02/02/02 - Durango, Durango, Mexico

Back on the road! For those of you playing follow Dave around the world or more likely if you're just procrastinating until 5 p.m.- I caught the famous Chihuahua Pacifico Railroad through Copper Canyon to Los Mochis.  I spent two days there and took the Sematur ferry from Topolobampo, 22km south of Los Mochis, to La Paz.  The ferry departs at 10 p.m. and takes about 9 hours to reach La Paz.  Despite the children and babies in the salon area, I  slept great the entire way with a the comforting hum of the engine and calming exhaust fumes flowing through the air.

Baja California is more Americanized and expensive than the mainland with a large number of Americans and Canadians arriving by sail or RV each winter to enjoy the perfect weather.  I visited the Tecolote beach near La Paz, with crystal clear blue water, borrowed a kayak from a Canuck and kayaked towards Espiritu Santo Island for a few hours.  From La Paz I traveled by bus to San Jose del Cabo and stayed for one day before moving on to Cabo San Lucas.  This resort area did not quite live up to my expectations from the advertisements - you're much better of staying around La Paz.  The twenty-something crowd was definitely well outnumbered by the ARP crowd. The elderly beached whales from the US and aggressive souvenir vendors dominated the beach atmosphere.  On the beach ¨no gracias¨ is sufficient, as a single male trying to walk home at night you need to be more forceful declining the offerings.

(1) A Mexican VW Beetle rental car on the beach near Todos Santos (2) Returning from Los Mochis on the Chihuahua Pacifico Railroad (3) Heading towards Durango

From Cabo San Lucas I visited Todos Santos and the Los Ciertos surfing beach where the breaks supposedly match the best in Hawaii.  I saw waves of at least one meter and local surfers claimed a few days earlier they were close to 5 meters.  Back in La Paz I hung around the marina for a few days and attempted to crew a sailboat back to the mainland.  The weather was not good for sailing so I was unsuccessful.  I did discover that the garbage offered by the street food vendors tastes excellent.  The hamburguasas cost 14 pesos and the hot dogs 8 (Exchange rate is 9.25 pesos to dollar or roughly 10 to 1 for quick calculations).  Both are addicting.  When ordering the vendor may start pointing to a wide array of condimints or garnishes and saying a bunch of difficult Spanish words.  The correct response to this barrage is "con todo".  If more questions persist I start with ¨Una¨, followed by ¨Si¨, followed by ¨No¨ and repeat the cycle until the questions stop.

Another ferry ride back to Topolobampo where I caught the bus to El Fuerte, instead of staying in Los Mochis again.  This city has beautiful colonial architecture, good seafood and a lot of flies due to the warmer inland climate.  I was happy to find the San Jose Inn, not listed in the guide book, with a very friendly owner and offering rooms for only 60 pesos.

Another excellent train ride, well over 100 tunnels. I think 37 bridges and I learned you can walk to the back or front of each car and stick you face in the wind like a dog, also that the armed guards are on the train because is was robbed in ´93 in classic train robbery style - by men on horseback.

Back in Creel, the 20 days quoted by the postmaster for the arrival of my motorcycle parts turned out to be 30.  This was not terribly surprising or disappointing since I was staying at Casa Margarita´s, a well known hostel.  Despite my laziness, I managed to spend one day mountain biking to the hot springs, another kicking a very old horse in the side and making odd clicking noises trying mostly unsuccessfully to encourage the tired, stubborn horse to gallop.  A few days sitting in the sun in the square reading too.

After repairing my motorcycle I had an excellent ride through the canyon to Hidalgo de Parral.  Much of the alpine scenery is similar to the Colorado Rockies in late Spring.  From Parral I rode south on route 45 to Durango - another excellent ride with great scenery. The lack of urban sprawl on this route and everywhere in Mexico seems almost incomprehensible to an American.  Approaching Durango, if my ass was not so sore from the bumpy road, I could have stopped and taken a picture of the mountain scenery 200 km outside of the city that would have looked strikingly similar to a picture at kilometer marker 10 only a few minutes outside the city.  Besides the frequent markers on the road stating distance to the next city, which I was beginning to distrust, traffic did increase near Durango.  Instead of seeing a car once every few minutes, there was light traffic on the two lane road.  It is also strange to climb to the top of a hill in the city and look out to the last row of houses where the pasture, forest, or farmland begins.  Luckily not everyone in the world is dreaming of owning a house in suburbia.

Tomorrow I´ll bid farewell the central highlands and the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains with a ride from Durango towards Mazatlan on Mexico 40 to Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil´s Backbone) - said to have some of the best scenery in all of Mexico and famous among motorcyclists.  I´ll return to Durango and head southeast towards the city of Zacatecas, skipping the western pacific beach cities of Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta and the upcoming festival in Mazatlan in favor of the colonial city of Zacatecas and a later stop on the western pacific in Acapulco.  Traveling decisions are more difficult than I expected.

Only 7 more riding days to Guatemala, about 2 weeks including sightseeing and side trips?

(1) Overlooking Durango (2) Mexico 40 has amazing scenery (3) the curves are good too.

Mexican Driving & Roads

Overall I have taken quite a liking to Mexican style driving and roads.  The widely accepted American belief that banditos are waiting just across the border to rape and rob all gringos is not true doesn't ring true so far. The AAA description and the state department site http://travel.state.gov/mexico.html offers interesting reading and would generally discourage anyone from going. Travel sites such as www.lonelyPlanet.com are usually more lighthearted.  All roads except the toll interstate highways lack a shoulder (partially responsible for my accident) and may have domestic animals, potholes, etc.  These factors are easily countered by a complete lack of traffic and the Mexican driver´s willingness to help if anyone appears to be in trouble.  Motorcycles are first class citizens in the city with parking rights anywhere and allowed to move to the front of any traffic situation.  Overall it is a good idea to try and drive during daylight hours, avoid the common Mexican Le Mans syndrome, and don't try the popular passing game ¨I bet there is no oncoming traffic¨.  Current maps are useful if you are on a tight schedule.