(ABQ) and Farmington, N.M. (FMN) . Durango/Purgatory is located in the Southwest corner of Colorado, near the intersection of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. It's six to seven hours by car from DIA, a 340 mile drive via US-285, and three and a half to four and a half hours and 214 miles from ABQ using NM-44 and US-550.
In addition to its popular use for hangovers, prickly pear remedies have been used traditionally in Mexico for a wide variety of disorders. The heated cactus pads have served as poultices for rheumatism, and the fruit of the plant is consumed as treatment for diarrhea, asthma and gonorrhea.
Opuntia is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (O. ficus-indica). Most culinary uses of the term prickly pear refer to this species. Prickly pears are also known as tuna (fruit), sabra, nopal (paddle, plural nopales) from the Nahuatl word nÅpalli for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word nÅchtli for the fruit; or paddle cactus.