Not Mountain Biking in Tapalpa, Jalisco

by Scott

There is No Mountain Biking in Tapalpa. I just want to get that out of the way as a public service announcement.  Tapalpa is in the mountains, and you can ride your bike in Tapalpa, but that's not the same as mountain biking in Tapalpa. We were fooled because the mountain biking event for the 2011 Pan-Am games was held here. As it turns out, half of that 6.2km course was on the cobblestone streets of town--certainly rough terrain, but not really mountain biking. The mountains outside of town would be ideal, but it's all private property.  We trespassed with permission from someone collecting firewood. I'm sure he was not the owner. There are miles and miles of logging roads, and loads of potential, but no single track. Sigh.

Horses and mules outnumbered us on our back-road adventures around Tapalpa

Despite the lack of mountain biking, we've spent a week here enjoying the lovely weather. While the coast was unbearably hot and humid, the 7000-foot elevation provides comfortable days and downright cool nights. For the past few nights, we've bundled up in our down vests to walk around and have dinner in the town square. Our first meal: chard filled tamales and chile marinated pork tacos, accompanied by Bohemia, my favorite Mexican beer, for about $13 total!  The weekend was the best part, when all of the street food vendors came out of the woodwork.  We gorged ourselves on 10-peso (80-cent) chard-filled tamales, atole (sweet maza-flour drink served hot), and tortas ahogadas (french rolls stuffed with pulled pork).

Chard-filled tamale and char-grilled pork with all the fixins

El Salto del Nogal

North of town, one of the major tourist attractions is Las Piedrotas (The Round Rocks). We biked out there and were thoroughly unimpressed. So unimpressed that we didn't even take a picture. It's just a few large boulders in a pasture--the kind of tourist attraction that would be right at home in those sections of Kansas that try to get you to stop to see the 3-legged steer and the 2-headed snake. Less publicized, but way better, was the nearby Piedra Bola (Rock Ball). The lookout from the top of Piedra Bola over the lake and the valley was great. We should have brought a picnic. South of town, and a little difficult to find, is El Salto. It is an impressive 340-foot waterfall. The surrounding countryside was uninspiring pasture, but abruptly, the earth just fell away into a gorgeous canyon.

We had to return to El Salto the following day to look for a bike lock we'd left behind. We didn't find the lock where we expected, but when we asked a elderly man hanging out in the area about it, he walked off into the forest without a word. Puzzled, we asked his machete-wielding friend if he was going to come back with our lock, and he nodded yes. He didn't speak much -- Spanish or otherwise.

When the old man returned, we discovered that he spoke a lot, and in English. He told us about living near Portland when Mount St. Helen's erupted. He told us about running from US agents in Montana near the Canadian border. He then told us something about anteaters and blue-eyed gorillas that live in the El Salto canyon. When he told us about Martian dogs from Bozeman that communicate by getting close to the TV, we got on our bikes, thanked him again for our lock, and said "adios".

No story here, just a cool picture Heather took of one of Tapalpa's old churches

Pictures from November

Giving the Coast Another Try

We headed down to the coast again, passing through Autlan de Navarro. It is home to around 60,000 people. Autlan's claim to fame is being the home town of Carlos Santana.  Scott happily took some obligatory photos next to the guitar monument on Carlos Santana Avenue.  We parked for the night at a roadside restaurant, and walked into town.  Scott was hoping to find some musical entertainment in the town square.  No music, just some cool cowboy boots (see below).

Inscribed on the guitar: "Autlan de Navarro de Santana"

As we drove down from 7200 feet, the temperature slowly changed from cool and refreshing to hot and humid. We spent 3 nights at the coast hoping to find some surfing.  The surfing didn't pan out, so we happily started the 6 hour drive back up into the mountains.

Roadside fruit stop

By this time, we had learned our lesson about the toll roads in Mexico.  They are reputed to be the most expensive in the world.  I haven't checked this fact.  After our arrival to Mazatlan, we jumped on the toll road and drove about 130 miles south, only to find the total toll to be $27!  We are not in a hurry.  No matter how bad our gas mileage is, that kind of cost is not justified.  So, we haven't used the toll roads since.  The free roads pass very near the toll roads, but go through the little towns, and sometimes climb up and over the hills rather than passing through them.

We had to pass 6 of these painfully slow trucks.
The price you pay for taking the free roads

Modern lighting at this historical church

Our final destination was Tapalpa.  Tapalpa is a charming little colonial town. There are several well-preserved churches and a lively town square. It's a bit touristy, but the targets are Mexican tourists rather than Gringos. We happened to arrive in the evening of the Dia de la Revolucion. Not aware of that, the booming overnight fireworks (think gunshots) were a bit concerning. The next day, we were treated to the sight of boys dressed up with mustaches and girls with Mexican flag skirts.  Viva la Revolucion!

