After the Mazatlán Marathon: Cosalá

The Route: Mazatlán → Cosalá (1 night) → Mazatlán Logistics: Around 150 km east, roughly 2.5 hours. The route runs north on the highway then inland on a mountain road. A hire car or a private transfer is required; there is no practical scheduled service for a visitor. Marathon Month: September Duration: 1 night

Mazatlán (sea level) ──(≈2.5 hrs, 150 km)──> Cosalá (Sierra Madre foothills)

Cosalá is the counterweight to a week on the Pacific: a mining town founded in the middle of the sixteenth century, sitting in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental with about five thousand people in it. Silver and gold came out of the hills here for three hundred years. The town is one of Mexico's designated Pueblos Mágicos, which in practice means the centre has been kept intact and the streets are cobbled.

The reason to come the week of a marathon is the elevation. Mazatlán in September is hot and heavy; Cosalá is high enough that the evenings cool down properly, which is the difference between sleeping and not.

The town

The centre is small enough to walk in a morning and the walking is on cobbles with some gradient, so take it slowly. The parish church of Santa Úrsula stands on the main plaza, and the mining museum in an old house off it covers the three centuries of extraction that paid for everything around it. The houses are single-storey and tile-roofed, painted, with barred windows onto the street.

There is not a great deal to do, which is the point. Sit on the plaza in the evening when the town comes out.

The country around it

The hills around Cosalá hold the things that fill a second day. Vado Hondo, a set of pools and small waterfalls on a river a short drive from town, is the usual local excursion and involves a walk in on a rough track. The Nuestra Señora reserve nearby protects a stretch of dry tropical forest.

September is at the end of the rainy season here, so the rivers are running and the hills are green, which is the best they look all year. It also means the unpaved tracks can be soft, so ask locally before committing a hire car to one.

Where to Stay and Eat

Where to stay: A handful of small hotels and guesthouses around the centre, converted from town houses. Book ahead: there are not many rooms and this is not a place with an overflow.

Where to eat: The plaza restaurants serve Sinaloan food, which inland means more beef, machaca and stews than the coastal shrimp. Portions are large and prices are a fraction of Mazatlán's.

Getting Home

Back to Mazatlán is the same 2.5 hours, and Mazatlán International is a further 30 minutes south of the city. Drive the mountain section in daylight in both directions: the road is unlit and shared with livestock.