On March 27, I packed up to leave only to discover I had a flat rear tire. I unloaded everything, fixed the tire and tried a second time only to have it go flat again. By the time I was ready to go, it was getting late. But I wasn't sure of the time as my six dollar watch from Wal-Mart had stopped working again and, as well, I had crossed back into the Central Time Zone. The climb continued and the heat never let up. The vegetation changed back to cactus with very few trees. There were many broken down cars at the side of the road. I assumed they had overheated from the climb. I stopped at an emergency rest area to make lunch when a Minivan with a Mexican family pulled up. They were obviously having trouble with the van but, before long, the "Green Angels" arrived, fixed the van and they were soon on their way. I followed them back onto the Highway and soon reached the end of the climb. A long, gradual, downhill led me to the town of Magdalena where I decided to spend the night.

         On Friday, March 29 as I entered Guadalajara, there was a massive flow of traffic leaving town. A motorcycle cop pulled up beside me and we rode side by side down the main road as we talked about my bike and the trip. I stopped at a major mall to look for video tapes and, although I didn't find tapes, I found scooters and motorcycles in the Sears Department Store. When I came out of another store, a police officer was standing by my bike. He told me it wasn't safe to leave the bike unattended as someone would steal it. I stopped at a road side restaurant to ask where there was a cheap hotel when the usual crowd gathered around. They gave me directions to a hotel and I promised the restaurant owner that I would come back for supper. After settling in at the hotel, I turned the television on and every station was broadcasting the re-enactment of Christ's walk with the cross complete with arial shots of the procession through the streets of Guadalajara. Mary Magdalene was acting out her sorrow while carrying a hand-held radio microphone!

         I left the hotel to look for a Laundromat but discovered that everything was closed. I continued back to the road side restaurant and had a meal of fish, coleslaw, beans, tortillas and a drink. There I discovered that I had arrived in Guadalajara on Easter week, the most important holiday for the Catholics in this country. I spent the week-end exploring the city and trying to keep cool It was 31°and no air conditioning. Most of the stores and internet cafes were closed and the city was like a ghost town.

         On Monday, the store hours were suppose to be back to normal. I called around trying to find the video I needed for my camera but with no luck. In the evening I strolled around the neighborhood and found a box to pack up my winter clothing and other items to send back to Canada. The next day, I planned on taking the parcel to the courier but, on the way, the rear tire went flat. I did not have my repair kit with me and after trying to fill the tire with air with no success, I was forced to walk the bike back to the hotel. I tried to fix the tube but it seemed beyond repair. The maintenance men (father and son team) were there to give me advice. The son then agreed to take me on the city bus to a bike store a few miles away. Taking a bus in Mexico is quite an experience. The buses all look different and are in incredibly bad shape. They have numbers indicating the route but unless you had a map, it was impossible to know where they were going. The map was on the inside of the bus!

         We found the bike store, I bought the part and returned to the hotel where I was able to fix the tire. I started out again for the courier's office going over some of the worst roads I had ever been on. After sending the parcel off to Canada, I found Panasonic's main office to inquire if they knew where I could buy SVHSC tapes but with no luck. On the way back to the hotel, the repair job that I had done on the fairing strut broke again.

         The next day, I asked someone at the hotel if they knew where I could get some welding done and they suggested a place across the street. I took the bike there and explained the problem. They suggested they would make a new part out of steel. It would be heavier but it would also be stronger. They didn't have a metal rod the correct diameter so the son ran down the street somewhere to find one. While I was waiting, the mother offered me some sort of pudding. When he returned, they straightened the rod and cut it to length. Then they cut the end piece out of sheet metal and fired up the gas welder. They soon ran out of welding rod so another guy ran off to get the rod. When he returned, one held the part and the other one welded (all without protective glasses) and in no time, they had the basic structure made. Then the son ran off down the street again to get a power drill. They drilled the hole, painted the part black and presto, it was done. I paid them 100 pesos and returned to the hotel.

         On April 4, I decided to spend some time taking pictures and shooting some video of the city. I ventured downtown on a city bus and spent the morning taking video shots of the downtown until I ran out of video tape. At lunch time, I stopped in the city square to eat when I was approached by a young girl. She was doing an assignment for her English class and needed to find a tourist to do an interview in English. Soon after I answered her questions, I was approached by another young lady doing the same assignment.

         With my video tape all used up, I needed to come up with a solution as to how I was going to get more video film before I left Guadalajara. Since I could not find any SVHSC tape that I needed for the camera, I decided to buy a SVHS tape and a VHSC tape, take the tape out of the VHSC cassette and replace it with the SVHS tape. I bought the two tapes and returned to the hotel to proceed to try this out. After studying the SVHSC tape that is designed for the camera, I discover a hole in it that the VHSC tape did not have. This would allow the camera to know that you have put in the correct tape so I cut a hole in the VHSC tape to the same dimensions. The next step was to take the tape out of the VHSC cassette but my precision screw driver did not fit the screw in the JVC cassette that I had purchased but it would fit the screw in a Panasonic tape. It was late so I decided to look for a Panasonic VHSC tape in the morning.

         The next morning, I packed up to leave but I still had to find the Panasonic tapes. All the stores that would possibly sell this brand were in the opposite direction from where I was going. I finally found the tapes and started out of town at 11 am.

         I soon reached the branch in the Autopista which would lead to Mexico City. I stopped for lunch at a Pemex Station and ended up camping there for the night as I couldn't get inspired to ride in the heat. The next day, I was up at 5:30 am determined to make some time before it became too hot again. On the map, there was nothing between the Pemex Station and La Barca, a distance of 80 kilometers, so that became my destination for the day. It was very hilly and hot but, fortunately, before reaching La Barca, the terrain became flat making it easier biking. In La Barca, I found a cheap motel and decided to stay there a day to rest.

         I spent a good part of the next day assembling SVHC tapes from SVHS and VHSC tapes that I had bought in Guadalajara. In the evening I headed to the downtown area to have dinner and watch the band playing in the town square. The next day, I soon reached the next state of Michoacan.

Mexico - Michoacan State