We left Lo de Marcos on March 19th for the start of a 4 week journey home. Our first stop was Mazatlan where we left our RV parked for 3 days while we traveled by car up the new toll highway from Mazatlan to Durango.
The original highway 40 (Libre) is slow and winding through the mountains with an average 6 hours to cover the distance between Mazatlan and Durango. It is such a tough drive that the route is known as The Devil's Backbone. The new toll road has 32 bridges and 63 tunnels but has reduced the travel time to 2 1/2 hours.
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| A sample of the scenery |
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| Hoodoos |
The smaller of the 2 suspension bridges on the route:
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| El Carrizo Bridge , 650 feet high / 198 meters high |
Last year, we saw the El Carrizo bridge while it was still under construction We had driven on the free road Hwy 40 to a lookout area to snap the photo below.
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| Taken in March 2013 from north of the bridge..note tunnel construction on left |
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| 712 foot span / 217 meter span |
The
Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge on the route is the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world and the longest bridge in North America.
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| Baluarte bridge |
The Baluarte Bridge is a 1,124-meter-long bridge that rises almost 400 meters above the river below.
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| 1,124 metres (3,688 ft) long, 403 metres (1,322 ft) high |
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| approaching one of the many tunnels |
The longest tunnel (El Sinaloense) is 2800 meters in length.
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| There actually is light at the end of the tunnel! |
The city of Durango has a population of about 500,000 and is at an elevation of 6,170ft.
We booked into the Hostal de la Monja (Hostel of the Nun) on the town square in Durango.
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| Exterior shot of the hotel |
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| Interior shot of the floor where the guest rooms were located |
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| Complimentary breakfast was included |
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| A neat little cafe where we stopped for lunch. The building had been in the owner's family since the time of his great great grandfather. He took us on a tour of the interior. |
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| The street where our hotel was located was closed to vehicle traffic | | | |
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Our first tour was of the Pancho Villa Museum. Fransisco (Pancho) Villa was a legend in Mexico as he was one of the leaders of the War of Independence, and was the hero of the poor people.
The museum has just recently opened and was originally the estate of the silver baron Zambrano of Durango and later a state government building. The murals are quite spectacular.
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| Artwork in the municipal government office |
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| Mural in municipal building |
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| Vic standing with the heroes of the Revolution |
While visiting the museum, we were provided with free passes for the cable car so off we went to view the city from the top of the hill.
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| Yup...there is Home Depot |
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| Gondola arriving at the top |
After that we walked around town viewing more of the historic area of the city.
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| the Basilica across from our hotel |
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| one of 4 fountains in Plaza de Armas |
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| Unusual Golden Arches building!! Staying classical. |
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| beautiful detail above the door |
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| school children dressed to dance for the celebration of the birthday of Benito Juarez |
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| another park in the city |
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| a statue in the park dedicated to Benito Jaurez |
Those bridges are amazing. Let's hope they maintain them!
ReplyDeleteYour hotel in Durango looks really nice. When we were there we free camped on the street near the restaurant where we had dinner and Kevin had his first Michelada. I remember how pretty the ironwork was on the street lamps and the traffic lights near the center of town. Rosemary
Funny you mention the maintenance. There was quite a bit of repair work going on at several places along the route, including bridges.
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