Day: November 29, 2015

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Getting My Bearings in Durango

By the time I was settled into my hotel room, it was about 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. I decided to go out and get my bearings. That was easy to do since Durango’s Centro is laid out in a perfect grid pattern and all streets are well marked. There are also frequent maps with a ‘you are here and points of interest are here, here, and here’ being noted, as well as directional signage on all the main street corners (Plaza de armas is that way, Walk of Fame is this way, turn here for the Francisco Villa museum, etc.).

Within minutes, I knew that Durango was much more tourist friendly and accessible than Maz is and that Maz’s failures in that regard are not a reflection of Mexico, but of the Maz city planners. My Mexican education continues!

Walking a few blocks up 20 de noviembre, I found the main basilica, which is in front of Plaza de armas. I’ll just get it out right here that the architecture in Durango is gorgeous. This is a very, very, very old city (founded in 1563!!!) and the architecture reflects that, with a lot of Baroque influence.

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A block from the Plaza de armas, I spotted the Museo de la ciudad 450 (city museum), something that I knew was on my ‘must see’ list:

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I found the Mercado Gómez Palacio a few blocks later,, a bewildering and disorganized warren of stalls! Rather fun and disorienting to poke through, but I have to say that it’ll make me better appreciate Maz’s mercado! I picked up a new apron (something that was on my list to buy in Maz, so why not make it a souvenir?!). Very inexpensive, only $85.

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More oggling of architecture happened:

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I love how colourful Mexico is. I want this pink washing machine in my house in Mérida when I get there!

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And another exquisite building!

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Tacos al pastor!

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The fabric store (Parisina) is housed in not-so-shabby digs!

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Check out the McDonald’s!

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Back at Plaza de armas, I was dumbfounded to discover that this rotunda holds a tourist information bureau! I got tons of info as well as several maps. Why doesn’t Maz have anything like this?!

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Corner of Constitución and 5 de febrero:

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Vancouver Donuts on 5 de febrero!

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This is a palace that holds several cafés as well as the Francisco (Pancho) Villa Museum:

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A cappuccino sounds good… But it’s late. Maybe another time.

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I passed the Museo de arqueología (archeology) on the way back to my hotel (again, it’s right in front of the Palacio parking where Moya was staying). I was tempted to go in, but decided to save it for the next day.

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Back on 20 de noviembre on the corner of Zaragoza looking towards my hotel:

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Church across the street from my hotel:

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I love Mexican alleyways!

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Another not too ugly building!

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On the street behind my hotel, I found a used book store and couldn’t resist going in. Oh, that universal smell of old paper! I browsed a bit and then asked if they had Mexican poetry books. The owner, who must have been 100 years old, pulled out a gorgeous and huge leather-bound tome. It was only $150, but way too massive, so I asked if he had something smaller and less expensive. Without hesitating, he pulled out a slim anthology of modern Mexican poetry, for just $75. Sold!

I took my treasure and headed back to have that cappuccino! I love how Mexicans put cinnamon in their coffee! I read for quite a bit as I savoured my treat. There’s sugar in the picture, but I didn’t put any in. I only like milk in my coffee.

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I then headed back to the hotel to research dinner options. One of the best rated options in all of Durango was Fonda de la Tía Chona, just a few blocks from my hotel (but of course!). It’s next to this building, which I found very charming in a Sleeping Beauty’s castle tucked away behind the thorns kind of way:

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Here’s the outside of the restaurant:

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The menu is a bit bewildering as it’s laid out like a newspaper, with dish listings peppered between interesting articles. I ordered a XX beer and didn’t have time to order my main before I was brought free appetizers! Spicy and very yummy pickles:

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And taquitos!

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The decor was very traditional. I really like the white walls and dark wood and would like to find something like that in Mérida.

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I ordered chicken mole for dinner and am sad to say I was disappointed at what I got for the price I paid. 🙁 The food was good (although I found the stringy chicken a little rubbery), but I’ve had mole that was at least as good as this for less money. The sauce was most chocolatey mole I’ve ever had, and that’s just a statement of fact, not a value judgment. Every mole is different!

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I was on vacation, so I ordered dessert and coffee (yes, I was to regret all that late day coffee when I hit the sack!). My espresso was perfect and I was ‘disappointed’ (and by that I wasn’t) that ‘cheesecake’ in Mexico is exactly like cheesecake back home, with a Graham cracker crust and filling made from Philadelphia cream cheese. Worth the calories, let me tell you! I really don’t do dessert that often anymore and was thrilled that I was happy with this:

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Dinner was expensive, but it wasn’t, $260 (just 20CAD for beer, a main, dessert, and coffee!).

