Brian’s Microblog

March 02, 2026

We got up around seven and just started getting ready to go. We have been eating so much that we decided to try having only brunch and dinner today. The morning light was pretty from our east-facing hotel room.

We got on the road a bit before nine. My rear tire held air again this time. It was already getting pretty warm but we started climbing toward the big cliff up in the clouds on Mexico Highway 120.

We went up and over a pass and left the state of San Luis Potosí and entered the state of Querétaro. It was wild to see and feel how the climate, the plants, and the geology all seemed to change right around the state line. The temperature dropped almost ten degrees, it got drier, and instead of jungle there were pine trees. As we descended, the pine trees gave way to stuff more like sage brush and it slowly got warmer. We stopped at La Terraza Restaurante just short of Jalpan de Serra and had a big breakfast around ten thirty.

Then we continued on 120, climbing up and over another mountain range, then back down and up again, finally coming out into a big, dry valley surrounded by mountains. We turned off 120 to go through Peñamiller. From there we took a little side road that goes west. This had some absolutely terrible pavement for the first several miles, so bad that I rode it like a gravel road.

Eventually, though, we reached a long section that had great pavement, but did have rock fall and bushes growing into the road. Still, it was very curvy and lots of fun. Finally we returned to Highway 120 in San Pablo Tolimán and started heading back towards Jalpan de Serra where we would spend the night. Gustavo had his bike’s motor traction control in off-road mode, and when he grabbed some throttle to pass a slow car in Tolimán the road was dusty or something and his rear tire slide a couple feet to the side - this is the closest we have been to having an accident so far on the trip. We stopped in Pinal de Amoles to drink some sodas and rest in the shade since even being at seven thousand feet elevation was not keeping the temperatures down.

We checked in to the hotel in Jalpan de Serra around five thirty and then changed clothes and walked around the town a bit. There is a big church that also appears to be an active convent.

The founders of the church also were big fans of the Camino de Santiago Compostela and have their own 127 kilometer Camino, at least if I understood the interpretive sign.

We got some ice cream and looked at a few restaurants, eventually selecting Serra Bonita where we had beer in frosted mugs and had a good dinner. I had a huarache (“sandal” - a thick corn tortilla shaped like the sole of a shoe) with nopalitos (prickly pear cactus) that was really good.

There was a really striking painting displayed near the main plaza.

After dinner we picked up some water and cookies to have for breakfast and watched the Thai MotoGP highlights. They also had a Tuk-Tuk challenge race which was pretty hilarious - the GP riders had to ride “two up”, one as a passenger and the other as driver, for a lap and then stop and switch drivers for the second lap.