ROAD TRIP TO DURANGO

 ROAD TRIP TO DURANGO

September 3, 2022

In order to actually complete one’s bucket list, it is necessary to check things off from time to time. Covid had put a temporary halt to my adventures, but I was ready to resume travel. One of my goals was to visit every state in Mexico. One of the ones I had missed was actually quite close to Nayarit, the state of Durango. I decided to take a road trip for my birthday. My friend, Marie-Pierre, had been staying with me while her boat was being repaired and the inevitable delays had left her frustrated. She needed a break and agreed to come with me.

We left La Cruz in the morning and headed north on Highway 200. This was familiar ground through Sayulita, San Pancho, and Lo de Marcos. The highway threads through tunnels of giant Huanacaxtle trees and, during the rainy season, everything was intensely green. We continued on to Compostela, taking advantage of the new toll road. There was still some construction going on, but the road was nearly empty and, after rattling over the nearly impassable roads in La Cruz for months, it was heavenly driving.

We gradually ascended into the mountains and the temperature dropped considerably. We took Route 68D in the direction of Guadalajara, which eventually led us to the village of Santa Maria del Oro. After a few moments of confusion, I switched my GPS to look for our AirBnB, rather than the town, and we continued down the curvy road into the volcanic caldera that holds Laguna Santa Maria del Oro for about 15 minutes before turning into what looked like a driveway, but turned out to be the access road for half the lake.

Lago Santa Maria del Oro

For some reason, I thought check-in was at noon (it was at 13:00) and so, despite having accounted for the time change, we still arrived an hour early. Our poor hostess had just discovered that the previous guests had left a mess, so we assured her that we could entertain ourselves for a couple of hours as long as there was a place to leave the truck. We took a walk down the road to a lakeside restaurant. It was further than expected, but the scenery was lovely and a xoloitzcuintle (Mexican hairless) dog accompanied us the full 2 kilometers to the restaurant and remained with us to escort us back. He was ugly, even for his breed, but good-natured and seemed concerned that we not get lost.

Scenery Around Lago Santa Maria del Oro

View from La Selva

Our Dog Friend

Eventually, we arrived at La Selva, a lakeside restaurant with lovely views, indifferent service, but decent food. I had a shrimp quesadilla made with big slabs of salty panela and an extremely plain bean taco. Marie-Pierre (MP) had a huge plate of fried slices of fish called chicharron de pescado that was very nice. She shared some of the excess with our canine friend.

Our house was ready by the time we returned and we were ready for naptime. While it was much cooler than La Cruz, it had still been a long walk in the hot sun. Our house was called Casa Huanacaxtle and was set in the shade of large trees. It was quite pleasant inside and there were screens for all the windows. We slept until almost dinnertime and then agreed that we’d rather just snack on what we’d brought than brave the mosquitos outdoors to go in search of dinner. We decided to stay in and save our appetites for breakfast.

Casa Huanacaxtle

The Setting Around Our House

September 4, 2022

We got up quite early and were ready to leave by 8:00. This was a good thing because we had a very long day. We climbed back out of the caldera to the village of Santa Maria del Oro, stopping at the Mirador to take pictures of the lake. Then we made our way back to Tepic and north towards our goal of Mexcaltitan. We had planned to stop for breakfast, but never found anywhere suitable to stop. Driving the truck, we couldn’t park just anywhere. Mexcaltitan is an island in the middle of an estuary, accessed only by pangas that leave from the Embarcadero La Batanga. Google Maps was somewhat confused about where to go and we drove for at least an hour after Google thought we had arrived with my phone constantly telling us to turn left or right on some dirt track. Possibly, there were other landings, but we decided to stick with the one we had seen in our guide book, so we followed the signs, rather than my phone’s incoherent directions.

Aerial View of Mexcaltitan

Mexcaltitan may very well be the mythical Aztlan, from whence the Aztecs began the migration that eventually took them to the site of today’s Mexico City. Given the historical significance, we wanted to see the place. Eventually, we passed through the pueblo of Santiago Ixcuintla that bills itself as “La Cuna de Mexicanidad” or the cradle of Mexicanness. Getting to the Embarcadero required driving across long stretches of wetland where the road were lined with parked motorcycles. It was Sunday and people went there to catch shrimp. Mexcaltitan is all about shrimp.

