Brian’s Microblog

March 03, 2026

Morning in Jalpan de Serra found us a bit groggy because the beds and the pillows in the hotel seemed to be more for show than function - these were the firmest pillows I have ever tried to sleep on. We had some protein bars and cookies as a light breakfast and left Jalpan around nine. My tire still had good pressure this morning. Highway 69 initially follows some rivers going north-west from Jalpan and we didn’t gain much elevation, but we did get to cross some low ridges and curve along with the rivers. Some good riding in the morning.

We stopped in Ríoverde at Hotel Renzzo for brunch - chilaquiles again. The food was good, and the service was stellar.

From Ríoverde we headed toward San Luis Potosí on MX 70. There were a few more decent curves on this road going over some ridges.

The roads started getting straighter as we passed through San Luis Potosí and got on MX 45, which goes through some other bigger towns. We were slowly climbing all this time, though, eventually getting up to 8,000 feet in Zacatecas.

These straight roads didn’t need much communication, so we switched our helmet intercoms out of intercom mode and I listened to an audiobook for a while and Gustavo played some music.

We arrived in Zacatecas around four and checked in to the Hotel Meson de la Merced again - we liked it last time. We got a slightly nicer room this time and I did a little sink laundry to get me through the last few days of this trip. Then we walked around the town. Last time it was getting dark by the time we wandered around, so I took a few photos with better lighting, and we wandered a bit further.

We walked by the Museum of Abstract Art and then started back in the direction of the hotel on a parallel street to see some different things. There are a fair number of little plazas with fountains or monuments. We were a little intrigued by the “Tacos Enveninados” (“poison tacos”) place, but not intrigued enough to eat them! Our guess is that they are super spicy.

Eventually we arrived at a plaza with a monument celebrating 100 years since the 1810 Mexican Revolution. This would have been erected just a few years before a second revolution in 1914. I was tired so we sat on a bench for a while and listened to to the very loud Grackles there. According to Wikipedia When grackles are in a group, they are referred to as a “plague” - I can believe it after listening to them for a while.

Gustavo did some research on nearby restaurants and found some good reviews for Comida Casero at Rincón Típico. It’s a tiny place at the end of a little alley. They do most of the business for breakfast and lunch, and only the owner and his friend were there talking. We were invited to join them at their table, then the owner got busy in the kitchen. We told him we did not want much, but what we got was a ton of food. He cooked while his friend talked to us for a while, then when the food started arriving his friend left and we talked to the owner while we ate. Imagine Bilbo Baggins in the Fellowship of the Rings movies, then make him Mexican and you get Jesus, the owner. He had a sort of halo of white hair, prominent nose, and the manner of Bilbo. We did enjoy it, but it was way too much food. While we ate, Jesus told us about some of his life, and it was clear that his dream for the past several years has been to make great food and watch people enjoy it. The green chile enchiladas are probably the best I have ever had.

And all that food came after a big bowl of Sopa Fideo (a simple noodle soup).