After 80km, I was hungry. When I arrived at the vegetarian buffet I was hoping to grab a late breakfast from, I found out that it would not be open for another hour. Itching to get moving, I continued south. Before getting past Guadalajara"s city limit, a packed taco joint called Tacos Barbacoa became breakfast. I ordered 3 from the chico of about 13 years. The tacos came wrapped in two crispy fried tortillas, giving me the energy I would need to get to Laguna Chapala, albeit somewhat more greasy than I had originally anticipated.
For about 10km, I was graced with a separated bike path through the suburbs. City gave way to fields of corn and then I arrived at the highway for the next section. Although 4 lanes wide, the large shoulder and lack of merging routes made the gentle hills easy riding. My turn towards the east came and now I was finally on the calmer Highway 15.
Farms lay everywhere visible from the small climbs with magnificent and vibrantly green mountains surrounding the valleys. On my way into Jocotepec, I passed two different people commuting via donkey. Although an interesting sight, their walking pace did not make me want to give up my metal donkey.
The giant Laguna Chapala became visible as I entered Jocotepec. Entering the city would have been a bit of a detour though so I decided to continue on to look for lunch.
The first town I arrived at was full of cobblestone streets but after 10 blocks of bumping around and no restaurants or taco stands, I was forced to continue. The highway signs said 27km to the next town but I was hoping very much that one would come much sooner.
After less than 10km, traffic halted on the narrow road and a town appeared with a sign at the edge showing 3,500 inhabitants. I would definitely find something decent here. A long string of shops on the highway was full of people meandering with bright red drinks in plastic bags with the straw tied to the top to make drinking easy. As I approached a stand selling al pastor tacos, the man cooking called out to me when he saw me eyeing the meat cooking. I told him I"d take 4, he pointed to a handwritten sign above him saying, "only today, 5 tacos for 35 pesos."
So I ordered 5. They brought out 6 along with two bowls of salsa and a bowl of lime slices. After thoroughly enjoying them, I told him thanks and a little bit about the trip I was on. After hearing that I was planning to camp nearby tonight, he invited me to stay at his house ten blocks up on the other side of town. If I come back to his spot at 10, he"ll even give me a ride in his truck. A much needed siesta at the lakeside park and I"m excited for my first unplanned host in this solo section of my tour.