Feb 18th - 25th - Copper Canyon trip

Feb 18th - Mon - San Carlos
We are not doing much these days - I am trying not to overuse my ankle so it is keeping us close to the rig. I talked to Marg (sister) & Georgia (friend) on Skype for quite a while - got cut off from Marg a couple of times but had a nice, uninterrupted chat with Georgia. I also updated the blog but haven’t yet put any more pictures on the internet.
Terry and our neighbor Les checked midday and the glass bottom boat was going out today. But when we all showed up at 5 the wind had come up and the guide said it would be best not to go out. He said it would not be much fun. He offered us a margarita anyhow but we decided to go to Charly’s Rock for a drink instead.
I made the new recipe with prawns and it was wonderful! It is a fairly basic scampi recipe with butter, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice but it also has cointreau (orange liqueur) added at the end. The liquid is boiled down and served over rice - truly delicious.

Feb 19th- Tues - San Carlos
Another slow day. Packed for our upcoming Copper Canyon trip and the guys played golf in the afternoon. I made another trip to the lot with some of Dolly’s stuff and another opportunity to acclimate Dolly to the “babysitters”.

Feb 20th - Wed - to El Fuerte
Terry dropped Dolly off at the lot and we (Rick & Pat and us) left for El Fuerte in Rick’s truck just before 8. You head basically south and then turn east for about 25 miles. There are 3 toll stops - 59 pesos each (approx $5.90) - and some federal checkpoints. We were asked for paperwork and Rick’s drivers license to support the vehicle permit at one stop. The person obtaining the permit must always be in the vehicle but does not have to be driving. One checkpoint had a huge line of trucks heading north. We started counting part way through the line and estimated that there were 200 trucks in line. The federales are checking for contraband.
The highway we traveled is good. Still not much shoulder but divided 4 lane. All along the way, people were cutting grass in the median for their animals. They would carry it on bicycles and wagons pulled by horses or donkeys. There were also animals tethered in the median for grazing. In one short section, men had large bags with a square opening and we finally realized that they were harvesting grass seed from mature grass along the median by dragging the edge of the bag over the grass. They had huge bags full.
We drove through Obregon with a stop at Wal Mart for some wine. Once we turned off the highway, we stopped on a side road to eat the lunch that we had packed.
We arrived at El Fuerte about 1:30 and checked into the Choza Hotel. Quite interesting - Rick makes a turn off the road right through a driveway in the outer “wall” of the hotel that is closed with metal gates at night. Our room was very colorful with 2 purple walls, 2 walls with beige on top and yellow on the bottom, pink curtains, bright gold bedspreads and a domed brick ceiling. The inner courtyard was very nicely landscaped and had several large parrots and other birds loose and in cages in a gazebo.
We walked around the town a bit and then relaxed with a drink. We went to a nice bar that has Zorro appearing many evenings along with a 3 piece band. El Fuerte is the said to be the birthplace of Don Alejandro de la Vega - Zorro - so a young man puts on a fun show as Zorro. We returned to our hotel for dinner and then tried to sleep on very hard mattresses.

Feb 21st - Thurs - to Creel
As we are staying at the Choza again when we come back, we can leave the truck in their courtyard while we are gone. After we had breakfast at the hotel, a taxi arrived to take us to the train station. The driver made an entry in his calendar to pick us up when we come back.
The train was a customary one hour late so we boarded at 9:30. We got seats across from each other and Rick & Pat gave us the more scenic side since they have been on the trip previously. The scenery is quite uneventful for the first few hours. It is interesting as there are many different trees, shrubs and cacti and you pass many small villages.
There were 2 tour groups on the train and they reserved the dining car for them - one group from 11 to 12 and the other from 12 to 1. So we had to wait until after 1 to have lunch - good thing we had a few snacks as breakfast was pretty early. There is also a bar car on the train but it was hard to find seats on the “scenic side”.
As the railroad climbs, the view starts to become more scenic. The vegetation changes to include evergreen trees. The railroad is quite an engineering feat with many tunnels and trestles. One tunnel does a 180 degree turn inside the mountain and climbs 100 feet before exiting. You then pass over the section of rail that you were just on in order to climb sharply. In another section, the train comes down one side of a valley, loops around the end on a large, curved bridge, climbs the other side and then makes another turn to end up above and parallel to the previous track. Our destination, Creel, is at 8000 feet above sea level and El Fuerte is not very far above sea level so there is a huge elevation change.
The train stopped in San Rafael for a crew change and women with baskets for sale came to the side of the train and you could make purchases from the platforms between cars. Pat bought a basket but I wanted to wait until I could look at items more closely. We also had a 15 minute stop at Divisadero where you could leave the train. There are lots of little stalls with stuff for sale and a lookout over the canyon. We grabbed a Tshirt for Terry and snapped some pictures before we had to re-board the train.
We arrived at Creel about 4:45 and were taken by bus to the Best Western Hotel. We had very nice, large rooms on the second floor - oversized king bed, gas fireplace, vaulted ceiling and a bright green accent wall this time. We had a drink in the bar while we decided on a tour for tomorrow, returned to the room for one drink and then went to another hotel down the street for dinner.

