We´re here! We made it with no incident - flew into Guadalajara yesterday, took a taxi to the town of Chapala on the north shore of Lake Chapala. Wow, did we have stuff. Those 2 bike boxes, a huge box for the Bob trailer, and Nancy´s box full of panniers and stuff - and Mexicana handled our stuff wonderfully. It was all perfect.

We spent the evening assembling the bikes, and everything looks good. Today we took a little test ride along the lake to the village of Ajijic (Ah - hee - HEEK) and visited with some wonderful friends-of-friends Jim and Rhoda. They treated us to coffee in their beautiful home and explained why the lake is so shrivelled. Amazingly, Lake Chapala is at only 20% of its normal size. The pier at Chapala is possibly miles from the water. Reminds us of some of the water problems back home.

This afternoon was a bus trip down to the wonderful city of Guadalajara, wandering in the beautiful sunshine, sitting in cool green plazas, and exploring a huge market. Nancy´s eyes were as big as watermelons seeing how big that market was. And we found a wonderful bowl of posole (a soup of hominy and chicken) at one of the stores.

Tomorrow we start actually riding! We´ll ride along the shore toward Jocotepec, which is at the very east end of the lake, then come around on the north shore. Tomorrow´s a test-it-out day, so we don´t expect to get too far, and we hope to camp for the first time. That will have some challenges!

I am so happy to be here. I just can´t believe how beautiful it is to be in the warm sun and seeing all this.

The second day we climbed and climbed and climbed some more. We just did about 30 miles but it was steep, narrow and the hardest bike climbing I have done. I have a helmet mirror which helps figure out when I have to dive off the road. I actual slipped once on the gravel trying to move over for the traffic and slipped off my bike but I caught myself. My pannier came off. And this was all in front of a bus which was coming up the steep incline. But the driver was a very good driver and was watching out. He was a just barely moving when this happened. (I don't like these Mexican bus drivers -- they cut too close -- but for this one I'll make an exception. Thanks for your good driving!)

FLASH! We got a couple of pictures uploaded - take a look

Today's ride was so peaceful, especially compared to the past two days. We took country roads where there is no paint delineating lanes or even shoulders. The few drivers and the farmers drove slowly and gave us lots of room. As we continue our travels, we will try to find back roads like what we had today
at every opportunity. I really enjoyed today's ride through simple villages where life is slow and easy. The food is fresh and the people are friendly and the towns are quiet, especially during siesta time (1:00 to 4:00) One town we went through was especially quiet. We found out why. All the men work in the USA. That would make for a peaceful place - nobody is home!

On Friday we arrived at the "youngest volcano in the world", the Paricutín volcano near the village of Angahuán (Just northwest of Uruapan). Here´s what I read about Paricutín in my 4th grade Junior Scholastic magazine - maybe you remember the article too: "In 1943 Juan _____ was working in his cornfield when he saw a crack open in the earth. Lava eventually buried his field and grew into the word´s youngest volcano, Paricutín."

We took a horseback ride to the ruins of the nearby village and its 16th century church, which wrere completely buried. Just the church towers emerge from the lava flow. It makes you wonder what it was like to find the village buried in lava.

The village of Angahuán was possibly even more interesting than the ruins. It was by far the most indigenous place we´ve been -- most of the people are Purépecha and many speak exclusively Purépecha, no Spanish. It looked like a village in rural Guatemala or Peru, with women carrying their babies in their shawls and hauling firewood on their heads.

A prime objective now is finding roads with modest traffic. Since most of the major roads have no shoulder, it can be pretty unnerving to ride along with big traffic. So we´ve been seeking out the smallest of the backcountry roads, which is good, but it means that we´re not tracking with our plans at all. Today we´re in Pátzcuaro (halfway between Uruapan and Morelia) and it´s one of the few times we´ve been on our planned route, and we won´t be on the planned route again for awhile. We´re going to go way north of the Pátcuaro lake and avoid Morelia, then come down to Ciudad Hidalgo and go to the Monarch Butterfly reserve.

