More Curves to Santiago de Queretaro

There was more great curves ti Santiago de Queretaro. But first I had to deal with the police.

Stopped by the Police

I you read my lasy last post, you will remember that I had to park my bike 2.5 blocks away and had to lug my luggage to the hotel. I didn’t want to do that again.

I walked to the parking lot with the intention of riding my bike to the hotel and finding someplace to park my bike close. When I got to the parking lot it was closed GGGRRRRRRR.

Back to the hotel where they had a key and I walked with the owner back to the parking lot.

I got on my bike to ride it to the hotel. As I did a police vehicle activated the siren to stop me. Crap I thought. Because I was just riding it back to the hotel to put my luggage on, I didn’t have any of my papers or drivers license.

A woman officer exited the car. She approached me and asked me in to move up a bit. Then she said something else in Spanish that I didn’t understand. I told her I didn’t speak Spanish. She said she didn’t speak English. I just laughed and said I don’t speak Spanish and you don’t speak English then shrugged my shoulders. She laughed too. I tried to explain that I was just going to the hotel a block away.

She then went back to her partner and spoke to him. He then came to me and said something in Spanish. The woman officer told him that I didn’t speak Spanish. I shrugged my shoulders again. They guy just laughed and then waved me on. PHEW!

Packing Up

When I got to the hotel the owner was speaking with the police who were always at the intersection at the hotel. The police allowed me to park my bike next to them. So I was finally able to pack up.

Another Freedom Ride

The ride to Jalpan de Serra was awesome. Lots of curves through the same lush mountains.

hills

Ride Issue

Two things about riding in Mexico. First, the drivers have different practices than at home. That means you really need to be careful. For example, almost always at home if you are riding in the strong part or weak part of the lane you can count on you owning your part of the lane. In Mexico they will regularly drive up right next to you to pass. So to own the lane you have to ride in the centre of it.

The other thing is that you can’t count on the quality of the road.

I was just exiting a village and enjoying more curves. As I rounded one they had rounding scraped off the top of the road to resurface it. The road was rough and had gravel on it. My bike began to swerve. My left foot came off and slammed against the pavement. Crap it hurt.

I got the bike straight again by just riding it out. My big toe though was really hurting. But I could still move it. Eventually most of the hurt went away. I continued to enjoy the ride.

The Other Side

As I left Jalpan and went over the mountain range, the lush mountains turned in desert. Still pretty cool though.

hills-otherside

bike-hills-otherside

Mexican roads have lots of roadside memorials to people who have died. Here is one I passed.

marker-village

Sunday

It is Sunday and that means football. I planned on getting into my hotel in Santiago de Queretaro early so I could watch the afternoon game.

I made it in early and found a Wingstop to watch the afternoon game.

wingstop

My Route for October 30, 2016

rioverde-queretaro-map

Freedom Ride to Rio Verde

The ride today to Rio Verde was a freedom ride.

Leaving Zacatecas

I enjoy one cup of coffee a day in the morning. Starbucks was near by so that is what I did.

starbucks

Then off I left from my hotel.

zacatecus-hotel

Ride to San Luis Potosi

The ride to San Luis Potosi wasn’t anything special. But still nice.

When I arrived in San Luis Potosi I was looking for Hwy 70 to Rio Verde. When you select a route to Rio Verde on Google Maps it doesn’t take you this way but rather creates a northern route. But I wanted Hwy 70 because it had lots of curves on it.

I rode around San Luis Potosi for awhile before finding the Hwy 70 exit.

Hwy 70

I wasn’t disappointed taking this route. There were sweeping and tight curves through lush hills. I wish I had taken pictures. But there wasn’t many places to pull over to take one. Plus I was enjoying the ride.

As I road it felt like a freedom ride. Thoughts of my childhood came to mind. Such as riding my bicycle in Tsawwassen and stopping on grassy fields and just laying down in the sun. Sometimes I would suck on the ends of clover flowers that had a sweet taste to it. I also thought of the times playing with my best friend in Kindergarten and Grade 1, Doug Howes. Those were care free times. This ride felt like that.

Hotel Vista Bonita

I finally arrived at my hotel in the centre of Rio Verde.

rioverde-hotel

The reception was awesome. However there was a problem. The hotel said they had parking. That was true. However, it was 2 and a half blocks away! Adding t the problems was that the elevator was broken. So I lugged my luggage for 2.5 blocks in the heat and then up 4 floors of stairs 🙁

By the time I was finished I was hot and tired.

The hotel had a restaurant on the second floor. When I went there they had a corner table in the shade outside overlooking the city centre. Perfect!! You can see the corner in the picture of the hotel. Anyways … here was my view:

rioverde-view-church

rioverde-view-street

And my food:

rioverde-nachos

rioverde-enchiladas

It was truly amazing. I sat there was a long time taking it all in. I didn’t want to leave.

Walking Around Rio Verde

Eventually I left the restaurant and walked around the small town.

church-hotel-square

church-pope

town-square-church

town-square

inside-church-2

face-painting

exclusive-motorcycle

I did go out again at night. I didn’t get a picture of it. But it looked like that they were running a 10k or 5k run or something.

All in all it was an awesome day.

My Route for October 29,2016

zacataces-rioverde-map

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