Needless to say, I needed to walk off at least part of dinner! Since my hotel was on a main street, I did not hesitate to go exploring after dark!

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I wound up back at Plaza de armas, where I found a jewelry vendor who helped me remedy the fact that I managed to leave home without any earrings! These pressed flowers behind glass were bargained down to a mere $75 and were worn all weekend!

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I continued quite a ways down 20 de noviembre to a huge Soriana to pick up bananas and water. Those of you on Facebook might remember that I posted that I got lost in it. I’m not kidding! I had to get help to find the bananas and then required an escort to get to the cash registers! Both purchases wound up making sense over the weekend, although the bananas weren’t always a morning food! The hotel gave me bottles of water every day, but I’d run out by this morning (departure day) and was glad I had more.

When I got back to the hotel, I laid out one of my maps and set to work getting a rough idea of what I wanted to see and do in my two days in Durango, although absolutely nothing was set in stone.

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I also spent some time in that squashy armchair writing in a journal about my day, hence why my memories are so clear. 🙂

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The Hotel Posada San Agustín, Durango

The Hotel Posada San Agustín, where I stayed for three nights in Durango, is in the heart of Durango’s historic Centro, right on 20 de noviembre, a main thoroughfare through the district, and walking distance to just about everything, including the Plaza de armas, where a lot of tours start from. I have rarely had the privilege of staying in the heart of a tourist zone and really appreciated being able to go back to my room for a break without having to make a huge effort to get there, never mind being in such a beautiful and architecturally interesting building! The neighbourhood was super quiet at night, with my only complaint being that the church right next door rings its bells at 7:00 a.m.!

The hotel is located a block from Zaragoza (all Mexican cities apparently have the same names).

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You enter into the first of two gorgeous courtyards:

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I was greeted warmly and checked in promptly, with my request for a standard room being honoured. They have suites, and I debated upgrading to a ‘junior’ one for a mere $50 more, but decided to stick to my original plan. My most pressing question once I had my key (and remotes for the TV and AC) was what to do with my truck. I was told I’d have to drive around the block and park it in the Palacio lot across from the archeology museum, get a ticket, and then the hotel would stamp my ticket whenever I wanted to take my truck out. The clerk drew me a map to make sure I was understanding her correctly. The lot was super easy to find and quite convenient to the hotel, although I wish I’d dropped my luggage first!

Moya spent the whole weekend parked  here, safe and sound, with 24-hour security:

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Back at the hotel, I crossed the first courtyard and went through the second (That floor! Those arches!):

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My room was upstairs at the back (my request), so I had to climb these lovely stone steps:

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The room was definitely ‘cozy’, but absolutely perfect for my needs. My bed had quite possibly the only comfortable mattress in all of Mexico (Croft thinks I could be right because he’s never encountered one!):

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There was a desk/vanity area:

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I liked that there was a switch for a light in the closet that automatically turned it on and off:

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This was my favourite part of the room, the chair and ottoman! I had something similar in my T or C apartment and is what I wish I had here:

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(BTW, I had that EXACT same carpet in my mobile house in Quebec. I see it a lot in m/hotels in Canada and the U.S. and am beyond amused that it’s also used in Mexico!)

The bathroom was adequate, with good hot water and pressure in the shower! The window opens to the stairwell!

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This fancy working phone by the toilet made me laugh:

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And I loved the phone by the bed!

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What I didn’t like about the room would be easily fixable. Since there is only a tiny window to the outside (above the desk), they put in a glass block wall by the door to let in natural and hallway light. But the hallway light is on all night and the roll down shade doesn’t cover the entire window. I ended up having to use the duvet to fully block the light.

I also didn’t like that there was a family of about 50 people (only mildly exaggerating) staying in the suite next to my room and they were LOUD coming in at night. No concept of indoor and outdoor voices and footsteps, but that’s a Mexico thing. If they hadn’t woken me up every night, I would have slept very well since the room was dark and quiet until 7:00 a.m. and the bed was comfortable!

The hotel wifi was terrible (would work for a while, then quit, then work again), but I needed to use up my Banda Ancha, so that didn’t bother me too much. I would have been disappointed if I needed to work.

I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel. It has a very cozy and homey atmosphere. I liked going down to the front courtyard in the morning to drink their surprisingly decent coffee (and an orange juice) and sit in a comfy chair to read the newspaper. The location was beyond perfect. I rather planned my days in a figure 8-type pattern so I could pop in in the late afternoon and have a rest. Durango taxis are apparently super cheap, but I never needed one.

