Making Life Long Friends: the journey not the destination

Both men are engineers, one world traveled working for the government in Mexico, and the other lives in a gorgeous stone colonial home/restaurant/hotel we were invited to for beers. And as we walked through the innately built and decorated hotel rooms and home, we learned that both men were also bull fighters. Go figure. 

But before we jump to Morelia, we had two very eventful stops first, San Juan Cosala and La Isla. We arrived in San Juan Cosala to visit with Peter and Madeleine and ended up staying a week dancing, eating, learning to play pickle ball, swimming in their club pool, hiking, and just plain relaxing. It was such a treat, big thanks to you both for having us in your beautiful place! We also took a bus for one day into Guadalajara to walk around and see the city, much easier than trying to bike through the city. Ville met a guy near the Cathedral in the city center to juggle a football/soccer ball with and we ate the best chile rellenos plate (so good we had 2 plates) in the largest indoor market in Latin America, Mercado San Juan de Dios. When it was finally time to leave, Peter joined us for the ride east to Chapala and up the climb out towards Guadalajara. We had the plan to camp a night and head the rest of the way north to La Isla, but decided to push through the 90 miles and arrived by dark pretty wasted and without even having an address, in front of our friend Samuel's home. What luck!

Samuel is a friend from Bend who happened to be down visiting his family in La Isla, a very small town in the farmland and hills near Ayotlan (about 80ish miles east of Guadalajara.) Since only corresponding with his daughter, Denise back in Bend, and niece, Isis who was in La Isla, we were not sure how convenient our visit would be for Samuel and his family. What a fantastic stop and time we had with the entire Segoviano family that made up almost the entire town and their friends! We thought we might stay a day and every day we said we would leave they had another party, get-together, fiesta, sigh-seeing trip, tequila drinking fest planned. Not only were we given the royal tour by everyone, we have been completely taken in as family and have promised many returns. We send many many warm hugs and thank yous to all of you that made our time in La Isla special and look very much forwards to seeing you all again after this crazy bike tour.

One of the mornings in La Isla, vaquero (cowboy) Oscar and his wife Sol had us over with a group of friends to have a taste of our first pajarete. Oscar mixed coffee, sugar, chocolate, and alcohol in our cups and then after locking one of their cows in a chute with grain, filled the remainder of the glasses with fresh warm cows milk straight from the udder. It was so delicious we had 2 for breakfast! And still tipsy, we headed by car with Samuel, Isis, Chuy (Isis's little tyke) and Gabriel (Isis's dad and Samuel's brother) to San Juan de Los Lagos and Arandas for a day of sighseeing, eating ourselves silly, and being showered with gifts for the road. When we finally had to pull the plug and keep on keepin' on, we had some sad goodbyes, but were very grateful for coming. And an hour up the road we stopped at our new friend Alex's butcher shop for a bunch of dried meat for the road.

​We had a rough patchwork of roads, very bumpy roads, dirt roads, most with no shoulder, on the way into La Isla and much of the same all the way back south east heading towards Morelia. After a night of camping in a cow pasture surrounded by cactus, we pushed on a full  day to arrive just outside Morelia to discover it was a massive city (around a million people) and as the shoulder ended and it was getting dark, we decided better to get a motel and ride the last few miles into the city center when it wasn't dark with zooming traffic going by us. Ville scored us a super cheap auto motel; you can pay hourly or stay the whole night, pull your car into a garage no one can see, the reception is behind mirrored glass, and a whole channel of free porn and the rest of the channels were sports. Although, they are very clean and a killer deal for a spacious room complete with shampoo, soap, and even towels. 

After late checkout, we rode the few miles in a bit less chaotic traffic into the city and just as we pulled over to check the phone for directions, a cyclist rode up and asked if he could help us. Ville asked for a cheap place to stay (maybe a place without a free porn channel) and he told us to follow him. Pedro, took us to a couple places and found us a hostel right in the heart of the city center and then after dropping our bags, we followed him to his restaurant to have breakfast. Pedro has the coolest little Italian restaurant, Restaurant Palermo, just south of the city center, and when we arrived, he made us fruit and yogurt and eggs with garlic olive oil and toast. And as if we weren't already beaming with gratitude, he insisted that he was so happy to meet us. That he was suppose to have showed up to open the restaurant earlier, but overslept and just made it in front of the passing train to meet us. Destiny! Still in amazement almost daily how we meet these people that are all so incredibly special and we are able to be on this journey sharing our time/lives together. That is what life is really about for Ville and I, the people. The bikes are only the cheap transportation to get us to these people and moments we are sharing.

After breakfast, Pedro took us to a great bike shop, En Eje Del Ciclismo, where the owners were so thrilled to hear of our journey they gave us a discount on Ville's chain, installed it, and threw in a free patch kit. This bike shop is awesome for any cyclists out there heading through Morelia, thanks guys! And Ville and I left bikes and headed out exploring the city center by foot before heading back to Pedro's restaurant for an authentic fine dinner of a special cilantro sauce on jicama followed by homemade pesto pasta, bread, sangria and a fruit/nut/cheese desert! What a treat! And after, he took us on a wild sightseeing tour of the city by bike. Pedro is the happiest most positive bloke we have met (o.k. there have been quite a few, but he is at the top of the pile), and always smiling, put a positive spin on everything. We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide. We stopped at a trendy new beer and food warehouse for beers and then after leaving bikes at our hostel, walked to his friend's restaurant/hotel/home to have beers and chat.

Victor and Josue are engineers that have lived in the city most or all of their lives with some of the most incredible stories to tell. Victor gave us a tour of his hotel and home that puts many multi-million dollar Bend homes to shame. His attention to fine detail and construction is unreal and well worth a stay at the hotel, La Casa De Las Rosas, when you are in Morelia. Victor had an assortment of bull fighting photos hung behind his bar on the wall, which we then learned they were of him. We also spotted a photo of Victor on the set of a popular t.v. show set on the same wall.

Josue, after we had a few mescal shots, spoke of his experiences as a professional bull fighter, where the animal and man truly come together in an even matched fight to the death. He had been gored by a bull and broke his neck in three places where somehow he miraculously healed from and is back to good health. He has changed professions to owning a construction company and teaches classes on bull fighting instead, but spoke of how crazy one feels when in the ring with a pissed off bull. And how your fear, and how to harness that fear, is what keeps you alive to fight another day and another bull. Victor used to be one of the highest judges of bull fighting in his day and we couldn't have been more pumped to meet all these great people and hear their stories. We are hoping to get to go learn how to bull fight from Josue before we leave town.

After a few beers and tour, we all headed to Pedro's friend's restaurant and bar, Dos52, where we listened to booty-shakin' live toons, chatted, laughed, drank mescal and beer until we all stumbled home at five this morning! Throughout the night, the band had joined our table, other patrons, the owner and her sister, and we had the most welcoming night of friends in Morelia. These two old farts should not be staying up drinking until five in the morning anymore, and it took a full day of recovery after. Last night Pedro took us to get gazpacho (very popular chopped fruit cup mixed with cheese, hot sauce and salt/pepper) and this morning to his friend, Leonorilda's restaurant for a phenominal breakfast of meats, beans, tortillas, salsas, and we even shared shots of mescal and sweet corn cakes. Marceva Fonda is another must visit restaurant when in town! Thanks to destiny and Pedro, we are enjoying our stay in Morelia with new friends and will keep on keepin' on...until next time. Adios.

People of Morelia peacefully protesting against the recent immigration regulations and import tax implemented by the new US government