The Leather and Shoe Capital of Mexico

Other than that it was gifted to us in a most exceptionally generous way, there was something unique about our hotel room last night: it had no natural light.  Normally natural light is a necessity, a must-have, in any accommodation, but this morning, not having any was quite nice.  We turned off the alarm and slept for a bit longer.

Finally on the road, the air was chilly, the sun hiding behind some clouds.  Up near 7,000 feet, it gets cold!  The ride was up and down, as usual, with the traffic thankfully never getting too bad on our shoulder-less road.  We entered the state of Guanajuato after a long descent, then a few miles later encountered the city of Leon.  Normally cities are pretty bad to enter and exit, but Leon was pretty good.  There was a bike path, a ciclovía, for many miles approaching and in the city!  

We were thankful, but it didn't last for long.  Once in the city, it took us a while to find the centro.  It's a big city with over a million residents, a transportation hub and a huge producer of leather and shoes.  We must have ridden by 30 shoe stores.

The centro was beautiful, as they always are here, with trimmed shrubs under the imposing spire of the cathedral.  We stayed awhile, eating and people-watching, then headed over to the house of our warmshowers hosts, Frida and Fernando. They're both teachers, Frida of the younger kids and Fernando of high school, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and chatting with them for awhile. 

Fernando riding a tiny bike