We rode again with Mike and Ken. First half of the day was boring as hell. I even had to pull out my throttle rocker, which I haven't used since Nebraska. This little plastic paddle looking accessory really helps to relax the throttle hand on long stretches.
Throttle rocker - nice to have on long stretches at steady speed.
Fortunately, the roads got more interesting late afternoon, when we reached Durango. We avoided the city altogether, as it is not reputed as very safe, and we kept going until we reached El Salto. This is where we stopped overnight. El Salto is probably the ugliest town I've seen so far. It just looks like one big favela. Since the city is at fairly high elevation, the temperature is pretty cool at this time of the year, and most people burn pine wood (vastly available in the area) for heating. As a result, there is a thick haze of smoke hanging over the city, and whole the place smells like one big camp fire. Throw in the fumes from old pick up trucks and big diesel lorries, and you have one polluted place.
Entering the state of Durango
El Salto - Ugliest town so far
El Salto covered in smoke
From El Salto, we rode the famous Espinoza del Diablo road, all the way down to Mazatlan. If it wasn't for truck traffic in the second half of the day, I would say that it's one of the best roads I've ever ridden. Nice smooth pavement, great scenery, and turns, turns and more turns for almost 200 km.
The first 100 km were all fresh smooth asphalt, with very little traffic. Definitely a blast to ride. In the second half of the day, we struggled to maintain a decent pace, because of the many big lorries we encountered Passing them is a challenge, as it is difficult to get a clear line of sight in such tight turns. Our intercoms came in really handy. The first guy would go, and then let the other know if he was clear to pass or not. We overtook a few of these trucks in blind corners, and not knowing that we could communicate between us, I think that the drivers must have thought we are suicidal...lol.
We arrived in Mazatlan around 3 PM, and bumped again into Ken and Mike, whom we had lost on the Espinoza del Diablo earlier in the day. Mazatlan is a touristic town, with a few kilometers of hotels and condos along the beach. It looks much wealthier than the other towns I have seen in Mexico so far, and reminds me quite a bit of Florida. However, it is kind of quiet at this time of the year, since it's still the off season here. We headed for the centro of the city to find a place to stay. We have figured out so far that the centro of a town is where we find lodging at the best rates, with the added benefit of having restaurants and the town square a few blocks away.
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