27.01.09
San Juan de los Lagos – León
I left SJdlL at 10:30am. The first 30 kilometers were a lot different today. I had to share the shoulder of the road! Not with other cyclists but with pilgrims. They were all on their way to the cathedral in SJdlL. At 1 kilometer I counted 63 pilgrims! I‘ ve never seen something like that. The good thing about it was that there were Taco-Stands all over. Unfortunately I wasn‘ t hungry then and when I got hungry there was nothing to buy anymore. But my avocado-tuna-sandwich on the side of the road tasted pretty good, too. The negative thing about the pilgrims is that they just throw their garbage (empty bottles, cups, food-wraps) just down at the side of the road.
Again there were many up- and downhills today, the downhills fast and the climbs very slow. I wonder if I‘ ll ever get used to the climbing. After the pilgrims didn‘ t block the shoulder anymore the day became very unspectecular, though. I had a hard time and already thought that I wouldn‘ t make it to Leon before dark there was a sign that showed me the exit to León. When I left the Cuota I was very surprised that there was a bikepath in the middle of the road! Cycling there wasn‘ t much fun though, because there were many holes. So I decided to ignore the path and cycled on the road.
I found ,my way into the center and stopped to buy a much needed cold coke before I started to look for a Hotel. After staying at a cheap but pretty dirty place last night I looked for something nicer. Finally I found a great Hotel and when the guy at the reception saw my bicycle he gave me a bigger room for the same price. After a hot shower I walked to and around the Plaza for a while, bought a slice of Pizza for dinner and walked back to the Hotel. This City seems to be pretty nice, the Plaza/ Plazas are big and there‘ s a lot going on, people hanging out, musicians playing, many restaurants and coffeeshops.
Since I‘ ll probably leave tomorrow I won‘ t see that much of it though. I‘ m pretty exhausted after almost 900m of climbing today. Depending on what time I leave here tomorrow and how I like Silao, after around 30 km, I might as well make it a short day and stay there. But I‘ ll see that tomorrow.