Skip to main content

CHAPTER. 29


DAY. ? ZACATECAS TO LEON 240km

Firstly let me say how lovely our hotel has been in Zacatecas. It is a very old building tastefully done up as a hotel with old staircases, split levels and beamed ceilings.

Donde estas tu mi Juliet !

Aqui mi Romeo !




We started off the day with a circuit thru the centre of Zacatecas that was not entirely by choice. Again it was riding on old cobblestone streets which is somewhat challenging on a heavily laden bikes.





And talking of riding on cobblestones reminds me that I thought today of my relationship with my front tyre. You see when we were riding the cobblestones she , that is my front tyre , developed a mind of her own. I fought her, she fought me ! After a while I found it best to let her make the individual decisions as to which direction to go over which cobblestone. I agreed with her that she would leave the big decisions like which way to turn at corners to me. It was a functioning truce and it worked fine. You see I have no wish for me and my front tyre to be separated so we have to have a good working relationship. We have agreed she can have some leeway on the minor directional detail particularly on cobblestones and I will do the big picture stuff.


You can have your head on these too sweetie!




So today we drove down thru a picturesque landscape to a big town ( city really ) to Aguascalientes ( trans. Hot Waters ). After a another little tiki tour thru ancient cobbled street it was down to the city of Leon.

We were clearly in the high country today as the temperature was a delightful 20 deg C or so. You will be pleased if not relieved to know dear reader that it was cool enough to dispense with the newly found vent in front of my riding trousers. It's open nature had not been particularly helpful at hotel check in time!

The town square at Leon opened directly out on to the main plaza. It was a lovely late afternoon and early evening scene and let the photos do the talking -















The lions of Leon





DAY. ? LEON TO MORELIA. 200km

Today we left the highway half way to Morelia and came down the old rural road. It was just like driving thru an old Spanish landscape with old stone villages, lovely churches and cobbled streets. I half expected to see Don Quixote coming round the corner on his donkey. It was a Sunday and a market day as well and the little towns had stalls with clothing, handcrafts etc.

Some were little distracting tho. -




Enough to make a fella fall off his bike!




Interestingly enough there were certainly no foreign tourists around although there may have been local Mexican holiday makers around. Certainly there were no tourist buses

And speaking of tourists we have seen only about one other " pale face" over the last three or four days. We sort of stand out somewhat which may or not be an advantage.

So now it is Morelia which is another Unesco World Heritage site because of its old town centre and unique culture. It certainly deserves it. Again like last night it was fiesta night in the town square with lots of happy people, music and street theatre. I could never tire of seeing this.










When we checked into the hotel we were told parking was about 5 blocks away. Where? " No problem" said the helpful doorman. " I will hop on the back and show you ". So of I wobbled down the cobbled streets with the doorman on the pillion seat of the bike giving me directions in Spanish. It was all a bit incongruous!

Yours truly " taking the doorman for a ride" !




-Surprise to see the New Zealand Herald on sale in Mexico!








And finally there are riding boots-




And riding boots !





Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Comments

Aaron said…
Wow! I’m glad you are having a great time in Mexico, Zacatecas is on of my favourites cities in Mexico, it was a Miners City, producing tons of silver and gold. Leon is a nice city to get leather clothes or shoes, its the Mexican capital for that kind of stuff. Please take care in Mexico city and keep posting tons of photos! I told you, Tijuana is not Mexico :)

Popular posts from this blog

The last post!

How do you summarise a motorbike trip around the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles?. With difficulty!   Well we are not into record setting. But we believe we are the oldest couple in the world to ride a motorbike “ two up” ie with pillion passenger, right round the world on one season  Let’s start  off with the statistics for the little trip  -                                                                    Total mileage.        34,416 km *                                                        No of days travelling        165                                                      No of countries visited       29                                                     Max temp on bike               41 deg C                                                     Min temp on bike                0 deg.C                                                          No of punctures.              One                                                          No of breakdowns.         One                 

Chapters 1 and 2

WHY MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES ? I have always been interested in adventure. Over the years I have climbed mountains, parachuted, had my private pilots licence, dived, sailed and done various adventurous pursuits (with various degrees of success I might add!). Motorcycling has been one of the later activities. Why motorcycles?  Firstly it is all a bit easier on the body as one gets a little bit older. This is of course on the assumption that one does not inadvertently part company suddenly with said machine!  Secondly, it does also require a bit of brain power - intellect you might say if that does not sound snobby. There is also, to me, an element of "man and machine" about motorcycling. Then if that is not enough justification in itself there is  the scenery and the absorption into the landscape you are passing through. On a bike you see much much more than in a car, bus or train. You are aware of nuances in the landscape, you smell the smells and you become more than just

And a volcano stopped us!

What a day. First thing this morning it was off to check the rear tyre of the bike. Oh the relief !  The tyre was rock solid and the same pressure as after fixing yesterday.  So it is a pack up and first day on the road today. We get on the way with a just a little bit of nervous excitement.  On to the  Japanese motorway system we go. And what a delight. The traffic is orderly, calm not going to fast and not too thick. We track right in towards Tokyo itself before bearing West. Yes, there were lots of spaghetti junctions - It looks like The Los Angeles motorway system but it is so much easier (and slower). Japanese politeness really shows thru’. However there were lots of toll booths - we had chopped thru  about NZ$50 in the first hour and a half  Then we are on to the slow bit and off the motorways.  It was about a four hour stop and start crawl thru the urban sprawl of greater Tokyo. However I did find time for some serious reflection - I also saw a hotel called - and I kid you not