Log Book
January 2008
January 2008
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| January 2008 |
Copper Canyon
January 02 – 11
We left the boat at Marina Mazatlan early Wednesday morning and started on our trip.
Our luggage consisted of Sam’s large mountain pack, Susie’s smaller pack, the computer
in its waterproof case, and 2 duffel bags. We packed warm clothes and blankets in case it
got cold in the canyon, the Spanish-English dictionary and The Lonely Planet Guide to
Mexico. We also had to carry personal toiletries, including hygienic wipes, hand sanitizer
and toilet paper (we were pre-warned these would be necessary).
It took us all of Wednesday to ride the first bus from Mazatlan to Los Mochis, through miles
and miles of agricultural countryside, and the second bus from Los Mochis to El Fuerte.
We arrived in Los Mochis about 4 PM (after 6 hours on the bus) at one bus station, walked
several blocks and caught another bus about 5 PM for El Fuerte, and finally arrived at our
first destination about 7 PM. On the bus we visited with an interesting international
couple: a young man from Michoacan, Mexico and a young woman from Moscow, who met
at the university in France and were traveling on winter break. We ate an absolutely
delicious dinner at Restaurante Diligencia – Susie had local river bass stuffed with shrimp
and cheese, Sam had the bass filet – and arrived at the beautiful Rio Vista Hotel about 9:
30 PM.
Thursday morning after huevos rancheros at the hotel dining room, we took a river and
bird watching tour (although Susie misunderstood when our guide told us in heavily-
accented English about the trip - she thought he said burro instead of bird). We drifted
downstream as our guide pointed out different birds and plants and what they were used
for. We stopped after a while and walked ashore to see some old petroglyphs and
finished up the tour down river very near our hotel. The hotel drove us back down the hill
to town, where we had lunch at a small diner. We walked around the saw several of the
sights: some historical hotel buildings, the mercado central, the palacio municipal (which
houses the offices of city and county agencies and elected officials), the church, the town
square, and the fort. Almost all the streets in this small town are covered with interlocking
paving blocks, a few with cobblestones. The town was amazingly clean, the town square
well maintained, and a lot of civic pride was apparent. We walked back to our hotel and
had a light dinner of fruit and juice in our room.
Friday morning we left by taxi early for the train station to catch the CHEPE – the
Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico – also known as the Copper Canyon Railway. It starts in
Los Mochis and runs to Chihuahua. There are 36 bridges and 87 tunnels in 655 km. It
starts in Los Mochis (place of the turtles) at less than 180 meters (590 feet) altitude to
over 2340 meters (7700 feet) near Creel and down to Chihuahua at 1455 meters (4780
feet). It took many decades to build and was completed in 1961. We took the first class
train in order to leave earlier, have the best views and a dining car. And the views were
spectacular. Around noon we arrived in Bahuichivo and waited in the train station there
for the next leg of our trip: the local bus down to Urique at the bottom of the canyon. This
bus deserves its own paragraph.
It appeared to be an old school bus, probably used in the 30’s or 40’s in the United
States. The old bench seats were removed and newer wider high back cushioned seats
with head rests were installed in their place – taking up a lot more space and leaving about
11 inches to pass in the middle of the bus. The bus was jacked up with big tires and 4
wheel drive for extra clearance over the rough rocky roads down to the bottom. Sam says
the road was every bit as good as the lumber roads he helped survey in the 50’s, in most
places, and pretty well maintained. Urique is 550 meters (1810 feet) above sea level and
the road dropped 1700 meters in the last 17 km. That’s an AVERAGE drop of 10%, and
there were some places where the road climbed in that last 17 km! To put this in
perspective, the old Highway 99 Grapevine over the Tehachapi’s was about 6% grade in
the 1940’s. And often when Sam leaned against the window he couldn’t see the edge of
the road, the bus was that close to the edge. In most places the side slope was nearly
vertical. Susie just didn’t look down at all.
