Guadalajara

We arrived by bus from Mazitlan after a long sleeper night on a comfortable, if cramped bus.  When we arrived in western Guadalajara, it was still dark and we unloaded our bikes and started assembling them (the wheels and bags had been removed).  The flurry of activity unfortunately masked the fact that my air pump that was attached by a velcro wrap had severed itself by splitting the velcro in transit. Dam.  That's the second important item I've lost in as many days to the failure of velcro as I also lost my bike seat cover in Mazatlan. And the severing of the velcro on my shoes has now been repaired atfter a good sewing session to reattach.

When we got our stuff together, we used the pay toilets at the bus station and then were on our way.  The ride into downtown to our couch for the night was not very long - maybe an hour or so - and we arrived just after our forecasted 12 o'clock.  Our two hosts, Selene and Michelle, are both native spanish speakers and have lived in Mexico their whole lives.

Michelle, Erin, and Selene in front of the Orozco-featured art museum

It was splendid spending time with them as we immediately took to eachother.  It was like having two best friends for the weekend to hang out with in their home town!  We hit up the street markets only a few blocks away shopping for gifts for Michelle's nieces and nephews, and a touque for Erin on those cold evenings.  We wandered the street market, and I sampled some crickets being vended out of big sacks set on the sidewalk and various imitation doughtnuts called churros. We arrived on Saturday morning, and decided to pass on parties and clubs in favour of a visit to Michelle's parents house where we tried traditional peruvian dinner (rabbit, potatoes, and rice - delicious) and drank tequila with various of Michelle's extended family.

Someone forgot to tell this manequin at the night market than Movember is over for the year

On Sunday, I introduced the girls to Dexter, letting him walk on my hand and arm and absorb the heat of my breath (the lack of fresh crickets has since lead to Dexter's demise - who knew that it would be so hard to find roaches and crickets in Mexico cities??).  We spent the day relaxing inside as Erin (inspired by the art at the museum?) further developed her water colour skills with instruction texts and practice.  She and Selene also worked together to design an expansion to Selene's belly tattoo.  In the evening we cycled like mad to meet Michelle who had gone on her own for the day to see a sick relative and gorged ourselves on delicious tacos and a taco stand well endorsed by the 10-15 minute wait caused by the line of locals eating there.

Saying our goodbyes to Selene (left) and Michelle (right)

Monday morning it was time to go to meet the many cyclists congregating at Alexa's family's place for Christmas so we packed ourselves up, said our good byes, and headed out.  On the way across town, we stopped at a Nike factory outlet store to look at clothing that is no longer simply overpriced, but actually somewhat practical given our currently very active lifestyles.  Unfortunately we didn't buy any as they are still overpriced :(.

Erin looking killer in a deceptively good looking athletic dress

After a short ride (though with much sweating as the humidity and temperature were rising) we arrived at Alexa's family's place for Christmas!