Chihuahua, Mexico
Our
trip to Copper Canyon was with two other cruisers Barbara and Ernie Taylor
from Victoria B.C.s/vLady Tamora. We left Mazatlan Marina via a taxi to
go to Estrella Blanca bus 
terminal
downtown. It took us on a 7hr. bus trip to Los Mochis, there we caught
a local bus for a 1 hr ½ trip to a wonderful quaint town of El
Fuerte, Sinola Mexico. It is here we began our Copper Canyon Excursion.
We were recommended by other cruisers to stay at the Rio Vista Hotel however
when we got there they were full so Chaul the owner and tour operated
brought us to Hotel El Fuerte and arranged for us to have two rooms at
his prices. El Fuerte is an authentic Spanish Hacienda built more than
350 years ago. History elegance and comfort was certainly there.
The town of El Fuerte is at the beginning of the Copper Canyon and the
Sierra Tarahumara.
The town is a quaint colonial town founded in 1564 by Spanish Conquistador.
It was an important military post of the Spaniards in their conquest of
North Western Mexico and California. The fort was a stronghold of fortification
from the Yaqui and Mayo Indians. The settlement eventually flourished
and for three centuries became principal commercial and farming center
and a major trading post for silver miners. We walked thru the town and
went to the fort as well as a little park. In the park there is a tree
totally debarked and the locals did some beautiful carvings on it instead
of removing it. Next morning after a good breakfast we went to the train
station.
There
are two trains a day to Creel a city near the top of the Canyons. 
One
is called the Primo and the other Economica. They are supposed to run
one hour apart and the Local (economica) takes about one hour longer cause
it has more stops. We opted to do the local, which was an hour later and
long however a better ride. We saw many villages as well as photo opportunities
because it wasn’t as crowded with tourists.
Made
friends with the dinning car and they prepared and taught Rich how to
make and eat Ceviche.
We only went a little more then half way the first day, recommended by
Chaul to stop overnight a Barrancas/Divisadero. He made reservations for
us with Maria Barrancas at Hotel Mansion Tarahumara” El Castillo”.
A little history about the Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre). And it’s
railway. It is in North West Mexico created more than 60 million years
of erosion, volcanic eruptions and faults. The name is a misnomer for
it is a series of seven canyons with the railway going thru most of Copper
Canyon known for it’s color. Silver was the main ore in theses canyons.
The area is apparently four times larger then the Grand Canyon and about
1000 feet deeper. Four of the seven canyons are deeper then the Grand
Canyon. As you see we feel they should not even be compared for they are
both a fantastic work of nature. Elevations in these areas range from
sea level to 7-9000 feet.
The Copper Canyon is home to the Tarahumara Indians. Of all the natives
in Mexico they have been most successful in preserving their centuries
old Culture by living in the shadows of the mountains and isolation of
the caves set deep in canyons.
The Tarahumara are known for running feats, marathons of stamina that
can last 3-4 days and nights. They have a game their athletic event as
we may call it “kickball”. They make a wooden ball and in
teams to a designated length be it 10 kil. or 40kil. or even longer depending
on the destination. They barefoot kick this wooden ball and obviously
the first team to the finish is the winner.
There is an abundance of incomparable Flora and Fauna and a large number
of rare species found in this part of the world. The plateaus are covered
with vast forests, which are mainly pines but also include oak madrone
juniper and poplar. The vegetation at the bottom of the canyons is a variety
of cactuses of all different sizes. Also there were many shrubs and bushes
and an array of semi-arid and semi-tropical, depending entirely on the
humidity and microclimate. We went in early December and our temperatures
ranged from early morning in Creel elevation of 8,000 at about 40 degrees
to bottom temps. of 70 degrees. They say however it was unusually warm
for that time of the year.
The Copper Canyon Train or known as the Chihuahua al Pacifico railway traverses the spectacular scenery of the rugged Sierra Madre Mountains from Los Mochis to Chihuahua. The rail line began in the 19thcentury envisioned as the shortest trade route between Kansas and Mexico’s Pacific coast. It was finally finished in 1961;it made engineering history and work was delayed during the Revolution of 1910. The years of intermittent construction, crossing the Sierra Madres entailed 39 bridges and 87 tunnels to move this train from sea level to a maximum altitude of 8,056 feet. The Chihuahua al Pacifico was privatized in 1998,the owner Ferro-Mex. It now has refurbished first class passenger tourist train, and the Local second-class, which is where you get the real Mexican experience. Also there are a few deluxe private cars sharing the rails for tour groups based U.S.
