The city of Durango, Mexico. Worth a visit!

I can't believe that people from the rest of North America don't visit the city of Durango, Mexico. For some reason, it's not on the traveler's radar. I know why RV'ers don't stop on their way south, it's because there are no RV parks in or near the city.

But that doesn't stop us!

We took the local bus from the hotel where we've got Sherman set up in the back of their parking lot. The bus goes by about every five minutes and it stopped when we flagged it down right outside the hotel. Cost was 7.5 pesos (62 cents) each for the one way ride right into the center of the city. It dropped us off one block from, the central plaza.

The cathedral in Durango's central plaza.

This is an interesting church opposite the plaza.

Sunday morning at 11:30am, and there's not many people around. That's because everybody is in church! All the churches that we looked in to were in the middle of services, and the churches were full.

The central plaza.

Most of you probably know what Durango is famous for. Yes, western style movies! In fact, the city is celebrating 60 years of cinematic history. It even has a walk of fame. Many well known actors have filmed movies here including John Wayne, Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, and more recently, Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz. 

A total of 131 movies have been filmed in and around Durango.

So of course, Durango has it's own walk of fame!

Kirk Douglas's star.

Lots of different stars, as well as quite a few statues along the way.

Here's Kevin, with The Duke himself!

Ruth, taking a break.

Vancouver Donuts? Strange.

It's a pretty place, isn't it?

Another church.

There are a few indigenous people around. 

Certainly more than white people! I think in the entire day of wandering we saw only one other white couple. In fact, we even found that the locals stared at us and pointed. Maybe because of Ruth's grey hair. It is not very common to see a woman with grey hair here in Mexico, and if they don't get many foreigners then I guess we stand out like a sore thumb. Any interactions we had were certainly friendly enough though.

We stopped in at the tourist office, and it was actually open. The young fellow in there didn't have very good English, but it didn't stop him from trying! He set us up with a few maps and things to see, and one of them was the teleferico (cable car).

Installed only 4 years ago in conjunction with the one that was also installed in the Copper Canyon.

Ruth, at the top.

Certainly a worthwhile ride, and at only 20 pesos ($1.64) per person for the round trip ticket it's a not to be missed experience. 

Beautiful view from the top.

When we were finished with that, we went for lunch. We had read in the Lonely Planet book that a good inexpensive restaurant was Gorditas Gabino. We found the place, and it looked closed. But I tried the door anyhow, and it was open...walked inside and the place was packed!

One particular waiter spotted us and led us to an empty table. He says in English "tell the waiter you don't speak any Spanish and that way I will get to be your waiter". Too funny. Okay, we played his silly game, and sure enough because he was apparently the only waiter who could speak English, he became our waiter.

We had their specialty, the chicken and cheese gorditas. I had three, and Ruth had two. And then we split a flan for dessert. And we each had a glass of agua de jamaica. Total bill, including the tip was 200 pesos ($16.40 CDN). Not bad, but we've had better gorditas. I was stuffed though!

Next, we wandered to the La Guadiana Park. This big urban greenspace is Durango's own Central Park. If you had kids, you could spend a whole day here. We've never seen so many different playgrounds. Hard to believe it's all free. There is one small amusement park section with food and games and horseback rides and things like that. Of course that part costs money.

La Guadiana Park.

This section has miniature monuments from around the world. See the Statue of Liberty on the far right? And the Eiffel Tower?

One of the many play structures for kids.

Those are some boots! Be a little tough to drive with them on.

Durango is still a cowboy town. Many men dressed in cowboy boots and hats.

We enjoyed our day, and when we got back to the motorhome it was almost 5:00pm and we were beat!

Today, we're heading north on highway 45 towards Parral. No idea how far we'll make it, or where we'll spend the night. If you don't see a blog post tomorrow, it's because we had no internet access!

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