We ignored Google, put our faith in road signs, and eventually arrived at the Embarcadero where a nice parking attendant was glad to watch my truck. It was very quiet and we had a panga to ourselves. While Mexcaltitan may be connected to land at some seasons, during the rainy season it was definitely an island. For an extra hundred pesos, our panguero drove us all the way around the island. It was not a big place.

Approaching Mexcaltitan by Panga

We still hadn’t had breakfast, so our first order of business was finding somewhere to eat. Mexcaltitan is a shrimpers’ village. They catch so many shrimp that most of them must be dried and shrimp was laid out to dry all over town. There were two restaurants on the island and we ate at Restaurante Caminchina, Caminchin being the name of the river that forms the estuary. Of course, we had shrimp for lunch.

Decorations in Mexcaltitan

Friendly Residents

Shrimp Was Drying Everywhere

Church in Mexcaltitan

Mexcaltitan Street

After lunch, we proceded to the plaza in the center of the island and visited the small museum. Mexcaltitan had very high sidewalks and all the streets were paved with concrete bricks. They were prepared to be inundated at any time. Apparently, the streets can become canals at times. There was no shade and it was very hot. We were the only tourists and the people were quite friendly. As interesting as the place was, we had a lot of ground to cover. We caught a panga back to land and a group of teenagers took advantage of our having paid the boatman and caught a free ride with us.

We retraced our path through the wetlands and finally intersected the highway to Mazatlan where we could make good time. We arrived in Mazatlan about 17:00. The AirBnB we had booked was close to the Malecon in Mazatlan. It was kind of a depressing little place up four flights of stairs with no elevator. Our host carried our suitcases up, but there was no drinking water and the beds were so hard that I had to sleep on the couch. There was air conditioning, however. We went to the Oxxo on the malecon to buy water and found the place so packed there was a line to get in.

Mazatlan Malecon Looking North

Mazaltan Malecon Looking South

After a short rest, we walked a couple of miles along the malecon to Vittore’s, a very good Italian restaurant. While I had been to Mazatlan twice before, I had always come in a boat and so had been in the port or the marina. I had visited the old city, but had no idea that there was a long, beautiful malecon stretching for miles between the port and the marina. The malecon was lined with hotels and condos and more were under construction. It seemed very urban. We walked back, after dinner, and then were ready for bed.

Mazatlan Nightlife

September 5, 2022

We wandered out of our grubby little condo and had breakfast at a nearby restaurant on the malecon that offered a breakfast buffet. It was kind of expensive and not that good, but it was sufficient to get us on our way. We checked out by 10:00 and headed off through Mazatlan towards the highway to Durango.

The highway to Durango was the primary reason for taking this trip. The highway between Mazatlan and Durango crosses some of the highest mountains in Mexico and they are very jagged and steep. The road is an engineering marvel with 115 bridges and 63 tunnels, including the Baluarte suspension bridge which, at 1300 feet above the Baluarte River, is the highest in the world. We also passed through the nearly two mile long tunnel called El Sinoloense. This highway is the largest public work in Mexican history and it did not disappoint. I was driving, so Marie-Pierre was delegated the task of taking photographs. I had been concerned that the road might be treacherous, since Mexican roads often are, but this one was well maintained, with only a few pot holes and no real axle breakers. With the roads in La Cruz being nearly impassable, I had not driven over 40 MPH in months and driving at true highway speeds seemed incredibly fast. This incredible highway was not cheap to build or maintain and the tolls reflected this. It cost about 650 pesos to drive from Mazatlan to Durango.

One of 63 Tunnels

Scenery Along the Highway

The Baluarte Bridge

We arrived in Durango about 15:00. Our AirBnB was in the old town section. Google completely failed us at this point. Old town Durango is a maze of one-way streets and Google kept telling me to turn the wrong way. Eventually. I found a parking space on a major street only a few blocks away and left the truck there for the night. We would later discover that we were supposed to pay for parking there via an app, but neither of us could get it to work on our phones and, as it was almost the end of the paid parking hours, we had no choice but to leave it there and deal with it in the morning.

Living and Dining Rooms

Master Bedroom

Exterior

The apartment that we had rented was palatial compared to our condo in Mazatlan. It appeared to have been the home of the owner’s parents and was still filled with their beautiful things. It was quite elegant. Each of us had our own bedroom. Unfortunately, the beds were once again rock hard and I ended up on the couch in the den. Rents in Durango were low and we were only paying about $30/night for the apartment.

