The road to Durango...

Alma is ready to leave the mar and ocean, but I’ve promised the boys some soup and want to say good bye and thanks to them. They have made another fish dish for us – me really, as I’m eating Alma’s share! So we eat one more time together and then head out.

We have to head back towards Mazatlan to pick up the highway to Durango. Somewhere along the way, Alma says she wants to go back to Mazatlan, use the internet, take a shower. I ask her if it’s the same Mazatlan she hated the other day and couldn’t wait to leave?

I suggest we see if we can get internet and a shower somewhere along the way to the highway to Durango. It is already late. I explain to Alma I do not want to start on the highway to Durango tonite because 1) it’s dark and I want to see the terrain, and 2) it’s dark & I’ve heard the road is pretty windy and treacherous, and 3) it’s dark and the road is pretty desolate.

At the cross roads to Durango is a booming little town with a couple of hotels, a Pemex gas station and 24 hour bathrooms. Alma checks out the hotel, which has internet, but then decides she’s happy staying in the truck.

We park around back of the gas station in a huge lot, and then cross the highway to take a walk around this cute little town. We pass up and down 4 or 5 main dirt roads, greeting people who are still hanging out and shops that are still open after 9pm!

Many people have extravagant xmas decorations with bright flashing lights and music playing. We see the school, the hospital and clinics, the huge agriculture silos, a soccer field, mostly boys riding bicycles and motorbikes.

Alma stops at a taco stand and eats while I return to the truck and get ready for bed. It is a great place to park and tomorrow we’ll be ready to get an early start into the mountains.