block from the center of town. The weather was relatively cool and very cloudy all day. We thought it would rain but it never did. This part of Michoacan is very hilly and there are jagged peaks in the distance. Very close to here is the monarch butterfly wintering place so there are monarch icons everywhere in town. We went out after showers to a rolicking festival in the civic central square and ate Oaxacan tomales wrapped in banana leaves. Our eleven year old waitress was very patient with us when I told her that I knew nothing about Oaxacan food. She helped.

Ted: It's different down here, yet underneath the skin, all blood runs red. I've told several people on each trip that dad and I are not brothers, nor friends traveling together, but that I am, in fact, his offspring. The western influence down here is incredible. I've seen people wearing pink floyd shirts, and today at 8:30 in the morning, I heard a very popular Rick Astley song in the central square of Acambaro. At the same time, this is the most alien world I've been in. You can see people herding goats, and cowboy hats and boots should usually match. Wearing shorts is frowned upon unless you're a child, or doing something physically demanding. Rockets go off for no apparent reason, and all buildings seem as though they were built to survive volcanic eruptions. Yet the Chinese food tastes just the same.

total distance today: 130 km (or so)

ride time: 7 hrs 45 min