New Chain

Juan and Rosa (my rescuers) live in effectively a small "gated community" of town-houses in a suburb of Guadalajara. It was much nicer than most of the living arrangements I had seen... I set up my tent on their smooth flat driveway and was then taken inside for a supper that they insisted I share with them. The Mexicans really take the "My house is Your House" idea very seriously and it is a point of great pride that they extend their hospitality as far as they can. I try very hard not to abuse this privilege but am also grateful when it happens and I get a rest from the constant struggle of life on the road on a Bike.
So, beers and food were had and then I slept very comfortably and felt very secure in my tent.

In the morning, Juan wanted to ride out towards the coast with me for an hour, but I suggested that since I was in a big city and that my chain was getting very bad (several of the links were seizing and getting worse by the day) that I should try to get a new chain. Juan helped out immensely and we went to his favorite parts shop (that I would never have found) and got a chain.
On the way over, I was given a "deep end" lesson in Mexican city motorbike riding. Juan was in and out of traffic like you would not believe on his beautiful black Honda RR1000 CBR bike. Between lanes of moving traffic at speeds of 160Kmh in a 60Kmh zone were no problem for him. My bike is a bit wider than his (with the luggage) and I often had to go around three lanes of traffic rather than through but I sort of kept up (I only took it to 140 Kmh). This style of driving is actually not that much unlike my preferred version :)
I like to go faster than the traffic around me so that I am in control of the important speed vectors and people cant get me! Anyway, we got to the shop, looked up the part number and they went and got it off the shelf - great! As we were about to leave however, one final check of the numbers revealed that it was the wrong part number. Then there was a bout of looking on shelves and phone calls and then some waiting as the correct chain was located at another shop in the city and couriered over to us (again the Mexicans were all really helpful).

So then we had the chain in hand and I said I could fit it myself in a day or two, but Juan insisted again that we do it straight away and we rode to his mechanic (again I would never have found him) and after about 30min of work the job was done and the bike was ready for another 30,000Km.
So finally Juan and I headed out of town.- Again Juan rode like a demon and I had trouble staying with him - my loaded bike with knobbly tires gets a very definite speed wobble at 150Kmh so I again limited my self to 140 and told Juan that that was the top end for me. He was very accommodating and we stayed together well enough after that.

We rode west from the city toward the coast and through the heart of Tequila country with the fields being totally filled with the blue-grey of Agave cactuses ... Right up to the edge of the road and little tequila stands everywhere for the tourists to buy a little wooden barrel to take home.
The road then became windy as we dropped down through the mountains again and the riding was great fun. Juan couldn´t resist on his sport bike and disappeared in the distance but every ten minutes or so I would see him waiting for me in a pull out and then he would speed off again. Eventually he decide he had come far enough and after a break for a slushy and a picture stop he headed back to Guadalajara.

I rode on toward the coast and got there later than planned (due to the chain change effort) and just stopped at the first likely looking little town. It was a Mexican resort which means it was just like a western resort but not as large and not as clean (lots of dirt roads in the town). I found a place to camp (on someones patio) for minimal charge and in the morning I had fresh fruit salad from a vendor on the beach and watched the frigate birds catch the first thermal of the day and head out to sea.