Guadalajara

Guadalajara - beautiful colonial gem, sprawling urban chaos, total traffic nightmare.

I'd had quite enough of the west coast, varying as it did between massive resorts and tiny beaches in the middle of nowhere. After stopping in a couple of places, San Carlos Bay and Mazatlan, I was left feeling like I'd been to Tenerife (Spanish, but take a walk around and you could be in a suburb of Manchester if it wasn't for the climate). Oddly I didn't encounter that many Americans, which the resorts are obviously aimed at, just a lot of affluent Mexicans making a lot of noise. My hotel in Mazatlan was simply the noisiest place I've ever stayed, there were pools either side of my room and each had massively overdone music, like a nightclub, only this was Mexican music which, being fair, isn't my taste.

Just before Mazatlan I'd crossed the Tropic of Cancer, the second big latitude line of the trip so far. I sat for a while and thought back to the Arctic Circle crossing, a couple of hundred years ago it seems. How different life was then.

Heading inland somewhat I tried to reach Guadalajara in one hit, which may have been possible on the toll roads but a late start combined with atrocious roads meant I got as far as Tepic. I got stopped at a military checkpoint for the first time but after asking where I was from, and where I was going they waved me on. The road started to climb into the mountains and heavy cloud which had been threatening all day let go in spectacular fashion. Suddenly it was all I could do to see the roads properly, and at one point I missed a pothole and the bike careered into it. I had to stop to check the front rim was ok. I started to pass small mudslides and the road was awash with both rain and diesel. I might be slow on the uptake but I figured it was time to get off the road, so I found the nearest hotel and got a room.

Goodness it was grubby. Every surface was sticky, the bathroom window was rusted open and the whole place needed a broom running around it. The hotel was made up for by the restaurant on the street outside. No windows, everything cooked in front of you on a griddle, and the food was awesome. After some meat dish I can't name and a handful of quesadillas, I went back to The Room. I'd noticed out of the rusted window that there was rather oddly a chicken coup out the back. "Gosh" I thought, "I hope there isn't a cockerel in there". I started to itch when I got into bed so immediately resorted to sleeping in my sleeping bag liner, under my mosquito net.

Crack of dawn - woken from light sleep by cockerel/rooster out back crowing like it's on steroids. Now I know why there was no alarm clock.
6.00am - woken again by loud people shouting and starting cars.

So it was that I headed off to Guadalajara an hour before my alarm was due to go off. The roads from Tepic to Guadalajara were the first breathtaking scenery I'd seen since entering Mexico. This place is green - since crossing into the tropics everything is covered in rainforest, mountains and valleys alike. You can smell flowers in the air most of the time on the roads, and butterflies swarm around them.

Arriving in Guadalajara, I then spent a massively frustrating and very scary several hours riding around town looking for an hotel near the centre, which is where all the decent architecture is. The driving was absolutely abysmal, the worst I've encountered, single incidents excluded. Here are some observations:

1) There is a law that states that Mexicans MUST overtake whatever is in front of them. This includes on blind bends and hills, and no overtaking zones. If possible, share the lane with the person in front of you, especially if the sucker is on a bike. I've not managed to find this law in the highway code, so maybe it is unwritten.
2) For such friendly people, Mexicans are seriously aggressive and dangerous behind the wheel of a car. I think I aged about 20 years riding through Guadalajara. One guy managed to ram into one of the panniers on the bike, despite it being quite certainly in my lane, almost knocking me off in the process.
3) Mexicans are the fastest drivers on the planet. If it wasn't for points 1 and 2, the formula one grid would be dominated by them.
4) Spookily, Mexicans don't wait for green lights. They seem to instinctively know when the light will change and pre empt it by a few seconds. This is really disturbing if you are in the middle lane and the inside and outside lane suddenly clear off while you are still in neutral.

Of course the volume of traffic doesn't help. If I was forced to do that every day I'd quickly become a nutter too.

Anyway I managed to find an hotel and set off for a wander round the centre of town. It's quite superb, and at the same time slightly mad. If you see the architecture you could almost be in Spain, but then the blaring of a thousand horns and masses and masses of traffic bring you back to Guadalajara. The Mexicans started the war for independence on 16th September 1810 so that date is celebrated every year, and all the principal buildings were draped in green, white and red. Cool.

I'm not certain where I'm headed from here, aside from south. After today I have to avoid Mexico City at all costs!

Frase.