Devils backbone is here. Forget Espinoza del Diablo from Mazatlán to Durango. This here is much better. MEX 120 from Xilatla to San Juan del Rio doesnt only have more curves than the MEX 40. We have to cope with many more elevation metres and the scenic diversity is fantastic. We start in the tropical rainforest of Huasteca Potosina, spiral upwards into the biosphere reserve Sierra Gorda with dense green alpine coniferous forest fauna at more than 2500 m elevation, and just descend some hundreds of metres into the semi-desert of the central highland covered with brush and cacti.
In-between there is some fine architecture. The five missions in the northeast of the state Querétaro are only little known. They were all built by the same padre in the middle of the 18th century to convert the local indigenes. Two of the churches are situated directly along MEX 120, Landa de Matamoros and Jalpan. They were conserved with care so that their colourfully decorated facades with the unambiguously indigene elements are shown to advantage.