I had enough of the heat and road dogs of the coast and changed course for the mountains of Central Mexico where there was also a recommended Spanish school in the UNESCO world heritage city of Morelia.
The change in climate did not take long.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I am never sure if my chain is too loose. However, the chain once jumped off the sprocket and I have been constantly tightening this new chain.

In the middle of this a double trailer pulled over and the driver came over and talked to me about my trip. It turned out that he was an avid biker and had a collection of photos in his phone of overland travelers. He invited to come to his house in Toluca which was exactly where I was going after my two weeks of Spanish, because a BMW dealer was located there.

If you see one of these trucks in Mexico it just might be my new friend Pepe.

I wanted to have lunch in the town of Patzcuaro, but I missed a turn and after a long drive through the mountains I ended up in the town of Huacana. It took several hours to get there but the road was so narrow and twisty I was afraid to try to turn around or even stop for a photo and just kept hoping that the town would appear around the next bend. My fuel reserve light came on just as I arrived at the town zocalo.

I met the only other non-Mexican in town who was a Canadian mineral driller working in the mountains. At least that is what he told me. Boy, he really needed to talk to someone in English and was overjoyed to see me.

The next morning I basically made a big circle and got back on the same highway and headed east again, except I didn´t get off until Morelia.

My arrival to Morelia did not go well. There was a student demonstration that shut down many of the roads and I was driving around the city for several hours trying to get to my hotel. A week later I took my bike into the centro because I wanted some picture with the motorcycle cops. The cops were riding Harley Sporters or KTM 640. However, there was another demonstration, this time even worse, completely shutting down the centro.

I spent two weeks studying Spanish at the Baden-Powell Institute. It was a great school and I lived with a great family. In fact, I had such a good time I did´t take many pictures, which I now regret.

Besides being a UNESCO World Heritage Site the city is famous for its own version of Gazpacho and it is not soup. It is a big cup of chopped fruit with lemon, chilli, salt and cheeze. Let´s just say I ate my share.