Hell’s Half Acre

We found the fat cows in Mexico! They are all sequestered, in farmland around the Guadalajara area so all the poor cows in the rest of the country have no idea of the riches that could be available to them. I’ve never seen a cow without its ribs showing; never seen a cow grazing in grass (cactus, aguave, dead sicks; yes) and never, in the 2 years we’ve been traveling in Mexico, seen a fat cow. So now we know where to find them.

Today, I decided we’d take various free roads from Guadalajara (assuming we would be able to navigate the preferico without getting hopelessly lost or incarcerated) to Leon or Guanajuato. The preferico around Guadalajara is like no other road we’ve seen in Mexico. SIX LANES WIDE and many, numerous and timely road signs. It was easy finding our way around the city and we were soon on the eastern edge heading towards “Mexico” (DF, Distrito Federal, Mexico City) and Zapotlanejo. Just outside of Tepatitlan I realized we were headed in the wrong direction and it really was the only time we got lost the whole trip. I stopped outside many of the towns trying to find the libramiento or preferico, but almost all the towns except Arandas were too small for ring roads. I was constantly worried that the cops would give us a hard time, taking our gigantic rig through their tiny towns but it was never a problem.

The roads we drove today were spectacular. Absolutely gorgeous, from the one lane bridge (some surely can explain why the town of Puente Grande (big bridge) would have warnings and a citizen directing traffic over the only bridge in town, a very narrow, one land bridge?) to the plateaus dropping down into riverland and farmland to the spires of Guanajuato city in the sunset.

We got a very late start; we’re still on Nayarit time, so changing to Jalisco (and Guanajuato) time has us getting up at 9am; we were finally out on the tiny cobblestone streets of Villa Corona by noon. Guadalajara was easy enough to navigate; it has a SIX LANE preferico (ring road) and numerous helpful directional signs. We didn’t get lost until we were almost to Guanajuato state. It was a perfect day for driving; the last few days of rain made the day quite fresco and clear. We were humming along and I had an eye out for a balneario as I didn’t anticipate really making Guanajuato city before nightfall when I noticed all my gauges in the instrument panel had zeroed out. Nothing but the spedometer and odometer were registering and soon they dropped also. It wasn’t easy, but I finally found a spot wide enough for us and the Westy to pull over into. Jamie noticed that the headlights were almost out and told me to turn the engine off. On a road that we had seen only a handful of other trucks, with no towns to speak of for very very many miles (in all directions), we sat and swatted flies. Jamie decided the problem most likely was the alternator and almost immediately we were joined by two pickup trucks trying to get down the dirt hardpack we were blocking. I immediately thought that they would lead us to their rancho and we’d have a few days of Mexican immersion while sharing and exchanging and simply enjoying. When I told one of the men that we might have to spend the night at the pull out he immediately told me that it was a bad idea, that people (from where?) would come along and rob us. That it was a VERY bad spot, but if we could get 5 minutes down the road it would be much better. While I was talking to he and his cousin, Jamie was busily connecting a battery taken from the trailer so I could at least start the van; once started, I’d use little to no electricity (except the trailer brakes) and we’d high tail it to the RV park in Guanajuato. I don’t know if the ranchers were correct in their assumption of robbery, but we got the battery swapped, I got the van started and off we headed.

The sun was getting low and honestly, I was just hoping for a town of any size that would have a restaurant or hotel or a place we could park for the night, but we picked one of the lonliest (though gorgeous) places to drive across Jalisco today. Just outside Guanajuato the trailer brakes died but the van kept going and we made it, inching along in 1st gear to keep the speed (and use of brakes) down, to the RV park. We’re on a high bluff; Guanajuato itself is at 6700ft, and can see around for what seems like forever. But our blood has thinned terribly, and at 77 degrees F and 33% humidity, we’re shivering. Brrrrr….