Mexican Traffic, Lago Chapala, and Uruapan

Leaving Guadalajara, we encountered the craziest traffic we have seen this far on the trip (and hopefully the worst we will see!)  We were trying to hit the highway to head south to Lago Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico.  But before we even left Guadalajara, we found ourselves stuck in traffic due to an accident just outside the city.  Now, if you are picturing traffic on 95 with an accident during rush hour, you're getting close to what we are sitting in.  On top of that, remember that this is Mexico, and normal driving rules do not really apply here.  On days with normal traffic flow, the lines painted on the road are completely ignored, traffic lights are merely suggestions, and turn signals are used randomly.  A road that appears to be a normal 2-lane road suddenly becomes 4 very narrow lanes as the crazy drivers from both sides decide to pass simultaneously.  Driving both Pichula and Cubby around in Mexico has been an adventure to say the least, but Ricardo has done an awesome job handling the driving.  The day we left Guadalajara, however, was pure chaos! Lanes, of course, were nonexistent as the drivers occupied any and all available pavement space to get them a few feet closer to their destination.  Traffic signals were meaningless, with drivers forcing their way in all directions through intersections.  At one point, a Jeep Cherokee cut right in front of us, and since we have the trailer weight behind us, we couldn't stop in time.  We were only just CREEPING forward because of the traffic, however, and ended up just barely bumping the side of the Jeep that cut us off.  The driver was mad, blaming it on us, but Ricardo got out to inspect and there was no damage to either car.  We continued sitting, inching forward, and pushing our way through the traffic like the other Mexico drivers for well over an hour until we finally made it through. 

Relieved and back up to highway speed, we drove on to Chapala, a sleepy town on the edge of Lake Chapala.  We strolled through the market and ate lunch there.  A pretty town, here are some pictures:

Lago Chapala

 

Chapala

 

boats on the lake

 

Cute pier called the "Corner of Love"

 

We walked through the town and decided to continue on our way around the lake.  We continued to the next town of Ajijic, where we spent the night on the edge of the lake.  In the morning, after some routine maintenance to the car, we continued making our way around the lake and then farther south, to the city of Uruapan.

We had been excited to visit Uruapan (real pronunciation: oo-roo-AH-pan, not oo-roo-a-PAN as we had been calling it) because of the favorable reviews we read in the guide books before going.  It supposedly had an excellent market, great food, and a national park actually inside the city with cool hiking opportunities. 

Uruapan plaza

We arrived, and perhaps we were spoiled by the sights and sounds of Guadalajara, but we were a bit disappointed with the market in Uruapan.  Despite the hype of our guidebooks, the market was small and lacking the color and flavor of other mercados we had been to in Mexico.  We ate lunch at the market, and although the food left a little to be desired, it was fascinating the way that EVERYONE there was completely absorbed in the futbol game that was playing on the television there. The people eating, the people serving food, everyone was keeping an eye on the game.  When the local team scored a goal, a huge cheer was heard throughout the market, and - I'm not kidding! - they actually rang the church bells in the city!

Busy market where we ate lunch

After lunch we toured the city a little and then headed to the Eduardo Ruiz National Park.  It turned out to be beautiful but a little artificial and not really big enough to do any actual hiking.  We strolled around the park and admired the scenic waterfalls, trees, flowers, and ferns.



Parque Nacional Eduardo Ruiz

 

Another view of the park

When we left the park, we decided to leave Uruapan for the indian village of Angahuan.  We were looking for more adventure than the city could provide... next post: Angahuan!