This post covers one week and a lot of ground as we finally bid adieu to Michoacán and the Purépecha Highlands and enter the Bajío—historically one of Mexico’s wealthiest regions and cradle of independence.
The Bajío, or “lowlands” encompasses large swathes of Central Mexico, including nearly all of Guanajuato State where we’re headed next and plan to be for the better part of July.
The Bajío seems like a bit of a misnomer given that most of the plateau still sits above 6,000 feet. However, in comparison to the high Western and Eastern Sierra Madre mountains that hem-in the plateau, the Bajío is fairly low.
It’s a region packed with history, silver mines, and arguably Mexico’s most beautiful cities, and we’re excited to be going there in a couple of days.
But first, we wrap up a few items of business in Patzcuaro.
Final Days in Patzcuaro
Patzcuaro’s been a great place to park ourselves over the past weeks. It’s definitely a unique corner of Mexico.
While it gets its fair share of domestic visitors, it seems to be overlooked by most foreign tourists, which has offered a nice break from the Mexican Pacific coast in that respect.
Not a lot of English is spoken here at all, which has also been a nice change. The locals have been very friendly and we’ve learned a lot about the area along the way.
Plus, the RV park (Rancho La Mesa) has got to be one of our favorites so far. No doubt, we’ll definitely have fond memories of our time here.
I took Riley into town to pick up our final load of laundry. It’s no small trek, involving 20-minute Combi rides on each end (or a long, slow 45-minute slog up a hill with a heavy bag of laundry).
We found a closer lavandaria a week ago, but weren’t as happy with the results (and they took twice as long). Our preferred lavandaria is much deeper into town, but it was worth it to get our laundry back in a timely manner.
Yep, it’s full-on rainy season now, but that’s not the reason for the boys’ wet hair. They actually took showers today!
When we were down on the coast, they were showering (or at least rinsing off) every day after going in the ocean or swimming in the pool.
These days in the cool highlands, shower time is a hard sell. But today is a special day and we somehow managed to convince them. We’re heading into town to celebrate our 12th anniversary.
We’re not big on screen time, but sometimes we bend the rules. This seemed like one of those times. Riley’s *obviously* really into his Rubble ‘n’ Crew. God help us if the iPad dies.
One final visit to our favorite (and only) brewery in town (Maestra), then a walk into Old Town for a special meal.
La Terraza de Antonia did not disappoint (though we almost skipped it tonight). This restaurant is known for its rooftop terrace and it was pouring down rain when we got there. Fortunately, they had a good amount of covered seating and it wasn’t packed.
Unlike nearly every other kid we see in Mexico, it’s a novelty for ours to be out much after dark. They love it, but we do usually pay for it at some point. Our boys like their sleep.
Not much to report on from the last couple of days at Rancho La Mesa. The weather was pretty gloomy and the boys’ stomachs weren’t doing so well (we think on account of Noe’s birthday fruit we bought from one of the local market stalls), so we hunkered down and rested up for our big move this week.
Even after nearly four years of living in Mexico, we still get struck down by the occasional bout of Montezuma’s Revenge.
The good news is I finally convinced Lori to break down and buy some microdyne for cleaning fruits and veggies. We’ve never used it, but hear it’s supposed to be pretty effective. We’ll report back later.
The geese have been out in full force lately.
Rain, rain, and more rain.
We initially planned to depart Patzcuaro on Sunday, but changed that to Wednesday after looking at the forecast.
This front should pass through by then, but there’s another one on its way Wednesday evening. That means we’ve got a small weather window for a dry[ish] drive to Guanajuato.
We haven’t had to plan our driving days around the weather in nearly four months, but that looks like it’ll be the new normal for us over the coming four months or so.
I’m none too pleased by that, but it is what it is.
On to Guanajuato
After 20 days in Patzcuaro, our departure day has arrived.
This morning, the weather gods smiled upon us and we actually saw the sun. I was quite happy with this development because it meant I had a fighting chance of spraying off and drying out our huge and muddy outdoor mat before stowing it for travel.
