Recap: Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) (w/ pics and vids!)
We departed Alamos on 11 December, taking a bus to Navajoa,
then another bus to Los Mochis where we stayed overnight in Hotel Monte Carlo.
Los Mochis is a very bustling urban city, and we enjoyed a nice dinner before
heading into the mountains for a couple of weeks. We boarded the train (El
Chepe) early in the morning in Los Mochis, and arrived in Bahuichivo just after
lunch. We then took a local bus down the steep and winding 54 km dirt road to Urique. The
views of the Urique canyon driving down were spectacular.
The town of Urique at the bottom of the Urique Canyon
We arrived in Urique after dark and spent some time with the
bus driver and the local taqueria tracking down the locals who run Entre Amigos.
Entre Amigos is an American run hostel, however the American owner had returned
to Oregon when we arrived, so we interacted with the local staff: Tomas and
Maruca. Entre Amigos consists of several small adobe buildings scattered around
a compound: small cabins, hostel, kitchen, wood-fired shower room, outhouses,
and a main house. The grounds also have terraced vegetable gardens and an
abundance of citrus fruit trees, and guests are welcome to eat any fruits and
vegetables in season (we ate several large sweet white grapefruits a day, fresh
lemonade and orange juice, and fresh veggies in pastas and soups). We had a
tortilla making lesson with Maruca and were shown the adobe brick making
process at another home in town. We stayed in the hostel the first night, but
found it a little creepy being the only ones there (also, there was a mouse!),
so we moved to our own little casita for the following 3 nights. A couple from
Alaska stayed one night while we were there (from whom we learned much about
homesteading), but otherwise we had the place to ourselves. This tranquil
setting allowed us to spend entire days planning for the future, talking, and
debating about society, government,
religion, civic duty, energy – largely a result of our catalytic experience in
Alamos with Robert.
Concrete mixture compression testing for the local bridge at a neighbour's house.
Laundry room
Hot shower
Happy newlyweds!
The trip out of Urique on 16 December also proved to be quite exciting, as
we took a ride in the back of a local truck, rather than taking the bus back to
Bahuichivo. The video pretty much says it all!
We then took the train from Bahuichivo to Creel. In Creel we stayed 4 nights at Casa Margaritas, which ended up being a great
deal since the price includes breakfast and dinner and internet (~$28/night). While in
Creel, we rented a scooter and rode it about 20 km each way to Cusarare in order to hike
to the Cusarare Falls (which we didn’t quite find since we took the wrong
trail!). We also spent a day hiking around the Raramuri ejido (communal
landholding) of San Ignacio, 200 sq km of land with about 4000 Raramuri people
living in caves and small houses. We visited the Museo Casa de las Artesanias
which had some interesting exhibits about the Raramuri culture.
San Ignacio Mission Church
Lago Arareko
Ooh, the internet...
We left Creel by bus and headed to Areponapuchi on 20 December,
drawn by the canyon views there and the quaint cabanas at Cabanas Diaz. We were
not disappointed by either, and even enjoyed a very nice dinner at the Hotel
Posada Barrancas Mirador.
Blazing fire + inside toques = mountains are still cold in MX!
Beautiful craftsmanship
Mexican construction workers also staying at Cabanas Diaz
We finally returned to the boat in Topolobampo (after being away for 2
weeks!) by train on 22 December, excited to be back at our home
aboard AEOLI for Christmas.
(The album has many more photos than shown in the post)
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