Churro and I were headed to Lago Chapala, AKA Gringolandia, an area I have not previously explored since it is Mexicos epicenter of gringos, full of Americans and Canadians. I figured like Sayulita, covid times would make the towns of Chapala and Ajijic tolerable for me.
But before Gringolandia, we had to get to Mazamitla. I finally left Uruapan cutting through Los Reyes on the way to Mazamitla, a small mountain town which is a popular tourist destination for Mexicans. I thought about finally checking out the falls, but wasn’t sure how long the hike in was, plus I had all my gear, so decided to push on. The weather was great and the ride to Mazamitla was uneventful.
I arrived in Mazamitla and found Posada La Gloria, which did not have parking so Churro was back on the streets. There are a bunch of hotels in town, and everyone is renting cabins. The price here was about 25USD, which is average for what I found, and I have read the cabins go for 50+USD. The centro is nice, though small, so I grabbed some food and relaxed for a bit before walking all over town. The town fills up on the weekends, so arriving early Friday left the town a bit empty at first, but began filling up in the evening. I had originally planned to stay 1 night, but decided to stay an extra to explore the surrounding area. The next morning Churro and I left the bags behind only bringing the essentials, as there are nice roads all over the place. I had my pants, shoes, and the key tools strapped to the back of churro and we headed off for some more dirt adventures.
We were taking the long way to Santa Maria del Oro, a pueblo deep in the mountains, no idea what it was about but the road is supposed to be great. I later saw a map in town and believe it is a paved road to Santa Maria, but Churro and I did not make it that far to find out. After getting lost a few times which didn’t matter since the dirt roads were great, I jumped on google maps and corrected the issue. Now knowing where I needed to head, we pulled over to snap a pic.
There isn’t much traffic back here, but a local goes by in his truck with his family. We exchange a wave and I snap my pic…..and then smell gas, oh man not again. I go to grab my tools, only to realize my bags are nowhere to be found, shit. I push the gas hose back on and jump on Churro to back track for the bags, figuring they are long gone as I could have lost them anywhere. 1 minute later I find the guy in the truck stopped, his kid about to jump out and get the bag with clothes and shoes laying in the road. Now, there is a chance they thought they found some nice things to take back home, but I am going to assume the best and that they stopped to grab the bags and return them to me. Either way I waved them off, ran over grabbing them, and saying thanks. The bag was torn apart, hung up on a piece of metal rebar in the ground, so probably had been bouncing along behind churro and I while I was oblivious due to the earplugs I wear. Unfortunately the toolkit was nowhere to be seen.
Relived to at least have my pants and shoes, I notice the guy had stopped up the road a bit further and was waiving to me, so I left Churro and ran up ahead. He had found the tool bag, so I collected what I could find of the tools scattered on the road and returned to Churro. Most tools had been recovered but some were missing, and again this was the “key” tool bag, a small bag containing the essentials. Now that I have my stuff back and reattached to Churro, I return to the site of the tool bag and after 5 minutes or so am able to find just about every small bit I had been missing, which is a relief. With the bags in tatters, Churro and I decide it is time to head back to Mazamitla ditching plan A for Santa Maria del Oro, but go to plan B and enjoy a nice coffee and cake in the square.
From Mazamitla, we backtracked towards Sahuayo in order to drive around a larger portion of the lake, taking us around to Ajijic, since it was a relatively short ride from Mazamitla. Outside Sahuayo I saw a group of 20 or so off the off road buggies that are so popular here in Mexico turning off the main road, most likely headed for adventure. Well, I am sure you know what happened next.
On a spur of the moment whim Churro and I jump off the main road and follow them. We go for several miles down a country road which was pleasant enough, already worth the detour. I finally see them all turn off onto a small dirt road. I go to pull up as 2 of them had stopped so I could ask where they were headed, and if I could join, but quickly realize they had stopped to take a leak so continue on giving them some privacy, since I have a helmet cam and two cams on Churro in case we are ever hit. I circle back but they had already moved on, so Churro and I jump on the dirt road to see if we can catch them. Right away it gets pretty rough, and I am loaded up with all of my bags and the guitar which makes the suspension basically worthless, so reluctantly abort the mission. I will certainly head back to this dirt road someday in order to find out where this adventure would have gone, but instead choose to head back to the main road and continue on to Ajijic this time.
All I know about the towns of Ajijic and Chapala are that they are overrun with gringo snowbirds, which means the cost of everything is way to much for Mexico. The road around the lake nearing these towns is FULL of traffic, so rather than stop at Ajijic I continue on to check out Chapala so I can then return later if needed. Both towns are nice enough, but the hotels I checked out in Chapala were full being a Saturday, and all started at 50USD+. I didn’t want to head back to Ajijic assuming it was the same, so grabbed a 50USD hotel that was inconveniently up the hill away from the action, but at least had vacancy. I am sure there are budget hotels somewhere in town, but most seemed to start at this price and go up, an effect the gringos in the area have had on these towns. It was a nice hotel, and easy enough to drive Churro down to the towns to explore for the evening. After a quick shower, having already driven around the pueblo of Chapala looking for hotels, I decided to go checkout Ajijic. As suspected the town was not over run with gringos since so many are stuck in Canada, but I was still feeling the effects so was craving a delicious gringo burger. This one hit the spot, though left me feeling a bit uneasy later that night, though I did not get sick.