I was able to get through a full two hours of packing-up under glorious sunshine before the clouds rolled in threatening rain just as we were rolling out.
Bye-bye, Michoacan. Hello, Guanajuato!
After three weeks of not driving the rig (my longest stretch since beginning this journey in early March), I thought it might take a little while to get accustomed to driving the RV again. Nope. Fell right back into the groove like usual.
The main thing for us is remembering to pad the stovetop grill and wrap the silverware so it doesn’t clank around and annoy us for hours.
Four hours and 15 minutes door-to-door today, with a stop for gas. For the amount of ground covered (150 miles) it was a surprisingly pleasant drive with no major mountain passes to scale (unlike our hour-long drive between Uruapan and Patzcuaro).
The most stressful part came towards the very end of the day.
Guanajuato Arrival Hickups
We wanted to try and make a stop at the Chedraui supermarket a few miles shy of the RV park we’re staying at. In the past, this hasn’t been an issue.
In Guanajuato, however, it was a lefthand turn that required a sharp U-turn around a median, which I was able to successfully perform (during rush-hour), only to discover that the parking lot had a height restriction well below our 3.3 meters.
We couldn’t find street parking near the big shopping mall complex, so we decided to abort the mission altogether, which of course meant having to drive back towards Central Guanajuato until we could swing around a roundabout and head back through the same traffic we had just fought our way through to get to the RV park.
All of this easily added 20-30 minutes to our travel day, with nothing to show for it.
Thankfully, once we’re parked at the RV park, we won’t need to deal with any of that. There are buses heading to and from town, and Ubers if we need them.
We rolled into Bugamville RV Park (located about seven miles outside of Central Guanajuato City) and quickly went about the process of setting up before nightfall.
Not because I can’t setup at night but because Lori was scheduled to give an important presentation for work [virtually] within the hour.
I set her up outside under the awning, but then it began to rain (hard). So, we figured out something inside. The boys would be eating dinner and getting ready for bed, so we set her up on the rear bed. #RVLife
Then, of course, the Starlink didn’t want to track north as it usually does, but west instead, which meant it was directly facing a three-story brick wall.
So, I had to climb up to the roof of the RV in the pouring rain, unscrew the Dishy and set it up in the mud-pit out in front of the vehicle.
In the end, she made her call and everything was fine. But I’d prefer not to have to do that again at the end of a big driving day.
Old Town Field Trips
The next day, we took advantage of a dry afternoon to take the bus into Old Guanajuato for the first time.
Once off the bus, we slowly made our way along the main (and really only major) thoroughfare through the city.
Immediately, I was struck by this place. I’m not sure I’ve ever visited a city quite like Guanajuato.
A few years back, we spent a week in nearby San Miguel de Allende, which shares a lot of the same origins. But Guanajuato is its own thing entirely.
For one, it’s got more of a medieval Spanish feel to it than any place I’ve been in Mexico.
Serpentine streets cutting through a long, narrow valley. Walk in any direction from the main drag and you almost immediately start climbing uphill. Up here is where most of the city’s residents live.
Below your feet lies a vast network of 19th-century water tunnels, now primarily used to usher car and pedestrian traffic quickly through the city center.
Literally every turn offers something worth photographing—striking churches, opulent former mansions, leafy plazas, medieval pathways…
What’s more is—unlike San Miguel de Allende—Guanajuato doesn’t feel like a tourist trap, despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s a fully-functioning state capital.
Sure, there are touristy pockets, but there are also plenty of hardware stores, copy shops, and local eateries, adding a very lived-in and local feel to this living museum.
We’re excited to be able to explore the length and breadth of this place. But for today, we’re enjoying soaking up some sun and looking forward to grabbing something different to eat than the norm.
When we saw that there is a Banh Mi shop in town (aptly named Banh Mi), we couldn’t resist.
