May 12 - Toluca to Cuernavaca - 65 Miles

After a couple of hard days, it was nice to have an easy riding day, and to get to spend most of the day in Cuernavaca.

However, the start of our day had a problem to be overcome.  In the large city of Toluca, we were trying to find the correct route out of town, when Alex's Gold Wing just quit running.  The place it chose to quit was on an extremely busy street, and in a bus loading zone.  Boy, talk about a hard place to do any analysis and repair.  Just before it quit, Alex noticed the meter for battery showed a very low voltage.

So, noticing that the battery water was low, Alex was concerned that his spill the other day might have caused the battery water to leak out.  Out came the battery, with much persuasion, and more water went in.  This finally worked, with a jump start from Deane's Gold Wing, but not before a lot of work in a very difficult place.  A traffic policeman kind of held off traffic, and afterward was nice enough to draw us a map of how to get on the right route.

Our route to Cuernavaca purposely avoided Mexico City (Cuernavaca is about 60 miles southwest of Mexico City), and was just a joy to ride.

We got directions two or three times, from local people, and rode a complicated route through many small towns.  It was very interesting today to ride through the small towns, because it being Sunday, it looked like local fiesta time in all of the little towns.  People were setting up vendor stands, bringing food, and providing a very colorful setting.

Then we rode through absolutely beautiful forest and mountains, the prettiest we've been in since leaving home.  The elevation is fairly high here, maybe 7,000 t0 8,000 feet in the mountains, and most of the trees seemed to be fir and some spruce.  What a beautiful area!

We arrived in Cuernavaca in time to do some sightseeing, such as visiting Cortez' Castle, which he built around 1520, with stone from a dismantled Aztec pyramid.   We also hired a taxi to take us through the city to the site of a partially unearthed pyramid, only to find it's park closed because of being Sunday.  Anyway, we got a tour through the city.

As I'm writing this, we're having a heavy thunderstorm in Cuernavaca.  It is just about the start of the monsoon season for Mexico, and the rain will be welcome.

Just for a bit of information, we have traveled about 2,800 miles in eight days since leaving home.

Well, tomorrow it is on to Oxcaca.

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