Dressed up for Dia de la Revolucion

Pictures from November

Overland Security

Anyone who knows Scott, knows that we wouldn't be embarking on a Pan-American journey without an El Tigre security system.  There are many layers to our security system.  We've been traveling in Mexico for a little over a year now, and for the most part, have felt very secure.  We get nervous when we park in plain view at a trail head with no other cars around, but that's no different than the USA.

In these situations, we chain our camper door with two padlocks (pictured below), enabled by installing stainless steel eyelets with tamper proof screws on each side of the door.  I put together the beware-of-dog poster using the rockin' clip-art from Microsoft Works (we don't really have a dog).

Scott also installed eyelets on the inside of the driver/passenger doors so that we can padlock a cable between them.  The cable is strung through the steering wheel which has a Club attached.  If someone decides to break the windows, they still won't be able to open the doors, and they would have to climb over the broken glass.

When we leave the truck or go to sleep, we put both of our computers and our camera in the back underneath a secret seat-compartment.  Our wallet and extra keys are hidden or locked in the box on the back, which is really just a giant aluminum safe.

The bikes are locked with 2 15-foot cables and 2 padlocks. The ladder, attached under the box, is secured with a cable and padlock. Each wheel has locking lug nuts and the license plate is attached with tamper proof nuts. The spare tire, mounted under the vehicle, is locked with a cable and padlock.  We are definitely packing some padlocks--all of which use the same key!

Ladder and spare tire

When we are nervous about a parking location, like a deserted hiking trail head, we leave the radio on (running off of our auxiliary batteries).  We have a recording of a barking dog that we haven't used yet.

When we go to sleep at night, Scott lays out our big butcher knife and a mace canister.  The latest addition to the nighttime security system is a bear bell attached to the door that will presumably wake us if someone tries to open the door.

The measures we have taken go beyond the "keep-the-honest-people-honest" approach.  We hope that our extra level of padlocks and cables will deter even the lazy, professional thief. Nevertheless, Scott still worries about not having bars across the windows, an ignition kill switch, or a lock for the hood. Most of all, he worries that publishing this post will jinx us.

See Part II to this here: Overland Truck Security Part II

Matanchen Bay, Then To The Mountains

Crossing over to mainland Mexico felt like a milestone for us. It was like the past year was just a warm-up for the start of the real adventure. We love Baja, but having spent considerable time there even before the past year, it started to feel a little too comfortable--not a problem anymore.

Our first stop was a surf spot called Las Islitas outside of San Blas.  This place is renowned for it's macroscopic mosquitos and it's microscopic biting bugs (called jejenes).  It was beautiful, free camping, but the bugs and humidity made for misereable sleeping.  We lasted a couple of nights before we found a cute town called Aticama only 7 miles away on the same bay (Matanchen Bay). It offered $4 camping, far less bugs, a surf break, and a community center with blazing fast internet.  Our first successful left point break!

Beautiful camping at Las Islitas but the bugs were too much

When the waves died, the heat, humidity, and bugs drove us to the cool interior mountains. For most of Mexico, if you aren't on the coast, you're in the mountains. Driving up to the highlands, we stopped at a roadside stand and bought avocados for $0.35/lb.  That's about 10 cents an avocado. I'm kicking myself for not buying more, since they are $1.25/lb at the supermarkets. Our first stop was at a pretty crater lake (Laguna Santa Maria del Oro).  We biked and paddledboarded around the lake for a couple of days. The cool night air was fantastic.

A paddleboard playground on Laguna Santa Maria del Oro

We drove near the main agave-growing area where the town of Tequila is located.  We decided not to take a tour of a tequila distillery. Instead we stopped on the side of the road and took some pictures with our tequila bottle and a blue agave plant.

Blue Agave plant near Tequila, Jalisco

We pushed even higher to the Quila mountains (Sierra de Aquila) where we mountain biked, hiked, and slept near 7200 foot elevation.  We happily snuggled underneath our down comforter during the cool nights. With morning temperatures below 50F, we even had to bust out the down booties.

Arbol de Lira -
oddly shaped Douglas Fir in Sierra de Aquila 

I don't think many gringos visit this area.  One day while we were riding our bikes, a group of young, hip Mexicans drove by. One of the girls took a picture of us with her cellphone.  I think they were taking a picture of Scott in his tight, funny-looking bike shorts. Jose, a mumbling 72-year old park employee who talked at Scott for an hour, might have said he's only seen 3 other people biking in the Sierra de Quila.

We're leaving the mountains and heading back to the coast today to catch some waves.  A local told us it should start cooling down over the next couple weeks. It will be interesting to see if we can adjust. If not, we may have to stick to the high road.

Pictures from November