Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We left Tamasopo in the morning and drove to San Luis Potosi where we went to Costco, Sam's and Wal-Mart and did our shopping. Suzanne had given us
some soup which we warmed up for our evening meal. Yummy!
We drove to Zacatecas and stopped at a tourist info office to pick up some brochures and to check on the route around the town because we knew that
large vehicles were not allowed in the centre.
We managed to get to the Hotel del Bosque where we had stayed 3 years ago only to find out that they were now charging $35 a night, a huge increase
and the most expensive price yet. So we declined. We drove a little further along the road and found a parking area at the side of the road where
we had a great view over the town.
The next day was "Revolution Day" and there was a big parade and procession in the town to celebrate. In the afternoon we drove to Fresnillo to
take a look at the Santuario de Plateros. We continued on to Sombrerete where we stopped for the night.
It was extremely cold because we were driving across the high plateau from the east to the western side of Mexico and we had to get out fleece
blankets and put our gas heater on!
The next morning we wandered around the streets of Sombrerete which is a small colonial town and bought some strawberries. We drove to Durango and
spent two hours walking around to take a look at the cathedral and the Palacio where there are huge murals on the walls.
Finding our way out of Durango was not easy and we kept having to ask for directions but we finally found the correct road and stopped at a Pemex
that looked deserted but was actually open for the night. It was unbelievably quiet - no loud music and no dogs barking. It was so unusually quiet
that we couldn't sleep!!
The next day we drove down the Devil's Backbone - a narrow and winding stretch of road that is about 100 miles long and took us 6 hours. It was very
scenic and we stopped at several places for photos but it is also quite dangerous.
The large trucks cut off all the corners, making wide swings to get around the bends and there were several times when we had to stamp on the
brakes to avoid a collision. We even managed to get one near miss on video.
The problems are obviously well known because at one of the bends some children were directing the traffic!
We went through a time zone so we gained an hour during the drive but then we got stuck in a traffic jam because of road works for 35 minutes.
This meant we had to do the last bit of driving in the dark.
We found a Pemex for the night but this time it was so noisy that Winnie was vibrating from the loud music! The next day we drove into Mazatlán
which is on the coast and far hotter. It had been so cold over the last few days that the sudden rise in temperature seemed unbearable.
When we were here 6 months ago we parked at the Los Arcos restaurant for 30 Pesos, but the area was now blocked off. The restaurant owners told
us that we could park behind the football stadium next door for free so we moved there.
We went to Mary's for a great burger. One of the staff had a birthday and we were given some cake - chocolate cake on the bottom and Crème Caramel
on the top. It was sooooo good!!! Then we walked off the calories along the beach to see a wonderful sunset.