Feb 22nd - Fri - Creel
Creel is a very nice, clean town. The main street has lots of shops & hotels.
We had breakfast this morning at our hotel and met our tour guide - Pepe - at 9. We had the kitchen prepare box lunches for us - sandwich, bottle of juice, bottle of water, chips, cookies and an orange. Pepe is the guide that Rick & Pat had 3 years ago. He speaks very good English, is a real chatterbox and a lot of fun. We had a 4-wheel drive Toyota pickup for our trip. A high step up with low head clearance so a challenge for me to get into and the first thing Rick did was smack his head on the roof when he got in.
We had arranged for a 4 ½ hour tour which ended up being 5 hours. I will hit the highlights but can’t get into all the details in the blog or I won’t get this posted for 2 more days!
One the way to a church & museum at Cusarare, Pepe pointed out some rock formations with names - elephant & face - and gave us a lot of information about the area. The church & museum where locked so we watched an old guy carving wooden spoons while Pepe found someone to open the buildings. Apparently, the buildings were not open as the Jesuits who own them had not paid the young lady with the keys. The museum contained large paintings that had been rescued from churches (where they were being damaged) and had been restored. There were photos of the pictures prior to restoration and it is amazing what can be done to them.
Everywhere tourists go, women & children appear from nowhere with goods to sell. Sometimes they wait for you to approach their display laid out on blankets on the ground and sometimes children come running to try to sell things. We ended up buying the wooden spoons which are made from madronna trees - very hard, heavy wood.
Next was a drive over rough, dirt roads and through small rivers to the Cusarare waterfall. There is a short walk through rocks & woods to the falls and the path is lined with women selling baskets, weaving and other handmade items. Pepe said they walk about 6 kilometers each way each day to be there. All this is as interesting as the falls themselves which had a low amount of water running over them but were still pretty.
We stopped at a lake and walked down to the shore to eat our lunch. We did not take very long as a couple of hungry dogs, some children and a old man showed up to see what we would give them.
We went to a Tarahumara settlement where we visited the Valley of the Monks and a cave dwelling. The Valley of the Monks has huge rock freestanding columns with many colors of what appears to be lichen but we don’t know what it was. This area is currently being developed for easier tourist access. The cave dwelling is one still inhabited by 3 Tarahumara families. It is black from smoke and there is a private sleeping area for each family. And there is the ever-present display of goods to buy which seems a contradiction to their desire to maintain native ways.
Our last stop was at the “Mushrooms” which are more rock formations that do look like mushrooms. One the way back we passed “the saddle” and “frogs” rocks.
After a quick stop in our room to wash off some dust, we went walking & shopping in town. Unfortunately, it was siesta time so many stores where closed. It seemed like a good time to go back to the room so I could get my foot up for a while. We went back for a little more shopping before Pepe walked us to a restaurant that he recommended for dinner. It was on “the wrong side of the tracks” and we bought beer across the street to have with our dinner. We had barbequed chicken (over a wood fire), pork shank and carne asada which was beef that was too tough to chew. A good experience but not one that any of us wanted to repeat. Then we had to walk back to the hotel though areas that might have been scary in other towns. We listened to Pepe singing in the bar for a bit and then called it a day - actually called it a great day!

Feb 23rd - Sat - to El Fuerte
We did not have to catch the train until 11:15 today so we walked to another hotel for breakfast and then wandered though town some more. There were a couple of tours getting on the train again but Pat looked after us by squeezing past people and getting us some seats.
We were having a beer in the bar car when we stopped at Divisidero and Pat & I decided that we wanted to try a taco that we had seen on the trip up. So we got some and had them with our drink. I was riding backwards and I don’t know exactly what caused it but I started to feel sick. The rest of the trip was pretty miserable for me with trips to the - luckily - nearby restroom and to the platform between cars for fresh air.
It was a long ride back. We had already seen the sights and the train had to slow down after dark to watch for cows on the track. We were an hour late so pulled in about 7:30 and our taxi was waiting for us.
I crawled into bed while the others sat out on the lovely porch and had a drink. Pat was not hungry so we sent Terry & Rick to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

Feb 24th - Sun - back to San Carlos
I managed one piece of toast and Imodium for the drive back to San Carlos. When we were having breakfast, there were mainly school kids assembling as if for a parade but our waiter did not speak English so we did not know where it was or when it would start so we carried on after a hotel employee juggled some vehicles around so Rick could get his truck out.
We went via Los Mochis, which is near the coast, just to see a bit more country and the road is considerably better than part of the one we came in on. We stopped at the Wal Mart in Obregon again for a few groceries and to grab lunch at McDonalds. Even in Mexico, the Wal Marts have McDonalds!
We got back about 2:30, dumped our stuff and went to pick up Dolly. She did very well while we were gone and provided endless entertainment for the lot inhabitants as they discussed what they could do to her and take pictures for us. I was still feeling pretty queasy so ate very little dinner as I looked forward to sleeping in my own bed.

Feb 25th - Mon - San Carlos
Rick came to the door this morning to let me know that I could use the line to do laundry as Pat was sick and they would not be doing laundry as planned. So we did laundry, went to the lot to pick up our keys which we had forgotten and got some groceries. Pat was in bed nearly all day - rallied enough to shower and dress and bring her soup over while we included Rick in our hamburger dinner. Half a hamburger for me as things are still unsettled stomach-wise. Food does not sound or smell good.
Watched some TV, started the blog entry and crashed.