Hola Mexico and the Copper Canyon

So, the interesting stuff has started!

On Thursday 28th April (also Sue's birthday) we crossed from El Paso into Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, supposedly across the Rio Grande, although it can't be very grand as we never saw it. Crossing the border and obtaining the necessary Mexico vehicle insurance, tourist visas and vehicle import permits was unexpectedly straightforward and we were soon bashing our way down route 45 towards Chihuahua. The road was basically a very long, straight and boring 250 miles with nothing but a bit of scrub and a few cactuses on either side but we felt we were well and truly in Mexico - the place has become shabbier, the cars older, more battered, the facilities less or non existent and the country has a pleasantly shambolic air which we immediately took to. We arrived in Chihuahua about 6.30pm and checked into a delightful little hotel, set around a pretty plant filled courtyard, right in the city centre.  We celebrated Sue's birthday by having supper at a lovely restaurant with a balcony overlooking the cathedral.

Birthday supper at El Meson de Catedral

 

Chihuahua Cathedral

Chihuahua is a lively, vibrant city so we decided to stay on Friday as well so that we could have a look around and also have some R & R, particularly as Alan was going boss eyed from all the driving.

We met a fellow traveller also staying at the hotel, a Greek American called Nicholas, who was travelling down from Denver on his motorbike and then meeting up with his wife in southern Mexico before travelling on  down into South America. Nicholas very kindly spent over an hour sorting out our computer problems which has essentially enabled us to continue writing up the audio diary which forms the basis of our blog.

We spent much of Friday browsing the boot shops displaying completely over the top cowboy boots and then visiting a museum which is the former mansion of Pancho Villa. 

Villa was a bandit turned revolutionary, turned politician. A colourful hero, he is best known as leader of the Mexican revolution, but as much of his time was given over to robbing and womanising as to any noble cause.

Pancho Villa's bullet ridden Dodge

Pancho met his come uppance in about 1923 when someboday took him out while he was driving his Dodge through the streets. The said vehicle is in the museum together with lots of photographs of people, most of whom seem to have been either murdered or died in battle.

On Saturday we left Chihuahua and drove down to Creel, a highland town which sits on the edge of the Copper Canyon. After we left Chihuahua the scenery became progressively more interesting as we got into the hills and started climbing and climbing. It is quite chilly here which is not surprising as it is situated at about 7,500 ft. The area around Creel is covered with surreal rock formations and the

Mushroom rock in the Valley of the Frogs and Mushrooms

countryside is also where the Tarahumara, a tribe of pre Hispanic inhabitants live in caves and small houses. 

Sunday was an interesting day, most of it dramatically scenic. We started off with the assistance of Doris (our sat nav) who took us off on a dirt road into the Valley of Mushrooms and Frogs, so called because of the shape of the rock formations and then on to the Valley of the Monks or erect penises, as the local Turamahara people call it. It was after that that Doris took us completely off piste and the road became less and less of a

Tarahumara girls looking glum

track and more of an assault course. Lucy and Alan seemed to be in their element, though Sue was not.

We eventually gave up and retraced our steps back to Creel and then made our way to the Turamahara village of Cusarare. Cusarare is accessed down an exceedingly dusty track and, when you get to the end of it, what you have is a collection of houses, some buildings that might be farms,a church and a shop.

Tarahumara mother and children, all glum

A group of Tarahumara women doing nothing in particular

When we got there we came upon a load of women in brightly coloured clothes who were basically sitting and propping up the wall. We gave them some money and they seemed to be reasonably happy to be photographed although they don't really go big on toothpaste smiles, they mostly just look glum.

Beautiful Tarahumara woman with child

Two Tarahumara women giggling at the silly gringos

We then continued on our way down a very bouncy, rocky, dusty road in search of the Cusarare waterfalls, a lovely spot but the waterfall had about as much water as Alan would produce after a night on the beer. It was, however, a lovely spot and Alan saw a beautiful yellow and black butterfly that must have been 7 ins across.

We then drove some 30 km down to the Humira bridge at the bottom of the canyon which was quite staggering. We were basically driving

round the edge of the canyon and were amazed at many a bend by the vista that was opening up. At least,  Sue was amazed, Alan was more interested in keeping Lucy on the road which was narrow and had a constant series of switchbacks and hairpin bends.

One of the abiding impressions of the Copper Canyon is that it is unremittingly green and the  scent of pine trees permeates the air and enhances the constantly unfolding panorama.

Monday was an equally amazing day. We visited the Copper Canyon adventure park which is situated near the village of Divisadero on the canyon rim. There we gave ourselves the ultimate adrenalin fix by soaring over death defying drops on a series of 7 zip wires and 2 heart-in-the mouth wobbly bridges.

The longest zip line is 1.1 km long and you travel at a speed of over 60 mph!! The blog doesn't seem to be allowing captions any more but the photos speak for themselves!

On our way back from the Adventure park we drove to the Rekowata hot springs which involved quite a lot of hairpins and dirt roads which Lucy took in her stride. The car park is 3 km from the pools which are unsurprisingly at the bottom of the canyon. So, we had a 3 km walk down the track where we found several pools and had a lovely swim and then a 3 km walk back up again, but it was worth it.

Yesterday we drove a long way to the Cascada de Basaseachi, a high waterfall which falls apparently 250 metres to a pool below where you can swim. It was very hot and we decided against the trek down and back up again after all the exercise we got on Monday. Again, there was very little water in the waterfall and you get a prize for spotting it in the photograph.

Today we have stayed in Creel to catch up on admin and write the blog. Tomorrow we are heading off to stay in Urique, a village right at the very bottom of the canyon.

Since arriving in Mexico we have completely failed to find a campsite and the Overlanders handbook also states they are few and far between across Mexico. We have come across one or two camping areas with no facilities but, unless we want to wild camp all the time (which Sue definitely does not), then we will be making use of hotels rather more than we intended. In fact the locals look mildly astonished when you ask about campsites saying 'Why would you want to camp when hotels are so cheap' which indeed they are. The guide book informs us that there is a campsite at Urique but we shall see. (NB. the average price of a decent hotel room is approximately the same as a campsite in Europe. QED).