Durango: Season Finale

This is the last post of our adventures from our ’21-22 sailing season in Mexico. While we were stuck waiting in Mazatlán for Jim’s replacement passport we decided to take a drive across the Sierra Madre mountains to Durango. We planned a 3-night trip thinking that the 4 hour drive on the new Mexican Highway 40 would be the highlight (and it was amazing), but had we known that Durango was so rich in history, culture, and things to do, we would have planned a longer stay. We squeezed as much into 3 days as we could and plan to return someday.

So, what’s so special about a 230 KM stretch of highway? Well, if you are brave enough (and have enough time) to take the old highway, you would be met with a slow sphincter tightening series of hairpin turns and narrow roads across the infamous Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil’s Backbone) with drops of hundreds of feet on either side, potholes, landslides, blocked tunnels, and winter ice. Not to mention that the old road is historically known to be remote and inaccessible enough to be perfect for growing marijuana and poppies. The old road is definitely not for me! However, the new road is an engineering feat. Not only are the Sierra Madres some of the higher mountains in Mexico, but they are very steep and jagged. This rugged landscape required unprecedented engineering skills to create a series of tunnels and bridges to make a quicker and more direct route across the mountain range. There are 63 high-altitude tunnels and 115 bridges on the stretch of highway between Mazatlán and Durango. The most amazing bridge is the Baluarte Bridge that spans the Baluarte River canyon that marks the border between the states of Sinaloa and Durango. This suspension bridge is nearly 1300 feet from the riverbed making it the highest cable suspended bridge in the world. And at 3600 feet long, it is one of the world’s longest as well. Unable to get any spectacular pictures of the Baluarte from the car, here are some pictures I found online.

Funny side note: While on this trip we kept in touch with our friend Frank so that someone who would not worry would know where we were and that we were safe. We were texting him about the drive and how amazing the engineering for tunnels and bridges was, to which he responds, “Wow. Amazing. We can’t put toilet paper in the commode, but they can make the 9th wonder of the world.” 🤣 Yep, I hadn’t really thought about it that way!

First we arranged for a driver with our inDriver app. We eventually found a young man named Luis who not only was willing to drive for us, but we were able to communicate with effectively. There was very little conversation (and mostly in our poor Spanish), on the trip there. But we arranged with Luis for our return trip as well where he felt more comfortable trying out his English (which was pretty good). The new Highway 40D is a toll road. Many of the highways in Mexico have toll sections where you stop and pay to drive on newer and faster sections of road with multiple lanes. But the tolls for this road is particularly expensive at over 500 Pesos over its four toll plazas. What we learned on this trip was that where there is a toll plaza, there is a way around a toll plaza. Our driver found the way around 2 of the most expensive tolls going both directions. On the way to Durango we did some searching and backtracking to find the dirt roads that bypass the toll booths, but on the way back to Mazatlán Luis was an expert on where to turn off. There is someone to collect a “toll” for the bypass as well, but it is much cheaper than the official toll—like 50 or 100 Pesos.

The conversation with our driver on the return trip was very interesting. We discussed the gang cartels versus the corrupt government. In his opinion both were good and bad. The corrupt people in government keep money and bribes for themselves and people and communities do not get any benefits. The drug gangs on the other hand bring more schools, hospitals, and infrastructure to communities. So as long as you don’t get caught up in the drugs and violence, or the gang doesn’t force you to sell their product, they are good for people and communities. We don’t often see first-hand any of the gang culture in Mexico, but at one of the toll bypasses Jim and Luis were nodding and making eyes at each other. I asked what was going on. I had missed the guys in the bushes off to the side of the toll-taker who were totally strapped—bullet-proof vests, machine guns, and handguns. It went to prove our driver’s point that the gangs were everywhere, but that if you don’t mess with them they don’t mess with you…usually. Here are some pictures we took on the drive.

We stayed at the Hostal de la Monja (translated the hostel of the nun). It was a beautiful historic hotel in the heart of downtown Durango right across from the Cathedral Basilica (which we will talk about later). First let’s take a look at this beautiful hotel. Every time went walked through we saw yet another beautiful detail. The rooms were comfortable and clean, service was great, the location was ideal and all at a very affordable price. We highly recommend.

Now about the Cathedral Basilica. It was built around 1695 and wasn’t formally completed until about 1844. The bells still ring daily from the bell towers, and it still serves as an active place of worship for the community as well as a star attraction for visitors. Take a look.

There is a statue in front to commemorate a visit from Pope John Paul II in 1990.

