Day 12-Patzcuaro, MX-March 27

		Leaving San Blas
	Okay, I thought you did purgatory before you entered heaven. Maybe I didn't behave well in heaven and now I'm cast down with Dante. At least he got out. The day started out as any other innocent day does. $30 US each later on the toll road to Guadalajara and we were wondering what the heck was going on. Sure, we were driving through a volcanic region with agave farms on either side of the road. That was cool, but then there is the unexpected $30. Part of the problem with the toll road is that you don't know how often the collection points are. At $10 US a pop things add up. We felt like we should replenish our money at an ATM.

	Guadalajara is looming ahead and we were thinking of spending the night here, maybe even two. Hah. Picture a town of 4.5 million, the second largest in Mexico, all crammed into a series of alley ways. The four lane roads should be the size of freeways and can't handle the traffic. Can you feel our pain? Pollution? Cut me off another slice of air please. Forrest and I have been cut off or run off the road so many times it now seems normal. A truck going 3 mph with a huge line of traffic behind will refuse to pull over and let people pass. We find a bank and use the ATM. The security process at the ATM is to make you push the buttons very quickly. This is hard to do when you are trying to translate. We get our money, Forrest does a rear mud guardectomy in the parking lot and our senses scream to us to get the hell out of Guadalajara.


	We luckily find our way to Mexico 80 and the Mexico 15 (which seems to be everywhere) around the south end of Lake Chapala. We are going to push down to Patzcuaro for the night. It will be a long day.
	The south end of the lake is devoted to farming in the flood plain. On the far side of the lake we can see small villages which work their way up the side of the mountain until it gets too steep. Experience tells us that these are best viewed from a distance.

On the east side of the lake we start climbing into the mountains again. There is a lot of traffic and we run into a bus/truck funeral procession every couple of miles. It seems to us that the drivers operate in two phases. One phase is to go like hell and damn the consequences. We encounter this phase when we try to pass or in blind corners. Phase two occurs when 40 or more vehicles are behind you. This is the low rider phase.
Things get very exciting when a passing lane opens up. Everyone tries to use each other for traction. Traffic lights are equally interesting. You sense when the light will change and then go like hell. If the light isn't green yet that is just a technicality. Buses are great at this game. The police are there to sweep up the remains. I would think that Forrest and I are an unusual sight. Heck, I'm unusual enough all by myself. For all anyone knows, we could be from Sweden. We've been doing our good Gringo act. We wave. We smile. We're polite. Nothing seems to work. It must be a different culture. At 7 PM we finally reach Patzcuaro. This will be our hangout for 2 nights. The Best Western is $100 US a night, but we are toast, it's dark and we give in. After a totally forgettable buffet dinner we call it a night.