We arrived in Urique in time for a late dinner at Restaurant Plaza, owned by the same
family that owns the Hotel Estrella del Rio, where we booked a room. After dinner one of
the young men in the family drove us up to the hotel. The room was spacious and the
shower big, and the room generally clean. But then Susie spotted a cockroach on the
curtain. That’s when the trouble started. Sam tried to knock it off the curtain with his foot
(in order to step on it) – but he lost his balance and put his foot through the window. Bad
decision. Try to explain in a language you don’t speak how the window got broken and
your husband wasn’t drunk! We had to go to the office and rouse the young couple who
lived on site for a broom and dustpan. We were able to make it clear that no one was
injured, that we would pay for the damage and that we needed another room. We did not
look for any more cockroaches in the other room – just went to bed.
Saturday morning after breakfast we walked around town and down by the river, saw some
wild burros (Susie thought they were wild) and Sam walked out on the pedestrian bridge
across the river. We watched a couple of local hombres herd a calf into a corral,
constructed of the local river rock, only to have the calf climb out one of the corners where
the rock was not vertical. We used the internet at the general store, bought some snacks
and went back to our room for lunch and to rest. Dinner was shrimp at Restaurante
Plaza. Last night Susie found out the only other offering – allegedly beef but it may have
been goat - was not what we considered a desirable meal selection.
We got back on the bus to return to the top of the canyon on Sunday morning. This time it
was more crowded - we took two of the last three available seats. There were standing
passengers on this 3 hour ride – turns out it was the last day of school vacation and many
of the kids were returning to school. As we mentioned before, the aisle in this bus is
extremely narrow – one thin lady sat down with one butt-cheek on the arm rest on the right
of the aisle and the other on the left. Back at Bahuichivo we caught the train and rode on
through to Creel, again through some very spectacular country. At Divisadero the train
stops and we were able to grab a quick view and some gorditas, delicious treats prepared
by the local Tarahumara, filled with potato and served with lime and tomato. In Creel we
made arrangements for a tour the next day, had dinner, and retired in our nice, warm hotel
room.
On Monday morning, our guide, Fernando, showed up 15 minutes early and we got an
early start. Half of the way to Batopilas (distance not time as this only took three quarters
of an hour) was on very good paved highway. Then it was 2-lane dirt road, a detour
around construction, and then single lane rock logging road with numerous switchbacks
and sheer drop-offs. In 2 hours we covered 3/4 ‘s of the distance to Batopilas and we still
had 3 hours travel to go. There was a rustic rest stop (read “wooden outhouse”) at La
Bufa near a closed gold mine, then more travel on marginal and unsafe roads, across
steel frame and wood plank bridges over rivers, and finally to Batopilas. When the gold
mine at La Bufa was operating the population was 30,000. Now it’s 10!
This is a linear town, mostly two streets parallel to the Rio Urique and short steep cross
streets. Batopilas was founded in 1632, one of the earliest Spanish settlements in that
part of Mexico. This was the second city in Mexico to be electrified, after Mexico City. It is
quite pretty in town and the view of the surrounding mountains and cliffs is – although
words cannot describe it - stupendous. We checked in to Juanita’s and then went to dinner
at Doña Mica’s (the front porch of her house) for dinner before retiring.
Tuesday morning Fernando took us and our Canadian friend Derrick to Satevo to see the
“lost” cathedral. This is a cathedral that was built around 1600 out here in this almost
inaccessible canyon by, according to locals, the Jesuits. It’s called the “Lost Cathedral”
because no one is sure who built it or when, because any paperwork that might have
existed locally was destroyed in a fire and there are no known records of the cathedral in
Rome or elsewhere. We also went to see a local Tarahumara Indian family, but many of
them were ill and while not sharing details this side trip with our guide (who had not done
this before) was an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. We returned to Juanita’
s for rest, then had dinner in town.
Wednesday morning Fernando took us all out to Hacienda San Miguel – the residence,
offices and ore processing plant built by Alexander Sheppard. It was an amazing place
built of adobe, timber, stone and masonry – 3 story main house, stamping mills, store
rooms, shops, offices, and even a round building that was easily recognized from afar as
restrooms (5 outhouses built as one stone and masonry unit). We stopped at Ararak to
view the lake and Susie bought some baskets and beadwork from the local Tarahumara
women. We also stopped at a Tarahumara cave dwelling. The space under an
overhanging boulder was enclosed with a stone wall and the room thus formed was about
20 X 30 feet with sleeping areas for 3 generations of the family, cooking and living areas.
It did not have indoor plumbing or electricity, but was warm and the family friendly, asking
for a small donation to see their home. Unlike our previous visit with a Tarahumara family,
this was a comfortable visit, with animated children and adults, smiles, activities going on in
the course of living, cooking beans on the stove, etc. It did not seem like an intrusion to
visit their home, rather like friends just stopping by.
