La Manzanilla to Guanajuato

Fortunately our bike was still parked where we left it the night before when we woke up (we had that stolen bike in the back of our minds). After a long day of relaxation, it was time to prepare for a 10 hour day through the mountains and to Guanajuato. We took the toll road since we knew how long a drive it would be, and didn't want to waste any time getting stuck behind truck drivers on winding mountainous roads. This plan would get us to Guanajuato before dark.

View from the roof top of our hotel

Eric setting the GPS coordinates 

Hotel guard dog

We left around 9:30 am with some technical setbacks and made our way to the quota. Driving on the quota allows a much faster drive, but the problem is that it avoids small towns making it hard to stop at any time for food. Along the way we passed through Colima and were able to get some great shots of the Volcan de Colima, which even gave us a show by spitting out very large puff of smoke as we were driving by. Apparently, Colima is one of the most active volcanos in Central America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones.
After what seemed like an eternity, we found a small town to get some food in. We ordered soup and a torta in a spot where we were able to watch our bike from a distance.

 
We spent the next few hours of the drive adding more and more layers of clothes as the drive became colder and colder. About and hour before sunset, we had about 45 minutes left to make it to Guanajuato and since we didn't have a hotel room booked yet we realized we would be driving around at night time just before and while we were there. At this point we had a choice to make: either stay in a small town outside of Guanajuato and drive the remaining hour in the morning, or try and make it to Guatajuato and stay in the first hotel we came across. We opted for the latter. We figured we made it this far, why give up now?

Arriving in Guanajuato just before dark (yay!), we managed our way through the impressive tunnels that wrap around and under this colonial town. We had no idea just how confusing a drive through Guanajuato could be, so one drive through the town and we turned into the first hotel we found with parking on the outskirts of downtown centro. The hotel was surprisingly cheap for a last minute pick at $41 including gated parking, wifi and hot water. We were tired from the 10 hour drive, but we wanted to explore the town as much as possible since we were leaving the following day. We groomed ourselves as much as we could without taking showers, and went for a walk around town. Guanajuato is beautiful beyond explanation. This pedestrian friendly colonial town is by far my favorite colonial town on this trip. Founded in 1559 due to the regions silver and gold deposits, this town is described as one of the most influential during the colonial period and as a result is now the capitol of the state. With a university nearby, the nightlife was energetic with lovers snuggling in gazebos, small bands playing in every nearby squares, and courtyards of restaurants, busker's, and locals and tourists alike strolling the town and sitting on benches people watching. We decided to eat in the main square and since it was the night before our anniversary, splurge on a wine and food pairing. This probably wasn’t the best idea since we were dehydrated from the ride, and while we drank seemingly as much water as we did wine, we were drunk after the first glass of 6. The meal came with 6 dishes including a dessert, and while we both decided the food could have been better, the experience was still unique and provided a romantic atmosphere.

This band had the biggest audience of them all

For the last song, the band invited their audience to walk along the square with them while they played

Our view at dinner

Some of our dinner

After dinner, we stumbled through the streets of Guanajuato, took some pictures, and somehow made it back to our hotel safe and sound. Notice how blurry our pictures are..

PV to La Manzanilla

We wanted some extra beach time this trip around, so took a short drive to La Manzanilla to soak up the sun before heading up towards the mountains as we planned. The drive to La Manzanilla took about 3 hours. We stopped at a few view points to check out the scenery and take some pictures, but made it to La Manzanilla in pretty good timing; around 2pm.

We ran into some road construction along the way, but to be honest I have no idea what was going on. It seemed as though they were just digging sand from a nearby mountain and throwing it on the roads. With all the cars speeding ahead of us it got so dusty we could barely see much of the time. At one point, a large cow emerged from the dust about 50 feet ahead of us and we thanked our lucky stars that we weren’t closer when the cow decided to pass by. So far on this trip, the roads in Mexico have been incredible, making the rides smoother than in some places in the states.

We read about La Tenacatita being a beautiful, resort style beach that everyone should see, so we took a short drive off the main highway to see what all the fuss was about. We followed signs heading towards La Tenacatita, but we must have taken a local way to a different side of the beach because there were no resorts or restaurants in sight as our book discussed, and there were security guards blocking off the residential area surrounding the beach. Nevertheless, the beach was beautiful and were suddenly bummed that we didn’t have our camping gear with us. This would have been the perfect spot for secluded, relaxing camping.

 We arrived in La Manzanilla shortly after. The night before we had tried to book a hotel room or at least have some prospects in mind as we normally do, but La Manzanilla is a small town, and the local hotels weren’t even listed online. We drove all the way down the main street to the beach, and got off to reassess our situation. The beach was exactly what we were looking for; perfect for a nice day of basking in the sun without too large a crowd. Not having a hotel in mind and with hungry bellies, we took a break to eat some aquachile and have a beer at a beach side restaurant close enough to watch our bike. Walking towards a restaurant, a Canadian couple asked us a few questions about our bike, the ride so far, and then discussed their own travel plans.They were staying in a town just north of La Manzanilla, where they stay four months out of the year every year, and were in La Manzanilla to experience the "city life". As La Manzanilla is basically a town with two lazy streets, I wonder what home looks like to them. 

After lunch we regained our strength to go out seeking for a place to stay. We stopped to inquire about a room at a hotel when we were approached by a gringo staying at the hotel next to us. He told us to be careful with our bike, and to park somewhere safe because just last week a tourists BMW was stolen off the streets. We stayed at Hotel Michel, with secure parking and a locked gate, for $31 USD. The room was basic but large, quiet and had hot water.

The rest of the day we did exactly what we intended to do; sat on the beach, slept on the beach, enjoyed the water, ate seafood and nachos, watched the tide come in, the sun set, and had a few more drinks.

Back to Puerto Vallarta

After six weeks away from Mexico, it was finally time to head back. We caught an early 6am flight to Puerto Vallarta where we left our bike. The 6am flight felt incredibly early since Eric got off of work at midnight the night before, but arriving to Puerto at 11am made it worthwhile. We would have a full day and a half more than the normal 3 1/2 days traveling through Mexico. Arriving at the airport we got our luggage and headed out to catch a bus at the station right outside the airport driveway. On the way to the airport last time, we took at  $28 dollar taxi in order to ensure we would make our flight on time. The bus ride to our hotel this time cost us only $1. What a deal!

We planned to meet up with Ed around 4:30 since he was at the beach for the day which gave us plenty of time to explore downtown PV and take advantage of some pool time. The temperature was a high 42 when we left Biloxi that morning, so we were more than thrilled to be walking around town in our shorts and bathing suits on. The sun felt great after a snowy Salt Lake City, and a dreary Biloxi all month.

Civiche on tortillas?! Yumm!!

Eric loves clams, especially cheap beach side clams!

Our usual week long combo

Roof top pool with a view of the ocean

Ed called just a few minutes after getting into the pool, so we walked to his place just a mile away from our hotel to pick up our bike. The bike started up pretty easily, and drove out without any complications.

Reunited!

After getting the bike we went back up to our pool to watch the sunset, walked around town again to explore the night life, got some dinner, and made it to bed by midnight. 

Day of the dead decorations. I like day of the dead decos because they remind me of our wedding in Cabo San Lucas. Our reception dinner was at a Mexican place that was decked out in day of the dead everything.