From Tepic to the exit to Santa Maria del Oro on hwy 15D (even though bicycles are prohibited here), then on the asphalt road through village Santa Maria del Oro, down into the crater with lake. Easy to find, just follow the signs. You need to have very good brakes to get down to the lake, the road is very crooked, goes down steeply and it's 7 km long.
Learning:
- that there are more steep hills in Mexico than we have imagined
- that the tomatoe farm located near Santa Maria del Oro, belonging to Nature Sweet company, looks like chemical factory
- that even a tourist trap like Santa Maria del Oro can provide small, calm and beautiful place to camp for free, with amazing skin dipping swimming in clear water :-)
Living:
Another day on the road. Jose has this tradition that if he can, he rides a little on his hosts' bikes, so I let him ride my bike. They both survived :-). To get out from Tepic wasn't much easier than to get in. Steep hills which didn't look steep and strong head wind. But we didn't go too far, only to Santa Maria del Oro and then down to La Laguna, which is small village on the shore of crater lake. To get down was amazing 7 km long downhill ride. First impression of the lake wasn't the best one, there were houses all around and horrible road paved by boulders. But after a while of searching we got lucky and found perfect camping place for us. It was on the flat rock right above the water and far from all houses and noise (well, we could still hear banda music from the restaurants, sound travels far on the water). We had whole lake just for us :-).
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