Geezer Goes to the Beach

RexBuck · Mar 4, 2014

To wind up our stay in Guayabitos, I'll finish with a few random pics and oddities.

When your pickup breaks down or runs out of gas, just leave it where it stopped. This truck was parked in this side street for 3 days. Finally one of the tour busses took advantage of the blocked street and parked in front of him.

A while back I had some discussion about a caved in manhole that was never fixed while we were there. This grate across a drainage ditch on the main street was caved in on one side, blocking one lane of traffic. If I remember correctly this grate was in about the same shape when I was here two years ago.

As is common throughout Mexico, Saturday nights offer a variety of cultural events. We happend to catch some of the dancers one night - probably 400+ people watching. Pretty costumes although I didn't get the pineapples these ladies in the third photo never took off their shoulders.

We went out on one of the party boats one day for a benefit fundraiser for an orphanage in Puerto Vallarta. I'm sure this was one of the quietest and least rowdy booze cruises these guys have done. Geezers don't party like they used to.

Once we got underway I looked down and discovered one of the two inboard diesel engines on the boat was out of commission. Never to let something so mundane as an engine slow them down, a quick solution was found - just tie on a fishing boat with a 60 horse outboard and away we go

Saw a number of schools of tuna feeding. I understand tuna operate as a pack and force the feed fish to the surface where they chow down

Saw a family of whales

A little food porn - chicken

One of the best BLTs to be found

Took a couple of day rides around the area. The first one was a great loop up towards Tepic. Some great riding. Took videos but then aliens descended, broke into my computer and erased all of them . . . Damn Them!

Here was the route - that road up to Tepic is spectaular if you like real twistiness, great pavement, little trafic and some great scenery

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f3cebfdb8b48b8b42&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=21.329036,-105.114441&spn=0.831493,0.585022&z=10&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="650" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe>
<small>View Tepic Loop in a larger map</small>

The second one followed an old road that connects Los Varos with Bucerias. Just a huge amount of fun.

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f3ceeac0a6e125a4f&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=20.954386,-105.277863&spn=0.480925,0.326157&z=11&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="750" scrolling="no" width="475"></iframe>
<small>View Las Varas to Bucerias in a larger map</small>

Here is a short video from that ride - was able to save it from the aliens . . . I finally was able to try out the helmet mount in its new position (well I tried it on the Tepic Loop video the aliens stole but . . . its gone). The video seems shaky which could partly be my bobble head but may also partly be that the Drift clip is loose in the mount. Discovered later and fixed with a shim.

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xZ6aEK_dEsI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>

And lastley, I thought this guys shirt described adventure riding well

Sunday Rider · Apr 2, 2014

Hey RB, everything okay?

RexBuck · Apr 2, 2014

Hey, thanks for asking Sunday Rider. I am actually working on some entries now so I can complete the rest of the report. Hope to start posting tonight.

Sunday Rider · Apr 2, 2014

Most excellent. Awaiting the next installment.

RexBuck · Apr 3, 2014

Sorry for not reporting for so long - I'll try to wake this puppy up.

March 1

Lounging on the beach and generally goofing off is now done and it’s time to start making my way home. Plan to head south a bit then into the interior and work my way north. May hook up with fellow inmate Jick Magger for a little company in the rest of Mexico.

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f4fcc91e7250e8bad&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=20.11784,-104.985352&spn=2.063108,1.167297&z=9&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="800" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe>
<small>View To Melaque in a larger map</small>

Left Guayabitos today following the Taxi with Mrs RB to the PV airport and dropping her off for her flight back to the Okanagan.

Once we got the check in completed at the airport, it was time to say goodbye and hit the road. Right off the bat we have to work our way through the city of PV. It has grown to one of the larger coastal tourist cities and it seems to take forever getting through it. Lots of touristy glitter, shopping centers, big box stores and mucho Starbucks.

The road south of PV is quite pretty running along the coast down to Mismaloya and lined with nice hotels and condos. After that Hwy 200 is an enjoyable twisty road for awhile then straightens out as it goes inland.

I pretty well had my head up my ass most of the day and didn't take any pictures along the way. I tried to grab some stills off a bit of video I took but the quality really sucked. In the realm of human interest, here is a shot of a not unusual "busload" of folks going home from work,

I have been through Melaque (officially San Patricio Melaque) before and the part of the town along the highway just struck me as a somewhat uninviting Mexican town. Once off the highway I found a fairly nice little beach town. Looks to be a fairly active with a number of hotels and a nice central plaza.

