March 18th, 2016
Spring has sprung, three days early here in Mexico. Everyone is cleaning, and there was a parade today to celebrate “La Primavera”.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Caleta de Campos/Bahia Bufadero, Michoacan, Mexico
Destination: Playa Azul, Michoacan, Mexico
54.28 km trip, 3:35 time, 44.4 km/h maximum speed, 15.1 km/h average speed
Route Description:
We continue to follow Hwy#200 until the border with Guerrero. There is a nice shoulder the whole way today. There were a few rolling hills up to about 70 meters and then back down again to sea level. Traffic was light so it was a quick ride. There weren’t many food options until about the 50 kilometre mark. At the end of the day we turned right to Playa Azul instead of going to Las Cardenas. It is a 5K road with lots of traffic once you turn right. I recommend taking the whole lane as the taxi cabs will try and squeeze by. Playa Azul has lots of hotels, beach camping, stores and restaurants.
Accommodations:
We asked right away for a hotel economica (our new way of saying cheap hotel), and we were led to some place that had no name but we suspect was a hospedaje, since it seemed like everyone else staying there, lived there. The room was full of cobwebs, but the price was right at $180MX. There are lots of hotels and beach camping options here.
What happened…
Andrew writes: Since we figured that it would be a quick/short cycle to Lazaro Cardenas, we decided to take our time leaving this morning. This gave the town a chance to wake up and get going, and for us to enjoy it in the daytime. A class of students walked by our hotel, clutching garbage bags and rakes. They were down at the beach cleaning it up for Holy Week next week. There was a class or two of young children, maybe preschoolers, who did a parade down one direction of the divided road, and then back up the other, with traffic chaos being created behind them. The whole town was out to watch and we joined in the fun. Again, it was for the celebration of spring. Such a joyous holiday time here in Michoacan!
We stopped for lunch at the border between Michoacan and Guerrero. As we sat in the shade eating our PB&J tortillas, a delivery truck came and dropped off a whole pig for the restaurant where we were sitting. Then we sat and watched avidly as the owner and his wife cleaned up the pig, including shaving it with a razor, and started prepping it to make carnitas with. We spent maybe 15 minutes talking with the guy, and it was fascinating. I think that if a place in Vancouver butchered their meat in the front window, that it could be one of those cool, trendy places. Honestly, I think everyone should see how the food is prepared. Here in Mexico, it’s in your face, but for the Mexicans, it’s how they’ve always known it. We aren’t grossed out, if anything, it’s reassuring.
We decided to head to the nearby beach town of Playa Azul, instead of going into Lazaro Cardenas, which is a bit of a detour, but not much. Playa Azul was similar in feel and look to El Paraiso, with most of the businesses being right on the waters edge. There we quickly found a dingy hotel room, and Amanda finally got to use the internet for the first time in over a week. We ended up sitting in the restaurant across the street using WiFi, and drinking beer that we bought ourselves at the store. It’s strange how the restaurant owners don’t seem to care if you bring food/drink with you into their establishments. Maybe we’re just gringos and so we get away with it, but we’ve seen huge Mexican families doing it too!
I closed out the day in the surf with our boogie board, and then watched a group of 20 young men playing beach soccer. It looked pretty serious! I wonder if I’ll ever work up the nerve to ask to play…
Amanda writes: Recently we’ve been getting up early to try and avoid the heat. Today we decided to sleep in a bit and take our time. The funny thing is even when we take our time, it still takes us the same amount of minutes to get ready.
We enjoyed watching the kids parade before heading out on the road. The ride included a fabulous shoulder for a lot of the day and that was nice. We pulled the plug early in the town of Playa Azul that is hosting a surfing competition in the coming weeks and we enjoyed watching the surf. Andrew even ventured out into the water. While Andrew surfed I enjoyed my beer and being online. I’m not too much of an addict however sometimes it’s frustrating when Andrew is online every day because his iPhone has a phone plan that includes some data. In any event it was nice to check in. I also managed to reach one of my sisters and have an hour long conversation with her. Our new phone plan is awesome and we’re enjoying catching up with family more regularly and without the annoying delays of internet calls.