Mazatlan (Jan 20)

Jan 20^th: This morning dawned bright and early as we had to be ready to go with Bill, Carol and two other car loads of friends (some from the park and another group that are friends of Bill and Carol’s)on a mini-road trip. Okay, okay, so 9:30 am departure isn‘t that early for some…

Just to fill you in in case you didn’t catch it in my previous posts (and just what were you doing with your time anyway??). Bill and Carol have been coming here for 17 years. They are what I consider experts in the area and in the history of some of the small towns. So, so interesting to listen to them. We really, really appreciate them taking us around. These past excursions are not something the average person traveling through an area could figure out to do. Let alone where to find them. You know the old saying “It’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know” and we are glad to know them!

So, back to the day. First we drove about 30 minutes to a very small town called Malpica (you can probably find it on a map). It is a bit north and east of Mazatlan. They have a very well-known bakery run by a generation or two of the same family. Funny thing about these types of small businesses, you actually enter through their living room and go into the bakery in the back. Check out all the amazing tried and true equipment…

We did do a small walk-about the town. 

The rooster was happy to see us and even posed for his 

picture. (I’ll have to get his email address…).

After that it was another 30 minutes or so up the old Tepic Durango highway known as the “Devil’s Backbone” due to how tight and twisty it is. The government has put in a new, modern highway but many still use the old one. Carol said in the early days the road was so narrow that if two semi-trucks met at the same corner, they had to back up and do two point turns to get past each other. The new highway cuts hours off the original route to Durango so I guess people really like it. Like any new “bypass” route, you really do miss some neat things along the way.

Good twisty road

Bus stop outside of Copala on the old highway

The next town we were stopping at is called Copala.  Town was established in the 1500’s and the amazing church was built in the 1600’s. Check it out below…

I have a facination with touching these old buildings 

where so many hands have rested before.

We enjoyed a great meal at Alejandro’s restaurant. It is one of the oldest buildings in town. Food was fantastic.

Made one more little roadside stop and then it was homeward bound.

Well, hope you all enjoyed that ride. We rode with Bill and Carol so we are always able to pick their brains about trivial things around us. Thanks for checking in. We are staying here until Sun Jan 29^th so there will be lots more exploration and maybe just some lazy, do nothing days too.

Peace out friends!

Thought for the Day: Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living the other helps you make a life…Eleanor Roosevelt