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Journey to the Bottom of the Continent
Blog: Say Yes to Tacos - 21 May 2010
So, I spent the last week at the bottom of the deepest canyon system in North America, the Barranca del Cobre ...
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Final Chapter – Tarahumara Indians in Guapalayna End Semana Santa with a Drunken Bash
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 22 April 2010
For more than a week, Semana Santa (Easter week) celebrations have been occurring in Copper Canyon, Mexico. I was fortunate to attend two of these, one on Palm Sunday in the tiny Tarahumara village of Cusarare and another on Good Friday in Cerocahui, where I joined in a re-enactment of the crucifixion of Christ, but [...]
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Fourteen – Semana Santa Celebration in Cerocahui on Good Friday
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 20 April 2010
For the final days of Semana Santa (Easter Week) celebrations I returned to Urique Canyon, although this time I stayed atop the rim rather than at the bottom. After a hard day of travel on the economy class El Chepe, which was standing room only for the entire journey, I gratefully climbed into my plush [...]
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Thirteen – Batopilas Beckons
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 17 April 2010
From the moment I began planning my trip to Mexico’s Copper Canyon (Barrancas del Cobre in Spanish), I knew that visiting the villages of Urique and Batopilas were my top priorities. On the map they seemed quite close and I assumed I could start with Urique and take a short bus ride to Batopilas. I [...]
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Twelve – Using Creel as a Staging Area
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 16 April 2010
The most interesting thing I could find to write about Creel is that it’s home to the worst hostel I’ve ever stayed at. Other than taking a quick stroll through the central plaza, where Tarahumara artisans display and sell their crafts, I found little that interested me in this town. Creel does, however, have one [...]
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Eleven – Casa Margarita in Creel is the Worst Hostel Ever
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 15 April 2010
I was so glad to have found a room in Casa Margarita’s Hostel in Creel during Mexico’s Semana Santa holiday that I overlooked the unlit stairway between the second and third floor. In the dark, I nearly tumbled down the stairs when I turned my ankle on the uneven surface of a step that had [...]
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Ten – From Bahuichivo to Creel By Bus
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 14 April 2010
By day nine, I was totally under the spell of Entre Amigos Hostel in Urique. I knew that If I didn’t leave soon I might stay forever, and there was so much more of Mexico’s Copper Canyon to see. Sadly, I packed my bag and hopped aboard the 7:30 a.m. bus to Bahuichivo, where I [...]
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An Adventure In Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Nine – Hiking to Guadalupe Coronado
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 13 April 2010
Before I knew it, I had been at Entre Amigos Hostel in Urique for an entire week and had done little but walk to town a couple of times and cook delicious meals from ingredients plucked from their organic garden. I also realized that the local Tarahumara (Raramuri) Indians were rarely seen in Urique; if [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Seven – Forever Immortalized in the Gossip of Urique
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 9 April 2010
After three days of self-imposed confinement at blissful Entre Amigos hostel, I finally decided I needed to see the town of Urique. A ten minutes walk down a dusty road brought me to this tiny village of less than 1000 residents at the bottom of Urique Canyon, the deepest chasm within Mexico’s Copper Canyon complex. [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Six – I’ve Died and Gone to Heaven: Entre Amigos in Urique Canyon
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 7 April 2010
My eyes popped open at the first hint of light. “No!” I groaned, still tired from 12 hours of traveling that had me arriving at Entre Amigos hostel well after dark the night before. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to fall back to sleep, but it was no use; my incessant curiosity demanded that [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Five – Finding My Way to Urique
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 1 April 2010
I had expected to be riding the bus to Urique, a village at the bottom of Copper Canyon at this point, but instead I was headed up the mountain to the canyon rim. Soon after getting off the Copper Canyon train at Bahuichivo, I discovered the bus for Urique would not arrive for another three [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Four – Riding the Famous El Chepe Train
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 30 March 2010
I vividly remember the first time I heard about Copper Canyon. I was working in a chemical plant in east central Illinois and my boss casually mentioned that he had taken the train through Barrancas del Cobre. He described visiting reclusive Tarahumara Indians, the remoteness of the canyon, and its profound beauty. Something clicked. I [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Three – Mayo Indian Danza del Venado
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 27 March 2010
I was still oohing and aahing over the town of El Fuerte when the owner of Rio Vista Hotel, Chal Gamez, invited me to join a group bound for a native dance performance by indigenous Mayo Indians. The hotel van jounced along a potholed asphalt road barely wide enough for two vehicles, passing through desolate [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter Two – The Colonial Town of El Fuerte
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 25 March 2010
Eager to discover whether my decision to bypass Los Mochis and instead catch the Copper Canyon train from the colonial city of El Fuerte was a good one, I set out to explore the town. What had seemed a maze-like route between the bus station and Rio Vista Hotel the night before was an easy [...]