Not super authentic, but very tasty. Noe liked his chicken satay, but wasn’t crazy about the Banh Mi. Riley, on the other hand, devoured his.
Noe didn’t believe us when we told him he’d been to Vietnam. We showed him a couple of photos from this post, as well as some from our trip to Hanoi. He couldn’t believe it.
Funny to think that half his life was spent in Southeast Asia and he really has no first-hand memories from that time. But he’ll remember Mexico. That’s our aim, at least.
This is my first time in Guanajuato, but Lori visited 18 years ago. She wasn’t here very long, but remembers the mirador and mummy museum.
Following the stone paths up into one of the residential neighborhoods, she said, “I forgot how cute this place is.” Agreed. Very “cute”.
Paleta time in Plaza de La Paz with a view of the very yellow Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Rush Hour in Central Guanajuato. These cars didn’t budge the whole five minutes we were near the tunnel entrance. Not sure I’d enjoy sitting in a traffic jam inside a 19th-century tunnel.
The Funicular, El Pípila & Mirador
With the weather holding out, we thought we’d press our luck and take The Funicular up to visit El Pípila, because, why not? We were loving the fact that it wasn’t raining and there were patches of blue sky above.
We just barely caught one of the last funiculars of the day before they closed, and headed up, up, up to the mirador.
Here he is, in all his glory: El Pípila!
But most people don’t make the trek up here for El Pípila. They come for the commanding view of Guanajuato City.
Lori wanted to re-create a headshot photo she had taken of her 18 years ago at this very spot…
And 2006…
We didn’t get a lot of time at the mirador. Only minutes after arriving, the dark clouds gathered fast and the temperature dropped.
Looks like a thunderstorm is getting ready to sweep in. Time to start making the journey back to the RV Park.
Bugamville RV Park
There’s not a whole lot to say about Bugamville RV Park. It’s a big dirt and grass lot surrounded by cement walls and chainlink fencing.
It’s a bit of a haul from Centro, but they do have full hookups (15/20 AMP power, low-pressure water, and sewage), it’s secure, and there’s a bus stop a short walk down the road.
Lots of wide open spaces for the kids to run around too (no other RVs are here at the moment). And we aren’t too concerned about keeping them quiet given that there’s a children’s party center next door.
Second Try at Visiting Guanajuato City
Not to be deterred for too long, we made the trip back into town the following day to grab some lunch and poke around the market. Again, sunny skies when we left the RV Park, but our weather timing this go around was even worse than the day before.
We did manage to reach Mercado Hidalgo just minutes before a downpour. But this downpour was a big one, flooding the streets and going into the wee hours.
Two Ex-Train Station Markets
Mercado Hidalgo is one of the more interesting municipal markets we’ve visited in Mexico. If it looks a bit like a train station to you, that’s no coincidence.
The market building was originally constructed as a train station, but was converted into a market by the time it was completed. So, no trains ever graced the building’s presence.
Now, this is NOT to be confused with the Mercado de la Ex-Estacion de Ferrocarril (Ex-Train Station Market). That’s a completely different market a half-mile up the hill, which we were about to learn the wet way.
Yesterday in our haste, we took an Uber back to the RV park. Today, we were determined to take the bus. But the bus back out to the boonies where we’re staying isn’t exactly the easiest to find.
The owner of the RV park had told us to catch it across from the old train station market. Great! We’ll spend some time at the market, then head over and catch the bus.
After several minutes of waiting around in the rain and not seeing our bus, we asked around. Eventually, we found someone who seemed to know something about buses to Sauceda who informed us that they definitely do not pick up here, but up the hill 10 minutes near the ex-train station market.
The other ex-train station market.
We walked ten minutes and found a corner where a bunch of buses were stopping. But it still wasn’t the place, up the hill.
Along the way, we passed this little side alley. This can’t be what happens every time it rains in Guanajuato, can it?
Drenched from head to toe, we finally found it. The bus station next to the disused train station next to a market.
A very rainy hour later, we were back at the RV. We’ll try again in another day or two.