I stayed at the Hotel Monterrey, a fairly basic room in true Mexican style with 3 beds. $450p which I thought was a bit pricey but it’s on the beach so I guess that rates a premium. This pic looks through the courtyard and if you use your imagination, you might see the ocean behind - right under where the hotel name is.

Had a pretty good giant burrito on the town square with a couple of NMs and went to bed early. I was bagged.

eakins · Apr 4, 2014

that back way road is awesome.
i probably did that once a week when I was living in Sayulita.

RexBuck said: ↑

To wind up our stay in Guayabitos, I'll finish with a few random pics and oddities.

When your pickup breaks down or runs out of gas, just leave it where it stopped. This truck was parked in this side street for 3 days. Finally one of the tour busses took advantage of the blocked street and parked in front of him.

A while back I had some discussion about a caved in manhole that was never fixed while we were there. This grate across a drainage ditch on the main street was caved in on one side, blocking one lane of traffic. If I remember correctly this grate was in about the same shape when I was here two years ago.

As is common throughout Mexico, Saturday nights offer a variety of cultural events. We happend to catch some of the dancers one night - probably 400+ people watching. Pretty costumes although I didn't get the pineapples these ladies in the third photo never took off their shoulders.

We went out on one of the party boats one day for a benefit fundraiser for an orphanage in Puerto Vallarta. I'm sure this was one of the quietest and least rowdy booze cruises these guys have done. Geezers don't party like they used to.

Once we got underway I looked down and discovered one of the two inboard diesel engines on the boat was out of commission. Never to let something so mundane as an engine slow them down, a quick solution was found - just tie on a fishing boat with a 60 horse outboard and away we go

Saw a number of schools of tuna feeding. I understand tuna operate as a pack and force the feed fish to the surface where they chow down

Saw a family of whales

A little food porn - chicken

One of the best BLTs to be found

Took a couple of day rides around the area. The first one was a great loop up towards Tepic. Some great riding. Took videos but then aliens descended, broke into my computer and erased all of them . . . Damn Them!

Here was the route - that road up to Tepic is spectaular if you like real twistiness, great pavement, little trafic and some great scenery

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f3cebfdb8b48b8b42&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=21.329036,-105.114441&spn=0.831493,0.585022&z=10&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="650" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe>
<small>View Tepic Loop in a larger map</small>

The second one followed an old road that connects Los Varos with Bucerias. Just a huge amount of fun.

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f3ceeac0a6e125a4f&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=20.954386,-105.277863&spn=0.480925,0.326157&z=11&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="750" scrolling="no" width="475"></iframe>
<small>View Las Varas to Bucerias in a larger map</small>

Here is a short video from that ride - was able to save it from the aliens . . . I finally was able to try out the helmet mount in its new position (well I tried it on the Tepic Loop video the aliens stole but . . . its gone). The video seems shaky which could partly be my bobble head but may also partly be that the Drift clip is loose in the mount. Discovered later and fixed with a shim.

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xZ6aEK_dEsI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>

And lastley, I thought this guys shirt described adventure riding well

Click to expand...

RexBuck · Apr 4, 2014

eakins said: ↑

that back way road is awesome.
i probably did that once a week when I was living in Sayulita.
Click to expand...

There are some great hot springs just off of that road also trhat I didn't go to this time

RexBuck · Apr 4, 2014

Had a great ride today.

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f4fce3b7672e28b14&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=19.570142,-103.862&spn=1.035155,1.919861&z=9&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="400" scrolling="no" width="700"></iframe>
<small>View Melaque to Mazamitla in a larger map</small>

Heading down the coast towards Manzanillo, start running into banana plantations. I know, Ive put pictures of bananas up before . . . The banana bunches are covered with plastic bags to help them mature. Mexicans also love their coconut so, many times banana plantations are inter-planted with coconut palms.

Quick pic of Manzanillo bay. The bay goes around to the mountains in the background. The Point or La Punta in the middle of the bay has some really schnazzy resorts and houses for vacationing Gringos and Gringas.

Went north from Manzanillo on Hwy 89, a great twisty road that was a huge amount of fun. In Colima you have to go north to get on the periferico which will eventually curve south to take to pick up Hwy 110. Another great road taking me to the great little town of Mazamitla. Here is some of the roads today

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zGfVQfJhxUg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

Mazamitla was a cool town and I could have spent another day or two there if I had the time. Old town is full of historical buildings. Beautiful Plaza with the standard Plaza fixture, a pretty church.

