I have to say I amaze myself sometimes when I look around and ask myself: how did I get here? All too often on this trip so far the answer is: I have no idea. Let it be noted I take none of it for granted but yesterday really took the biscuit.
To get to that cold brisk and thoroughly enjoyable pool we have to go back to eight am. And that puts us in Nueva Italia de Ruiz in a truck stop after a long silent peaceful night’s sleep. In a Mexican truck stop? Always. They don’t waste gas idling their engines like wasteful Americans. I walked Rusty and dropped off a bag of food for the resident dog at the convenience store. I also saw a young man crouched nearby and later I realized he made ends meet cleaning truck windshields.
You can imagine how that made me feel. Ah Mexico, a heartless mistress. This guy had parked his 34 wheel double trailer, a hundred feet long in such a way he had to back up to make the turn out of the parking lot. The driver was asleep and I never saw him do it. High intensity truck driving in Mexico where skills can be surprising. 
As I walked back to the van with Rusty I saw the Guardia Nacional Charger coming towards me. The waitress from last night's dinner stuck her head out of her boyfriend's (I assume) car and waved with a big grin on her face. She had liked that I had cleaned the plate I figured and she remembered me, the only gringo that week or month who was smart enough to eat at her place. Guess what? The blue lights came on! As the white Dodge Charger passed me I saw a little blue car creeping the wrong way into the truck stop on the shoulder with its four way flashers on. The Charger parked in front of him and I heard the loud hailer asking the unfortunate victim what the hell did he think he was doing? Choosing the worst possible timing to break down I thought to myself as I slunk gratefully away.
The black speck in the photo above is the first chip out of our windshield caused by a high speed red Audi that passed us on Highway 37D. Just for the record. If I have to look at it all day now you can too. No editing. The billboard is a request of a vote for support for President Obrador known by his initials as AMLO. He is on the left of Mexican politics but he was the only world leader who didn’t seem to piss off President Trump sooner or later. Must be quite the politician. While he’s at it he could try upgrading the electrical system in the suburbs I thought.
Uruapan calls itself the world capital of the avocado which we now know is attracting cartel attention! The United States temporarily banned avocado imports from Michoacán on the ground avocados are part of the cartel economy. Our approach to the heart of the city was interrupted by a deviation. Road works. In the middle of all this I got a call from my health insurance company who needed an update on my policy. I tried to find somewhere to park while hoping Boca Raton right then might sink into the Atlantic. “Your phone is a bit muffled” Christine remarked rather peeved. I wanted to say potholes that big could kill all communications but she wouldn’t have got it.
After a while driving my absurdly large heavy van through dirt or through crowded narrow streets becomes second nature. Here for the first time I was reminded what awaits us in Central America next year. Guatemala is much poorer than Mexico and the streets I’ve driven in those countries are more like this:
This is poverty in Mexico and middle class in Nicaragua.
I don’t think photos reproduce the chaos of the street surfaces we travel over lurching and bouncing. This was a ghastly pothole but it doesn’t look so bad does it?
I even found a spot to park with some helpful spotting from Layne. I eventually remembered to fold the mirrors in.
Laynes legs had been bitten to death on the beach by insects and had gone a little septic. A pharmacist at the supermarket had prescribed some Benedryl and some cream which was working wonders. However she still needed rest as we had been having some fairly busy days here. And Rusty needed some alone time with his helicopter parent. The tripe seller waved cheerfully on cue. I don’t eat tripe. I’m not Anthony Bourdain. And I’m not on TV so I don’t have to.
I was the token gringo in town yesterday as I wandered this utterly Mexican town. On the way into town Layne had spotted a KFC much to my amazement. There were no other familiar brands from Up North visible downtown.
I did find an English language bumper sticker…I wondered what the journey was that brought this Suzuki Tracker here. So many Mexicans have connections in the US, family members, work history, school, I find it quite surprising. I probably sound naive but it is surprising to come face to face with the glow of people to the US and more interestingly from the US.
I enjoyed walking the streets of Uruapan with my little Panasonic LX100. I exit my pictures on the Snapseed app after I download them on my phone. The. I upload them to the Google cloud where I label them with key words so I can retrieve pictures quite easily.
Everything was of interest to me. “He who hunger suffers, of bread he thinks.” A poetic sentiment contorted in my translation but an odd sentiment in a country devoted to the tortilla!
Mother operating the fruit cart while the older daughter monitors her younger brother.
Not an easy living pushing a cart in 85+ degree sunshine. The yield sign advises “one at a time.”
Uruapan was found in 1533 by a Catholic friar called Juan de San Miguel who forced the devil to kneel before him in the National park in the city. More prosaically he built a hospital, the first in the Spanish colonies in the city. The population is 360,000 and lucky then the city is at 5300 feet which gives us lucky campers warm sunny days and cool big free nights. Cold enough Layne insists we close the side door.
The city is known as the avocado capital because of the many processing plants and I had no idea avocados get processed but this is where that mysterious process takes place. Now you know.
I saw quite a few newspaper stands locked and closed advertising the paper’s website but I still found one good old fashioned street newspaper kiosk.
And a reader of the paper edition! Not my best shot in the Plaza of the Martyrs but he was definitely reading the paper!
It was a good walk and I enjoyed the city. We found an excellent campground oddly enough on iOverlander that invaluable app. The previous campers did t much like the spot but we loved it at the “Foot of the Mountain” hotel a deliciously old fashioned like full of charm and character.
Rusty and I walked the driveway after we settled in.
The buildings are a collection of rooms set around the pool overlooking the city.
It seemed a remarkable privilege to wander the hotel, swim in the pool and use the restaurant for $15 a night.
This was lobby parking…
… and this is the campground all to ourselves. The 120 volt plugs work in a couple of spots and there is one faucet with water. We had the field to ourselves.
Rusty found his happy spot. He was tired from the city walk in the heat.
There is traffic noise and some dogs barking occasionally and we are tolerant even if not perfectly level.
Weirdly enough we like it very much here. There’s stuff to see in the city, photographs to come and swimming to be done. Three days here?
More interesting mountain towns to explore. Mexico far from the beach.
