After being on the road for a couple weeks it’s nice to be at home. It’s our temporary home near Lake Chapala, south of Guadalajara. Carl the car was in need of a break too. Poor guy got a good workout with all the potholes and unmarked speed bumps. Turns out he’s a low-rider too, a lot of speed bumps scrape the undercarriage. Ouch. He’s just shy of 242,000 miles and still going strong. By the way, if you’re thinking about driving to Mexico, don’t drive a newer car. Just don’t.
Google Maps likes to route us in odd places. My guess is that on unknown roads, like gravel back roads, Google guesses what the speed limit is and estimates it to be way faster than what you can actually travel on that road unless you feel like doing some rally car racing. Based on the mis-estimate, Google then routes us that way because it’s “5 min faster”. In almost every case we’re quite positive we take 30 minutes longer than if we took the “slower” routes.
Here was the final stretch before arriving at our destination.
We knew ahead of time this area has a large gringo community, lots and lots of retirees from the US and Canada. We’ve been pleasantly surprised though that it’s not as overwhelming as we thought. It’s still 95% authentic Mexican culture and the predominant language, by far, is still Spanish. The area is beautiful with great weather. I don’t blame all the gringos for coming down!
Today we got ice cream by the lake, 20 pesos for two scoops in an edible bowl. Two separate hungry guys asked for money to buy a seven peso taco (less than 50 cents). At least they’re not in Minnesota. I never understood how one could survive on the streets in the winter. And there wouldn’t be many street tacos. As my personal policy I used to almost always say no to beggars, justifying it because they were probably going to buy drugs, not food. I read in a book awhile back to think about not judging so much when considering giving to others. I’ve been pleased with my policy change. It feels a lot better to simply give and not question motives. One of the guys got a packaged Rice Krispy treat Carrie had in her bag and he seemed genuinely thankful even for that small treat.
Public potty breaks are the best. It was our unplanned navy color day.
This is a dual use court, either basketball or soccer. I’d bet I know which one gets used more.
A dog walking around with sunglasses, can’t beat that.
Painting with water back at home.
-Ryan
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