Parked in front of the police station

Long driving day, but it was amazing. 

Almost zero traffic, and the scenery was spectacular. And I really mean almost zero traffic. I think we drove about 100 kms (62 miles) and saw perhaps 10 vehicles traveling the opposite way, and only one vehicle that passed us traveling in our direction.

Good thing too, because it was slow going for Igor. A lot of the time we were about 50 km/h (30 mph), and often quite a bit less. And almost constant curves. It took seven hours (including a ten minute morning break, and an hour for lunch) to do 247 kms (153 miles).

Scenery along the way.

Beautiful.

We saw all kinds of farm animals at various sections along the side of and wandering in the road. Cows, goats, chickens, horses, pigs.

Pigs and piglets.

Bacon! The little ones were so cute.

Cows wandering down the road.

Spectacular scenery.

That's the road we came up on.

A little village in the mountains.

We came upon this big boulder. As we were approaching it, that's what it looked like. But when we got closer we could see that it had been carved into something and when we came around to the front of it, it had been carved into a statue of Lazaro Cardenas...President of Mexico from 1934-1940.

Whoever did it, did a fantastic job!

The town of Arcelia, Guerrero (pop 33,000) is definitely not on any kind of a tourist route. But it's the closest decent size town to the Campo Morado mine site that we are visiting today. And of course there are level 4 "do not travel" warnings in this part of Mexico, so the only gringos that come to this area are working at the mine.

And us, of course. 

The security department at the mine has been fantastic to work with... they're really concerned about us, and the head of security has been in touch. Of course they are used to dealing with expensive precious metals... not tourists. But we appreciate them looking out for us. I assured them that we are very experienced with finding a suitable safe place to park Igor during our visit today.

We got in to town, and of course there are no campgrounds here and only a couple of hotels... none of which seemed to have decent enough parking for Igor. But the local municipal police station is on the outskirts of town... so who better to ask about a safe place to park?

And sure enough, the commandant was there, and pointed us to a spot... right in front of the police station! It turns out the head of security at the mine and the police captain are friends and have already been in touch with each other regarding our arrival. It turns out the President (mayor?) of the town, and the police chief are also aware of us being here.

Everybody is so friendly and welcoming. We got settled and then walked the 2.5 kms (one mile) in to the center to find something to eat.

We walked by this pretty little church.

And then the bigger church in the center.

The bigger church had lots of paintings.

Way up on the ceiling.

It had been market day, but they were just getting cleaned up.

I checked google maps and found a little seafood restaurant that got great reviews.

This is the place... El Pulpo Loco (The Crazy Octopus).

We were looking at the menu on the wall, and asking the husband and his wife about the various menu choices when all of a sudden the husband asks (in perfect English) "so, where are you guys from?'

It turns out that Victor had made his way to Chicago when he was 14 years old back in the 1980's but he was too young to get a job so they put him in school. But he returned to Mexico 28 years ago and opened this restaurant and has been here ever since. He says it's been years since he has spoken English, but says it's like riding a bicycle.

Ruth had the shrimp soup.

I had a hamburguesa!

They make a great hamburger, and the fries were cooked perfectly.

The menu.

If you're ever in Arcelia, this is the place you want to eat!

Kevin, Ruth, Petra, and Victor.

Really nice people, I hope we see them again some day!

The municipal building is still decorated for Christmas.

And the zocalo (central plaza) is too.

This town has a lot of people on motorcycles and scooters.

We walked back to the police station and the commandant and one of the officers were outside. They grabbed a couple of chairs and we sat outside and chatted with them for a half an hour. I'll get you some pictures today of where Igor is parked. It's quite funny. But again, we appreciate everyone looking out for us.

So, we're being picked up at 7:30am by another member of mine security. It should be an interesting day!

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