My Birthday Dinner

It was my birthday, so we went out for a nice dinner. Durango specializes in beef, so most of the restaurants were steak houses. It was Monday night, so our options were limited. We selected El Descendencia, a steak house that also had fish options for my pescatarian companion. Everything was very nicely prepared. I had a steak (not actually filet mignon as advertised, but nice) served over creamed potatoes and smothered in a red wine sauce. It came with a lovely salad. Marie-Pierre had a gorgeous piece of grilled salmon with a completely different beautiful salad. We splurged on desserts, ordering both flambeed strawberries and caramelized crepes. Both were prepared not exactly at our table, but close enough that we could watch. Servers prepared them under the watchful eye of the chef. At 1150 pesos (about $60), it was probably the most expensive dinner I had ever had in Mexico, but was still a real value.

It had started to rain while we were eating, so we walked back to the apartment in the rain. It was 21:00 by the time we got home. I wrote for awhile and then attempted to sleep.

September 6, 2022

Our apartment in Durango surpassed all expectations, but I still ended up sleeping on the couch. All my visits to the chiropractor and physical therapist were immediately undone by the rock hard mattresses common in Mexico.

The Den Where I Slept

Avenida Constitucion

I got up before dawn, since I couldn’t sleep, and went out to move my truck. There was free parking on our street and it was deserted at that hour. I was able to park in front of the house. I came back and enjoyed an instant cappuccino until Marie-Pierre got up. I had read about a pedestrian street full of cafes and restaurants within walking distance. We decided to go there for breakfast. We passed a restaurant serving breakfast near our lodging that smelled very good, but we passed it by and went in search of better options. Constitucion, as the pedestrian street was called, was fairly quiet on a rainy morning, but there were many coffee shops, none of which served breakfast. We walked the entire length of the pedestrian mall and finally decided to go back to the restaurant on the corner by our AirBnB. I could have sworn I’d smelled pancakes, but they weren’t on the menu. I had to settle for huevos rancheros. The sauce was so spicy that they served it on the side.

Plaza de las Armas

After breakfast and a quick stop at our apartment, we set off to explore the museums of Durango. Our first stop was the Museum of Popular Culture. It featured exhibits of both traditional and modern arts and crafts. There was a notable collection of masks and some large, whimsical creatures constructed of paper mache.

Mask at the Museum of Popular Culture

Fun Papier Mache

Our next stop was the Pancho Villa Museum housed in the palatial former home of a local mine owner and early Durango entrepreneur. The museum documented the history of the revolution and Villa’s role in it. Pancho Villa, who began life as Doroteo Arango, was born on a hacienda in the state of Durango. He became a fugitive at the age of sixteen when he shot the son of the hacienda owner for raping his older sister. From 1894 to 1910, he lived as a bandit. He then joined the Maderista movement and distinguished himself as a military leader during the revolution. In later life, he became a politician and was even appointed as provisional governor of the state of Chihuahua for a time. He was assassinated in 1923 when Alvaro Obregon became president of Mexico and feared that Villa might take up arms against him.

The Pancho Villa Museum

We had intended to visit the subterranean mining exhibits accessed from Plaza de las Armas, but found them closed. We paid a quick visit to the fairly unimpressive cathedral and then continued around the corner to the City Museum. This museum concentrated on the history of the city and the legislatures housed there from colonial times until the present. There were also a number of exhibits related to the motion picture industry in Durango where many well-known westerns have been filmed. The building featured gorgeous modern stained glass and many murals. 

Painting of the Baluarte Bridge

Stained Glass at the Pancho Villa Museum

In Durango, there is a legend about Cell #27, a cell in the old prison where prisoners mysteriously died.  The culprit turned out to be a giant scorpion.  The museum featured a creepy display of glow in the dark scorpions.

After walking through so many museums, we were ready for naps. We returned to the apartment and rested until about 17:00 when we decided to go out for a bottle of wine. Of course, it immediately began to pour rain. We bought the only bottle of wine in the Oxxo and scurried back to our lodging for happy hour. After enjoying our glasses of wine, we ventured out into the rain, once again, to walk to El Barroco, an Italian restaurant in what appeared to be the lobby of a baroque hotel. We elected to eat on the terrace in the rear where the gold leaf was less blinding. The food was excellent. I had gnocchi alla vodka and Marie-Pierre had spaghetti with a variety of seafood.