Back in Creel, we checked into the Korachi Hotel, which although cheap was the worst we
stayed in our entire trip. It was convenient to the bus station where we planned to depart
the next day, but the heater did not work properly and the propane for all the rooms was
turned off, it was cold, the sheets were dirty and did not fit on the mattress.
Thursday morning we left on the bus for Chihuahua, through mostly cattle and farm
country, and arrived about 5 PM. We sat around in the bus station for a while deciding our
options for continuing on to Arizona, and decided to take a taxi to the San Francisco Inn
(part of the Quality Inn chain) in downtown Chihuahua and splurge. The room for 2 nights
cost more than all the previous nights since we left Mazatlan, but it was well worth it – 2
king size beds with lovely sheets, carpeting, internet connection in the room. We even ate
dinner in the hotel restaurant and Susie was surprised with the best filet mignon she’d ever
had for $10. We stayed Friday here as well, taking a trolley tour of the town, visiting
Pancho Villa’s mansion, the government palace, the town square and the cathedral. We
had expected Chihuahua to be a dusty Mexican cow country town, but it is a large
cosmopolitan city, with clean tile sidewalks, paved or paving block streets, well designed
and maintained (at least in the places we visited).
Saturday morning – after a much needed rest from road travel – we returned to the bus
station before breakfast to buy tickets to Arizona. The only choice for breakfast at the bus
station before our bus departure time of 10 AM was the place serving microwave reheated
enchiladas filled with mashed potatoes and tacos with the same filling, accompanied by
beans. This was the longest ride of our trip – 10 hours on the bus, 2 hours going through
customs between Juarez and El Paso, 2 hours changing busses in El Paso (where we had
yet more tacos for dinner), and a little under an hour break to change drivers near Casa
Grande, Arizona. Susie’s sister Lorrie picked us up at the Phoenix bus station late that
night and we got out to Maricopa to Susie’s parents house about 1 AM. Susie decided she
didn’t want to see another taco for at least a week and we went to bed!
The trip through Copper Canyon was a wonderful experience and highly recommended.
Maricopa, Arizona
January 12 – 31
We spent the rest of January with Susie’s parents in Maricopa, Arizona. Susie’s mother
had her second knee replacement surgery and she came through wonderfully and is
recovering nicely. We were able to get several things we needed while we were there –
like PVC material for repair of the inflatable tubes on the dinghy and food items we can’t
buy in Mexico and choose not to live without (black licorice for Sam, good chocolate,
Lingonberry jam, dried blueberries for Sam’s famous sourdough pancakes).
But when we packed to return to Mexico, we both forgot something very important: that
you can’t take more than 3 ounces of fluids in any one container on the airplane. We
packed 2 jars of Korma Sauce from Trader Joe’s and 2 jars of Lingonberry Jam from Ikea
in our carry-on luggage and all other food items in boxes that we checked. So we had to
leave those 4 jars of good stuff at the security check-in gate at Phoenix airport, along with
a 5 ounce tube of Susie’s favorite hand lotion. When we got to Mazatlan, the gentleman at
customs decided he needed to open all 3 of the boxes and confiscated our 2 jars of
Oroville Redenbacher Gourmet Pop Corn and one bag of Trader Joe’s wild rice. He took
these items while pointing to the sign of items not allowed into the country – flour and grain
products – but let the couscous and the shredded wheat cereal go through, probably
because he didn’t know what they were. No problem getting through with 10 pounds of
quality chocolate from Trader Joe’s. Oh well, we only lost between the two airports about
$30 worth of food and hopefully we learned some good lessons.
We returned to the boat in Mazatlan on January 31 – in time to enjoy some of the Carnaval
celebrations in the first week of February – and are very glad to be home.
January 02 – 11
We left the boat at Marina Mazatlan early Wednesday morning and started on our trip.