We´re clearly not going to make it to Oaxaca! We´ll probably go over to the butterfly reserve, then go south to Taxco, then find our way to Acapulco.

We made it to the beautiful town of Pátzcuaro. This town is reknowned for its artisans. Every third block seems to have a church and a plaza, and vendors selling their handmade wares and home cooked dishes.

The draw to this town is the Pátzcuaro Lake and its many islands. We took a boat to the Island of Janitzio. The boat ride transported both the locals with their goods and a few tourists. From afar we saw a statue on the very top of the island rising 500 meters above the docks. It looked like the statue of liberty from a long distance, one arm pointing toward the sky, but it was the famous general Morelos. We climbed to the top of the island where the inside of the statue had murals depicting the Mexican War against the Spaniards. (1810 - 1814) The fight for independence is a very big event for the Mexican culture especially around this area.

The children of the island kept begging for one peso (about 10 cents US). It is common and a way of life for these people. I have a hard time understanding the need to send the children out to beg for their next meal.

Americans have a wonderful life.

We left Morelia and headed toward the Mil Cumbres, which translates to the "thousand Peaks". Traffic in the City was incredible but we just wove our way through the capital rush hour traffic. Within one hour we were climbing into the most beautiful forest. And we climbed. The visita offered such breath taking views the climbing was not the focus of the day. We climbed for 25 miles.

When we got to the top we stopped to talk to to Canadian gringos whose car had broken down. Justin and Curtis where traveling to somewhere but they did not know where to. Curtis was going to explore the world for two years. Delightful young guys.

As we talked to them, I watched a fire erupt at the home across the road. As the guys talked about venturing around the world, I went to explore why the three children who set a huge pile of old lumber on fire were trying to put the fire out with small plastic buckets and no adult was present. The flame soon lapped 25 feet into the air. I jumped into action with the 3 guys following suit (finally). We all became firemen determined to save the near by houses and forest and maybe all of Mexico from complete devastation.

The mother and father finally arrived and just watched us. They must have thought we were possesed. After several hours we ran out of water and let the fire burn down. I am sure this is what the owners of the land would do but we American firefighters do not have the same level of experience. Well we all stood around for a few more hours watching the biggest camp fire burn down. Maria fed us some wonder shrimp soup and tacos.

We four gringos all camped that evening in the chicken coop and got up in the morning and rode away. I am sure there will be legends about us and how we saved Mexico.

Our friend Luis from the lavadero invited us to his inlaws’ house to camp. We had no idea what to expect but thought it would be great. We followed him up the hill and down a couple of dirt roads to his family’s house. At the end of the road was what we believe to be a very typical Mexican family home. The gate to where we’d camp was two old rusty bedsprings standing up to enclose the barnyard, to keep in the four sheep, 15 turkeys, and a dozen chickens.

The barnyard was not much larger than 100’ by 50’, but it was terribly well utilitized. Besides being a barnyard for the animals it had fruit trees (avocado, mango, peach, guava, and several other). The barnyard animal smells were powerful to my nostrils, but I shut up and smiled. I knew it was a lifetime opportunity.

We followed Luis up to the main house for introductions to the family. Father-in-law Antonio couldn’t hear us too well. Mother-in-law Simona was quite old, but rose at 3am every day to make donuts and then got to the market at 8am to sell them. Luis’ wife Elvira was working diligently making some pastries for sale on Ash Wednesday at church. They’re raising money for a 6-day walking pilgrimmage to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

All the women were working with the fried pastries. It looked like a hundred rounds of dough were drying or rising, stretched over every surface in the two-room structure. They were on the tables, chairs, counters, even the TV. The pastries then were deep-fried in the self-standing, wood-fed fryer.

