Red Sandstone

On small streets through a maze of suburbs, I worked towards Morelia's heart — the 'Centro Historico'. Finally my tyres hummed over old stone paving, and then I rolled down F.I.Madero Street, past the impressive red sandstone facades of colonial era buildings. Suddenly I felt transported into some old and grand Spanish city in which — on closer inspection — blended jolly colourful dots of Mexican lifestyle. There was just another great view waiting behind every corner and it took me only minutes to realise that - at least regarding classic architecture - Morelia undoubtedly deserved the crown of being the most beautiful Mexican city visited by me to date.

As pretty as the historical centre was, on my quest for a hotel I found it to be somewhat exclusive, too. So I turned south into the surrounding streets, where any colonial grandeur soon faded and the not less fascinating mix of cheer- and colourful Mexican chaos took over. In the 'Calle De Cuautla' I eventually found a little hostel with the somewhat curious name 'Pink Rock'. A cheerful portly gentleman answering to the name of Oscar showed me around the freshly renovated house, and indeed, I found the rooms' walls painted in the aforementioned colour. However, the place and surroundings looked and felt right, the people seemed simpatico and the price was very reasonable. So I moved into an eight square-metres cubicle with stark pink walls, bright yellow curtains and a 108 on its door.

The rather small 'Calle De Cuautla' not just is a street, it is a little universe in itself. It has the amazing capacity to provide you with almost everything you possibly could want.

On a stretch of 300 metres you hardly will find two houses of the same shape or colour, but there's an astonishing number of dentists, practitioners and healers, a variety of Taco stands, internet cafés, mini and micro markets and restaurants, there can be found hairdressers, a carpenter, a spinning fitness centre, Taekwondo schools, workshops for cars, bicycles, radios, computers and typewriters, a printing press, a car rim polisher, an upholsterer, dedicated shops selling either sweets, wine, gifts, gift wrap bands, stationary, ice-cream, used tyres, nuts and bolts, tools, lingerie, phones and parts for those, furniture, audio equipment, roasted chicken with or without baked potatoes, car spare parts...

And I bet there are things I haven't even discovered yet!
Now, this could be the right place to find what is needed to heal the bike...
It took a whole day and visits at various bicycle and car workshops, hardware, tool and spares vendors to find a way to open the bike's freewheel and to have an improvised tool — a 17mm-head bolt with a nut welded to it — made for the purpose.

As it turned out, the defective part was a little ring-shaped spring, that had broken and on the following two days I tried to fiend something to replace it with — but without success.

On the third day I strolled up the Calle De Cuautla, looking for springs again. When I came past a tiny shop with a worn wooden shelf filled with carburettors, all of what looked like the same type(for VW Beetle, I guessed) my hopes rose instantly. And sure enough, on my request the good vendor produced a box full of used carburettor springs of all sizes and shapes and I happily dived in and picked what looked suitable.

The next day I disassembled the bike again, cut a ring from a spring and had everything reassembled within an hour. With a loop of Beetle spring the thing now works better than ever before.

Morelia is a very enjoyable city, so much so, that the Just-Another-Day-Malady has struck again. Most of the time it's been just sweet laziness in my cosy little cave, though to my defence I must say, I was rather productive, filling the months-long gaps on my website and doing real and electronic mail. A few times I went into the historic centre or strolled through the surrounding streets and came back with numerous photos each time. This city is littered with visual gems - a photographers paradise.

Today is Valentine's Day, the streets are filled with smiling people carrying flowers or little heart shaped gifts. For lack of alternatives I presented myself with half a roasted chicken, baked potatoes and peppers and a Sol beer. It was delicious.

And I postponed departure one last time.
But my bags are packed.
Tomorrow I'll leave.
Guaranteed!