If We Just Head East, We'll Be OK!

Never, ever try to cross Guadalajara without a map and a lot of patience. We had camped the night before at a lake in a volcanic crater a dozen kilometers east of Santa Maria Del Oro. We woke up early and forego'd our showers and coffee as we wanted to reach Guanajuato, a fabled town in a narrow canyon form the 15th century. We arrived in Guadalajara at around noon. We barely got out by sunset! Every time we found a huge highway headed in the direction we wanted to go, it dwindled into a four lane road, then a two lane road, then a lonely one way dirt trail. We played this game for a few hours figuring that as long as we headed east, we would forge through this latin megalopolis and emerge on the other side (we had our compass out...). It did not work. The sun was going down.

The boys at Autozone must have saw us coming, because we left with $50 in maps. It turns out the fold out map of the entire country of Mexico is not sufficient in getting you unlost in a city of 4.8 million people.

A long story short, we got out of the city, and at around nightfall found found the small city of Tepatlitan de Morelos. This city is in none of the guide books we have -Lonely Planet, Overland guide to the Americas and Camping in Mexico mention nothing of this place. Yet, it is one of the finest Mexican cities we have ever been to. Wonderful cathedrals, beautiful architecture, cheap hotels and nice folks abounded! Ten tacos and a Coke were 70 pesos (13.3 to a dollar). Breakfast of chilequiles, eggs, beans, a quesadilla, and coffee's were under five bucks. Our hotel on the main square was US$22. Awesome.

uuuh..

one of many cathedrals in tepatitlan 

We could have stayed for days. Instead we booked it for Guanejauto. A short three hour drive and we approached the city. We had read about a city in a narrow canyon with underground roads built where rivers used to flow, but we were unprepared for this. A 15th century city almost untouched (because there is no room to mess with the city as its literally built in a ravine). We drove for kilometers underground in rough-hewn tunnels built on dry river beds under the city!

giant bag of cheez puffs!

about $10US(including beers)

view from our room!

view the other way! ($16US)

tunnels!

 It seemed the going rate for a hotel room in this place was about $1100 pesos. We were bummed. That is until we wandered around and found Hotel Diego Rivera. Not sure if the place was even in business, we crept inside and rang the bell on the wall. Really the place looked abandoned. "PASE, PASE!" Nervous, but curious, we entered. The old man looked down at us from two stories up and sized us up. "200 pesos!" he shouted. "OK!" we shouted back, and it was sealed. About $16US for a motel room in el centro de Guanajuato. The pictures don't do justice, but this place is amazing.

Oh yeah, I hit a parked car. Much drama, but cost 500 pesos($40US) and all was well. It feels good to get one out of my system :)

p.s. Apparently we are just around the corner from the birthplace of artist Diego Rivera. The name of the hotel should have gave it away. There's a museum at his birthplace that we'll explore tomorrow.