South America by Geezer

Nice RR. I was just ahead of you on the Hwy 16 and Creel, Parral route. It was beautiful. Also really like the Rancho el Murillo. It has a very pleasant old world charm and the proprietors are friendly.

Thanks for following jimmex.

Mexico sure has a lot of roads that could just be done over and over again and not get tired of them.

Loving the RR. Keep it coming, pls

Real de Catorce, looks & sounds amazing.... it is now moved up a few notches on my list

Thanks for taking the time...

The horse ride was probably up to the ghost town. I hope you took pictures for us. Glad you liked Norma's place in Saltillo.

I keep on enjoying your RR
The pictures from real de catorce brought back a lot of good memories from our 2 week long stay there on our way up north. BTW, I had quiet a few beers with Milo back then
Tonight we are staying in the hotel San Martin in Hermosillo , thx for mentioning it !!
Ride safe !

Glad you are enjoying it Ruan. Thanks for following

Real de Catorce was on my list of places to see but always seemed out of the way. I'm really glad I went. While not as much of a "typical" Mexican town, it is a pretty relaxing place.

Appreciate the comments.

Pics in a few minutes. Many of these places like Norma's and some others, I could spend a lot more time there. Very comfortable.

Glad you enjoyed them. Wow - 2 weeks, now that is doing it right.

I got the Hemosillo tip from a couple of others so, glad to pass it on.

Day 20 - Oct 26

Quick history of this fascinating town. Started silver mining in the area a little over 200 years ago which industry ebbed and flowed depending on the Mexican political situation. Around the early 1900’s started getting some foreign capital in, they built the tunnel into town and for awhile the area was a significant producer of silver in the world. Production finally petered out and the town declined to a few hundred hardy souls. Somebody decided they should capitalize on tourism and the town has reestablished itself solely on that industry. Really enjoyed it.

Went to the only ATM machine in town for about the 6th time and got the “can’t connect to your Bank” message. Which I think roughly translated means it is almost out of cash and we’ll save it for our own customers so, take a hike. Kinda running thin on kish-cash but should make it ok.

Go and find Emilio, one of the “Approved” horse tour guides and decided on a three hour ride up a neighboring mountain.

My faithful steed, Dollar, and I worked our way up the mountain with Emilio on his mule. It was actually a lot of fun.





Went through some old mine ruins on the way.


That's me, playing a bad imitation of someone who really knows how to ride – have not been on a horse for at least 30 years


The remains of some old houses



Got to the top and then had to pony up another $20p to some guy who appeared out of nowhere for "permission" to walk the trail to the top. Took about 15 minutes walking down that trail but something substantially longer going up as I was breathing pretty heavy as we were around 10,000 feet altitude. Here is Emilio trying to look busy so maybe I won’t want him to walk up with me . . . Ha!



Fantastic views of the flatlands below.






At the top there was a big ceremonial circle with a bunch of things people had made. Further up was a small building with all sorts of stuff in it. Emilio tells me the natives come up here to do their spiritual thing which involves consumption of parts of the local cactus, peyote. The natives have apparently been using this stuff for a few thousand years. When the peyote is available for harvest they apparently have a pilgrimage of sorts of natives from other areas.






Coming back – some of the houses in Real






I found the Mexican saddle interesting – much larger horn and hardly any leather



Across the street from the hotel was this big Mexican transformer. It was getting pretty long in the tooth and the more I looked at it, the funnier it got.



The steel poles are dual purpose – hold up the transformer and stop runaway cars. Useful in this town.


Oh, and don’t forget to thread those wires through the steel structure . . .



There has been a big church service both nights I have been here. Apparently in connection with a religious festival that lasts more than a month. Quite a few will pilgrimage here to participate which all contributes a bit to the local tourism.

Like most churches, they ring their bells regularly and when they were still ringing away at 11 PM and waking me up, I figured that was ok as some poor junior Monk has to get up and pull on those ropes – picturing Lon Chenay pulling on the ropes. Then looking at the church during the day, I notice they have speakers stuck all around the bells – they have it on automatic – no Junior Monk, no hunchback . . .

Ate dinner in the Hotel dinning room. Had the rabbit – outstanding!

Rex,
Good call to take the horse up. Great old architecture up there, enjoyed the pics. I also liked the up close transformer shots and saddle details.
Have fun, the team and I are thinking of you here,
Gary

Rexbuck

Real de Cortace looks like a winner. Great pics and man do you look at home on that steed. No really you do.
Thanks for the great photos and I will be sure to put this place on the list. Keep it coming. Enjoying the report.

Thanks Gary
Those guys did amazing things with rock - it's a pretty bountiful resource in much of the country where wood is scarce. Everything from roads to buildings.

