Tarahumara

We were picked up at 8 am for our taxi ride to the train station that is 4 miles outside of town. Trains here have a schedule but it is always approximate and dependent on what happens on the route before your station. Blasts on the horn signals the arrival of the three diesel engines pulling about 12 or so carriages about evenly split between first and second class. I’ve heard there is not much difference between them but we had first class seat assignments in carriage number 4 and we lined up for the conductor to check our tickets before boarding.

Carriage was about 3/4 full and once moving our guide, Edel, spoke to the conductor and said that we could occupy some of the unoccupied seats on the preferred side of the train, the right side that is.

We were going to the town of Creel, about 7 hours, and the route basically goes through dry bush to the base of the mountains, then follows the river Fuerte up it’s gorge till we get to what I would call the highlands, around 7,000′, after which it goes through rolling hills till Creel.

When I grew up in South Africa train was our primary form of travel both for commuter into town and long distance where you often had a cabin with seats during the day that folded flat for sleeping at night.

I just love train travel ……

The vegetation changes, some semitropical, and eventually pine trees with lots of pine needles on the dry ground.

Look at the photo above and use a bit of imagination. We’re rounding a bend to the left and need to end up at the tunnel above the locomotives. We will make the left turn, straighten out, enter a tunnel which makes a 180 degree turn inside the mountain and get spit out traveling to the right where we enter the next tunnel significantly above the tracks below.

The indigenous people are the Tarahumara Indians who have been drawn into the tourist cycle and sell their wares of basket weaving, bead work and wood carvings to the visiting tourists. As a side note, Edel told us that 80% of the visitors were Mexican and 20% foreign.

At the station of Divisadero the train stops for 15 minutes and we are free to view the sights. The stop is right on the edge of one of the canyons that make up Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) and we get our first views down into the rugged canyons.

The sun is sinking low and the temps are falling as we pull into Creel and walk to our modest hotel near the center of town. The rooms are initially cold but the gas furnaces are lit and they slowly warm up. You do not walk around in T-shirts and shorts and even inside it is two or three layers to keep yourself comfy.

Next morning we venture out around 9’ish for our tour and the ice on the car windshields tells us how cold it was last night.

Today we were shown various aspects of the Tarahumara’s lifestyle starting with the fact that some live in caves. Now I’m not sure how many actually do or if they promote it because we, the tourists, want to see it.

Nearby is Mushroom Valley. Volcanic activity nearby resulted in softer ash deposits layered with harder lava and mother nature has, over time, weathered and eroded them to these mushroom like formations.

The afternoon was ours and some of us found a way up to a highpoint overlooking the town. Then, at a dingy liquor store we found a bottle of L. A. Cetto Nebbiolo wine for happy hour.