7. Guanajuato
Day 20 I got out of town quickly. Along the north shore of the lake, which is over 70 km long. All of a sudden the road changed to cobble stones and I was in real Mexico. No tourists here. I was questioning my nav but there was only one road between the rocks and and the lake. I didn’t get out of 1st gear for 10 km. Going through villages where the time stands still for awhile. My spaceship motorcycle clearly didn’t belong there. EVERYBODY was starring at me. But soon enough I was on the paved road again. And it was boring. Mostly fields and farms. I was taking the scenic route but I took tool road around big cities. Didn’t feel like doing a stop and go there.
All was good until in one curve there was a wheel that didn’t like the truck it was mounted on and left searching for a better life. And it was heading straight at me! My whole life went through my head about 3 times in 0.5 seconds I had left to do something. I was doing well over 100 km/h. The wheel missed me by 2 feet …I don’t know what happen behind me, I didn’t stop. Well, that was a close one!
Soon enough, I arrived in Guanajuato. Old silver mining town, it is situated in the valley and on very steep slopes. There are dozens of tunnels connecting one side of town to the next. The problem is that there intersections in the tunnels. And GPS doesn’t work in tunnels. So, I ended up few times at the wrong exit. Recalculate, says my nav. Well, there goes another 4 km to fix this. Also, they put the road signs not before the intersection but rather right at it. It was an interesting city tour, though frustrating at the times. The steepness of the roads here are hard to describe. The roads are very narrow, cobble stones from 16th century and incredibly steep. I ended up following an old WV Beatle who was barely making it uphill. I was almost pushing him as I was in my 1st gear and feathering the clutch. If I had to stop, I’d have heck of the time to start again. I made it eventually. Found my hotel and it is steep as well. No room on lower floors so I have lug all my gear to the 3rd floor. I almost died. The bike is parked right in front of the reception.
Anyway. Standard procedure, clean up and head down to the town. Going down was an easy part as I have the big church for navigation. But I was aware that I have to eventually go back up. Very old town, goes back 500 years. They have one of the oldest universities here. The town is full of non-gringo tourists and students. It is packed.
I couldn’t procrastinate any longer, I had to go back to my hotel. Geez, that was hard. Very narrow streets got me lost very quickly. I’d still be there running in circles if not for Google Maps and my iPhone. And those street were STEEP. Some parts 45˚. I was pretty tired when I finally made it up.
There is a pool and a jacuzzi on hotel’s terrace overlooking the town bellow. Spectacular. The view, I didn’t dare to test the pool.
Anyway. Very cool town and I survived a tire assassination attempt. It was a good day.