Hey Jick, glad to have you along. Catorce is a cool and unique town - I could easily come back.

To show you how good of a horseman I am, here is a pic I took when Dollar decided to start trotting downhill - see the results of being one with the horse? You could learn something here




Oh, and thanks for keeping the economy rolling along . . . we old guys appreciate it.

Day 21 - Oct 27

Took my time getting the bike out of its parking space on the “sidewalk”. Straighten the bike out, get it on the road, navigate up the little bit of hill past the guy across the road with his Land Rover's (with bald tires) door open, head down a one way street the wrong way (cause it was the easiest) and around to the bottom of the street the hotel is on. Haul my heavy stuff down and head off through the low hanging ropes and throngs of people.

Was the only one to go out through the tunnel so the guy hands me the baton to deliver to the other side. Since the tunnel is one way, keeps things orderly. Whole whack of people over there waiting for the baton to come back so they can come into town. Half dozen or so tour buses sitting there – they can’t go through the tunnel so the people are hauled in on donkey drawn wagons. I think this is the end of the Catholic celebrations in town so I’m guessing these are worshipers.

Was cloudy and windy when I got up but no rain - whew! However, when I got out the other side of the tunnel, there was a light rain and the first 8 km or so had a few sphincter clenching moments as the bike slid a bit here and there on the wet cobblestones.

Heading to Ciudad Valles and rather than take the straightest route, which is largely flat and straight, decided to detour a bit to get a few km of nice roads. GPS, as usual, was quite confused and had me on all sorts of nasty side streets in the town of Tule . . . I finally took the bull by the horns and went where I thought I should and eventually the GPS agreed to me. If two are wrong, doesn’t make it any righter . . . after going up more crappy dead end steep dirt roads, asked a couple of guys where the highway was and turned out I was one block off . . . the other way from where I was trying to go. Idiot!

Road to Ocampo is pretty nice, twists up in the hills – only problem was there was some pretty low clouds making it foggy and wet and couldn’t see Jack so, I just took my time.

Staying at the Hotel San Fernando in Ciudad Valles, an old hotel with big rooms and lots of hardwood but it is a bit long in the tooth. A a lot cheaper than Mision Valles I stayed at last time – wasn’t in the mood for fancy schmancy.

Sorry, no pics today

Hi RexBuck, I just found this thread. Great to see you are back on the road. We will be following right along. Subscribed!

Suerte!

SR

Day 22 - Oct 28

Holy cow! Started off on Hwy 70 west from Ciudad Valles and I immediately began to recognize it – man was it fun. Last winter when I rode the same road it was also a Sunday so no trucks. What a blast. Looks like they are just about done with the new cuota so, should take most of the weekday traffic and leave this sweet little bit for the odd motorcycle.

When I got to the small town of Rayon I headed south hoping to find some back roads. Had a couple of alternatives and when the first alternative turned into a rocky, muddy road in the thick fog, I figured I’d have enough of that later and moved on to plan B over to Hwy 69.

Peñalmiler proved to be another typical town for me. Head in, don’t notice any signs and now I’m wandering around town. Find what looks like a highway and head out. GPS says nope! Nice road so I ride it for awhile. Better go back – ask an old guy directions and wind up on the highway that I came in on. Turn around. After a few GPS recalcualtions, find the right road – wasn’t sure at first as a bit ratty but it improved.

Just about the whole ride today was rural twisted roads. It was a fairly long day for me and many times I’d hope it wouldn’t end. It was just such a blast. Incredible views, incredible roads. Just about every road was twisted with fantastic views. I think Hwy 120 from Japon to where I turned off to go to Peñamiller was easily in my top 5 Mexico roads and may even be vying for number one. One of the best days riding I have had.

Talking about being a "long day for me" - I find I am less prone to really long days . . . like I used to. Somebodys ride report I read established the 3-3-3 rule: No more than 300 miles a day, finish by 3 in the afternoon and no more than 3 beers. The first one is the easiest – when you are riding back roads in Mexico, either the twisties or the topes will slow you way down and 300 miles or 500 km is lots - today was about 470 km. The second one . . . sometimes I can knock off early , and the third one – I actually try to stick to that one, not always successfully, but the intention is there.

Not a lot of pics today – I was trying to rely on my GoPro and the remote I finally got hooked up to take on the go pics. Had some technical problems so didn’t get a lot.

Trees overgrowing the road – trucks keep them trimmed and create a tunnel effect


This guy was just grazing on the side of the road.


Same with video – the first part of Hwy 120 was much different than the second. This video is a small part of the downhill ride.



