Highway 23 Durango to San Blas

Like the brochure says, watch for wildlife on the roads. (I’ve seen a few caution signs for panther crossing)

The road from Durango down to the coast was to far to make in one day with very limited services along the way. So I broke it into two days with a stay in San Francisco de Mezquital then an early start the next day. It was very cold that morning with temps in the mid 30’s for the first hour of riding, I was not really prepared for that cold. The scenery was probably even more spectacular than the hwy 40 coming up. But I was too cold to stop and take pics and had a lot of miles to go so I hurried down the road. The small villages I came through were full of Indians with women and girls dressed in the traditional long colorful skirts. Men and boys were dressed in western attire. Strange, the kids were quite happy, laughing and playing but the adults were very somber and never looked at me. I wanted to take some pics of them but felt intrusive so didn’t think it would be right.

The road… was in much worse condition than I anticipated. The average speed for most of the day was only 25mph do to pot holes and washouts. If I’d had known that I would have picked a different route down. It was scenic but not worth the risk of damaging a wheel. Spent that night in Ruiz then a short days ride to San Blas.

San Blass was an interesting little town. Scooterville, motorbikes and scooters everywhere which was kind of cool, until it wasn’t, when it got late and I was ready to sleep. Mexico is a noisy country… and here in San Blass the hotel was between two one way streets. And the hotel hallway was open, no front door or back door just a gate they closed at night. So the street noise was right there all night long. I sleep with ear plugs a lot.