After the initial introductions we were ushered into the second room, dominated by a huge television showing a university soccer match. Luis explained that Mexicans spend Sunday resting and watching soccer. Or at least the men do. But the huge, decent-quality TV stood out in contrast to the room it sat in. It was part-bedroom, part sitting room. On the whitewashed stucco walls were various framed and unframed religious pictures. Blankets were stacked against one wall and there was a single queen-sized bed, the TV on its wooden stand, two chairs. And then Luis brought out the cold Victoria beer. What a treat!

The family was very poor in many ways. They did have electricity and they have water in the cooking area, but no plumbing in the house. The toilet was a hand-flush affair, where you take a bucket of water to it and flush it that way. Laundry was hand-washed at the family lavadero (and the women must clean several sets of clothes daily, since the boys play sports and go to school).

There we were sharing ice-cold beers with a man we had just met. Luis’s heart was as large as any we’ve ever seen. He gave us the chance to experience what it’s like to live in the middle of Mexico in the year 2003.

We excused ourselves to go hang out our wet laundry on the clothesline in the barnyard. Randy and Luis continued to chat and share a beer while I worked away hanging the clothes on the line, pretending to be a good Mexican woman. Our clothes dried nicely on the line, but would smell like the barnyard until the next washing.

Lots of new pictures on the photos page
We are in Valle de Bravo, a beautiful lake in the mountains. To get here we rode
52 miles, up a mountain pass for 15 miles, which took about 4 hours, and then down for 25 miles, which took just a few hours more. This was the longest
descent I have ever done. I felt like I was in the Tour de Mexico, speeding
down the pass at 40 miles an hour with a fully loaded bike. I was motivated to
not let the tour buses catch up with me. They pass way too close. It is so strange that in the mountains you can hear what kind of vehicle is struggling up the mountain and how many vehicle are behind it. If there are more than two large vehicles like dump trucks, or full size buses and an assortment of cars behind that coming up behind me as I climb, I have plenty of notice from the sound echoing up the mountain pass to know when to get off the road and wait until the horde of metal monsters pass. Going down a mountain pass is not as hairy because we go at the same speed as everyone else or close to it. The similar speed makes working with the traffic a lot easier and more harmonious, the larger the difference in speed makes for more contrast and chaos. I can see a lot in my helmet mirror. Sometime I see multiple cars passing each other in the far distance but as they get closer to us the chaos melds into a manageable line of cars and trucks We all work together.

When we arrived in Vale de Bravo we wode around the lake The afternoon sun light shimmered on the huge mountain lake and all the forest trees were very distinct as they were dark in the afternoon light. The whole lake was surrounded by volcanic peaks as far as the eye could see. We stopped at a yacht club and had a refresco (a soda) on the grass, in the beautiful sun. We played catch with 4 dogs. It was wonderful to relax in such an awesome place. I reflected on how that moment is a once in a lifetime moment which will be etched in mind forever.

We stayed in a 16th century mexican posada (hotel) with a two story open
courtyard and flowering trees, old wooded railings and ceramic tiling
everywhere. The walls are white washed stucco. In the background was the two
spires of the main church. In New Mexico this would cost $150 to $200 an
night. It did cost $200 a night here but that is 200 pesos which is 20 dollars
American.

Last night there was a hugh political rally. Huge! There was actually duelling
bands blasting out their music from alternate corners of the plaza. The election is next sunday. The PAN party, a coalition of the PRI and the Green party, the PDR, and the Partido de Trabajo (worker's party) seem to be battling it out.
Elections are a very important here. I think everyone in the region was
bused here. There was a parades. and truckloads of flag waving supporters.

The state police and regional traffic cops were found in abundance. As we ate
pizza, 5 policemen with their submachine guns came in to eat. Now where do five cops put their submachine guns sitting at a small table in a crowded little hole-in-the-wall pizzeria?
On their laps, pointing at us, and not two feet
away. They also had had pistols, if automatic rifles were not enough. Each police
officer seemed to be in his mid 20's.