Cathedral, Guanajuato, MX

After five days in the tiny hippie beach town of San Francisco I convinced Seamus that my wanderlust needed sating and we planned our trip to Guadalajara for a couple of days.  With Seamus riding pillion we drove up the hilly jungle highway 200 towards Compostela hoping to put Seamus on a bus there while I drove the rest of the way myself.

Compostela was a small town not to familiar with foreigners as we attracted a fair number of stares.  They helpfully told us that a bus to Guadalajara could be caught at the highway tollbooth (caseta de cobra). So, after ensuring that a Mexican family waiting for the bus would get Seamus on the right bus I drove on the free highway 15D towards Guadalajara.  It wound through a valley of of black volcanic rock formations before I decided I should get on the faster pay highway 15 to avoid arriving at dusk in rush-hour in Guadalajara ( 4-6 million inhabitants).

Cantina Drunk and Lance

The Hosteling International hostel didn’t have private rooms so I checked into Hotel Frances, a faded and crumbling once-grand hotel built in 1618 located next to the principal plazas and Cathedral de Guadalajara.  I was just about to drive my bike through the lobby and dining room when I saw a sweaty looking Seamus walking along the street.  We walked around for a while and had dinner, after which I went to bed feeling ill from the cold I picked up from Kephra in Puerto Vallarta.  Judging from the line on the tequila bottle, Seamus had continued the night somewhat elsewhere.

After two unsatisfying days in Guadalajara Seamus decided not to continue inland to Guanajuato so after a late groggy breakfast we parted ways and I drove to Guanajuato.  The town is beautiful, mainly car free and has tiny arty cafe’s, bars, multi-hued pastel houses, and cobbled streets – it feels like a European town.

Principal Plaza, Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX

Hummingbird Flowers & Houses (attribution: Lance)

I met Lance an Australian photographer in the Casa Bertha posada and we went to a cantina for a beer.  It was pretty authentic with a load of men drinking heavily and a metal urinal tub against one wall openly exposed to the rest of the bar.   Soon enough a heavy set very drunk Mexican man who introduced himself as Plantano (banana) sat down and menacingly insisted that we were amigos and he wasn’t going to rob us or do bad things – which was enough to make Lance clutch at his knapsack.   We both agreed we liked New York girls very much but Platano wasn’t satisfied with this and suggested we go to meet with some friendly women.  After the second round of enforced drinking I begged off with needing to go to sleep while Lance was to go to his hotel and then out for dinner.

Honey in Guad. market

I met Rick, Mike, and Mario – 3 very sound fellows from California who are riding around Mexico on KLR’s as well and hoping to make it to Guetemala – buena suerte.

KPICASA_GALLERY(GuanajuatoMexico#Gv1sRgCIrSotX56bnOeg)

San Francisco to Guadalajara, to Guanajuato MX

New (left) and old (right) mount

I took the bike to a second mechanic – an authorized Kawasaki one to be sure about the state of the engine after running out of oil upon arrival in Puerto Vallarta.  He revved the engine for a few minutes and then told me it would require adjusting the valve clearance which would stop the ticking noise and also that the cam lobe would need to be adjusted.  I wouldn’t need any new parts and it would take a day and cost about $1,000 pesos (< $100 CDN) and that I can drive it – “But don’t return to Canada” with a sarcastic grin.

The second part of the morning was spent eating two fish tacos at the taco stand in the neighbourhood and taking my snapped GPS mount to a soldering shop just near the taco stand.   He wasn’t able to solder the snapped aluminum plate and bolt back to the bolt atttached to the rubber ball. So he looked around at the scrap metal all over the place and pickup up a flat piece of metal, a metal rod, and a metal ball of the approximate size and proceeded to cut the rod to one inch, drill two screw holes in the flat metal, cut the flat metal and bend it to go around the handlebar on the bike, and soldered the ball and plate to the ends of the cut rod.

For $100 pesos  (< $10 CDN) and in 35 minutes he had manufactured (from scrap) a replacement mount for less than the cost of the mass produced original and did it happily, on the spot, without any extra waiting on my part.  This was my second experience with metalworking shops in Mexico and if anything happens to my bike mechanically I want it to be in Mexico where the workmen are far better than in Canada or the US.

Beached Mum, San Francisco, MX

Near Cathedral, PV, MX	Jacarrandas Flat, PV, MX	Fruit, PV	Beach Mum, San Francisco, MX
San Francisco, MX	New (left) and old (right) mount (left)	Services of PV, MX	Winding Staircase
Stairwell	Mum Above Olas Atlas	Rio Cuale, PV, MX	Cathedral PV
	Sand Sculptures Apparently	Man in a tree

Puerto Vallarta to Punta Mita, San Pancho, MX

It makes a noise like this other person’s KLR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP5QbE6QDzU

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Update: I went back to the bike after waiting for an hour with the drunken street party outside the rental  for the drunk superintendant to find the keys.  Another liter of oil, waited five minutes and then it started.  It stalled again when put in first but then worked the second time. There is what I think is engine knocking and it backfires now and stalled again. However I made it up the hill to the hotel so I´m feeling much better that it´s not totally wrecked and may turn out OK.

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Feeling Ill in Puerto Vallarta

I had bought two litres of oil in San Blas and was going to change the oil on the bike as it’s been 6000km so is overdue. I thought I’d do it outside the rental apartment in Puerto Vallarta.

So I drove the 2 hours to P.V. today and got within four blocks of the hotel to check where I was and how to get to the rental apartment. When I left the bike just stalled in an unfamiliar way. So I got off and checked for spraying liquids, cracks, broken cables etc and found nothing. Then tipped the bike to look at the oil guage which looked normal. On closer inspection there was a permanent mark that I had thought was the oil level but was just something on the gauge window.  There was no oil in the bike at all. I’ve added a liter but the bike still wouldn’t turn over the engine at all.

I think I’ve seized it and feel quite sick and stupid about the whole thing.   When I can get into the apartment I’ll be looking for a mechanic but I’m not expecting this to work out very well.

Temporary Office

Trying to Enjoy Post Bike Failure

Jungle North of Puerto Vallarta

Jungle North of Puerto Vallarta

Temporary office

Trying to enjoy post-bike failure

San Blas to Puerto Vallarta, MX