Land Trip to Copper Canyon

Each time we have taken a land trip in Mexico we have seen a “different” Mexico. And this latest trip to the Copper Canyon was no exception. Copper Canyon? I had never heard of it before coming to Mexico on Charm. I wonder why. It makes the Grand Canyon in the US seem insignificant by comparison.

What is referred to as the Copper Canyon is, in fact, a series of six canyons. Which one is which is hard to discern when you are viewing them from rims and ridges. But one thing is for sure, they are spectacular! The ride on the train called Chepe makes the visit all the more special. We spent quite a few hours riding the rails and visiting the “bar car” and the dining car.
Linda Winn, Marcy and I started this trip with a 6 hour Northerly bus ride from Mazatlan to Los Mochis. Mochis is a very thriving and alive city, but we couldn’t stop this time. A taxi driver named Victor met us at the bus station and drove us for about an hour to El Fuerte (The Fort). We checked into the Hotel El Fuerte which is a lovely old building which was converted from a hacienda into a hotel starting about 30 years ago. The main part of the building is 350 years old. It is a beautiful hotel with lots of art and pottery and antiques displayed everywhere. We took a quick walk a few blocks down to the plaza and the business end of town. Lots of people out and about. After dinner at the hotel, we went to our rooms to rest up for Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning we were taken to the train station and boarded for a 4 hour ride to Bahuichivo where again we were met and escorted to our hotel Paraiso del Oso near the town of Cerocahui. Many of the names of places in this region are of Indio origin. This hotel was the most basic of the six we stayed in during the trip. The heat was provided by a wood burning stove which had to be refilled with pine logs every 3 hours. It reminded me of the kind of place you might find in the Dakotas or Montana where you would vacation while hunting, fishing or horseback riding. Actually, they did offer riding as an activity, but we chose not to do it. We did, however, do our first canyon tour with Hugo, the son of the owner of the hotel. All the hotels had their own kitchens and provided us with some great meals. But the weather has turned really cold. Overnight the temps got down to below freezing. It reminded us that we were indeed in the mountains, over 7,000 feet above our accustomed sea level.

The next morning, Linda put on her jeans and fleece jacket and headed out with Hugo and 3 TexMex young ladies for a hike to a waterfall. Marcy and I stayed back this time and wished we had brought some warmer clothes. We left in the afternoon by Chepe train again, destination Creel. It was about a 3 hour ride and the scenery was getting more awesome by the kilometer. We stayed this time in a relatively new hotel which was duplex log cabins. Linda was in a single under the same roof as our double. Still very cold. The electric wall heaters barely kept up and we ended up opening the adjoining doors so we could share the heat. This hotel was similar in style to the American KOA. There was a campground onsite with pull thru’s and the cabins. But the cabins here were very nice and had the best beds we had yet experienced. And the main building had a restaurant/bar and a gift shop which had some much needed sweat shirts.
In the afternoon we did a short tour of some cave dwellings where local Indios lived much like they have for centuries. We also saw some really neat rock formations in the shapes of mushrooms and frogs. The next morning after a short walk to town we had desayuno (breakfast) in a local restaurant. Next stop; hotel Mansion Tarahumara, my favorite. The hotel was sited on the hillside above the train tracks and small village and had brick spires and turrets in red and white which you could see for a long distance. The hosts here were especially helpful and concerned for our comfort. We did a fabulous walking tour with Ubaldo. While Ubaldo did not speak English, all he really needed to do was walk us around the other side of hotel hill and voila—super views of the canyons. And we visited some of the homes of the hill people who are known as Tarahumara. They wear very bright colored clothing and are either terrific artisans who turn out baskets and carved wooden pieces or they are sales people taking care of the business end of the craft making.
The next day (Friday I think!) we got on the tour bus with Jorge and he took us to see our absolute best views of the canyons. This in an area called Divisadero and if I understood his Spanish correctly, we would be able to see three different canyons here, the middle being Canyon de Cobre or Copper Canyon. But really, you could not tell the difference. What you saw was hundreds of miles of deep, jagged rock canyons with small trees that somehow grew out of the cracks in the rock. On this tour I think we got some of our best pictures. And there was a suspension walkway over a deep corner of the canyon that nearly takes the breath away as you walk along holding tightly to the chain links that keep you secure.
Marcy and Linda bought some (all?) of the baskets the Tarahumara women wove and they are really beautiful works.

Back to Los Mochis. It’s Friday afternoon and we ride the train for about 6 hours and then transfer to a bus. We were met at the station and went on to our hotel, the Santa Anita. This is an ultra modern, well appointed hotel in the Centro of Los Mochis. On Saturday we board the TAP bus for our return to Mazatlan.
Everything on this trip went well. We booked the tour through Rails NW which we would recommend. We were warned about the possibility of cold weather, but we just couldn’t quite believe it. After all, every day in Mazatlan is in the 80s and the only time we wear long sleeves is to dress up. Linda was a great travel partner and she writes a very interesting blog about her and Wally’s Mexican life aboard the sailboat Andanzas.
Hasta la vista Amigos.