After two icy cold cycling days and multiple punctures in our tire and Roland’s bottom (from the camp spot we stayed in) we reached San Luis Potosi for a few days rest.  We stayed with Azucena (a Couch Surfing host) and her family where we were treated like family.  We enjoyed practicing our Spanish, having a walking tour of the City, drinking rich hot chocolate, taste-testing food at a Cervezeria (pub), trying Pozole (a soup filled with king-sized corn, meat and other vegetables, which is a speciality to the San Luis Potosi region) and cuddling the four wee puppies that Acuzena’s Cocker Spaniel dog (Korruba) was nursing.  We were sorry to leave but only had a day of cycling to our next stop, Rioverde, 130 km’s away.  Rioverde felt much warmer than S.L.P and we noticed all the mandarin trees growing as we cycled into this very green and tropical-like town.  We stayed with another Couch Surfer, Saul and his family.  Their beautiful home was the perfect location to weather the thunderstorm that came through.  In the afternoon we drove out to Media Luna with Saul which is a naturally warm lake in the shape of a moon.  We went at the perfect time as it was a cool day and raining and so there was no one else there.

Our detour from Rioverde Southeast through Xilitla (hee-leet-la), Jalpan (the Seirra Gorda), and looping down to Queretaro was a challenging but very beautiful ride.  We were treated to much warmer weather, jungle-like views, grand waterfalls and picturesque colonial towns either perched on hilltops or nestled in valleys surrounded by grand mountains.  The highest point we got to was about 2,300 meters which was just past Pinal de Amoles.  Fortunately, we got Belinda’s finest moment on camera!  In hindsight, we probably needed an extra two days to complete the ride comfortably, which would have allowed us to have more breaks.  Gotta love hindsight.  I must say though, once we did finally reach the top we got some wonderful views of the countryside and enjoyed the long and winding descent down the otherside.  The day we cycled into Queretaro we passed through a small town called Bernal which is situated next to the 3rd largest monolith in the world.  Fancy that!

For Belinda’s birthday we treated ourselves to a night in a hostel and gorged ourselves on Mexican biscuits (Chokies are our favourite so far).  It was a very funky place named Casa Caracol where we slept in a tipee! The hostel is conveniently located close to La Poza, the place where Englishman, Edward James called home for many years.  He was a rich but potentially a tad crazy with too much money and time on his hands.  He created an endless sprawl of enormous surrealist-style concrete structures, such as, giant orchards and stairs to nowhere.  The jungle is now taking over but it is very creative and pretty to walk through.  The other highlight for the birthday girl was having a $7 lunch compared to the usual $1-2 fare.  We had ‘mole’ for the first time which is a complicated and delicious sauce to concoct that we had with chicken and all these wonderful side dishes served in clay bowls.

We arrived into Queretaro just as it was getting dark and we found ourselves lost in this big City.  Getting directions on Google maps seemed very straight forward but we got muddled up in our 3-D surroundings.  We were in good hands though and after many attempts of trying to find our own way amongst the hectic traffic we sat tight at the ‘Italian Coffee Company’ Café eating expensive, calorie-filled cheesecake and waited for our hosts to meet us.  Silvia (SERVAS) and her kids kindly lead us back to their home with the hazard lights on.  We cycled madly behind them and watched on as the traffic swerved in and around our slow-moving convoy.  We made it in one piece and we were very grateful not having to navigate ourselves to the house.  We enjoyed two nights with Silvia, her husband, kids and sister-in-law (Hilda).  We were warmly welcomed and settled into family-life playing games with the kids, watching them in their gym class, sharing meals together and taking in some of the sights of downtown Queretaro with Silvia and Hilda.  We also got our bike serviced by a guy, Jose Luis, that stopped us on the roadside (for a photo and who happened to be a bike mechanic) as we cycled in towards the City.  We were again, blown away by Silvia and Hilda’s kindness as they lead us back out of the City so we didn’t get lost or have a hard time with the volume of traffic.  It really made our ride to San Miguel de Allende so much easier.  Thank you very much!

We are now in San Miguel de Allende and enjoying two weeks off the bike and learning Spanish.  We are staying with a wonderful lady (Ellen) that we found through SERVAS that has generously agreed to have us for our entire stay.  If you would like to ring us while we are here to have a chat please email us to get the number.  We will post another blog sometime while we are here.

Don’t you just love the drawing my brother-in-law, did for my birthday?  Albeit not entirely accurate!!!  Thank you Martin, we think it’s great!


 
 
 
Many apologies if this update sounds anything like many of the previous entries, but yet again hospitality and kindness have flooded our week. When looking for a pharmacy to pick up some extra bandages, we happen to stubble upon an electronic repair shop. Having destroyed one of the earphone in our crash, this seemed like the opportune time to replace them. Well the fellow in the shop had other ideas and only after an half an  hour he finally admitted defeat and generously gave us a new pair at no cost. How unexpected and amazing! It has to be said that after the previous week of mishaps on the bike, it felt marvelous to cycle from Parral to Durango without any incidents.  Four days later we found ourselves in downtown Durango and in the company of our couch surfing hosts and now warm shower hosts, Jorge Luis and Frida.  They are a super friendly, talented, warm and generous couple.  They helped us out big time contacting the Salvation Army in Durango, getting our teeth cleaned and getting our bike looked at once more. The squeak is GONE! We have enjoyed being apart of their lives by going to work with Jorje and meeting their friends and family. (The dog‘s name is Yoda). We couldn't have asked for a better time.  After travelling through a sea of elevation gains and losses, it was hard to image stumbling upon this high desert gem, Zacatecas. Truly an enchanting and charming city with an arial cable car,  impressive rock outcrops (Cerro de la Bufa) stunning cathedrals, stone buildings and roads, tours of the Eden Silver mine (also a Disco Bar underground), beautiful parks, and a hotel (Quinta Real ) that has been renovated from a bull fighting ring. Our terrific experience here in Zacatecas would not have been posible without Alejandra, her mum and son. We throughly enjoyed seeing the many beautiful sights Zacatecas has to offer and then coming home and spending time with Alejandra and her family. We had a cultural and language lesson last night playing 100 Mexicanos dijeron (like Family Feud),which was super fun but sorry that team ´Chido´won! Alejandra is a Politian and has her own political campaign, hence the posters and now sticker on our bike. 

Tortillas eaten since arriving into Mexico
368

Military Check Points
9

Rides offered  and refused
14

Crib Score
Roland 96
Belinda 55

Interesting Facts:

*McDonalds delivers in Durango

*The stretch of road between Durango and Zacatecas: passes through the 
Corona Brewery and the Tropic of Cancer, one of five major markers of latitude

*Eden Silver mine: At one time up to five people a day died from accidents and diseases including children working in horrific conditions. Produced 20% of the silver in Mexico

******* If you have read this far you MUST vote as to where you think we should              live after this trip (go to the bottom of our home page)....... You know the                right answer!  Also, you can listen to the song 'A bicycle built for two'.         
           How nice!