That Sunday morning in Parral I packed up my gear from my room in the Hotel Moreira and checked out.
As I walked out I said goodbye for now to my little dog friend that has been keeping me company over this past week in Parral. I scratched him on his head and told him I would see him later. Obviously he had no idea what I was saying to him but my tone indicated that I was more than fond of him. He knows this at least. He started to follow me up the block to where I parked my bike and I tried to ignore him. Shy of the gates to the parking lot, he turned back. I tried not to think about it as much as possible. Focusing on the task at hand of remounting all my bags kept my mind off of him just a little. Still, I was sad to leave him.
Locked and loaded. Bike is fully loaded and locked up ready for the road.
Pacsafe mesh on both bags
I have PacSafe mesh for both my overnight (yellow) bag and for my backpack. Basically PacSafe mesh is a system to discourage quick grab and run type thefts. It’s a mesh shaped roughly like a bag and you stretch it over your belongings. Once the bag is inside the PacSafe you cinch it tight and take the steel cable and wrap it around something secure. Then you lock it back to the bag so the bag can’t be removed from the mesh. (Sorry about the blurry pic but it is more to show as an example).
It took about an hour for me to slowly make sure I mounted everything properly for the trip down to Durango, my planned stop for the night. After that hour I started down the road towards the highway to take me down to Durango. But not, of course, before I got lost a little on the one way streets and made a few circles coming back to where I had left. Eventually, I was out on the highway and leaving Parral the place and Parral my dog friend behind.
The ride down was pretty uneventful. Mostly a lot of nothing then some construction whereby I was diverted off the pavement into a sandy path that ran alongside the construction. The first section of construction I came to, as a car approached me from the opposite direction, I hit some soft sand and started to lose it, just as the car came near. I hit the gas and powered out of the sand just barely keeping this over weighted bike upright.
Then it was back to just straight highway with a lot of nothing.
There was some cool, tiny pueblos I passed through and took the opportunity to pass a bus as it slowed for the topes. I got the chance to rally through some twisty parts that crossed through something like a mountain pass, north of Durango.
I stopped for gas at the only gas station I would end up seeing. Nearly 500 pesos later (with a 10 peso tip), I was back on a flat stretch towards Durango. I was worried about the time because I didn’t realize I was going to lose an hour once I left Parral. I was always two hours behind east coast time while in Parral (took me a full day to figure this out) and once I left I crossed back into Central Time Zone and lost that hour. It was predicted I wasn’t going to get to Durango until around 6 PM and I was worried that it was going to be getting dark.
As I rode into Durango, I still had plenty of light. I followed the Maps.me directions to my hostel. Although it was directing me to some random building about 3 blocks shy of the actual destination, I remember how the hostel looked from online and rode the few remaining blocks keeping my eye out for the windows with the little balconies that were in the online pictures. I found it.
As I approached the main entrance and was trying to figure out how to park my bike in the street without it falling over (it leans dramatically to the left on the side stand), a man and presumably his son came out of the entrance and greeted me.
In my poor Spanish, I told him I was staying at the hostel upstairs and not the separate hotel downstairs. At first he directed me to the free parking lot on the side street but it was closed for now. His suggestion? Why not ride your bike into the lobby. It’s no problem, he said. I assumed he worked here, although when I asked him, he stated he did not. But he seemed to have some authority here as he led me into the hotel lobby, out of the street, up over the curb, onto the sidewalk and narrowly into the lobby as he moved a display box selling snacks out of my way so I could fit this extra wide bike with the side cases into the lobby. A woman at a reception desk for the hotel downstairs shot me some not so happy looks as I rode by bike inside. In retrospect, I probably should have shut the motor off and just walked the bike in pedaling off the floor with my legs. But, alas, I did not and didn’t make a friend of her during this stay.
The bike safely parked towards the back of the lobby and my bags unpacked, I checked in upstairs at my hostel. Despite the ratty, worn and aged exterior of this building, the inside was quite welcoming, bright and airy. The second floor was open to the main courtyard inside and the roof, raised high over the second floor was of glass allowing a lot of natural light in. Honestly, it was fantastic.
