While we were dilly-dallying about in Santa María del Tule we found plenty of opportunities to head into the ‘big smoke’, Oaxaca’s state capital—Oaxaca. Sometimes on our own for errands, sometimes with friends, but nearly always with a camera.
Our time in Cuba might not have been the amazing, spectacular, wonderful journey we had imagined. It didn’t all go to plan—memorable for all the wrong reasons. However, we can’t leave our tale of Cuba on a negative note though. Glad as we were to return to Mexico, there is something intangible about that crazy, beguiling, frustrating, spellbinding, infuriating enigma of a country that calls us back. We’ve already said a lot about Cuba, so here’s a blog post dedicated to the photos.
The sun was low in the sky as we roared away from the airport in a taxi. Soon we were darting through traffic in the streets of Havana. Decrepit vehicles from a bygone era belched toxic fumes through the open windows. The roar of ancient motorcycle engines filled our ears. Everywhere we looked, images of Che Guevara gazed contemplatively back—from buildings, billboards, posters and street art. We had arrived in Cuba.
Sometimes we find ourselves standing in places which really remind us what an amazing journey we are on. In these moments we stop, we take a deep breath, we look at each other and agree that we are truly fortunate to be here. That the decision to quit our jobs, sell our stuff and move into a 4Runner with a roof top tent was the best decision we have ever made.
After our time in Durango, we were craving a little outdoor time, some peace and quiet to enjoy the clear skies and solitude. Luckily, in Mexico, you are never far from a national park of some sort. The Sierra De Órganos National Park was a short drive south of Durango in the state of Zacatecas.
El Espinazo del Diablo (the Devil’s Backbone—a mountain pass along Mexico’s highway 40) is an infamously sinuous mountain road that joins the towns of Mazatlán, Sinaloa and Durango, Durango. The road has a bit of a reputation for punishing travellers with terrifying accident-inducing winding turns. Luckily travellers are also rewarded with spectacular views as the road runs along a mountain ridge, high in the Sierra Madre mountains. This seemed like exactly the kind of thing we should investigate further.
It isn’t often in this journey that we simply head south like we are supposed to. We tend to get distracted, make detours, head back north and hang around interesting places. We generally take our sweet time about actually heading towards Argentina. Making our way south from Álamos to Mazatlán was one of those few occasions where we did. We were, unbelievably, actually heading in the direction we promised to when we embarked on this trip.
After all the mapless back-road adventures in the Copper Canyon, we decided it was time to stick to the main roads. Until we realised how much shorter it was to drive between El Fuerte and Álamos on the back roads.
After a late night arrival on the Mexican mainland, we were slow to get started on the first day of the New Year. It took a quiet New Year’s Day in Los Mochis before we were ready to start thinking about the next stage in our journey.
We made it to the East Coast and New York City was in our sights!