The town was pleasant enough, but pretty small, so after checking it out I then headed back to Chapala to park and walk around as there were plenty of people out and about on Sat night. I have mentioned I leave Churro outside at times, I definitely am not as cautious as I should be, though have become quite attached due to naming him. The van never got a name, Pepe was the closest it got but that was only because a cute blonde suggested it, but even then I shot it down immediately. But with Churro I didn’t have to try and think of a name, when I decided he needed a name it was instantly Churro, nothing to think about, but now I am a bit protective of him due to this. So after parking by a small restaurant on a side street that was pretty dim and walking towards the malecon, I look back and see a group of 10 or so people checking him out. I immediately turn around and head back, not liking how they had instantly surrounded him when I left. Of course, this was just an instance of not knowing the area, it being night time, and letting my mind play tricks on me. As I got back I jumped on him ready to move to another spot, and realize it is a large family parked right in front of Churro. Yes they were checking him out, but there was no wrong doing of any sort going on. Turned out they were a Mexican family from Northern California down on vacation. We talked about my trip, and wished each other well, but I still moved him to a new spot so it looked like I had been returning to him on purpose rather than having freaked out.
Not wanting to spend another 50 bucks on a hotel outside of town I jumped online and found a campground nearby. Wanting an excuse to camp decided I would stay there rather than leave the area, but learned it had closed down when I actually went looking. Due to a late start, and looking for this campground, it was fairly late in the morning by the time we really got out of Chapala. We set off headed North with no real plan as we are slowly headed to meet the friends in the desert previously discussed. Not even 30 minutes from Chapala the clutch cable snapped (Problem #7). Luckily I am a genius, and had preemptively purchased a spare which I routed along the original, so all I had to do was unhook the old one and hook up the new one, easy. During this time a guy stopped by, asking if I needed help as he was a local mechanic. He had seen me on the side of the road working on Churro and told me he had went home to grab his tools. Awesome man, but I am just finishing up here, I am quiet the mechanic myself. I told him I may stop by tomorrow for an oil change, but decided to push on the next day and get the oil later. With the cable fixed I returned to Ajijic, as it was just too late to move on.
Thinking Sunday would be easier to find a hotel I stopped at a couple, but even during covid times these hotels don’t really seem to want to lower the prices, even though they appear empty. At one hotel a young guy who smelled of alcohol shows me the room, and tells me there is parking for Churro. I decide to just take it as it is one block from the centro, still at 50USD. I remove the bags so Churro is easier to handle, and walk him into the caged area he will be sleeping in. There is no way I can make the turn, so go straight in planning to back him into the space. Suddenly I hear a women say “That god damned large motorcycle blah blah blah”, I couldn’t hear the rest most likely due to the rage in my head. Bitch, what did you just say about my Churro?? She also tells the guy I cannot stay in the room he showed me and that I need to move as she has other guests coming, which I assume is BS. I am ready to walk him right back out as I haven’t paid anything yet, and know I can get a 50USD hotel anywhere in this BS town. The guy tells her to relax, that we already spoke and I am parking it in the corner. I figure she is in charge here, so now take my sweet time, slowly removing all my gear 1st looking for an excuse to leave, but it is hot and late in the day and I would rather go grab some food and hike up the nearby mountain than continue hopping from 1 hotel to the next. I eventually park him nice and neat, and ask “is this ok?” with a thumbs up and big gringo grin, purely sarcastically. She responds with a thumbs up, and then has me follow her into the office to pay, yup she is in charge here. Now things take a complete 180, I don’t know if it is dementia or what, but she is my best friend. She asks about the trip, where I am from, tells me she is from Oklahoma if I recall correctly, and chats away like we are old friends. I am still pissed about her lack of respect, this is the legendary el Churro after all, but play nice, pay for the night, and head off for more gringo food.
Ajijic is a bit empty Sunday though there are a some people in town, but between covid and the late time of afternoon my food options were a bit limited. I hit up the exact same burger place, ordering the same burger since it had been delicious the night before. Besides, I had to be sure I was blaming the correct food for my uneasiness since I also had multiple servings of ice cream on my walk the previous night as well. Again it left me feeling uneasy a few hours later, so it was definitely the burger. After the burger I headed up the trails, to get an view of the town. During my hike I kept thinking about the woman, and how ridiculous it had been, and decided that she most likely was taking her frustrations with the guy who smelled like alcohol out on Churro, so let it go. I return to town and spend the evening in the centro, and feeling uneasy from the hamburguesa order up a hot dog to see if it would make me feel better. It was delicious, so I ordered up another before heading back to the hotel.
The next day the lady has a bowl of cut up fruit, cereal, and coffee waiting for me. She sits down with me during my meal and chats away. I am concerned Churro will get pissed that I am chatting with the enemy, but as suspected it had nothing to do with him, as at one point she mentioning her struggle with the help, and wanting to sell the hotel so she can return to the US and get her freedom back. She tells me she is sad to see me go and wonders why I wont stay longer. As I am the only guest I figure I know why she is saying all this. Of course no one ended up staying in that original room she kicked me out if. Either way, it was time to move on, so Churro and I headed off to Aguascalientes, another city which I had not previously visited.
