This morning we had tortillas with chocolate paste for breakfast at the ‘Lago De Chapala’. And they were delicious! If the Mexicans would have been looking at us they were probably thinking we’d gone mad. 🙂 I hope we didn’t break any universal tortilla-rules. Maybe it’s an unknown, yet to be discovered local delicacy…who knows 🙂 Along the road the plants still looked very familiar. We saw again a lot of corn fields, bean bushes and this time also coconuts for sale.
But the highlight of the day was the truly delicious lunch in a local restaurant called ‘Restaurant Bar Del Lago’ in Jamay. We ordered ‘majochetes con cameron y assasetas’ and ‘cameron a la diabla’. We also got a type of taco as appetiser with fish eggs.
Fully stuffed we went back on the road in the familiar car positions and drove all the way to Quiroga. We came across a lot of small towns as well as incoming traffic but we managed to get everywhere safely until this little bug scared the hell out of us. Whilst we were driving Patrick felt something behind his ear and something hit Marijke against the shoulder and then we heard a big thud. Unsure whether someone just threw a stone in the car or whether we lost a car part and it somehow hurled itself up in the car through the open window (okay that was a long shot, but you never know with Rodrigo), we discovered this little creature on Marijke’s seat.
Marijke got out of the car (on her bare feet), Patrick threw it out and we continued the drive; with closed windows! 🙂 The reason why Marijke hasn’t driven the car yet: this is what the Mexican roads look like in the local towns.
- There is only one golden rule: you must slow down at the tope (speed bump) or you will leave half your car behind you. Topes will be clearly marked with yellow paint and signs – or hiding in the shadow. It depends.
- Signs with speed limits are there for information only
- The double yellow line in the middle of the road is there to help you keep driving in the middle of the road
- The sign “do not overtake” is purely ironic and actually means “go ahead, now’s the time to overtake”
- You can easily fit 4 cars next to each other in a two lane road
- Trying to overtake a bus is an invitation to a duel. Be prepared to lose!
- You are allowed to overtake a car that is overtaking another car when there is only one lane
- It is a sign of weakness to drive behind a car with a foreign license plate – you must overtake asap to defend Mexico’s honour!
- If you use your indicators, it means that the car behind you can overtake you – nothing more, nothing less
- You can save a lot on car maintenance by not using indicators, lights or even your brakes
- You can take a wide turn as wide as you like, you can even use the other lane.
- You may have license plates or not, you may be only twelve years old, you may transport a horse in your pick-up truck – it’s all cool and you are welcome to join the Mexican roads!
As Patrick has now mastered these rules, he no longer needs to take pictures. For information, this is the reason why Patrick isn’t allowed to take any pictures: can you spot the lake?
Driving up to our first Meso-American town, next to ‘Lago de Patzcuaro’, we saw this bizarre hill. One side of it seemed to have collapsed.
In search for our campground we came across a ‘acampamiento’ sign so we stopped to check the place in more detail. Today we’re camping in the most beautiful place so far. I mean, the guy has a garden as long as a football field and it’s adjacent to the lake… That’s difficult to beat, wouldn’t you agree? And we love the grass! It’s almost ankle-deep so it feels supersoft. So today… no more driving. We will enjoy the sunny afternoon on the terrace looking out over the garden and enjoy a good book. Later today we will sit in the backyard and enjoy the sunset over the lake.
It’s shining like a chandelier
Shining somewhere far away from here
I got to get out of here
And find my way again
I’ve lost my way again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5DsI_eCK7Y
Keep Calm and Drive South 