The town was just gearing up for the evening when we returned to our lodging. Bars seemed to open about 21:00. I however, preferred to spend the remainder of the evening writing.

September 7, 2022

Wednesday was all about driving. It had rained hard all night, but stopped about the time I got up at 7:00. I started loading the truck while Marie-Pierre got ready and then we went for a short walk to find breakfast before leaving. I managed to find pancakes served with butter, which was a real rarity in Mexico and much appreciated. We hit the road about 9:30.

Getting out of Durango proved much easier than getting in and we quickly found the toll road and started back towards Mazatlan. I had been concerned that it might rain the whole way, but we never saw a drop. Once again, Marie Pierre was in charge of photography. She was able to get the shots that were on the wrong side of the truck on the way up.

The Mazatlan Durango Toll Road

The First Suspension Bridge

The Baluarte Bridge

It was a long drive to Chacala. We took the toll road until it intersected highway 15 and then took the free road until we reached Tepic. We had spent a lot of money on tolls and the free and toll roads paralleled each other and differed in drive times by only a few minutes. We took the toll road into Tepic, but probably should have passed on that, as well, as we had to get off and fight our way through rush-hour traffic in order to get to highway 200.

Highway 200 was very slow. It was clogged with slow trucks and they were in the process of resurfacing it and there was loose gravel everywhere. It seemed like they hadn’t put enough tar in the fresh asphalt and the rocks rattled against the bottom of the truck continually. We didn’t reach Chacala until 18:00.

We had reserved a room in the Simon Beach Hotel at the entrance to town. We appeared to be the only guests. The room was small, but the bathroom was modern and the beds moderately comfortable. Our room opened out onto the pool.

Chac Mool Before the Hurricane

As soon as we settled in, we walked down the hill to get dinner. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and were starving. Marie-Pierre was craving fries, so we went to Chac Mool. Usually, I get a table as close to the water as possible, but the surf was very big and the tide appeared high. I cautioned MP that we ought to sit in the back row or we might get wet. Even so, a wave reached us before we managed to finish ordering and we had to move inside. Hurricane Kay had definitely stirred up the weather. I lost count of the number of napkins that blew off the table during dinner.

We had driven all day and missed naptime, so we glad to relax after we returned to our room. MP went to sleep and I sat up to write for a bit.

September 8, 2022

Chac Mool After Hurricane Kay

The Plaza Had Been Flooded

Hurricane Kay had passed Chacala during the night. While Chacala didn’t suffer a direct hit, it was a full moon and high tide. The surf had come up into the restaurants and flooded the plaza. When we went for breakfast, they were scraping the mud off the restaurant floor and working to repair the palapas on the beach. Despite the damage, they served us a lovely breakfast of cinnamon roll pancakes with delightful fruit topping. It was the best breakfast I had had in months.

My Fabulous Breakfast

My mission for the day was to retrieve four cat carriers that I had left with a vet in Sayulita who was helping me to relocate feral cats. I had been trying to recover the carriers (two of which were borrowed) for two months and was not willing to pass Sayulita without collecting them. Ironically, the vet had gone to Vallarta that day and we had to wait for him to return. We relaxed at the hotel until checkout time and then headed south, stopping in San Pancho to wait for a call telling us the carriers were available.

Palm Tree with Roots Exposed

San Pancho had also suffered some damage from the hurricane. Most of the sand had been stripped from the beach and some of the palm trees were left with their roots exposed. The small palapas had been removed from the beach for safe keeping and they were working on relocating them to higher ground. We watched a large group of men struggling to erect the heavy structure. It was harder than it looked.

San Pancho After the Hurricane

MP and I strolled around San Pancho and looked through the shops. MP got a great deal on a pretty skirt that was on sale for 200 pesos. We received the call to go to Sayulita just as we were looking for a place to get a cool drink, so we hopped in the truck and headed southward, once again.

Sayulita was a zoo and parking was impossible. It was baffling how anyplace could be so impacted during the low season. It took us two passes through the town before we were able to arrange a drive by. The carriers were tossed into the back of the truck and we were off. I was completed turned around, so needed to rely on MP to navigate. She directed me to the back road out of Sayulita, so we returned to La Cruz via Higuera Blanca. MP had never been that way, so she got to see some new locations. We arrived in La Cruz by late afternoon with plenty of time to unpack the truck and relax before dinner.