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Driving the Mazatlán-Durango Cuota

I left home around 9:30 on Thursday, with my ETA in Durango being about 2:30 with the one hour time change. The Road out of Isla took me 28 minutes, but that’s only because I was taking my time. It was in surprisingly good shape!

I stopped for fuel in Villa Union, where there was also, very conveniently, an Oxxo (coffee) and a Panamá (goodies for the road)! I started on Mex 40D (cuota) at about 10:30.

To my surprise, the brand new road was in terrible shape and huge sections were under construction. It was very slow and tedious going. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because there weren’t many places to stop, including on the Guinness Record-holding Baluarte Bridge, which wound up being very underwhelming from the point of view of driving over it. There are tons of spectacular photos of it on the web showing it off from better vantage points than I ever had!

The drive was very, very, very scenic:

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I had plenty of time to admire the scenery:

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I liked how this tunnel is open to the world:

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Sometimes, I felt like I was on top of the world:

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I did not like this super, super, super long tunnel with lots of glaring lights. I drove it almost blind:

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A miniature version of the Baluarte Bridge:

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Here, you can see the tunnel with windows in it:

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Coming to the Baluarte Bridge. Lots of signs saying no stopping, no parking!

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At the end of it, I crossed over into the state of Durango. Another state for my visited Mexican states map!

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Welcome to the state of Durango!

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Weather conditions were perfect, increasingly cool as well as overcast, so I wasn’t baking in my truck:

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Coming into the city of Durango, there was a long downhill stretch. You can see a red stripe in the picture above. It leads to a runaway lane:

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First glimpse of the city of Durango!

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Stopped at a rest area just before the final toll booth and was amused by the bathroom door signage:

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Made it to Durango!

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Considering what a disaster the road is, quality-wise, even all the feats of engineering in the form of tunnels and bridges did not make the $500 I spent in tolls seem reasonable for how tedious this road was to drive. I looked forward to possibly revising that opinion on the road back!

Unlike Mazatlán, Durango believes in street signage, so with the help of my GPS, I found my hotel without a single wrong turn. The parking beside it wasn’t attached to the hotel, though, so I took some street parking to go check in and find out where to stash my truck. When I came back, I had a warning on my windshield that I was in a pay parking zone (metres) and would get a ticket if I didn’t move ASAP. That’s when I knew for sure I was in a very different world from Mazatlán, but more on that later. First, let’s get settled in the hotel!

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Off to Durango At Last!

I’m really glad that my trip to Durango last spring got postponed. I just know that I would not have had as good a time as I did this past weekend back last March, when the budget was so tight and I was only starting to get comfortable in Mexico. But I just finished crunching the numbers for the past weekend and the result is rather funny….

Last spring, I had a fairly strict 300CAD or 3,700MXN budget for the trip. To be honest, I didn’t have a budget for the past weekend. I was overdue for a holiday, Mexico is inexpensive, and as long as I didn’t do a ton of shopping, I wasn’t going to worry about how much I was spending. Well, the trip, including tolls, fuel, and lodging, cost me a grand total of 388CAD or 4,750MXN! I could have afforded this trip last March!

From now on, all prices are in MXN.

Like this past spring, I started by looking for accommodation. Not knowing then that the rest of the trip would be so inexpensive, I had a paltry accommodation budget and could only look at places outside of Centro. This time, I was willing to pay up to $1,000 a night to stay somewhere decent in Centro. Turns out that I didn’t need to spend nearly that much. The Hotel Posada San Agustin, rated four-stars by TripAdvisor reviewers, was right in the heart of Centro and a basic room was a mere $600 a night! Now, I knew I was getting a two-star room in a four-star hotel, but that was perfect for me. I wasn’t going to spend that much time in my room anyway! This hotel also offered free parking, which was very important! I will have pictures in due time. 🙂

That out of the way, I took advantage of not having a proofing shift on Thursday to head out for three nights. The plan was to drive the new toll road to Durango and the old libre back. I decided to do it in this order for a number of reasons, including that the libre takes several hours to drive and you ‘gain’ an hour on the trip back to Maz due to a time zone change, while ‘losing’ one on the way to Durango. I also preferred to do a narrow twisty road that would take who knows how long with home at the other end and I also preferred to coast downhill than burn a ton of gas climbing the switchbacks.

So with all that bla bla bla out of the way, let’s head to Durango!