JAN 10, Saturday to Mexico
We were up by 6 a.m. and on the road by 7:15 after showering, dumping and having a quick breakfast. We drove Hwy 83 to 282 then south to the border. We fuelled just before crossing and took the International bridge after paying $8.
We arrived at the Mexican border and had all our papers filled out and paid for within an hour. Total cost was $160 cdn (1628 pesos) for our visa and permits for the truck & trailer. The truck permit is good for 6 months only but the trailer is good for 10 years. We met another Cdn couple form Quebec at the border but they are going to Cancun.
We drove on to Hwy 2 then hwy 40 which will take us all the way to Mazatlan. The hwy was fairly good and we took the “Libre” side and not the toll. We stopped in Juarez for lunch and to fill up (.73cents/litre) then we went on. We got stopped by a local police who wanted and insisted on a cola. After telling him I had none, he persisted so I got out and gave a can of Tonic Water. Val is still laughing thinking about his face puckering up after he tasted that. We didn’t stick around and left. We’ve been climbing steadily and as we arrived in Monterrey, we finally got a glimpse of the mountains but they are shrouded in pollution. Monterrey has a population of over 3 million people. I missed my turn so we had to drive through the city which took us a good 2 hours. I finally made it without any incident and we went on to Saltillo. We kept climbing to 5000 feet and finally arrived at our destination for the day. We are parked in the back of a hotel with an RV park which consists of about 12 parking spot with water and 15 amps electricity. After we parked, 3 other rigs came in….2 Canadians from Ontario and one American from Michigan.
Saltillo has a population of approx. 600,000 people. The RV park is near the east side of town and was easy to find. We arrived at 3;15 and paid 250 pesos (about $22 cdn). We can’t really see the mountains due to the pollution but we hope to see them better tomorrow. Overall it’s been a good day
N 25* 27’ 27”
W 100* 59’ 12”
Alt: 4975 feet
Distance today 353 KM at 37 MPH in 8 hours
JAN 11, Sunday, to Durango, MX
We got up early and were on the road by 8:15 a.m. We drove through Saltillo on 40 libre (no tolls) and began our ascend to 5000 feet where we encountered a plateau. For a while, it was like ranch country then changed to desert like with very little vegetation. The road was straight for miles and miles. We arrived in Torreon, another big city, went around it via hwy 40 and on the west side, we stopped for lunch. I also took on fuel here @ 7.409 pesos for 53.84 litres. ( approx. $2.20 cdn a gallon). Soon after, we were stopped at a military check point, the first we saw since leaving, and the young soldiers wanted to see inside the rig so we obliged. They were really impressed and the officer spoke a little English and had many questions. They were very polite. They thought we were Americans and seemed surprise to hear we were Canadians. They were fascinated by our map on the side of the rig and all the places we had been.
From here, we really turned southwest and began climbing to 6000 feet until Durango, our last stop before the coast. This is a city of over 400,000 people, big and polluted. Poverty is evident near the edge of the city with shacks built of bamboo and tar paper, just like what we saw in the Phillipines. The temperature all day never went over 55*F (11*C) We got to the hotel we were supposed to stay after getting lost but quickly recovered and found out that they no longer have camping. Beside the hotel was a “City Superclub” (like Costco) so we asked permission to stay in their parking lot out of the way and were given permission. They have 24 hours security so we are pretty safe. Again, we are on the East side of town.
We drove a total of 536 KM in 8.5 hours at an average speed of 43 MPH
N 24* 01’ 51”
W 104* 30’ 36”
Alt: 6190 feet
JAN 12, Monday, onwards to Mazatlan
Once again we were up early and on the road by 8:15 a.m. The place was very quiet considering. We by-passed the city by driving north on hwy 45 then around on hwy 40. Once on the west side of town we began climbing to 8000 feet where we drove on a plateau that looked like ranch country with lots of grass. We crossed a small town, El Salto, where I took on fuel 60 litres and soon we began seeing more and more evergreen until that’s all there was and we climbed again and reached our highest point, 9,500 feet. We were in the Sierra “Madre Occidental” and, WOW!!!!!, what a view! A huge canyon opened up beside us and we could see for miles. We began going up and down, crossing three canyons until we reached the mother of them all, the “Devil’s Spine”, a natural bridge between two canyon. (see pictures) There was room here to park so we stopped and looked around and took lots of pictures. What a view! We were between two canyon and below us, we could see houses and roads on this one knoll.
From here, 8900 feet, we began crossing our last ridge and our descend to Mazatlan. The road was tortuous and lots of switch back. Fortunately the road was good and wide. We saw a truck turned on its side, I guess he took the corner too fast which is common here. I had people passing us in curves. Our average speed here was around 20 MPH, first and second gear with the Jake on whenever needed.
We eventually crossed into Sinaloa States where we changed our clock one hour back to Mountain Zone. Finally we passed the “Tropic of Cancer” a little bit lower with the usual round ball of cement as we saw in the Baja near Cabo. The scenery was absolutely incredible throughout and we were amazed at these little houses on the side of the road just hanging over the canyons. The poverty is evident but people seemed happy in their way of life. We went from a temperature of 54* at the top to 85* below in the valley near the ocean. We are now in the tropics.
We arrived in Mazatlan and our site for the next 5 days, at Bartolo RV Park, full of BC’ers and Albertans and a few Americans. We paid 1635 pesos for 5 days ( 26$ US/night). Within an hour, half the park had come over to introduce themselves and see these “new” arrivals. Very friendly park. We are very in the “Golden Corridor”, where all the hotels and restaurants are. We are set one block back from the main strip. It should be interesting to explore.
We travelled 331 KM in 8hrs at an average speed of 29 MPH for the whole day.
N 23* 15’ 40”
W 106* 27’ 48”
Alt: 20 feet
JAN 13, Tuesday, in Mazatlan
Not much to report on this day. We completed our set up, unloaded the bikes and met our neighbors. People here are very friendly and talktavive. We went for a walk on the strip and the beach which is one block away. I got drinking water and fill our tank as the water pressure is really lousy here. This means we use our water pump instead. We sat outside in the evening and went for another walk around the area. The climate is quite comfortable…warm during the day and there is a breeze blowing in the evening which cools things to a comfortable level.
My bloody throttle switch is acting up again.
JAN 14, Wednesday, Mazatlan
Val did a couple loads of laundry and then we went for a drive up the coast a way and looked at other campgrounds. It is expensive here. We then drove back on hwy 15 and went into Mazatlan centro. It was interesting and busy, which I expected. We stopped at a Wal-Mart and picked up some beer and I wanted to buy a new map book but I found that it was basically the same so I didn’t bother. I stopped to fuel up, 400 pesos for 53.845 litres. We drove along the water, parked and walked the beach and took some pictures. We had Cameron tacos and cerveza then came home following the beach road. This is a nice place but a little too busy for us although the climate is wonderful.
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