Escuinapa, Tepic, and Cheating to San Miguel De Allende

After I finished up my last post, I hit Escuinapa for some Saturday night fun.  I asked around and found out there was one disco in town called El Patio.  The cover was rather steep at 80 pesos, but I wanted to do something so I forked over the cash.  I enter a huge barn like warehouse with a stage set up for some more musica banda.  I was the first person not working in the building and had 2 hours to wait before the band would show up.  I sat back with a bucket of Pacifico.  However, the beers were the small 7oz version.  I felt like Godzilla with those little bottles in your hand.  I think Pacifico uses the mini beers bottles to market to the Mexican machismo.  It is rather similar to how Nike makes their shoes run a size or two smaller so you think you have bigger feet than you really do.  In any event, I hate those mini Pacifico and tend to avoid Nike.

The time is around midnight, and I watch people start to break down the stage.  Apparently the lack of patrons brought the show to a close.  I head to the door ready to get my cover back.  The owner gives me 60 pesos and walks away.  I was feeling rather aggressive so I wasn't going to let the owner snake me out of 20 pesos.  I ripped off my broken Spanish, and he actually forked over the rest of the money without much of a fight.

Sign in the bathroom at El Patio

I was hardly ready to call it quits, but my options were pretty slim.  I saw a cantina down the block, but after my first few cantina experiences, I try to avoid them at all costs.  I grab a bacon wrapped hot dog and start talking to the two boys eating there.  I ask about nightlife and they tell me let's go to Boulevard.  I keep asking questions to understand what they mean, and eventually I find myself riding shotgun in a Vanilla Ice body style mustang.  We cruise down a few KM and get to a street with around 200 cars parked on both sides of the street.  Each car has trunks and doors open blasting Mexican music and  acting as a beer trough.  I'm reminded of Mardi Gras as girls form circles so one of them can squat and pee on the street in privacy.  I press my two new friends about mingling with the other groups.  I guess my pressure was too much because they ended up leaving without offering to take me back to my hotel.  I am now stranded in a random street party patrolled by Mexicans with assault rifles and no taxis in sight.  I make the best of it and prowl the street for some conversation practice.  I felt like a total mooch as I had no beer and was using the locals to practice my Spanish.  A taxi rolls up and I jet back to my hotel as I had a 190KM ride planned in the morning.

I hit the road with about 5 liters of water, some bread, PB&J, and a few cookies.  I typically like to get out of town fast and grab some quick food at a taco stand on the outskirts.  After the first 50KM, I saw no places to reload on food or water.

Lunch under a bridge

I stopped here to make a PB&J and take a quick break.  No more than 2 minutes after I stop, a bicycle gang rolls up.  There were 10 of them and they parked uncomfortably close to me.  I think they just wanted to sniff me out as they asked a few questions and headed back into the ditch.

Leaving Sinaloa and entering Nayarit

100KM from Tepic

With an hour of sun left, I make it 30KM outside of Tepic and still have not seen a place for water or food.  I haven't had any water for the last hour or so and am feeling rather weak.  The ride was hot and humid so my water consumption rate was up.  With the sun setting, the temperature dropped helping me to advance my pace.  About 20KM outside of Tepic I begin to see a large number of policia.  In that 20KM stretch, I pass close to 100 patrol cars with vehicles pulled over.  I am really wondering where I have gone.  I make it into the city and am totally desperate for food and water.  I fill up my bottles and chug the remainder of the 5 liter bottle then proceed to ask a cop, why there are so many cops.  I believe he pointed to three locations to show me where the police strongholds were.  I clearly understood when he told me: "the gangs man, if they see you and don't like you, they shoot you."  As I am having this discussion with the cop, I am hearing random gunfire rain down.  I assume it is gunshots, but it could have very well been fireworks.  Regardless, I was legitimately scared for being in Mexico for the first time.  I took the nearest hotel on the highway, which was more than twice any place I had stayed so far.  I decided that night that I don't want to ride for a while.

I went to the Tepic bus station and bought a ticket to Guadalajara.  I got to Guadalajara at noon per the time on my watch.  I bought another ticket to San Miguel de Allende which has one stop in Guanajuato.  When I purchased my ticket, I asked the lady what time it was, and she turned the computer around which verified that my wristwatch was correct.  I was suspicious because the clock on the bus was one hour ahead.  I further verified the time with my iPhone.

I had three hours to kill and got some of the best tacos I have had in Mexico.  I was sitting in the bus station unsure of the protocols for boarding times for the bus.  I head to my bus 45 minutes before the departure only to realize it left 15 minutes ago because the time had in fact changed.  I got on a bus to Queretaro and took a taxi to surprise my mom with my presence in San Miguel.  I will be posting up here until late January when I'll head back to Guadalajara to explore that city and continue my bike journey.

Taco Stand next to the Guadalajara Bus Station where I had 5 tacos and a Mexican Coke for 40 pesos