This morning my horridscope said “you've got to check out new opportunities, meet new people or at least go somewhere you've never been before.” (guess they didn’t notice I’m living in a foreign country, never did that before?). Anyway I took it to heart and hopped in the Jeep and went left for a few blocks until that didn’t seem a good idea and did a returno and headed east through Chapala and over the hump toward GDL. Part way up the hill there was a couple of flagmen waving traffic into the right lane and soon I discovered why, they were painting a new white line on the highway. Now, we’ve all seen the big trucks with spay equipment doing the roads, but this was more traditional Mexican style, three guys flagging while one was pushing a cart with a small motor and about 5 gallons of paint in it along the road spraying a white line more or less down the middle, I kid you not.

On over the hump and at the bottom of the hill I turned into Ixlahuacan where I’d never been before. I just learned to pronounce it with out too much snickering from the locals. They say you have to be here 3 months to pronounce it, I qualify and I can – pronounce it that is and as you haven’t been here it would be a waste of time trying to teach you. However I will tell you that if you can tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue you’re on your way to success.

Ixlahuacan is on the GDL side of the mountain and seems a prosperous little town with many shops, the traditional town square and (of course) a humongous Catholic church that looks older than dirt. But, all in all it seems a flourishing town with a large clay factory on one side making chimmenias and lots of etc. I managed to bump around the town on the cobbleboulder streets until I found a mud puddle to get my tires dirty, I felt totally rewarded.

Having fulfilled my destiny for the day I almost turned back, but felt lucky so turned onto the GDL highway to the big city. As it was near lunch I headed for Applebees and WalMart and as I was zipping along Mateos at about 100kph (speed limit is 80) I noticed a motorcycle patrolman pull up beside me, I looked left and smiled, he motioned me to “keep it down a bit” – which I was only too happy to do – dodged that bullet.

I took care of lunch and shopping at WalMart and headed for Home Depot. Business must have been slow in the parking lot as I had to tell a guy “no gracious” three times to keep him from washing the car, and it’s not that dirty.

From there still feeling adventurous I headed N on the lateral toward the heart of the beast looking for new places and things. Bumping along the laterals is an art form in itself because you’re competing with buses and other cars, trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians, traffic lights, lanes that suddenly narrow from two to one etc. I was looking for a Chili’s and in the process found a MacDonald’s, a Pizza Hut and more and more traffic. The Chili’s turned out to be too hard to get to so headed on a bit further and then came to a large shopping area and decided to turn back. I’d never been there before, so another achievement. I’ve still not made it to GDL Centro, but soon.

Bumping along Guzman at this point in total traffic and numerous stop lights etc., there are guys working all the cars passing out cards and literature of all sorts. At one point we were creeping along and I had the driver’s window down just a couple of inches and as I was passing these guys they were poking stuff into the opening like it was a mail slot, what a place, what a trip.

With some maneuvering, and bluffing a couple of buses, I got back to the Periferico and headed for the Chapala Hwy and home. On the way I had the opportunity to fake a couple of very large trucks successfully, but as I rounded the entrance to the Chapala Hwy I couldn’t help noticing a raggerty old VW pulling along side and this is one of those “community areas” where there are no lines, it’s all guts and grit and I could see by the look on this guys face and the flopping fenders of the smoking choking beetle he had nothing to loose and so I deferred and let him roll on by and of course swung around him as soon as we hit the main lanes – is this what they mean about digression being the better part of valor? (never knew for sure what that meant).

Down the road past the Aeropuerto is a place I’ve been meaning to stop, it’s a restaurant, a burrito place and it’s said they really know how to put the burro in burrito! Another fun day in the big city. Now with the doors onto the deck I’m enjoying the approaching evening, the lake is calm, the pelican’s are making their evening flight back to the west end of the lake and the birds are noisily gathering in the trees to compare notes on their daily activities including how many “hits” they made on my clean decks.