West

I left Las 2 Palmas but not before Juan kindly invited me for breakfast. It was a simple meal, fresh tortillas, two dipped in a red sauce and two in green sauce topped with cheese, shredded cabbage and a couple of slices of tomatoes.

When I got to Costa Esmeralda, I was not very impressed. It is an area for tourists and I have had enough of beaches for a while so I turned west at Casitas. In the town of San Rafael, I found a hardware store and bought a brass hinge. Going out of town I saw some workers in front of a refrigerator repair store and I stopped and showed them I wanted to use the hinge to repair my refrigerator door. They figured out what I needed and installed it for me. It was a simple job of drilling three holes but I don’t have a drill with me so I needed help. After the hinge was attached and the job was done, I asked “How much” and they didn’t want any money but I tipped the fellow that did the work 20 pesos.

When I got to Perote I was supposed to turn east again for Xalapa and Xico that I had wanted to check out but I already had an idea of what the area was like from the drive through the mountains to Perote and decided to go west instead. The area is cooler due to the elevation but too wet and humid to suit me. Plus the situation with John Calypso had kind of ruined the idea of a trip there.

So I continued west and south until I turned on 136 and was soon in a more desert area. Before dark I found a spot to park for the night near the highway on what was probably the old road before being replaced by the newer 4 lane road. There some people were doing something. I never did find out what it was they were doing. There were some piles of dried weeds on the side of the old road. One fellow seemed to pour water and I could see dust rising. He may have been making adobe bricks or mixing cement but I never found out for sure and they just ignored the rig. I had a good night’s sleep there because of the cooler temperature.

Early the next morning I started driving toward Mexico DF. Not because I really wanted to go there but there didn’t seem to be any good roads to drive around it. Before I got there I had a major bummer. I was driving on a four lane highway in the right lane through an intersection when a bus started crowding me on the left side. I was forced to the right and the right rear wheel clipped a curb. The result was a new tire blown and dings in the wheel. Since this rig has duals in the rear, I could continue on.

At a highway toll plaza, I finally got a paper map of Mexico that I purchased from a vendor going from car to car. I haven't used the map yet. Even though the MS Streets and Trips is not very accurate in Mexico, it shows my location and has gotten me this far.

I got to Mexico DF around noon. What a city! I read that it is the world’s largest city with 25 million people. I expected very bad smog but it was no worse than the smog in LA. I was surprised that MS Streets & Trips was pretty accurate in the city. I had to drive straight through the center of the city to get to the road to San Miguel de Allende which I wanted to visit. I was about two thirds of the way through when I missed a turn and ended up on side streets. It wasn’t long before some police wanted to pull me over. With the police behind me I side swiped a car. No damage to the rig but there was a little blue paint on the car. The police couldn’t speak English so I never did find out what they pulled me over for but they sure pounced on the fact that I had an “accident” in front of them. They checked my papers and told me I had to go to the station where it would probably cost me a few hours and 1,000 pesos. Of course, if I wanted to avoid that I could give them 500 pesos (about $50) which I promptly did and got out of town before I got bitten again.

On the road north to San Miguel, I went to a tire store where the diagnosis was that the tire was shot and the wheel could be pounded back in shape but they had no tire of the correct size to sell me. So I had them remove the flat tire and install the spare tire. So now I have six good tires but no spare.

I got to San Miguel de Allende about 6 PM. It is a beautiful city, my kind of place. I can see why so many Norte Americanos want to live and visit there. The cobblestone streets are very narrow. I don’t know how I got the rig through there without another accident but maybe I’m learning something about driving in Mexico. I did see several gringos on the streets and heard some English being spoken. I’m sorry I didn’t get any photos there. I was too busy driving and there was no place I could find to park.

I am now parked near a lake about 5 miles south of San Miguel off road 49 on the way to Celaya. It’s now too dark to set up the dish to post this and I’m not yet sure if this will be a safe place too park for the night. If I am okay parking here, in the morning I will set up the dish and decide if I want to go back into San Miguel to walk around and take photos.

It is morning now and it rained a bit last night but my sleeping was not disturbed. I had a bit of trouble setting up the dish. The OPI meter was acting up but I am now on line. I think I will probably pass on returning to San Miguel this morning. It looks like there will be more rain today. When I return, I think that I will fly to Mexico DF and then take a bus and rent a room to explore it.