Our luggage consisted of Sam’s large mountain pack, Susie’s smaller pack, the computer
in its waterproof case, and 2 duffel bags. We packed warm clothes and blankets in case it
got cold in the canyon, the Spanish-English dictionary and The Lonely Planet Guide to
Mexico. We also had to carry personal toiletries, including hygienic wipes, hand sanitizer
and toilet paper (we were pre-warned these would be necessary).
It took us all of Wednesday to ride the first bus from Mazatlan to Los Mochis, through miles
and miles of agricultural countryside, and the second bus from Los Mochis to El Fuerte.
We arrived in Los Mochis about 4 PM (after 6 hours on the bus) at one bus station, walked
several blocks and caught another bus about 5 PM for El Fuerte, and finally arrived at our
first destination about 7 PM. On the bus we visited with an interesting international
couple: a young man from Michoacan, Mexico and a young woman from Moscow, who met
at the university in France and were traveling on winter break. We ate an absolutely
delicious dinner at Restaurante Diligencia – Susie had local river bass stuffed with shrimp
and cheese, Sam had the bass filet – and arrived at the beautiful Rio Vista Hotel about 9:
30 PM.
Thursday morning after huevos rancheros at the hotel dining room, we took a river and
bird watching tour (although Susie misunderstood when our guide told us in heavily-
accented English about the trip - she thought he said burro instead of bird). We drifted
downstream as our guide pointed out different birds and plants and what they were used
for. We stopped after a while and walked ashore to see some old petroglyphs and
finished up the tour down river very near our hotel. The hotel drove us back down the hill
to town, where we had lunch at a small diner. We walked around the saw several of the
sights: some historical hotel buildings, the mercado central, the palacio municipal (which
houses the offices of city and county agencies and elected officials), the church, the town
square, and the fort. Almost all the streets in this small town are covered with interlocking
paving blocks, a few with cobblestones. The town was amazingly clean, the town square
well maintained, and a lot of civic pride was apparent. We walked back to our hotel and
had a light dinner of fruit and juice in our room.
Friday morning we left by taxi early for the train station to catch the CHEPE – the
Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico – also known as the Copper Canyon Railway. It starts in
Los Mochis and runs to Chihuahua. There are 36 bridges and 87 tunnels in 655 km. It
starts in Los Mochis (place of the turtles) at less than 180 meters (590 feet) altitude to
over 2340 meters (7700 feet) near Creel and down to Chihuahua at 1455 meters (4780
feet). It took many decades to build and was completed in 1961. We took the first class
train in order to leave earlier, have the best views and a dining car. And the views were
spectacular. Around noon we arrived in Bahuichivo and waited in the train station there
for the next leg of our trip: the local bus down to Urique at the bottom of the canyon. This
bus deserves its own paragraph.
It appeared to be an old school bus, probably used in the 30’s or 40’s in the United
States. The old bench seats were removed and newer wider high back cushioned seats
with head rests were installed in their place – taking up a lot more space and leaving about
11 inches to pass in the middle of the bus. The bus was jacked up with big tires and 4
wheel drive for extra clearance over the rough rocky roads down to the bottom. Sam says
the road was every bit as good as the lumber roads he helped survey in the 50’s, in most
places, and pretty well maintained. Urique is 550 meters (1810 feet) above sea level and
the road dropped 1700 meters in the last 17 km. That’s an AVERAGE drop of 10%, and
there were some places where the road climbed in that last 17 km! To put this in
perspective, the old Highway 99 Grapevine over the Tehachapi’s was about 6% grade in
the 1940’s. And often when Sam leaned against the window he couldn’t see the edge of
the road, the bus was that close to the edge. In most places the side slope was nearly
vertical. Susie just didn’t look down at all.
We arrived in Urique in time for a late dinner at Restaurant Plaza, owned by the same
family that owns the Hotel Estrella del Rio, where we booked a room. After dinner one of
the young men in the family drove us up to the hotel. The room was spacious and the
shower big, and the room generally clean. But then Susie spotted a cockroach on the
curtain. That’s when the trouble started. Sam tried to knock it off the curtain with his foot
(in order to step on it) – but he lost his balance and put his foot through the window. Bad
decision. Try to explain in a language you don’t speak how the window got broken and
your husband wasn’t drunk! We had to go to the office and rouse the young couple who
lived on site for a broom and dustpan. We were able to make it clear that no one was
injured, that we would pay for the damage and that we needed another room. We did not
look for any more cockroaches in the other room – just went to bed.
