After our very short night in Los Mochie's Michael and I boarded the Chihuahua to the Pacific train (Chepe) at 6:00 in the morning. The first hour or so wasn't so exciting, and was a little annoying. We asked the conductor to move us to a seat with a better window view as our assigned spot had half a window and a wall. We were told they would check and get right back to us, three hours later we still hadn't heard anything. After the second stop though, we got a hold of the right person and were relocated to awesome seats just as the sceneary really began to get spectacular. The ride lasted almost 11 hours due mostly to the really slow pace of the train, but it didn't feel long at all. We spent much of the time standing in between two cars and feeling the mountain air and taking in the scenery which included lakes, canyons, pine forests, rock formation, mesas, and other breathtaking works of art. There were lots of retired American tourists on the train making valient attepts to walk back and forth from their seats to the dining car without falling over. We ate lunch in the dinning car, the food wasn't anything special, especially for the price, but the views were just incredible! Michael, who has really been the designated photographer, took lots of pictures that we will post up for you once we get home. We were given about 10 minutes to hop off the train in Divisadero where we were treated to a view of the actual "Copper Canyon" which lends its name to the whole region, which is made up of a series of canyones which in total make up a larger and deeper gouge in the earth than the Grand Canyon. We may be partial because of our home state, but although the Copper Canyon was gorgeous, and nothing to turn up your nose at, we still feel like the Grand Canyon takes the cake when it comes to breathtaking views. It is possible to get on and off the train for as many days as you want up to three times with the same ticket and we would love to come back sometime and get off at more of the little towns along the way. The towns, more than being attractions in themselves, serve as jumpping off points for hiking, biking, camping, and generally enjoying the incredible outdoors.
We stopped on this journey at the town of Creel, which is probably the most popular of the stops and for good reason. We stayed at a hostel, Casa Margaritas, that included both breakfast and dinner in the cost of the room and had a very cozy comfy warm bed, good for the cold nights. The scenery around Creel was spectacular. It is pine forest mixed with planes and incredible rocky formations. We rented mountian bikes to explore on our own rather than opting for an organized tour. Michael had a really bad cold (which he has now passed on to me, and is sadly not totally over it himself either), and was coughing and sniffling, but was a total trooper in staying out on the bike for almost 4 whole hours). We saw two small rock groups called the Valley of the Mushrooms and the Valley of the Frogs, which were neat but seemed a little like scrapping for tourist attractions. One of the rocks really did look like a frog though, we were skeptical as to the natural origions of all of the mushroom rocks though, since one of the biggest had cement around its base, making it look a little like it had been fabricated. The third area, the Valley of the Monks, however, was breathtaking. In the native Tahamurah language, the name of the area translates to Valley of the Erect Penises, to give you an idea of the form that the rocks take. The rocks were towering columns, and the lichens gave them huges of green and yellow along with the grey of the rock and the stunning blue of the sky behind. We also made a quick detour in the Cave of San Sebastian, which was one of the most awkward parts of the ride. The cave is actually the home of a Tahamura family, and one of the young boys stands at the opening of the home with a small basket with a sign asking for donations. The girls sell woven pine baskets inside. As we approached no one greeted us or explained anything about the site or about themselves or seemed to really acknowldge the random foreginers wandering into their home. Mind you this was on the map given to us by the hostel and is included on many of the packaged tours, so we weren't just randomly wandering into someones house either. The attemps by the native cultures to capitalize on the growing tourism industry makes for some strange and somewhat awkward encounters. The tourists bring money which is good, but the closing in on these cultures of the modern world also brings about a lot of problems and the loss of many cultural traditions.
In town we bought lots of the pine woven baskets some from sellers on the street but most from a shop which uses its proceeds to support the Mission that provides health care for the Tahamura people in the region. We met lots of nice travelers during our two dinners at Casa Margaritas. These meals felt a lot like summer camp, everyone eatting together at long tables and being served the same meal, the quality of which was about equal to summer camp fare.
On Monday morning Michael had an interview via Skype with TUSD. We had asked the local computer place to open a few minutes early so that he could be ready and waiting for them but as happens in Mexico, they weren't open still at 9 when they normally say they open. I was running all over trying to find somewhere to at least let me grab the number off an email so we could try the interview committee by phone. I found one at 3 Amigos Tours, but by then the other cafe had opened and Michael had started to make contact. There were a few sound difficulties at first, but by around 9:15 they were moving comfortably through the interview. He felt okay but not great about it and is hoping he gets the chance for a second interview in person, without a copy machine running behind him and the stress of Mexican bussiness hours hangging over his head.
At 1 we caught the bus for Chihuahua, which felt to me a very long ride. The bus had way less leg room than usual and a yucky bathroom. On top of that the driver was showing a trilogy of Charles Bronson films, which were really inappropriate for a bus with children (and me) on it. Lots of violence, bad language, and sex, and various combinations of these. It took a whole hour from the time we got into the city to when we finally arrived at the bus station. This city is HUGE. The area of it feels even bigger than Puebla, although Puebla had a bigger population. We bought our tickets for the bus home to Nogales then took a cab to our hostel. We are right across from the train station, very convient if we were getting back on the train, but a little far from the center of town, despite the websites promise that it is just 5 minutes from the center. As it turns out that is okay because now that we have found the center it isn't super exciting. What is exciting are my boots. I have wanted cowboy boots and have been waiting for Chihuahua which is renowned for its boots to get some. Sadly there is much greater variety for men than for women and while the men have colors ranging from lavender, pink, and teal to blue, brown, and yellow, women's boots are mostly black, brown, or pink and there are very few in each store. I ended up finding a pair I really liked though at Jar Boots, which seemed to have the best selection of women's boots of everywhere we looked (which was a lot of stores, ask Michael, he was a trooper about shoe shopping with me). Sadly, the store that sells vanilla seems to have moved or went out of bussiness. After lunch we will look around to see if we can find some elsewhere.
Tonight our bus leaves at 7:30 to Nogale and gets in around the same time tomorrow morning. From there we will take a bus back up to Tucson and our Mexcellent Adventure will have come to an end. This won't be our last post though as we have the bus journey and more photos for you when we get home. We can't wait to talk to you all in person soon!
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