For the first time since the start of our trip, we did not spend Christmas on the road somewhere, but spent the celebrations with Markus and his family in Guadalajara.

We were cordially invited to a festive dinner with his parents-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews, which made us very happy. Nonetheless, we didn’t get into the Christmas spirit in Guadalajara, the weather was far too warm and too beautiful for that😉. But we really enjoyed the convivial get-together at the delicious buffet. Thank you very much, Markus, for hosting us over the Christmas holidays! The rest of our time in Gudalajara passed very quickly with strolling around the city, drinking coffee and eating lots of food, so we soon had to say goodbye and hop on our bikes.

On the way out of town, we visited the pretty Pueblos Mágicos Tlaquepaque and Tonalá, which are now suburbs of Guadalajara. It took us a whole day to leave the settlement area. In the evening, we camped with other people at a reservoir and it wasn’t long before we had to answer questions from curious children. Where from? Why? Why? How does the stove work? What does the tent look like? We happily provided the information and were able to practice our Spanish with them.

First, we rode on the highway, later on the country road and then again on a busy, multi-lane main road around the industrial city of Léon. For the last section of the route to Guanajuato, we had chosen a cobbled mountain road to Cristo Rey, the statue of Jesus. We had read that you could spend the night at the statue on top of the hill with a great view and that was our plan. But the headwind, traffic, noise and smog had made us so exhausted that we decided to look for a place to sleep in the evening before the climb. We found one in a private courtyard next to public toilets. Outside, pilgrims and their accompanying vehicles passed by incessantly with booming loudspeakers. Cristo Rey seemed to attract a lot of visitors and we were already thinking that we probably wouldn’t have slept (very well) on the mountain.

However, the crowds we encountered the next morning far exceeded our expectations. The last few bends on the way to the statue were completely jammed with cars, tents and people. Even by bicycle there was no getting through. All these people had braved the cold wind and somehow held out up there all night. Brrrrr🥶 … but Mexicans celebrate and make pilgrimages in any kind of weather and even if there’s no particular reason to do so. You just have to like them for that😍!

For a while, we watched the hustle and bustle with amusement before we clattered down the cobblestones to Guanajuato. What we encountered there also exceeded all our expectations. Thanks to the cyclist bonus, we were able to stay in Billy and Ari’s B&B free of charge and were treated to a delicious breakfast each morning. Billy had already guessed when we arrived that we would be staying longer than planned. Two nights turned into three, as we loved the city and the view of the multicolored houses so much.  We were also able to enjoy New Year’s Eve on the terrace of our accommodation with a wonderful view of the city. What a delight! After a lovely dinner with Billy, we continued our journey on January 2nd.

It wasn’t far to the next pretty Pueblo Mágico, San Miguel de Allende. We had allowed two days for the journey, which was very generous. There was less to see on the way than expected and the cycle path into the town was so incredibly good that we made rapid progress. In order not to surprise our Warmshower host prematurely, we called it an early night at a football pitch just before San Miguel. Some children from the village and two of their mothers were delighted. Not every evening is that exciting😊. The children could hardly wait to see our tent. In particular, the cheekiest boy, about four years old, who we called “John Deere” because of his sweater, wondered where the door would be. Following the presentation, it was almost impossible to get him out of the tent and he wanted to make himself comfortable inside with his Lego set. As soon as he was outside, John Deere wanted to know the purpose of our sitpads. I was proud that the Spanish word for chair popped into my head and plop, the little boy was sitting next to me. And what was I making for dinner? Spaghetti with tomato sauce and vegetables. “Right, where’s my plate?” he asked with a searching look. We laughed out loud, but his mother found this a little too intrusive and got serious with the long-announced goodbye. To which John Deere gave us a big hug😂. Finally, we were able to devote ourselves to our dinner in peace.

The next morning, we arrived early in San Miguel de Allende, visited the art gallery aimed at the more affluent clientele and rattled up and down the very pretty but also correspondingly touristy cobbled streets.  After lunch, we drove to our host Terry, who lived in a quiet outlying neighborhood. In his beautiful house, we exchanged travel stories over wine and food all evening and were fascinated by the fact that, at 85, Terry remembers all his adventures more clearly than we do. Happy about the enriching encounter with Terry, we went on another short city tour before continuing our journey and had barely started when we met Michael. David had already met him the day before and it wasn’t long before we were enjoying a coffee with him and chatting the morning away. Thank you very much for the invitation, Michael😊.

Finally, we got on our bikes for a few kilometers. However, we didn’t really get rolling. In Bernal, another Pueblo Mágico, we stayed for another half a day with what must be the tastiest gorditas in Mexico and sweet cheese bread. We could have done without the walk to the foot of the Peña de Bernal, Bernal’s local mountain. The view of the smog in the district surrounding Mexico City was far from spectacular..

But there was no objection to being a little late, as we didn’t want to reach the thermal springs of Tolantongo on January 6th to avoid large crowds of visitors. As desired, we arrived neither on a public holiday nor at the weekend, as we quickly sped down the 600 vertical meters and 23 hairpin bends to the hot river. According to unofficial information, it should have been possible to buy an entry ticket for the next day from 4:30 p.m. and camp on the site for free. The wardens didn’t want to know anything about this and only allowed us in at 7pm or else would sell us two day tickets. So, we sat down comfortably on the waiting bench and signaled that we would be patient. As soon as we switched on our e-readers, the attendant waved to us and gave us access. That same evening, we visited the grotto, where the hot river emerges and mixes with the cold water from a beautiful waterfall. You can bathe in the grotto as well as in the dammed pools of the warm river and find a place to camp on the banks. Because of the loud music from the restaurants, we were glad to have our new earplugs for sleeping. They worked wonders!

After a restful night, we also paid a visit to the artificial but photogenic thermal pools before setting off on the ascent again. Over the course of four days, we rode along a scenic route through the fertile high valley around Metztitlán and the wooded El Chico National Park to the pyramids of Teotihuacán. The mostly reconstructed pyramids and terraced temples from the second century CE did not really inspire us. Too much of it is visibly reconstructed.

Because we didn’t want to travel through Mexico City, David led us eastwards on sometimes asphalted, sometimes dusty back roads towards the Malinche volcano. We had briefly considered climbing it. Its snow-covered summit and the already frosty morning temperatures did not appeal to us at all, so we preferred to ride along the practically traffic-free road at the foot of the volcano towards Puebla, to camp with a view of the sea of lights and to immerse ourselves in the dense smog of the city in the morning.

Our stay in Puebla started very entertainingly: When we tried to park our bikes at a shopping center to work on our blog in a café, the security staff on site were challenged. The foreigners, who hardly speak any Spanish, wanted to park their bikes but – oh dear! – they didn’t fit into the bike racks. Our original plan to simply lean the bikes against the racks was found to be the best solution after a long discussion between six security guards. And although we locked the bikes and had them in view at all times, they were constantly watched by a guard😂.

We relieved the security guard of his duties after about three hours and made our way to our accommodation. It is conveniently located in the historic city center and has a roof terrace. Excellent, as this allowed us to comfortably explore the old houses with their tiled facades on foot and give our bikes some attention. We actually wanted to continue our journey today, but because I was sick yesterday, we’re staying one more night. The accommodation is fully booked, but apparently a room that is still under construction should be ready by 4 p.m. We’ll see…🙃.