Saturday morning after breakfast we walked around town and down by the river, saw some
wild burros (Susie thought they were wild) and Sam walked out on the pedestrian bridge
across the river. We watched a couple of local hombres herd a calf into a corral,
constructed of the local river rock, only to have the calf climb out one of the corners where
the rock was not vertical. We used the internet at the general store, bought some snacks
and went back to our room for lunch and to rest. Dinner was shrimp at Restaurante
Plaza. Last night Susie found out the only other offering – allegedly beef but it may have
been goat - was not what we considered a desirable meal selection.
We got back on the bus to return to the top of the canyon on Sunday morning. This time it
was more crowded - we took two of the last three available seats. There were standing
passengers on this 3 hour ride – turns out it was the last day of school vacation and many
of the kids were returning to school. As we mentioned before, the aisle in this bus is
extremely narrow – one thin lady sat down with one butt-cheek on the arm rest on the right
of the aisle and the other on the left. Back at Bahuichivo we caught the train and rode on
through to Creel, again through some very spectacular country. At Divisadero the train
stops and we were able to grab a quick view and some gorditas, delicious treats prepared
by the local Tarahumara, filled with potato and served with lime and tomato. In Creel we
made arrangements for a tour the next day, had dinner, and retired in our nice, warm hotel
room.
On Monday morning, our guide, Fernando, showed up 15 minutes early and we got an
early start. Half of the way to Batopilas (distance not time as this only took three quarters
of an hour) was on very good paved highway. Then it was 2-lane dirt road, a detour
around construction, and then single lane rock logging road with numerous switchbacks
and sheer drop-offs. In 2 hours we covered 3/4 ‘s of the distance to Batopilas and we still
had 3 hours travel to go. There was a rustic rest stop (read “wooden outhouse”) at La
Bufa near a closed gold mine, then more travel on marginal and unsafe roads, across
steel frame and wood plank bridges over rivers, and finally to Batopilas. When the gold
mine at La Bufa was operating the population was 30,000. Now it’s 10!
This is a linear town, mostly two streets parallel to the Rio Urique and short steep cross
streets. Batopilas was founded in 1632, one of the earliest Spanish settlements in that
part of Mexico. This was the second city in Mexico to be electrified, after Mexico City. It is
quite pretty in town and the view of the surrounding mountains and cliffs is – although
words cannot describe it - stupendous. We checked in to Juanita’s and then went to dinner
at Doña Mica’s (the front porch of her house) for dinner before retiring.
Tuesday morning Fernando took us and our Canadian friend Derrick to Satevo to see the
“lost” cathedral. This is a cathedral that was built around 1600 out here in this almost
inaccessible canyon by, according to locals, the Jesuits. It’s called the “Lost Cathedral”
because no one is sure who built it or when, because any paperwork that might have
existed locally was destroyed in a fire and there are no known records of the cathedral in
Rome or elsewhere. We also went to see a local Tarahumara Indian family, but many of
them were ill and while not sharing details this side trip with our guide (who had not done
this before) was an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. We returned to Juanita’
s for rest, then had dinner in town.
Wednesday morning Fernando took us all out to Hacienda San Miguel – the residence,
offices and ore processing plant built by Alexander Sheppard. It was an amazing place
built of adobe, timber, stone and masonry – 3 story main house, stamping mills, store
rooms, shops, offices, and even a round building that was easily recognized from afar as
restrooms (5 outhouses built as one stone and masonry unit). We stopped at Ararak to
view the lake and Susie bought some baskets and beadwork from the local Tarahumara
women. We also stopped at a Tarahumara cave dwelling. The space under an
overhanging boulder was enclosed with a stone wall and the room thus formed was about
20 X 30 feet with sleeping areas for 3 generations of the family, cooking and living areas.
It did not have indoor plumbing or electricity, but was warm and the family friendly, asking
for a small donation to see their home. Unlike our previous visit with a Tarahumara family,
this was a comfortable visit, with animated children and adults, smiles, activities going on in
the course of living, cooking beans on the stove, etc. It did not seem like an intrusion to
visit their home, rather like friends just stopping by.
