Thursday, May 18, 2000
We slept very well considering the hooting and hollering of the
teenagers until well past midnight. Their fiesta resumed at about
6:00 a.m.
Hiked over to the bus station and got tickets for a 12:00 bus
to Durango, four-hour trip, 135 pesos each. As the driver was
pulling the bus into the parking space, he ran into the bus next to
it - Yikes! And we’re assigned to the suicide seats in the first
row!
It was a bad omen. Later in the trip the driver played
tic-tac-toe with his buddy while steering with his knees!!! After
he finished his game, he popped in a cassette of Christmas music,
in English, sung by someone who doesn’t speak English as a first
language (while the movie was running - Air Force One.) Then two
hours into the trip we pulled into a liquor store in a small town.
The driver and his friend went in, and we saw the driver purchase
"something" and stick it in his pocket.
What's our bus driver buying?!?
Then with maybe 20 minutes left in the movie, the driver
accidentally hit "pause." Thinking the movie was broken, he removed
it and put in the ending of a different movie. I was SO PISSED!
Haven’t caught him sipping from his stash yet.
We arrived safely in Durango! Immediately found the local bus
into town and got a room at the Hotel Posada Catedral. Very cool
building, decent room, 200 pesos. The very nice English-speaking
receptionist called for info on the Mazatlan bus for us since we
forgot to check at the terminal in our haste to escape the bus of
the doomed!
Catedral Basilica Menor
The pope visited Durango in 1990, and they have a statue of him
in front of the cathedral. Somehow they built a statue that we
never saw a single pigeon on! I’ve never seen anything like it! It
wasn’t even covered with pigeon crap! Obviously, pigeons must be
Catholic.
Papa Juan Pablo II
Later we walked around the market. Lots of fun, but I wouldn’t
want to buy food there. This was probably the most "authentic"
market we saw in Mexico on this trip, since there really isn’t much
tourist interest and it’s a decent-sized city. In more touristy
cities you’ll find the markets all sell T-shirts along with their
rotting produce and pork ankles.
After sunset, we sat in the square for a long time. There was a
full moon, beautiful and very romantic.
Indoor balcony at the Hotel Posada Catedral
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