September 11
Km’s Pedalled – 23 km’s
Some Notes – I started my morning meeting with Elton Guillen. Elton wanted to interview me for his YouTube channel. The interview went really well. He did a good job. You can watch it HERE. Elton is originally from Nicaragua living in San Francisco on his way to Nicaragua by bike.
When we completed the interview, we went to what ended up being one of the coolest restaurants I have ever been to called La Leyenda. The place was completely filled by art and trinkets and apparently everything had been donated and left by artists around the world. I joked with Elton that it would cool if one of my poems were to hang on his wall. Through Elton translating the owner Roque insisted that I submit a poem. So, I sent him a link to one of my poems called I sit in the quiet. The owner Roque will send me a photo of the poem hanging on the wall in a week or so. How cool is that one of my poems might hang on a restaurant wall in Zacatecas?
With Elton at La Leyenda
From there me and Elton parted ways and I continued to visit museum – Museo Rafael Coronel where we had done our interview. I spent quite a few hours there and took nearly 1,000 photos. I also found another cathedral called Templo de Jesus.
Museo Rafael Coronel
Templo de Jesus
Because it was now after 5 pm I biked back over to Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Fátima to get some interior photos. The church opens after 5 pm so I was unable to get inside yesterday. I also did some GoPro video footage biking through the streets.
The interior of Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Fátima
Once again, I worked on photo editing until 1am. I have taken over 1,500 photos in this city alone.
September 12
Km’s Pedalled – 12 km’s
Some Notes – I started my morning by composing an email about the future of the ride. Given my recent news in Belize and the timeline this bike ride has taken I am not confident in my abilities to continue south beyond arriving in Belize. You can read that blog post HERE.
The afternoon weather was perfect so I biked up to Bufa Hill. I got some great photos and there was some kind of ceremony going on with some indigenous tribes. The way it was explained to me, the ceremony was about the transition from their original indigenous religious beliefs to becoming Catholic.
Views from Bufa Hill
Indigenous tribe ceremony
I spent the evening on photo editing until 1 am. I sent my host a message that tomorrow I would visit Mina El Edén (a silver mine museum) and then I would get back on the road on Tuesday. I have a really sweet situation here of having my own apartment below my host. We almost never cross paths but after 6 days I feel like I am taking advantage of the situation. But I have so much work and I took way too many photos in this city.
September 13
Some Notes – I woke super early unable to sleep over the future of my bike ride. So, I got out of bed and got all my photos edited up to date. I posted my bike ride problem post. I shall see what direction the comments head in. Afterwards I headed to town for my last Zacatecas stop- Mina El Edén.
The mine was actually pretty interesting. I have never been in a mine. This mine was started 300 to 400 years ago and apparently, they figure there is about another 80 years of mining silver and minerals left in there. Except it is strictly a museum because of the number of people living on the mountain it is considered unsafe to continue mining. An interesting fact about the mine is that while they had no documented numbers it was suggested between 5-7 workers died every week back in the days of long ago. There was an interesting rock collection museum deep inside the mine of rocks and minerals from all over the world. Photo taking was virtually impossible because of the darkness but for $100 pesos ($5) it was a cool experience.
On my way back to my host I did some more GoPro video footage of the streets. Getting back to the house my early start to my morning got the better of me and so I took a nap. After the nap I focused on updating my blog posts up to this point. I posted my blog post Zacatecas Part 2 blog. I still have a full days worth the work that I am very behind on but I need to get back on the road. I went to bed after 1 am as usual.
September 14
Km’s Pedalled – Km’s Pedalled 62.5 km’s
Destination – 9 km’s to Luis Moya, Zacatecas
Some Notes – Leaving my host I headed to Guadalupe to take photos of 2 cathedrals – Iglesia de Nuestra Sra de Guadalupe and Parroquía de Nuestra Señora de Loreto.
Iglesia de Nuestra Sra de Guadalupe
Parroquía de Nuestra Señora de Loreto
Leaving Guadalupe, the rest of my day became pretty much miserable. Biking through Santa Mónica my front tire went flat. It took like forever to fix and then 5 minutes later my trailer tire went flat! Part of my frustration was that last night I fixed a trailer flat from when I arrived in Zacatecas. That tube was full of slime and now slime was in the tire and tube is covered in slime. And that slime is preventing the tube patch from adhering to the tube.
Iglesia Sant Monica
Conos de Santa Monica
The weather was largely overcast and I got stuck in a thunderstorm but fortunately I had shelter at a gas station. Along with Santa Monica I also biked through Trancoso and Ojocaliente. And then right before I turned off for my camping spot my front tire went flat again. So, as I lie in my tent tonight, I have 2 flat tires waiting for me in the morning. On a positive this is my first night in a tent since the night before I arrived in Durango. And I must also remind myself that I haven’t had a miserable day in many weeks, perhaps since the Baja.
Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe
Parroquia Nuestra Senora de los Milagros
(Strava shut off for 8 km’s)
September 15
Km’s Pedalled – 85 km’s
Destination – Aguascalientes
Some Notes – This morning was a late start getting out of the tent and fixing 2 flat tires. I messaged my host in Aguascalientes but also, I was worried that this potential host had not responded to any of messages recently. So, I also messaged a back up host (last minute).
Parroquia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus
Templo del Sr. San Jose.
In Luis Moya I visited Parroquia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus and in Cosio I visited Templo del Sr. San Jose. In Rincón de Romos I visted Parroquia del Senor de las Angustias where I also received a $200 peso donation from someone who spoke no English.
Parroquia del Senor de las Angustias
A Mexican that spoke no English trying to find out about my bike ride. It is so hard to wrap my mind around a Mexican giving me a Canadian money. This country is not how the media describes it
Later in the afternoon I realized that I wasn’t going to hear from my host. So, I messaged my backup host Mario Fernando of my arrival. Arriving at Mario’s at about 9pm I discovered that Mario has been watching my bike ride since the very beginning in Newfoundland. He never said anything about this in any of his messages!
What are the chances? Someone offers to host me. Ariel who I met in Vicente Guerrero asks me why am I headed to Aguascalientes as it technically off my route? I hadn’t really looked at my route close enough to realize that. But I simply said I have a host and meeting people is what I do. And then that host doesn’t respond to my messages and tonight I find myself in the living room of someone who has been following my ride for the last 22 months. I have to love my Safari Arie bike ride stories.
Another interesting and amazing story that has resulted from my bike ride from my YouTube guy Brandon
The state of Zacatecas – Part 2 (Sept 6 to 10)
The state of Zacatecas – Part 1 (Sept 1 to 5)
