We had some errands to run in Guadalajara; getting cash, filling the diesel, etc, and then started working our way towards Guanajuato. We routed the GPS down the libre (free) route rather than traveling on the toll roads and the route was supposed to take about 4.5 hours for 186 miles. Well, after driving for 5 hours I decided to stop at a camp along the way in Lago de Moreno. The traffic getting out of Guadalajara was fun to say the least, and then along the route we hit a bunch of walkers and bikers, and the 4 lane highway slows to a crawl. We thought it might be migrants, but those trains have seemed to have slowed this past year. Kathy got on Google and found out it is an annual religious pilgramage.
The pilgrimage to San Juan de los Lagos occurs in the weeks before Feburary 2, which people begin to walk or ride towards. The holiday is Candelaria, which is when Jesus was presented to the temple by Mary and Joseph. In Mexico it is the holiday when all Jesus infants and Christmas decorations are taken down and officially ends the Christmas season. Kathy and I were wondering why the decorations here were up throughout the month of January (definitely not HOA approved, LOL).
Well it turns out the town of San Juan de la Lago will see about 2 million pilgrims in the small town. Along the route we were driving from there to Leon, we saw tons of water points, tent cities, roadside food tables, supply trucks, and vendor stands. It was quite a site to see. Here is a link to a better description, instead of me regurgitating it. Anyway, but the time we were supposed to get to Guanajuato, it would have been way past dark, so we routed to a campground in Lago del Moreno called Kikapu.
Parque Aquatico Kikapu is a waterpark in the warmer seasons. It is really quite impressive to see with multiple pools, play areas, picnic areas, beaches, an event center, cabanas, and even a lake that is stocked for fishing. The campground is not too impressive, but it had power (supposedly), water and a black-water dump. There was another camper in the grounds, but they stayed inside so we did not get to chat with them. Maggie and Zuzu loved the grounds as they got to run through the grass throughout the park. The only issue we found was the skunk that was wandering around the truck after dark.
The next day we got all packed up and attempted to empty the black and grey tanks. Unfortunately the drain was plugged and I had to move the drain hose to another location, which of course caused a little bit of a stinky mess. This is the second time we have experienced this in Mexico and it took a bit to get the tanks cleaned out, but we did it. We have a couple of stops along the route today before getting to Guanajuato, and we were off by 11am. Not too many photos today.
Here’s a map of our drive today.