There is a legend surrounding the bell towers of the Cathedral Basilica: La Monja de la Catedral (The Nun of the Cathedral). As the story goes (well it goes several ways, but here is the “official” story as presented by a plaque on the main street by the cathedral), a young nun named Beatrice was forced to leave the convent after the closing of the monasteries during the Reform Laws. She returned to the home of her parents (who died shortly thereafter), and frequently visited the cathedral in hopes of reopening the convent. When the French invaded the city, a handsome young French captain named Fernando was injured and sought refuge within the first house he came to—you guessed it, it was Beatrice’s house. She hid him and nursed him back to health. They fell in love and had a secret romance. But fearing detection by the liberals, Fernando decided to leave but promised to return someday. Unfortunately, he was caught and killed. The poor and now pregnant Beatrice continued to await his return day after day. One evening she decided to climb the top tower to get a better view for her returning lover. The next morning a janitor found her body on the ground after falling thirty meters from the tower. Since then, it is said that on a full moon you can see the figure of a nun dressed in white in the left tower kneeling down as she watches towards the west begging for the return of her beloved.

So, of course we needed to check it out for ourselves. There wasn’t a full moon, and a poorly placed street lamp as well as the lights in the towers themselves made looking for Beatrice difficult, so you will have to judge for yourselves.

Durango is full of temples and churches and museums and amazing architecture that celebrate a rich history of religion, mining and archeology. (Also film-making, both Mexican and American films, especially westerns, which we didn't get to check out except what was mentioned in some of the museums we explored.) We couldn’t find a guide or map of all the attractions to see. Therefore, we proceeded to walk around willy-nilly and viewed as we could in the time we had. So we apologize for the lack of organization and jumping all over the place in this post, but it is characteristic of our time there. If you haven’t noticed yet, we are quite enamored with Durango. I will try to give you a few of the highlights (and pictures of course), without going on and on with every detail (good luck with that, but I will try to be brief).

We don’t typically take pictures and post every meal we have, but this one was worthy of sharing, (yeah, so much for brevity). This authentic Duranguense cuisine came from a wonderful family owned and operated restaurant called Antigua Usanza. We would have loved to sample every dish they served! We conversed with the owner and sampled his homemade mescal while his wife was preparing our food in the kitchen. Everything was so flavorful and seasoned just perfectly!

Here is the town square or Plaza de Armes. One afternoon there was a political event that we checked out.

We weren't the only ones to wander by to see what was going on.

Lots of horn honking, chanting and excitement for an evening rally for the Durango Scorpions baseball team.

Templo de San Agustín 1631

We saw so many cool old door-knockers while walking around town. (I know to many this could be one of those endless and unnecessary details making this post too lengthy, but look at it...cool right?)

We didn't have an opportunity to go inside, but if the Ricardo Castro Theater was anything like the outside, I'm sure it was amazing.

McDonalds?!? What a waste of a cool old building!

Another church on the other side of town.

We were overwhelmed by the history that surrounded us in Durango. We visited as many of the museums as we had time for (and could find. The wonderful thing was that the entrance fee per person ranged from .50 to 1.50 in US dollars. It is so nice that just about anyone can afford to look around. It allowed us to see and learn so much without ever being disappointed by the contents or breaking the bank. As they were all in grand old buildings, even when the contents were sort of mehh..., we enjoyed looking at the building itself.

The City Museum Building

The archeological museum was by far the most fantastic museum that we went to. They didn't leave anything of the original interior of the building. As you walked through, it was set up to look like you were walking through caves to get to the "dig sites" or display rooms.

Durango also has a cable-car, or Teleférico de Durango, that travels a very short distance between the two high spots in town but in that short distance presents a spectacular 360° view of the area. When we first found it, it was closed because it was raining off and on, so we took a few pictures and returned the next day for our ride.

There wasn't much on the other end, but there was a nice little chapel...

and wings for a photo opportunity. Who wore it best?

And it was a quick way to cover a lot of ground without a lot of walking, so we decided to explore this side of town. We heard there was a large park somewhere in Durango, so we followed the switchbacked road down the other side of the hill towards the patch of trees where we assumed we would find it.

After a long, hot walk, we did.

Walking through the park we got an unexpected and surprising tour of the world (in miniature).

Touring the world on foot is thirsty business!

I think I did pretty good keeping this one short?!? Anyway just a few more miscellaneous pictures to share with you all. Like celebrating my "I don't remember which one as I've stopped counting" birthday with my own cake with Suez y cajeta...Yum!

Sharing a black margarita

and more pics from around town