Went to a restaurant on the Zocolo and had Milenesa de Res (beef) with mushroom sauce and a very nice pepper sauce. The waitress was concerned I wouldnt like the heat . . . ha!

Mexican restaurants typically give you something to munch on before your meal. The standard is corn chips and salsa but the nicer places will give you some fancy crackers or sliced vegetables or peanuts mixed with garlic and peppers or, as in this case, all three. Couple of beers and I could easily have made a meal of that. Glad I didn't stop at the appys though because the Milenesa was outstanding.

Stayed at the Hotel Casitas de Mazamitla. Nice big apartment style room. Parking was OK, in the space by the front door but wasnt locked in. Kid looking after the place claimed it was watched . . . dont know how closely but the bike was fine. $400p

Sunday Rider · Apr 4, 2014

Okay you've almost redeemed yourself with those 2 updates....

I guess you are home now?

eakins · Apr 4, 2014

RexBuck said: ↑

There are some great hot springs just off of that road also trhat I didn't go to this time
Click to expand...

oh yeah?
got any info on where exactly?
i've hiked into the alta vista archeological area (with all the info signs along the way) many times but those are cold pools.

i've heard about, but not visited, hot springs down on cabo corrientes.
also i've heard stories of hot springs up near tepic or santa maria del oro lake.
thnx

RexBuck · Apr 5, 2014

Sunday Rider said: ↑

Okay you've almost redeemed yourself with those 2 updates....

I guess you are home now?
Click to expand...

A day late and a dollar short . . . that be me. I'll get some more updates soon.

And, yup - I am home . . . waiting for global warming to kick into gear.

RexBuck · Apr 5, 2014

eakins said: ↑

oh yeah?
got any info on where exactly?
i've hiked into the alta vista archeological area (with all the info signs along the way) many times but those are cold pools.

i've heard about, but not visited, hot springs down on cabo corrientes.
also i've heard stories of hot springs up near tepic or santa maria del oro lake.
thnx
Click to expand...

Easier to access from the south through Bucerias. For some reason I didn't save my GPS tracks from when I went there a couple of years ago but this is roughly where the turnoff to the hot springs are.

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205889534154679979395.0004f64d99c53ee2e2e94&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=20.910455,-105.160789&spn=0.224498,0.146255&z=12&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="700" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe>
<small>View Hotsprings in a larger map

If you zoom in, the road that shows up on the Google satelite shot at the mark above looks like the road as I remember it. There is a sign at the turnoff so, easy to find.

There are a whole bunch of pools like this. An old guy there keeps it all clean,

</small>

RexBuck · Apr 5, 2014

Had not been able to hook up with Jick Magger yet so, decided to head up to Guanajuato for a couple of days. I really enjoyed that town when I was through last year.

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<small>View Mazamitla to Guanajuato in a larger map</small>

You know that I periodically whine about the routes my GPS chooses, sending me on some wild goose chases and then copping an attitude when I eventually rebel and come up with my own route. In Mexico, its routing in rural areas is usually pretty good not so much in small cities and towns. Today it was a bit more confused.

Shortly after the small town of Valle de Juarez it puts me on a nice road but after a few kilometers I realize I am on a road to nowhere and now clearly wandering away from where it thought I should be and Im now getting a good talking to. I backtrack and find the right road which of course, wasnt even on the map.

Stopped in the little town of Quitupan for breakfast at a typical roadside restaurant.

Asked for the Menú which is a set meal and is pretty common for many small restaurants throughout Latin America. I have no idea what it was but it was damn good!

Approaching the town of Chavinda, the next-turn instruction was to turn left on Ferrocarril which was strange since that is Spanish for Railroad. Mmmkay GPS on a roll . . . made the turn onto what appeared to be the main road into town but soon it wanted me to turn on Ferrocarril again. Wasnt anything there other than what could be an old rail bed for a rail line that had long ago been decommissioned and taken over by adjoining landholders. Finally figured out where I needed to go and wound up with a 30km detour around the vacated railroad and through about 3 other towns to get back on route. Sheesh!

Travelling through dozens of small towns, a typical scene of a bunch of guys sitting in the shade and solving the world's problems

There is a lot of nice grass growing on the sides of roads and farmers are quick to take advantage of the free feed by herding their cows down for a feed

While others figure the cows are smart enough to stay off the road and can look after themselves for the free feed

Quite a bit of fairly intense agriculture once in the State of Guanajuato. Started coming across thousands of acres of Strawberries, some uncovered

and some covered with the plastic shelters pulled over. I'll bet a good percentage of winter strawberries in our supermarkets come from here.

