Guanajuato

Last night was our first night camping in the tent.  First - a huge thank you to Joaquin, who convinced me to get inflatable Big Agnes sleeping pads at the very last minute for our trip - we would have been freezing without them.  Our campsite was a "campground" that was really just a family's yard that they mostly rent to local people for car parking.  This town was a colonial silver mining town and has almost no flat space.  The downtown centro area has something like 7 tunnels, some of which are from the original mines.  We found some 200+ year old stones and carried them over to our camp to come up with two chairs and a beautiful table and had brought two bottles of 85 peso Mexican Cabernet in our saddle bags.  We also rounded up fire wood and had a nice fire until it got so windy we were convinced it was going to burn holes in our tent.  I'm gonna post the pictures we have of our camp, the tunnels we walked through to get to town and the beautiful town center.

The bad news was that in the morning I realized that my rear shock absorber had failed and leaked out all its hydraulic fluid - a blown seal...  As we are carrying quite a bit of luggage, it's a real problem and the shock is bottoming out constantly and won't make it much further without something much bigger breaking because of it.  We made it to Patzcuaro, Michoacan today and will be here for three days for el Dia de los Muertes, but the shock is going to need to get fixed before we can go much further.  It's pretty tricky to get fixed out here, but I'm hoping we'll have some luck with a place I found in Guadalajara, 180 miles away.  If they don't have the specialized tools to fix the shock - it basically requires a custom-made spring compression device made with bottle jacks - we will have to stay put somewhere very soon for a week and a half or so while we get the shock fixed in the USA and shipped back.  I think we could handle a week at the beach, though.  The shipping costs alone would be a lot, so let's hope for the guys in Guadalajara at "Moto Chavane"!!  http://www.motochavane.com.mx/index.php

our awesome campsite - had the whole place to ourselves

sweet table with stone moldings...  it was heavy to move this stuff

it's like they're related

view of town from our camp

first tunnel on the walk into town centro

two tunnels converging

lower level of Guanajuato centro

it was Sunday and must have been a holiday, huge crowds in the centro!

sweet offroad beetle with clipped fenders at our campsite

tent with sleeping pads blown up - Thanks Joaquin!