Edit: I have no idea what ruta de mezcal is, I have seen signs for it out near Dolores Hidalgo, so probably has nothing to do with where I was, but this is already written so it is what it is.
So Morelia may be tame, but the surrounding area is AMAZING (once you get off the 15!). At some point while still in Morelia, el Churro and I ride up the nearby mountain looking for an aerial view of the city. The view is there, but I continue on further since el Churro now has that professional looking switch I have added, and yes it solved the overheating problem. If this adventurer stuff doesn’t pan out I can always fall back on my electrical work. We continue on to explore and eventually see legit blue tourist signs for the “ruta de mezcal”….well I dont know what that is but that sounds like fun, so away we go.
Always the diva!
I follow the signs and end up on some nice dirt roads running through the forest. Early on there are a lot of people walking enjoying the forestry, but that changes quickly. I think I followed the signs correctly, but admit I am not entirely sure I did not miss one, as I really get out there and the signs vanish. It doesn’t matter as I am not in charge here anyway and without the heavy bags el Churro is in his element, so I can’t stop him even if I wanted to. At this point we are just following the pink arrows that they have painted out here on random trees. I have no idea what the difference is to the blue arrows I see at times, or why I picked pink, but the ride was awesome so we just stuck with what was working. We pass through some extremely small pueblos, there is scooter traffic out here, and an occasional truck or two, but el Churro and I pretty much have this paradise to ourselves.
No time to remove the helmet, we have adventuring to do.
Now I am stopping for pics so motos have ridden up ahead which is never out of the norm, so when I get to one small pueblo and see some autodefensa/vigilantes waiting for me it is pretty obvious they knew I was coming. Now, when your ridding around solo on backroads in Mexico and see guys with large assault rifles you stop and ask yourself if these guys are good or bad. It wouldn’t matter at this point as there is nowhere to go, but I am under the impression that if I ever meet the bad guys, I will know right away as I assume they will point their guns at me.
These guys never raised their guns, so right away I know I am good. I pull up and they ask me to pull over, shut off the motor, turn off the camera, take off the helmet, and then ask me to show them ID. They were very professional about the ordeal so it was never threatening, and we talk about el Churro, my trip, and make jokes about random stuff….I told you before I am funny people, I had these guys rolling. The guy in charge eventually asks to be my facebook friend cause I am awesome, though I also suspect he may be tracking me and checking to make sure I am not sharing pics online. They did mention they have the guns for their protection as well as those in their pueblo, and again had me shut off my camera, so yeah no pics. I ask them if it is better to turn around, I had gone 2 or 3 hours and would have had a blast going back, but they say I am good back here and can ride for days, YES! Hoping they would say that I continue on, but rather than “days” I only continue on for this 1 day, I am sure I will be back here again, it is awesome back there.
Still exploring the ruta de mezcal, I stop for water when I get to a “big” small pueblo, where there is not a single person in this town wearing a mask. I am not sure they have heard of covid out here yet. I go into the local store saying good afternoon to an old man in a cowboy hat as I entered. He barely acknowledged me but I figure they don’t get many gringos and he is probably racist. I get my water and head back to el Churro which I had parked by three teenage boys earlier, of course we start talking about el Churro. Really we talk about the enormous gas tank, that is all anyone really cares about. Eventually the old guy who had been in the store comes out and sits down next to me, and we have a nice convo about whatever we can understand between the two of us. Damn me for assuming he was racist, he was an awesome old man and wished me luck on the trip. While this is all going down 10 more people gather and hang around the truck across from us for no reason, other than there is a gringo in town. The place is cool and if I didn’t already have a hotel I would try and stay here, if they even have a hotel that is….I am not so sure.
From that pueblo I continue on and eventually pop out of the forest by Villa Madero which has a good amount of stuff going on, just the random kind of pueblo I like, but again the bags are still in Morelia and it is getting late. I want to see if I can find a cheap hotel in order to come back here later, as well as grab some food, but decide to push on since I am cutting it close for Morelia and daylight. The rest of the ride is boring and easy compared to the awesomeness of the ruta de meczal, and I make it back just before nightfall. I have googled ruta de mezcal, and while there is some info I don’t find any maps so no idea where it is compared to where I was. Michocan can have some unsafe areas, so while I recommend you head back there immediately, make sure you get some current advice, or just some advice from someone smarter than me…basically use caution and have a blast!
Since I am headed east from Morelia the guys on ADVRider told me about mil cumbres, or thousand curves which is just outside of the city….like I didn’t already know. Well, I told them I was headed there next, not to worry. No way I am missing a road with that kind of name. Yeah ok, so the problem was, I kept having these dreams, about that place, that had those stands. So I jumped on google and tried to find out what was up Quiroga, the complete opposite direction……worlds greATEST CARNITAS!!!!@! *sound of screetching tires* You seen 1 curve you seen them all, to hell with mil cumbres, el Churro and I are off to Quiroga!