Back to our adventure: We took the second-class train to Barancass and
Maria’s van was waiting to take us to Hotel Mansion Tarahumara.
We were the only people staying there. A German tour group had cancelled
the day before however the staff was ready and working just for the four
of us. This hotel is owned by Maria and her brothers and it seems some
of the cabins are for the family. The architecture was medieval time castle
with individual cabins. 
After dinner in which there was no menu we retired to our rooms with TV
some English and had a fairly good night’s sleep. Pat had to have
a little altitude adjustment but after that was fine. Early morning found
us walking slowly to one of the rims for a beautiful view and at least
four of the canyons. After a full breakfast we took a tour with Victor
Maria's brother to three rims. At each stop the Indians were there selling
their wares. beautiful baskets and jewelry. Along one of the rims vantage
point that our guide went out on is called the “balancing rock”
another thing we saw was “the ladder” which is an actual ladder
that Tarahumaras use to go in and out of the canyon’s everyday.
He also took us to Divisadero the next town. Divisadero offers more magnifiant
panoramic views.
Finished
our tour by noon we got
packed up and made the two o’clock prima train to Creel. The train
was crowded with guided tours and only about one and half hours to Creel.
One of the highlights was however the train makes a 20 min. stop at Divisadero
for the view and more so there were about hundred food vendors selling
the best gorditos, burritos, chili rellaneos we have had so far. It is
amazing to notice the creativity of Mexican cooks to see over 200 litre
barrels converted into grills to keep the food hot. Some of the canyon
names are Copper Canyon the most famous, Urique Canyon being the deepest
La Buffa Canyon Tejaban Canyon ElGallego Canyon and Batopilas Canyon andSinforosa
Canyon being the most beautiful. I believe are the names of them all.
At the train station in Creel there were hotels to meet you however we
had again been recommended by cruisers to stay at Casa de Margarita it
is a hostel as well as a hotel and meals were included and served family
style in a loud communal dinning room.
The
room was the size of the double bed and a clean bathroom. Someone described
it as “a work in progress hotel” or demolition I’m not
sure
.
We walked around Creel, which is a unique town; it is where the train
meets the bus. We found a Touring Expedition by Tres Amigos, Evan, and
Yolanda Salvadore. They were renting 2001 Nissan trucks for five to be
rented for 24 or 34 hr. to self-drive with a guided map, lunch table chairs
and white tablecloth provided. Recommended “only for the adventurous”
and so we were. We also had met three young guys two Aussi brothers (Bart
and Jarred Chapman) and Dan from the UK. They too wanted to ride with
us which meant at all times two people had to be in the back.
Once out of town about 9:30 am we started our down ride of the Upper Sierra
and the Tarahumara cultures. It also encompassed two Jesuit Missions San
Ignacio and Cusarare
.
We stopped at Lake Arareko, which means horseshoe in Tarahumara. It's
an artificial lake built as reservoir
The best of the missions is the cusare, which has early 18th century collection
of sacred art collections. The museum was named after St.Ignatius the
founder
of the Jesuits, in recognition of his desire to glorify in the human arts
that which is of divine status. Most of these 18th century works are of
the painter Miguel Correa. The waterfalls of Cusarare are not very high
except after the rainy season however it was a good hike after we drove
part of the way thru creeks and back yards( adventure moment) Besides
canyon crossings we went thru some Tarahumara villages hidden deep in
the mountains, you could see caves where they stored there veggies for
winter. 
We stopped by the roadside for our catered lunch in the town of Basihuare
that in Tarahumara language means “belt” The village gets
it’s name from a huge wall that surrounds it and resembles a large
belt. The drop in the canyon road found us on a 1000meters vertical drop.
