Bernal is another of Mexico’s pueblos magicos. It is a small town of about 3000 people, best known for La Peña de Bernal, which is, according to some sources, the world’s third largest monolith, after Gibraltar and Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. And Peña, for those of you who may be wondering, translates as “cliff”….nothing sexual.
We had read that you could camp in the beautiful gardens of the Flamingo Inn in Queretaro for 300 pesos per night, but when we arrived, the two spaces available for camping were taken by other overlanders that we had first met in Patzcuaro, then again in Morelia. Unsure of where we were going to spend the night, we spotted a Comfort Inn across the street with a large parking lot. We struggled with our spanish at the front desk, explaining that we would like to camp in their lot for the night, if possible. After a few minutes, the clerk began speaking english to us (yeah!), and after some back and forth discussions with his fellow staff, it was decided that we could stay there for the night, use the lobby washrooms, and there would be no charge. Bonus!
We drove into the town of Tula and there were police everywhere! Six police cars in a cluster here, eight in a cluster there….what the heck? Almost as thick as monarch butterflies! Was there something “going down”, or is Tula such a bad place that it needs such a police presence?
The road to El Rosaria Monarch Butterfly Reserve took us through many small villages. We often decide to take the libre instead of the toll roads….it takes a bit longer and the roads can sometimes be rougher, but you get to see the countryside a lot better.
We arrived in Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan, following iOverlander directions to a suggested camping spot for the night. As we turned onto a narrow street, the app told us our location was on the right hand side, but we looked to see a solid wall with a few doors and some windows but nothing a vehicle could fit through…this didn’t seem right.
Our plan had been to visit Uruapan, the “Avocado Capital of the World”, and we did drive through miles of lush avocado plantations to the town. When we got to our intended camping spot, the owner told us there was a private fiesta happening that evening. We were welcome to stay but it would be muy ruidoso (very noisy). He told us there was a campsite in Patzcuaro, which is where we had planned on going next anyway, and that it was only 20 minutes away, so we headed for Patzcuaro with the idea of returning the following morning to walk around Uruapan .
We drove south from Mazatlan to an ocean front campground near the town of Teacapan called Color Marino RV Park. We took the libre (free) road, instead of the toll road, travelling through several small towns. Peoples’ reaction to us varied from enthusiastic smiles and waves, to slight frowns (damn tourists!), to indifference. Many of the small towns we drove through looked very poor, and we later learned that many farms in the area were badly damaged by hurricanes and have not recovered.
We have really good internet here in Mazatlan, so I thought I would take advantage of it and upload a few pictures from our walk around town yesterday. To enlarge an image, just click on it.
We had two options for driving from Durango to Mazatlan. The first was the old highway, part of which is known as La Espina del Diablo (the Devil’s Backbone), described as a treacherous road that snakes through mountains known for their marijuana fields and opium production, and which would take about 7 hours, if all went well. The second, a fairly new highway, costing about 35 CAD in tolls, with 115 bridges and 61 tunnels and a driving time of about 3 hours. We love adventure, but treacherous, not so much, so we opted for the toll highway.
(Nov 18, 2017)
We set our afternoon’s destination as the Museo (Museum) of Pancho Villa in the small town of Canutillo, south of the city of Parral. We had read that you could camp for free without any hassles in the parking lot, and we were interested in visiting the museum as well. Quite a timely activity, as November 20th is an important holiday in Mexico, celebrating the start of the revolution in Mexico against the widely perceived corrupt government lead by Porfirio Diaz. Pancho Villa was a key figure in the revolution.