Back in Creel, we checked into the Korachi Hotel, which although cheap was the worst we
stayed in our entire trip. It was convenient to the bus station where we planned to depart
the next day, but the heater did not work properly and the propane for all the rooms was
turned off, it was cold, the sheets were dirty and did not fit on the mattress.
Thursday morning we left on the bus for Chihuahua, through mostly cattle and farm
country, and arrived about 5 PM. We sat around in the bus station for a while deciding our
options for continuing on to Arizona, and decided to take a taxi to the San Francisco Inn
(part of the Quality Inn chain) in downtown Chihuahua and splurge. The room for 2 nights
cost more than all the previous nights since we left Mazatlan, but it was well worth it – 2
king size beds with lovely sheets, carpeting, internet connection in the room. We even ate
dinner in the hotel restaurant and Susie was surprised with the best filet mignon she’d ever
had for $10. We stayed Friday here as well, taking a trolley tour of the town, visiting
Pancho Villa’s mansion, the government palace, the town square and the cathedral. We
had expected Chihuahua to be a dusty Mexican cow country town, but it is a large
cosmopolitan city, with clean tile sidewalks, paved or paving block streets, well designed
and maintained (at least in the places we visited).
Saturday morning – after a much needed rest from road travel – we returned to the bus
station before breakfast to buy tickets to Arizona. The only choice for breakfast at the bus
station before our bus departure time of 10 AM was the place serving microwave reheated
enchiladas filled with mashed potatoes and tacos with the same filling, accompanied by
beans. This was the longest ride of our trip – 10 hours on the bus, 2 hours going through
customs between Juarez and El Paso, 2 hours changing busses in El Paso (where we had
yet more tacos for dinner), and a little under an hour break to change drivers near Casa
Grande, Arizona. Susie’s sister Lorrie picked us up at the Phoenix bus station late that
night and we got out to Maricopa to Susie’s parents house about 1 AM. Susie decided she
didn’t want to see another taco for at least a week and we went to bed!
The trip through Copper Canyon was a wonderful experience and highly recommended.
Maricopa, Arizona
January 12 – 31
We spent the rest of January with Susie’s parents in Maricopa, Arizona. Susie’s mother
had her second knee replacement surgery and she came through wonderfully and is
recovering nicely. We were able to get several things we needed while we were there –
like PVC material for repair of the inflatable tubes on the dinghy and food items we can’t
buy in Mexico and choose not to live without (black licorice for Sam, good chocolate,
Lingonberry jam, dried blueberries for Sam’s famous sourdough pancakes).
But when we packed to return to Mexico, we both forgot something very important: that
you can’t take more than 3 ounces of fluids in any one container on the airplane. We
packed 2 jars of Korma Sauce from Trader Joe’s and 2 jars of Lingonberry Jam from Ikea
in our carry-on luggage and all other food items in boxes that we checked. So we had to
leave those 4 jars of good stuff at the security check-in gate at Phoenix airport, along with
a 5 ounce tube of Susie’s favorite hand lotion. When we got to Mazatlan, the gentleman at
customs decided he needed to open all 3 of the boxes and confiscated our 2 jars of
Oroville Redenbacher Gourmet Pop Corn and one bag of Trader Joe’s wild rice. He took
these items while pointing to the sign of items not allowed into the country – flour and grain
products – but let the couscous and the shredded wheat cereal go through, probably
because he didn’t know what they were. No problem getting through with 10 pounds of
quality chocolate from Trader Joe’s. Oh well, we only lost between the two airports about
$30 worth of food and hopefully we learned some good lessons.
We returned to the boat in Mazatlan on January 31 – in time to enjoy some of the Carnaval
celebrations in the first week of February – and are very glad to be home.
| Photos for January 2008 |
| SPECIAL NOTE TO FELLOW CRUISERS If you would like to have a more detailed document about our trip to Copper Canyon with daily log, hotel names and phone numbers, costs and other info that might be of use if you are planning your own trip to that area, please write us an email (listed on home page) and we will be glad to forward it as an email attachment. |