My room was basic but I knew this. It was a welcoming hallway any room #5, mine, was just a couple of doors down from the reception upstairs. The door was white and steel with six little, frosted windows. It closed like a secure, steel door. There was windows that opened up into the main hallway from inside my room allowing in natural light from the windowed ceiling and a great breeze from down below. I had a queen size bed, a small table and chair that made sort of a handmade, wood desk, a small bathroom with sink, toilet, garbage and stand up shower and a small closet with shelf. Perfect as far as what I needed.
What didn’t it have that most motels do have? I didn’t have any kind of thermostat to control the temperature. But it wasn’t necessary. I had a heavy blanket in the closet to use and a plug-in fan to cool. There was no tv, but I use my tablet to watch downloaded shows anyway (lately “The Good Place” every night). There was limited times with hot water (8-10 AM and 8-10 PM) although I didn’t actually get any hot water after 9 AM on some days. No big deal. Cold shower it was. And that was it, a basic room for 280-400 pesos a night ($15-$21 U.S.), depending on the night. Definitely worth it.
Staff at the desk and the cleaning lady were friendly and wonderful. Again very patient with my shit Spanish. One girl and I just used Google Translate to communicate on our phones. Modern technology - you gotta love it. Free wifi although spotty sometimes. It was decent enough to get stuff done. And, most importantly (other than parking my bike inside the lobby, of course) was that I was only blocks from the center of the city. That is prime real estate and worth 400 pesos easy.
My days here were spent somewhat the same each day - wake up, try to shower with cold water (put head into shower, shampoo, rinse, put arm into water, soap, rinse, put other arm, soap, rinse, etc.), stretch, body weight exercises a little, organize stuff, get together day pack for exploring and photos, pay for another night and then leave. I would start walking the few blocks to downtown and then start exploring in concentric squares (as blocks are square and not round). I would take photos of what interested me, unexpectedly find interesting places, try to get on the teleferica (couldn’t due to high winds), go to the market, try to find food and cold milk, find somewhere to stand or sit and people watch and then head back and process photos. Basically walking around and taking in the behavior and lifestyles of those that live here, same as in Parral.
My impressions on Durango are that it is a very friendly city. I still got looks from the locals, especially in the very local market near my hostel, but I got used to it. Most times I think I kind of fit in. Definitely less looks than Parral which seemed to have less tourists overall. Durango seems much more cosmopolitan than Parral, but not knocking Parral in any way. The shops seemed much more upscale. More American garbage fast food chains. The Avenida Constitution, a pedestrian only street, was full of shops, bars, restaurants with American names although not American chains (Wing Army, etc.), some tattoo shops and lots of higher end clothing stores. People here dressed a little more hip and city like. It just had that vibe. The main plaza had the usual food vendors and trinket vendors. I had escrite one night and, not knowing what was to come, they did it differently than Parral. They put Doritos into the mix and I didn’t care for this as much. It was probably the most unhealthiest food I’ve eaten yet.
I ate empanadas and something like flautas. I ate hamburguesas with something bologna on top of it. I ate a hotdog with bacon wrapped on it. Ahhh, street food in Mexico. I didn’t eat any restaurants although the night of the Superbowl I did find a bar on Avenida Constitution with outdoor seating in view of the game to watch the final quarter.
I met a friend today (Wednesday) in my hostel and he is traveling from Mexico City for work here. He has been helping me with my Spanish and is a very nice guy - Guierremo - and we bumped into each other in the main plaza to take some selfies together. I’ll see him later tonight here at the hostel as he has to return.
So that is basically my few days here in Durango. I tried to go up on the Teleferica (cable car) but that day it was too windy. That’s ok as I got to see another part of the city. I heard some people speaking English and asked them where they were from. They were a couple and one of their mothers from Salt Lake City. We spoke a little about Durango, our travels and just Mexico in general. Great people. I’ll miss Durango and I’m glad I got to stay here for a few days.