Brian’s Microblog

February 24, 2026

We got up at seven and went to the little restaurant in the hotel after showering. We talked with what are probably the only other guests here at the Chocolate Suites, a Canadian couple who live near Vancouver. The breakfast was two pancakes and a syrup packet with coffee. Gustavo convinced the lady to get me an herbal tea - they didn’t have any black tea.

We walked down to the city center and visited the Museo Iconográfico del Quijote - basically art related to Don Quixote. “I don’t know art but I know what I like” - I really liked this painting. Be sure to view it both ‘distant’ and then zoom in.

Then we rode the funicular up to the big El Pípila statue that overlooks the city.

El Pípila heroically crawled to the door of a fortified warehouse with a large flat rock on his back while the Spaniards fired on him. He brought some tar and a torch and lit the door on fire, eventually breaking it down and allowing the revolutionaries to take over the warehouse and the stockpile of weapons within - a key event in the Mexican Revolution in 1810.

It’s a great view of the city, and we walked a little ways either way on the Panorámica road that circles above the city center and then got a licuado and sat in the shade while enjoying the views.

We went back down the funicular and wandered around for a while and settled on Santo Agave Cantaritos Estilo Jalisco for lunch. I had the Pozole Estilo Jalisco which was very good, but my wife makes pozole that is just as good while being less greasy.

We walked back up the hill to the hotel and got on the bikes. We rode across town to a motorcycle shop. The mechanic was away on an errand, but his wife called for him and I handled some email while we waited. When the mechanic arrived he changed out the valve stem core in my rear tire which I am hoping will solve the slow leak. Gustavo’s rear brake was not working properly so the mechanic bled that which fixed the problem.

Then we headed back on the Panorámica road past our hotel to a dirt road. We were trying to make a loop out to Highway 110 but we got on the wrong road. We missed Carretera a Peñafiel and ended up on Carretera al Cubo. Carretera al Cubo took us up a valley and over some ridges past several mining operations but it eventually ended at the little village of Rosa de Castilla where there was a church overlooking a valley.

We returned to the Panorámica road and decided to make the full loop around the city center, finally returning to the hotel. Then we walked down the hill and looked for a place to have a light dinner. We found Mecha Corta (“Blown Fuse”) where we had some craft beers and a burger. The Yerba Mate / Tres Fronteras beer from Porfirio Cervercería was very good. The Yerba Mate flavor was faint while drinking but had a lingering flavor, and we talked about the Guaraní tribe for a while.

Afterwards we wandered around town a little more. There was a group of historically costumed university students playing and singing in the main plaza.