Coming through towns, saw lots of signs for Fresas y Crema (Strawberries and Cream).

Also started to see quite a bit of Blue Agave which surprised me a bit as I thought Tequila production was only in Jalisco State.

Apparently not. Started seeing a bunch of distillaries this one had a very cool building.

Coming to the City of Irapuato, I figured out there should be a Periferico around the city which wasnt on the GPS map. Even though it was a toll road, I gladly coughed up a few pesos to avoid the downtown of a good sized burg.

As an aside, the Mexican government changed the tolls for motorcycles a couple of years ago to half the rate of automobiles. Last year none of the toll booths were offering the reduced rate but now they all seem to be on board. Much better . . . and getting closer to the free moto lanes in some South American countries.

Bumbled my way into Guanajuato, through a couple of tunnels and made a wrong turn to get into Hotel Hacienda de Cabos but remembered the long way (up the hill, over the bridge, turn left, down the hill, around the roundabout, under the bridge and take the first right.. Basic Mexican ADV Rider type hotel. $500p pricy for what you get but not bad for this city. Stayed here last time and it is a convenient location within a couple of blocks of the old downtown area.

RexBuck · Apr 7, 2014

I spent a few days here last year and was fortunate to meet a local who gave me a personal tour around the city and surrounding area. I have a couple of pictures below and you can find a lot more pictures and history of the area in my report here.

Today I just wanted to wander around and soak in some of the sights downtown. The town is a combination of history, culture, a very unique layout and the extensive use of tunnels to complement the street system.

Some tunnels provide shortcuts through the surrounding hills getting traffic in and out of town while others replace streets through town, taking them underground.

Im sure there is not a street or ally that is straight in this town. Everything curves probably based on the terrain and the original street layout from centuries ago. Many of the streets and alleys are incredibly narrow obviously designed for pedestrian and horse transportation. This is a lot steeper than it appears in the photo and up to 6' wide.

In the old town, a lot of the transportation is underground. The main street through downtown is a surface street one direction

and underground going other directions.

They even have an underground parking lot

There is a small University here along with lots of museums and even a couple of theatres

Jick Magger showed up this evening riding in from Barra de Navidad. We plan to ride up to Phoenix together. Will be nice to have a riding partner for a change.

Sunday Rider · Apr 8, 2014

Great pictures once more, RB. Good that you can go back to places that you enjoyed on previous trips and explore them more.

Sunday Rider · May 25, 2014

Howdy RB. You must be on another trip by now. Where is the end of this one?

I noticed you have a link to your Website on your signature line. Has that always been there? I sure don't remember. You've done a lot of work on it, great slide show there. Thanks.

RexBuck · May 25, 2014

Thanks for asking S-R. I do need to finish this RR up. Promise, will get at it.

Thanks for the compliments on the website. Another project that needs a few finishing touches.

RexBuck · May 25, 2014

OK, here we go . . .

Packed and ready to go, pose for some pics in the hotel parking lot

and . . . Jick has a problem with his bike. Nothing serious and sorted out in short order. Was surprised when he produced his own collection of tools . . . must have been left in the bike from the previous owner. He actually held them.

Here is our route today.

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<small>View Guanajuato to Jalpa in a larger map</small>

Straight forward getting out of Guanajuato once I found the gas station which necessitated going around in circles a couple of times.

Cutting through a small town and come across this guy. Asked him what his horses name was and he said it didn't have a name. Guess Mexicans relationship with their horses aren't so personal.

GPS, in its attempt to straighten out our route, took us through some farmers fields interesting but got us back to the main road eventually.

Stopped in the town of San Julian for a bite to eat. A beautiful plaza with a very pretty church

One of the locals was explaining to us that one of the first uprisings against the Spanish started here. Locals were barricaded in the church tower when they were shooting it out with the Spaniards.

The boys

Pic - Jick Magger

Some of the locals enjoying the shade

pic - Jick Magger

Later on the roads turned a bit more interesting and we had some great riding through the mountains of the area with some nice scenery.

Pic - Jick Magger

Arrived in Jalpa and found the Hotel Roma ($400p)

Nice town. Had 3 hotels that I saw, a couple of food carts selling snacks at the plaza but had to walk around for awhile before we found a place that could make us some Quesadias. Jick went down the street to find a couple of beers and we were golden.