Then all the way to the river and then continues along the canyon all
the way to Batopilas. Then of course there are a few bridges to cross,
yes man made Mexican style. No need for rails over the Batopilas River
as there were no side rails on the dirt zigzag road either.(Adventure
moment classified as :Are we crazy?)
Continuing down the road we were to arrive in Batopilas in about two more
hours according to the guide.?? As we came closer to the bottom of the
Canyon and closer to the river on the opposite bank you could see an aqueduct
of an ingenious design by an American Alexander Shepherd at the end of
the 19th century. The aqueduct was built to provide hydroelectric plant
to provide the town electricity. Batopilas was the second place
in all of Mexico to have electricity After
Driving a long dusty road and someone counted 20 switchbacks besides the
vertical drop, we arrived in Batopilas at 6:00pm. The tour buses take
5 hours and because we had our own car and time we could have more stops
and “adventures’ which we did. It was a great way to go and
no one talked about going back yet. We were in sub tropical conditions
about 500ft. above sea level in a town of 1200 inhabitants. We arrived
at Hotel Real Batopilas ?? Recommended by Tres Amigos It was pretty and
nice courtyard which we enjoyed, clean and accommodating however there
were only two rooms left and were in front and so noisy with barking dogs
all night. We walked to the plaza and had a nice dinner at Carolyn’s
home. For breakfast we found another nice restaurant in the other direction
called Reyna’s I think. The town is small streets probably not made
for cars and so especially tour vans and Nissan trucks. There is a gold
mining operation along the river and some abandoned silver mines and also
a few working ones which we were not privy to explore. We took the truck
however into the next town of Satevo to find what is called “The
Lost Cathedral” founded by the Jesuits in the 17th century and later
taken over like a lot of the missions by the Franciscans and converted
into monasteries. Apparently it was never lost so how it got its name
no one knows, it is on the main road of the Camino Real. The architecture
and materials are not of adobe and interesting. One guide told us $$$
were raised in the states and materials and then built here by the locals.
A legend unknown I guess.
A
good day and a half of touring which you could spend much
more time down in Batopilas however we had to have the truck back, so
we bought some lunch makings said goodbye and got back in the truck for
the ride uphill, zig zag and switchbacks. We took almost 7hrs back to
Creel stopping and picnicking. We then stopped at one family cave of the
Tarahumara Indians and took some pictures and showed to them which they
enjoyed.
We stopped at a little town of La Buffa which the hillsides were formed by erosions.
When we got to Creel we got reservations at the Plaza Margarita Hotel,
which was much nicer and included sit down tablecloths
and served meals. We returned the truck after refueling and laughed with
the Amigos about our adventure.
Creel on Sunday morning was a little cool about 48. We went for a walk
a mass in Spanish at the local church, which was a happy community. We
decided to take the bus to Chihuahua today which is about a 5-6 hour drive
and spend the night there and take the bus all the way back to Mazatlan
instead of the train in order to see different scenery.
Chihuahua is a very old town full of museums and history and beautiful
architecture. Our problem was Monday most of the museums are closed however
we got a nice feeling for the town and would return. We found a hotel
downtown Hotel Parador Chihuaha. The town was ready for Christmas and
many decorations.
The next morning we took a 6hr bus ride to Gomez Palaccio . It is an industrial
town and the Hotel La Siesta wasn’t the greatest but we wound up
taking the suite which was a new tile rooms and comfortable. It was here
Pat was starting not to feel good with some kind of a flu bug and so the
smells in some of hotels due to the carpeting was bothering her. We walked
about two blocks and found a Taco Asarde stand and it was delicious and
fun. The guy taught us how to cook etc. When we returned to the hotel
about 1 hour later we got a call asking Pat if she had left her purse
there. She had and the whole life savings. The guy and girl had gone to
about at least three hotels looking for the “Americans” in
order to return this unopened purse. How’s that for honesty?? In
a foreign country? I am lucky. We left the next morning for Durango about
3 hours. Barbara and Ernie decided to stay and tour one more day but the
flu had gotten Pat and she just wanted to sleep. We took the next bus
to Mazatlan and arrived with a time change I think about 8pm. Grabbed
a cab and to the Marina we went. The trip was fantastic and we had many
adventures and enjoyed them all.
Sateveo
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