After deciding that Lake Chapala didn't have as much to offer me as I'd thought, it was time to move on.  

Caught the 10:30 bus to Guadalajara. It was a 'direct' bus (not a lot of stops), but it still made at least a half dozen stops. The worst part was the bus driver (a real jerk): the last people on the bus were an older American couple and it was standing room only; the lady, on seeing this, immediately turned around and told the bus driver that they wanted off and a refund, but the bus driver wouldn't do it. They got seats after a few stops, when enough people had been let off. Another guy and I ended up standing all the way (about 45 min; the driver should have stopped taking people when it was full).  

There are two bus depots in Guadalajara: one for long distance buses (the one I came to originally) and one for short distance buses (city buses are at another terminal). I had to go to the other terminal to catch a bus going west. Not knowing the city buses, I took a taxi ($7) to go across town (NW to SE); he stopped to gas up on the way! 


 
 
 
Guess where I am! I bet somebody knows what these cacti are!  

Yup, Tequila! Tried to get pics of different mountain scenery: deep gullies, rows of mtns, clouds, etc. Had a storm chasing us for a while, but mostly stayed in front of it.  


I was originally going to look around the city of Tepic, but on further research I decided not to. I'm glad I made that decision. The bus had a 45 min stop at the Tepic terminal: the trip through town left me with a negative impression: it's the capital of the state, and a large town, but it's rather dumpy; nothing caught my attention.  


 
Got to San Blas, the northern most town I wanted to visit, around 6PM. got off the airconditioned bus and stepped into heat and humidity! Went from about 5000 ft, the last few weeks, to 50 ft. I headed for the beach (about 4 blocks), but it was actually an estuary. So I kept walking around looking for a place to stay that would be right on the beach.  
 
 
 When I got to the public area of the beach, it was lined with about a dozen large (but not swanky) restaurants. No lodging. Not even across the dirt road from the restaurants. Had to stop at another estuary, turn around and walk back to town to find lodging.  

All this time (about 50 min) I'm carrying my full backpack, and now even my pants are getting sweat soaked.  
 So I stopped at the first lodging I came to, but they wanted $40. This is a small town, so I knew I could do better than that. The next place wanted $12 with a fan, $24 with AC. I figured the fan would be good enough (wrong).   












 



 
It was about 7:15 when I'd showered and changed, and the sun had just gone down. I figured I'd catch dinner and a little night life at the beach. About 15 min later, I'm walking down the dirt road and there aren't many lights. I walked the entire strip of restaurant/ bar and not a single one was open! It must be different during high season (Dec - Mar), because each restaurant has at least 50 tables, all out on the beach (but all covered). The rest of the year, they roll the sidewalks up at sundown.  

I walked back into town, found no restaurants, picked up some snacks at the OXXO, went back to my room, took another shower, watched a little TV, and tried to sleep. Way too humid to sleep. Going to look for another place in the morning.  

 

(completed Oct 18)