Amor Morelia

I didn’t really fix el Churro during my stay in Patzcuaro, but moved onto Morelia which is a much larger city, so figure I can get him back to normal there. It is an easy drive from Patzcuaro, maybe an hour or less on the free road. The centro of Morelia is a beautiful colonial city, the entire centro is pretty large but it doesn’t feel overly big, which is the perfect combination. I basically walk around and eat….why do you even read this when this is all I do? I always walk away from the centro so I can get a feel for outside the touristy areas, so I did a bunch of that too. I am not necessarily bored with the city, but being solo I don’t take advantage of any of the nice looking bars or restaurants. Most are empty anyway most likely a result of covid, though everything seems to be up and running in general here.

Hmmm, maybe they are cutting down on the electric bill

There it is

I got a hot tip to stay at Hotel Fenix from ADVRider, at only 200 pesos a night it lacks some of the basic amenities the snowflakes are looking for, but suits me just fine. The water was hot, it had parking, but was missing the toilet seat (typical in Mex) and the room was a bit pink. The internet was weak in my room but worked ok in the lobby, so for 10 bucks a night who is going to complain. Plus it is in the heart of the centro…I don’t know how the guy on ADVRider found such a cheap but nice spot, but I stayed 7-10 days as it worked great for me.

The owner and I struggle to communicate a bit at times, every time I think he is going to tell me 1 thing he tells me the exact opposite. He did ask where I was from and commented on my accent when I first arrived, so I think it is safe to assume the problem is on my end. During one of our conversations 1 thing I get for sure, is that he tells me to stick to the 15, the other roads in Michoacan are not safe. Only the 15…..yeah ok buddy, I won’t be listening to that advice, but I am getting ahead of myself.

One day I went for a brief walk to explore the southern part of the city and decide to just keep going. When I make it to the southern portion of the city where the main road loops around the city, I decide to head east towards the moto shops and see what I can find. Of course now I wish I had planned the walk and brought the thermostat and radiator cap with me, but figure my spanglish will be sufficient. To my surprise, despite google telling me there was no Kawasaki dealer in Morelia, I see a giant green and black sign which says my problems are over. Well, that is what I think, of course the guy can’t help me, though he does try and sell me an expensive motocross radiator cap, which I pass on. I ask about Guadalajara and he doesn’t think I will have any more luck there, but I think he is still trying to sell me that over priced radiator cap. At this point I already had a backup plan thank to the guys on ADVRider, so wasn’t very concerned about it, and decide to press on rather than inquire about shipping parts in.

Think I figured out my space issue

Ah yes the magic covid mat, I feel safer already

The route I took didn’t have a ton going on, so when I find a mall I decide it is time for Carls Jr. Of course, after lunch I proceed north and within 5 minutes find all kinds of places that look like they would be much better to eat at, but at least the walk was more exciting. I checked later and had walked 10 miles around the city, when I had planned to walk 10 blocks or so, this is usually how it works for me, and why I am always tired/sore.
The next day I walk around looking for breakfast. I have previously had a few bowls of what is most likely pazole earlier on the trip, but since I am never sure I stop at a food stall that has a sign for the actual stuff and the price, yes no gringo tax! She tells me something and I hear the word chicken so like the dumb gringo I am say yes, I like chicken. While I may call myself an adventurer, I never said I was a good adventurer. I get an overfilled bowl of cut up chicken vertebrae, in a broth. I force down a few vertebrae’s which are not overly awful, but realize I just cannot do it. I avoid eye contact with everyone and drink every drop of broth, then get up to pay my bill and quickly get out of there, who doesn’t hate wasting food.

Ok, now I feel better

Looking for food a different morning, I see a protest/parade headed to the centro, I snapped a pic and moved on but later found them in the centro having shut down a block or so, causing all the traffic to back up as it is rerouted down a much smaller, 1 way road. I also notice about 20 officers in full swat gear around the corner, so I grab some delicious gazpacho and sit down for the show, no my Spanish is not that bad, this is what they think gazpacho is here, I don’t care though because it is delicious. Well the swat guys must have waited for backup since nothing happened, so I returned to Churro to fix that overheating problem as I had managed to score the supplies on my random walks. The solution is an easy fix, I use my electrical skills to whip up this sweet switch to manually turn on the fan when needed. Assuming this fixes the problem it will mean the thermo switch had failed, and I can’t easily get one down here, so I hope for the best.

Hey, you guys see the swat guys lining up, maybe you should get out of the street

Ok, let’s get to work

Not convinced our breakdown are over I stopped in a furniture store and thought about seeing if I could trade Churro for a dinette set, but they wouldn’t throw in an Italika bike so I walked. I also start adding the gifts I have bought Churro, I figure he will either appreciate them, or be embarrassed by them, but 1 for each problem Churro, so stop acting up.

From isla Janiztios calle of crap

Morelia is pretty tame even with the anarchists controlling the centro, so rather than ramble on about a trip to the market to buy a belt, or more walking around looking for food, I will just leave you with pics, since Morelia has such a beautiful centro. I lucked out with the Amor Morelia sign which was done up for dia de muertos, as they took the flowers down later in the week and revealed a rather old, tired looking sign, though admittedly that is more our style.