Arrived in San Miguel de Allende just as the sun was setting so the timing was perfect. I’m embarrassed to reveal that I’m staying at the Best Western. It seems that so many of the hotels here are crazy priced and the one that seems to come up as a frequent recommendation on ADV has no internet. (The gadget guy needs his connection with the world if he is going to stay in one place for 3 days).

Will check out SMA tomorrow.

Hey SR - Good to hear from you. And, thanks for following along.

I almost came thru Durango again and was going to give you a holler. Decided to go the other direction to Real de Catorce instead. Next time.

Sure have been enjoying a lot of the mining history in many of these interior towns.

RexBuck

Day 23/24 - Oct 29/30

Had heard so much about SMA and wanted to give it a little extra time. Plus it will be my birthday and I want to be somewhere with good internet so I can talk to family and friends.

Walked around SMA centro for a bit. Two things stood out: First, virtually everything is painted only yellow and red. No blues, pinks, greens. Of course some will postulate that I am colorblind or at least color-retarded. To which I respond – pshaw! Half a dozen colors works for me.


As an aside, this picture gives a good idea of the traffic in large towns - tends to be a little chaotic at time.

Second, there is a lot of real estate taken up in the core with churches – they almost seem to be on top of each other. Some are quite dramatic. This is the main Cathedral at night.


It is a beautiful city though with a rich heritage. Went to the house of Ignacio Allende next to the main Cathedral on the Jardin (that is what they call their Zocolo). It is now a museum chronicling the life and times of Allende. He is considered to be one of the main players in the start of the Revolution in 1810 when Mexico broke away from Spain. He was born in this house and later came to occupy it. As the town’s favorite son, they change the original name from San Miguel Grande to San Miguel de Allende.

Kind of a goofy looking dude, but I guess that was stylin in those days



Here he is looking a bit more masculine


The house seemed a bit Spartan with the family’s rooms upstairs and servants, stables and storage downstairs.


Found a little hole in the wall restaurant away from the centro for breakfast. The lady who owned the place had these great masks on a shelf – said her kids wore them in a June Fiesta / parade.


Flower stalls at the Jardin - as Day of the Dead approached, started to see more and more flowers for sale and ultimately big trucks loaded with flowers selling them as fast as they could unload them.


Hmmm, high heel aligator cowboy boots? Whatever!


How to properly level a 3 floor high scaffold



And, last but not least, a sign there must be Gringos or Beemers or both nearby

The Moors occupied much of Spain for ~ 750 years leaving behind their style of city construction. Go to the back streets of SMA, narrow, stone, flat roofed. You could be in Morocco, or some places in the Middle East. I like that look, it even is found in NM and southern CO. I'm planning a ride down to Mexico this winter on my Honda ST 1300. Too big? I could buy a Vstrom 650 for the effort.

Yes that Spanish influence in the architecture is certainly prevalent throughout Mexico.

As for the ST 1300. Depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. If you stick to Cuotas, piece of cake, if you want to stay away from Cuotas then you will contend with a gazillion topes, probably a few potholes and the odd gravel bit. Either way, if you run into construction it can range from a nice gravel road to washboard to some loose gravel. You see all types of bikes down here. I rode my Harley down here a couple of years ago and, while it was fine and I really had no problems, with the topes and construction areas, I was wishing for a bit better suspension. Check over in the Trip Planning forum - there are lots of discussions about the optimal bike.

Day 25 - Oct 31

Short ride to Guanajuato via Dolores Hildago. Not much in Dolores that I bothered stopping for but it was the home of Father Hildago, the initial leader of the revolution.

Guanajuato is one wild town. I don't think there is a straight street here - they curve around, go over each other, will be on different levels and frequently plunge into tunnels. I was expecting to have to hire a taxi at the edge of town to lead me to the hotel but, for the first time, the GPS didn't get screwed up in a city and led me right to the hotel. Well, led me to the back gate which was one street above the street the entrance was on. To get to the right street go over a bridge, down a ramp, around a roundabout then under the bridge and arrive at the other side.

So, here I am checked into the hotel and walk back to the bike and a guy was standing there and we start yakking. He offers to show me around and while I want to tour around, I'm not sure what he wants to do. I'm thinking he's trying to sell me something and while a tour isn't out of the world, I'm not gushing. He finally pulls out his wallet and shows me ID cards from drivers licences to pension cards to what I think is an insurance card for a BMW 650GS. Now it's sinking into my thick skull - he wants to show me around town as a fellow bike rider. Cool (Bitchin, boss, rad - you pick)!

Agree for him to stop by the hotel in the morning on his bike and we can see the sights.

Mi Amigo Gerardo.