I’m really glad that my trip to Durango last spring got postponed. I just know that I would not have had as good a time as I did this past weekend back last March, when the budget was so tight and I was only starting to get comfortable in Mexico. But I just finished crunching the numbers for the past weekend and the result is rather funny….
Last spring, I had a fairly strict 300CAD or 3,700MXN budget for the trip. To be honest, I didn’t have a budget for the past weekend. I was overdue for a holiday, Mexico is inexpensive, and as long as I didn’t do a ton of shopping, I wasn’t going to worry about how much I was spending. Well, the trip, including tolls, fuel, and lodging, cost me a grand total of 388CAD or 4,750MXN! I could have afforded this trip last March!
From now on, all prices are in MXN.
Like this past spring, I started by looking for accommodation. Not knowing then that the rest of the trip would be so inexpensive, I had a paltry accommodation budget and could only look at places outside of Centro. This time, I was willing to pay up to $1,000 a night to stay somewhere decent in Centro. Turns out that I didn’t need to spend nearly that much. The Hotel Posada San Agustin, rated four-stars by TripAdvisor reviewers, was right in the heart of Centro and a basic room was a mere $600 a night! Now, I knew I was getting a two-star room in a four-star hotel, but that was perfect for me. I wasn’t going to spend that much time in my room anyway! This hotel also offered free parking, which was very important! I will have pictures in due time. 🙂
That out of the way, I took advantage of not having a proofing shift on Thursday to head out for three nights. The plan was to drive the new toll road to Durango and the old libre back. I decided to do it in this order for a number of reasons, including that the libre takes several hours to drive and you ‘gain’ an hour on the trip back to Maz due to a time zone change, while ‘losing’ one on the way to Durango. I also preferred to do a narrow twisty road that would take who knows how long with home at the other end and I also preferred to coast downhill than burn a ton of gas climbing the switchbacks.
So with all that bla bla bla out of the way, let’s head to Durango!
ok…waiting at the edge of my seat 🙂 😉
Don’t get too comfortable. I will be posting over the next day or two. 🙂 But glad to have you on board!
Yep, been waiting for your update. I’ll be here.
Next post drive (to Durango) scheduled for about 6:15 PM MST. The one for the hotel will be posted around 8:15MST time. Then posts about the weekend over the course of tomorrow and possibly Tuesday (not sure how many I’ll have).
I’d have lots of trouble with that exchange rate. The idea of paying thousands of dollars for things is hard to swallow even though they are cheap dollars. I’d have to be doing conversions all the time to remind myself how cheap things really are.
Linda, it still occasionally trips me up! I just try to remember to take off a zero and then be happy when I put the money in my budget that the item is even cheaper that! For example, for 100 pesos, I think that I’m paying 10CAD, but it’s really 8CAD!
I don’t need to convert all the time, though. Just when I’m buying something I’m not used to buying. I was at a used book store and was offered a super gorgeous leather-bound tome for $150 and it wasn’t until I left (having bought another book for $75), that it hit me that that book would have been a huge bargain! But huge was another reason I didn’t get it. 🙂
I understand your logic on your driving routes. We did both last year on the way to and from Mazatlan. This year, if we still go to the island, we will use the Espinazo del Diablo. We loved the scenery and could do some boondocking there as well.
I actually spent quite a bit of time on your blog yesterday doing research about the Espinazo del Diablo! Having now done both the 40 and 40D, I know I did each in the right direction for this occasion. I also doubt that I’d do the 40 again. It was fun once, but the two hours saved are worth $500 to me. Things would be different if I had an RV, I think. 🙂
Next time I go to Durango, it’ll be by bus!