Spectacularly cut mountains, which looked very surreal against the bright blue and white sky.

When we passed through a line of mountains we would often find a long straight highway on the other side that disappeared on the horizon.

Saltillo
We arrived in Saltillo late in the afternoon, and got our first taste of colonial Mexico. There wasn't much going, but after finding Hotel Urdiñola, getting out of our riding gear, and showering, we went out in search of a beer and some food.

We stopped in a little cafe on the main square and had some great ceviche tostadas. We walked around a bit and then grabbed some tacos back in the main square. Afterwards, we hit a bar we had walked past ealier and had a few more beers, then called it a night.

The hotel was decent and had a very nice courtyard that all the rooms opened onto. There was free secure parking next door, too.

October 23 - 189 miles

We were up at the crack of dawn, literally, and went out to find some coffee and something to eat. The light was just spectacular.

This is the main church in Saltillo.

We found a place that was open and ate a mediocre breakfast of huevos rancheros, and weak coffee that turned grey when milk was added. The bad breakfast was made up for by the weird 70's decor, though.

Heading out of Saltillo, Doug makes a move to pass an Anglels Verdes (Green Angels) truck, guardians of Mexico's roadways. An amazing service operated by the Ministry of Turism.

Heading east towards Real de Catorce, these cacti reminded me of the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax.

Another road disappearing into the horizon.

The desolation of these stretches of road were comforting in some way. They allowed some mind-wandering and meditation. Not too much, though. You never do know when a burro would decide to wander into the road.

The road from the highway to the tunnel leading to Real de Catorce is 15 miles of cobblestones. It was amazing to think of the amount of manpower required to lay this road. It must have taken years.

The cobblestone road weaved up into the mountains, unveiling the gorgeous scenery we had just ridden through.

Every weekend in October, gobs of pilgrims flock to the church in Real de Catorce to visit the altar to St. Francis of Assisi, who is the patron saint here. This is one of the areas where people parked their cars, trucks and busses, in order to walk or ride on a burro-led cart through the tunnel to town.

A panorama of the valley to the north. You can see where the road is cut into the hills.

The entrance to the tunnel that leads to Real de Catorce.

Since there were so many people coming to visit, they weren't allowing motorized vehicles through the tunnel. Only pedestrians and the burro-led carts could go through. We arrived at around 3:30 and had to wait until 6:30 for them to allow us to pass. The guy in the cowboy hat to the right of the tunnel was the man in charge, and he seemed rather frustrated.

We hung around and talked to some drunk teenagers who freaked Doug out. He felt they were getting hostile. They kept asking how to say La Virgen in English, and didn't seem satisfied with our answer. Weird. So we took off and rode around for a while.

Finally inside the tunnel, which smelled of burro shit and piss, waiting for the tunnel organizers to figure out if we could finally pass. We had to turn around three times before finally going through.

The tunnel is 1.5 miles long, and was originally used for mining.

Ahhh... fresh air.

Real de Catorce
The town of Real de Catorce was built in a narrow valley and its cobble-stoned streets are steep, which made it a bit treacherous after this brief afternoon rain-shower.

We found the hotel we were looking for, Hotel el Real, pretty much right away and reserved a room. It was reasonably priced, and centrally located.

We went out later to a restaurant owned by a local guy and his Argentinean wife. We had steaks, and boy were they good. After that, it was right to bed.

More about Real de Catorce.

October 24 - 10 miles

We decided to stay in Real de Catorce an extra day in order to explore the town, since we had arrived so late the previous day.

This is a movie of the early morning fog rolling through the valley. Sounds of chickens and horses punctuate the stillness of the morning.

The Parish of the Immaculate Conception from the roof of our hotel.

A movie of the parish church bells signaling the time.

On the second day we went for a ride around the area to explore. This is looking away from town towards the mountains. It was stunningly beautiful. Ruins of homes and businesses from when Real de Catorce was a major mining city.

The trail we were riding kind of petered out into cow trails, so we turned around. You can see Real de Catorce in the distance.

As we were riding back I noticed that my tool roll, which I had strapped to the rack on the back of my bike, was missing. Crap. So I doubled back to look for it. As I was riding back up the trail some indians on horseback we saw earlier were coming down.

I stopped and asked the guy in the lead if he had seen a black bag. He looked kind of shy and sheepish, and I asked him again. He then produced my tool roll out of his saddle bag. I thanked him profusely, and they started moving again. Then one of the guys towards the back said something. I said I didn't understand, and the nice sheepish guy in the front said he wanted money. Great.

I pulled out a couple of pesos and handed them to him. He laughed and said he wanted more. So I gave him a 10 peso coin which seemed to satisfy. I was a little annoyed that he asked for money, as I was touched by the generosity and honesty of the first guy. I shouldn't complain. I did get my tools back, and it did only cost me $1.

We decided to hit the road that lead off in the other direction from town and were rewarded with some incredible views of the surrounding valley.

Riding around the area was just incredible, and Doug was enjoying it much more than the off-road riding from the day after Cuatro Cienegas.

We had removed our saddlebags and soft cases, so the bikes were much ligher and more nimble (if a 1000cc bike could be called nimble).

I wanted to leave Real de Catorce the next day by taking this road, but we didn't have enough time. Unfortunately, we were on a pretty tight schedule which didn't allow us to take too many side-trips.

Another amazing vista.

After we got back from our romp around the mountains, we cleaned up and went for a walk around town.

We went to the church to take a look inside. Luckily it was Monday and there weren't many people there to visit the altar to St. Francis of Assisi.

On the east side of town is the cemetery and associated church.

Doug, with those grey socks and floppy hat, is doing his best to look like a German tourist.

Inside the cemetery church.

If you could only have one view for the rest of eternity, this one wouldn't be bad.

All that exploring gave us a healthy appetite, so we stopped at the Italian restaurant in the hotel El Meson de la Abundancia for a pizza. It was delicious, but gave us both the most incredibly foul gas. Was it the Mexican cheese? I'm not sure, but it was almost unbearable in the hotel room that night. Ugh!

Our tastefully decorated hotel room.

The view out of the window, with our covered bikes on the corner. We couldn't find secure parking, but were assured that the bikes would be ok there. They were.

Another adventurer stayed at this hotel about a month after we did. Check out his website. He has some great photos. Here's a photo of Magdalana who worked at the hotel. She was very helpful and friendly.

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