Durango, Mexico

Durango wasn’t a place we had intended to visit. We actually just wanted to drive the road to get there and had little intention of visiting the town itself. With a population of over 500,000 it sounded like it was just going to be a boring big city and we hardly expected it to have any of the colonial charm of EL FUERTE or ÁLAMOS.

We were of course completely wrong.

Colonial charm was one thing that Durango had plenty of. Another thing was historic churches. Someone said there were over thirty, but we suspect that number was only counting the really obvious ones and that the real number is even higher.

We walked up to the only hill in town for a panoramic view of the city. Aside from the fact that where we were standing there was yet another church, we could also see the spires of these historic churches poking up above the buildings throughout the city.

How many churches can you spot?

We thought we had already seen too many colonial churches and had consequently stopped taking the time to look at them. However the sheer number of churches dotted throughout the city made them instantly interesting to us again.

Aside from all the historic churches, one of the great things about Durango was that all the buildings in the centre of town were lit up at night.

This lighting, combined with the colonial buildings meant that the whole historical centre of town looked pretty impressive after dark.

Even the McDonald’s.

That’s fancy.

Yes, that classy looking building houses a McDonald’s. There was, unsurprisingly, absolutely no need to eat at said McDonald’s. Directly across the road there was a man selling delicious chilli-drenched hot-dogs for just over $1, a much tastier way to get our junk food fix.

Well, that and tostilocos.

Tostilocos!

This is a thing in Mexico. They open a bag of corn chips sideways, then pour all kinds of zany stuff in there: Beans, liquid cheese, Japanese peanuts, corn, meat, jicama, cucumber, chilli, soy sauce, lumps of cheese, weird mystery stuff that we have never identified.

Magic.

Aside from the McDonalds, there were plenty of other glamorously lit buildings after dark in the city of Durango.

The churches were first to light up as the sun set.

Sunset in Durango, Mexico.

Most streets looked pretty picture perfect.

Also fancy.

Even the pedestrian bridges were a bit fancy.

Immediately feel the need to cross this magic disco-lit bridge.

This tiny retailer of rosaries and other catholic necessities didn’t look to shabby after dark either.

This kind of bright lighting is necessary to compete as a retailer in the city of Durango.

After boldly declaring that we were probably just going in to Durango to top up on gas and groceries, we actually ended up spending several days staying in town.

We didn’t really visit any of the tourist attractions, we just sat in the plaza and watched the world go by. We enjoyed the fact that it was nothing like Mazatlán so there was no need to constantly say ‘no gracias’ to tour vendors and taxi drivers. We devoured all kinds of delicious food, some healthy, some heart-attack inducing (I’m looking at you tostilocos!). We waited until the city lit up at night and explored another area each evening.

Durango is a thriving, fun, bustling, city. Bursting at the seams with sculpture, history, culture, performance art and delicious snacks.

We’ll be back Durango, you surprised us.