On October 2nd in the late afternoon I had arrived to the city of Santiago de Querétaro and checked myself into the Blue Bicycle Hostel.
October 3
Some Notes – I combined my morning with drying out my tent and some gear with moving copies of photos and video to my new external drive that I had purchased yesterday.
Everything (all my photos and video) are in the cloud but I don’t like accessing things from the cloud because it’s time consuming. But I need 2 copies (externals) because if one external crashes like it did a few weeks ago I would be forced to download everything (slowly) out of the cloud. So, I keep 2 copies of all my bike ride photos on external drives.
The rest of the day was spent editing photos. It did not seem like I took that many photos since leaving Guanajuato but somehow it took my whole day.
I also wrote my No Motivation blog post and went to bed after 1am.
October 4
Km’s pedalled – 18 km’s
Some Notes – I am not sure where the first part of my day went but I did find a shoe repair place to repair my ripped pannier and the same shop is going to replace the soles on my boots. I wore a huge hole in the sole of one of my boots north of San Francisco back in mid December because I ran out of bike brakes and had to use my foot to slow my descents down mountains. The crazy thing was that other than the worn hole the boots have really stayed in pretty good shape. Usually when foot wear is damaged as bad as mine was it doesn’t take long for everything to come apart at the seams. But 10 1/2 months later my boots are still in pretty good shape.
In the afternoon I biked the historic center of the city and was able to find the following churches:
- Templo del Espíritu Santo
- Templo de Santa Rosa de Viterbo
- Templo de San Agustín
- Templo de Santo Domingo
- Ex Convento Santa Clara de Jesús
- Templo de Las Capuchinas
- Templo de San Francisco de Asís
- Templo De San Antonio De Padua
- Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen
- Notaría Parroquia San Sebastián
- Santuario de La Congregación de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
- Parroquia de Santiago Apóstol
- Capilla de la Merced
- Templo de Teresitas
- Templo y Convento de la Santa Cruz de los Milagros
- Capilla “El Calvarito”
- Mausoleo de la Corregidora
Templo de Santa Rosa de Viterbo
Templo de San Augustin
Templo de Santo Domingo
Templo de San Francisco de Asis
Templo de San Antonio de Padua
Santuario de La Congregación de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Templo y Convento de la Santa Cruz de los Milagros
I was also able to pick up my boots and ripped pannier. Both items are good as new for less that $15 USD. So, I find myself very happy about that. My evening was spent editing photos.
October 5
Some Notes – The whole day was spent in front of the computer except for meals. I did a short break to photograph the inside of Templo y Convento de la Santa Cruz de los Milagros which was only a short 3 minute walk from the hostel.
Inside the Templo y Convento de la Santa Cruz de los Milagros
I was able to get all my photos from Santiago de Queretero edited. I got most of accounting/ bike ride expenses up to date. I have kept track of all expenses since the bike ride started in November 2019.
I posted my No Motivation? blog post. I wrote and posted my Guanajuato State Part 2 blog post. I also canceled my US credit card as my yearly fee was about to be do as I don’t anticipate being in the US anytime in my foreseeable future.
As usual going to bed after 1 am. Tomorrow I make way towards Mexico City. Canada has a population of 38 million people. The population of Mexico City is almost 22 million people to put the city in perspective of Canada’s population also making it the 5th largest city in the world.
October 6
Km’s Pedalled – 84 km’s
Destination – El Gavillero de la Trinidad
Some Notes – Today leaving Santiago de Querétaro was like biking on the 401 through Toronto or some busy Interstate in America. But the whole day past Santiago de Querétaro was busy traffic.
Nonstop truck traffic
I biked through San Juan del Río. At first, I was going to bike right past the city but then right at the exit I discovered that one of my rear brake pads dropped. So, I biked into the city to get it fixed. I am pretty pissed at these Mexican brake pads. This brand of pads does not have magnets to keep the pads locked in place. They just sit inside the brake calibers loose. I lost a front brake pad in Leon less than 3 weeks ago. I found a bike shop to help me. That actually helped me for free. I am now using an American replacement set of pads that I have been carrying from the US.
While in the city I was able to visit the following churches
- Templo del Señor del Sacro Monte
- Templo de Santo Domingo
- Beaterio de las Hermanas Terceras
- Templo de Jesusito de la Portería
- Parroquia San Juan Bautista
Templo del Senor del Sacro Monte
Templo de Santo Domingo
Beaterio de las Hermanas Terceras
Templo de Jesusito de la Porteria
Parroquia San Juan Bautista
I ended biking into the dark looking for super and then I had to bike down the highway in the dark. Somehow, I found a place to camp in a deserted field. But sure, enough somebody showed up in the dark but disappeared into the dark. I am basically camped on the Mexico State state line.
October 7
Km’s Pedalled – 80 km’s
Destination – Tepeji del Rio de Ocampo
Some Notes – A loud and noisy evening last night. Today as usual the weather is perfect. A largely uneventful day. Biking this highway towards Mexico City continues to be like biking the Interstate in the US or the 400 series highways in Canada
I grabbed lunch in Polotitlán and visited the Church of San Antonio de Padua.
Church of San Antonio de Padua
I got to Tepeji del Rio de Ocampo for dinner. I wasn’t sure where to camp and got back on the highway. Within minutes I was almost sideswiped by truck to the point of causing me to yell that yell one makes when you think you are going to die.
Tonight, I am camped only about 3-400 ft off a very busy noisy highway.
Guanajuato State – Part 2 (Sept 28 to Oct 2)
Guanajuato State – Part 1 (Sept 22 to 27)