Los Arcos Durango

Took 8.5 hours(eventually got a seat after the first 1.5 hours!) to get over the Devil's Backbone & down into the central valley. Yet another overturned lorry, this time UHT milk, being scavenged for all parts (not just cargo, but bits of the lorry itself!). Durango OK but nothing much to commend it - went to avoid doubling back & also to see disused movie set. Challenge to get to ...

... and opinions and can support or refute them almost at will. I can also admit mistakes with impunity - in fact, as though correcting them takes away their initial existence as well. There are no diverging refractions of reality that others provide. Even when you meet and spend time with other people, the bubble stays intact. This sounds negative but is also positive, since without critics you are free to change your mind, and evaluate yourself unself ...

... regular thing in Latino America. Around lunchtime I wanted to try something slightly different for lunch so went for a weird fusion of Japanese/Mexican/Californian Sushi. It was a California roll with fresh fish (not sure what kind), cucumber, chillies and...now heres the odd one...Philadelphia cheese. Very odd combo but nice and all for $3. Found an internet cafe with internet access for $1 an hour (woohoo!) so did the usual blog updates and email checks. I actually thought ...

... We ended up staying in a town right outside of palenque, near the ruins, for about 3 days in this cute little place nesteled in the forest with firedancing every night.... We saw the ruins which were pretty darn cool... they weren{t as huge as Tikal, but they were distinct in their own way, with buildings that seemed to have an asian influence with the way the roofs curled upwards... We opted out of a guide this time b-c they were SO $$$ so we just walked around on our own ...

... This place was amazing as you can see from the photos (still to come shortly). All the different cities (Shires) have there own ancient Ruins, which we have had the chance to visit, however we have tried to keep it to a minimum. As the old people on our tour say ABC or ABR - another bloody cathedral/another bloody ruin. We headed into Paleque to the Restaurant owned by our guide (Salvador) who we had for the Ancient Ruins tour and who is also friends ...

... flutings made beautiful by a tinge of snow. I wandered around the shore of the small reservoir. In the woods nearby families celebrated the New Year with picnics by the campire. It was getting cold and I turned back past knots of racing walkers who were wiggling their ***** in the direction of town. Outside a cave dwelling some Indian girls had built a snowman. They laughed mischievously as a snowball exploded on the road beside me. Shaking my fist, I yelled ...

... al este de la carretera 57. Todas sus calles de piedra y unas subidas y bajadas muy empinadas. Hoy nuevamente terminamos recorriendo mucha distancia y creemos que de aquí en más va a cambiar. ENGLISH We started our trip on Saturday, October 28th. We spent Friday loading and unloading, putting in and taking out, rearranging everything in the car. Claudio installed more buttons and systems for the car, screwed in a few boxes and cut the ladder (the one we use to get ...

... y aventure donc un pied prudent au sortir de l'aéroport et me terre des jours durant dans mon hôtel le soir pour éviter de me faire trancher la gorge au sortir du dîner. En vérité, il m'apparait assez vite que Mexico n'est pas le repaire du crime qu'on dit et je n'y ai pas souffert le plus petit désagrément, pas même d'ordre intestinal. Même les microbes s'y sont montrés bénins... Les Mexicains se sont révélés adorables, d'une politesse exquise, et ...

... Oh yeah, believe it or not we ran into snow or sleet or whatever. The weather got a little nasty at one point and we had heavy rain. As we travelled along we came to an area where the road was covered with a couple inches of slushy snow. It only lasted for a couple miles so we figured it was a heavy sleet storm that we were fortunate not to have driven through. We had thought we would be much further than ...

... to explore we went towards the roadblock (all the while debating as to whether or not we were SUPPOSED too). Then we heard a booming voice saying something in Spanish (of course) followed by... "ommmmmm ommmmmmmmm," like some kind of chanting. As much as I probably should have feared for my life, I proceeded until I discovered... Yet another rally for a presidential candidate. The Mexican Presidential Election is in July, so every light pole, store window ...