Today we saw the true beauty of Mexico. Beautiful lava rocks and waterfalls near La Ciudad, curvy roads on big mountains in between Durango and Mazatlan – with big roadworks and engineering projects – and a tourist-free ocean in Novillero. We started of the day by crossing small Mexican towns.

When visiting the waterfall of ‘La Ciudad’ we came across the first challenge of the day: a big water pool in the middle of the road. We didn’t want to stress Rodrigo too much – it was already a very bumpy ride to this spot – so we parked the car and continued on foot. This didn’t stop others from crossing the water though. 🙂

Surprisingly we came across these bizarre looking rocks when walking up to the waterfall. We’re not sure how they got formed but they looked amazing!

  

After the walk back, we continued our drive but we had to take a de-tour across the mountains as the highway was still being worked on. There was also fog rising from the valley which made it extra difficult to see anyone behind the corner.

And then … le moment suprème du jour: the Tropic of Cancer, the most northern point on our planet where the sun can shine right above your head! Patrick was very proud to be crossing this imaginary line by car! We started our journey at 49° N, we are now at 23°26′ N (although the line shifts a bit every year). Next stop – the equator!

We were happy to be back on the straight highway after turning from one corner into the other and being almost killed 3 times by a truck coming from the other direction in the wrong lane. So we were happy to see that Mexico also has tunnels.

After a long drive we finally saw our destination ‘Playas de Novillero’ getting closer. We could already spot the ocean from the car. We had read about a restaurant ‘Su Amigo Manuel’ that also lets you camp outside, so we went looking for it. It was not difficult to find in a village with only one road. 🙂 We parked the car on the beach and enjoyed the sunset with cameron and pescado frito from another local restaurant!