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An Adventure in Copper Canyon, Mexico, Chapter One
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 23 March 2010
The first time my bus was pulled over by the Federal Police, the officer who boarded walked right by me without a glance. He asked the young man behind me where he was going and demanded to see his ID. All the way to the back, he questioned and checked the papers of young men. [...]
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The Town Time Almost Forgot – Alamos, Sonora, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 12 January 2010
After driving across the Copper Canyon and resting up at Torres del Fuerte hotel in El Fuerte we veered off the pavement once again and hit the back roads headed for Alamos. Sure you can get there on the highway but there’s also a network of good dirt roads that connect El Fuerte and Alamos on a route that takes you through the Sonoran desert and past a few isolated villages often on stretches of the original Camino Real. The trick is knowing which way to go.
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You Can Get There From Here – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 8)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 10 December 2009
We’d taken the el CHEPE Copper Canyon train. We’d used our feet. We’d even conquered two of the most dramatic driving roads into and out of individual canyons in order to visit the towns of Batopilas and Urique. All that was left was to drive from one end of the Copper Canyon region to the other.
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Camping and Hiking at Basaseachi Falls – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 7)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 2 December 2009
Basaseachi Falls is not technically inside the official boundaries of the Copper Canyon Natural Park (Parque Natural Barranca del Cobre) but it’s close enough for us. Actually the 812 foot cascade–which is the second highest waterfall in Mexico and/or the highest year-round waterfall in Mexico (depending on who you ask) and the 28th highest in the world–is the center piece of its own park, the Basaseachi Falls National Park. And rightly so. This gorgeous unbroken ribbon of water that made us think of Yosemite Falls, the seventh highest waterfall in the world, more than once.
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Going Deep in the Sinforosa – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 6)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 25 November 2009
Some towns just feel disappointing before you even get there. Guachochi–the gateway to the Sinforosa Canyon, one of the deepest in the entire Copper Canyon system at over 6,000 feet at it’s most dramatic point–definitely gave us that vibe. Luckily, we spotted a sign marking the turn off for the canyon while we were still on the outskirts of town and we quickly made a right, crossing our fingers that we’d miraculously be able to camp out by the canyon instead of settling on what was sure to be a lackluster (at best) guest room in Guachochi.
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Death Drive (sort of) to Batopilas – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 5)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 24 November 2009
People talk about the drive down to the town of Batopilas deep in the Copper Canyon as a “white knuckle” trip invoking phrases like “death road” as their eyes widen. This is because of the narrow and bumpy condition of the steep and mostly-dirt road that descends 6,000 feet in six miles–and because of the conspicuous lack of guard rails (or guard anything) between you and the sheer drop-offs into the abyss that exist all along the way. Of course, we had to do it.
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Going Down – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 4)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 17 November 2009
Whenever you put the words “canyon” and “hike” together you know it’s going to be steep. That’s a given. It’s also a given that you never completely appreciate a canyon by simply peering over its rim. With that in mind we added local guide Gustavo Lozano and local pony man Pepe to our motley crew and hit the trail bound for the Urique River at the bottom of the Urique Canyon, nearly 4,300 feet below us.
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Gorditas, Guesthouses and Gorgeous Views – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 3)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 16 November 2009
If you’re taking the CHEPE train and not getting off and exploring areas along the way (silly, silly) the Divisadero station is your only chance to look down (way down) into a major canyon. For that reason the train stops here for 15 minutes–long enough for passengers to enjoy the view from a vantage point right across the street from the station. It’s also long enough to grab a snack.
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WAY Off the Train – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 2)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 11 November 2009
Most visitors to the Copper Canyon get off the train once during the entire trip. Our goal, however, was to use the train as a lovely tool to get deep into the canyon where we would get off the train as often as possible. WAY off the train. After leaving our truck behind with friends we got back on the good old CHEPE, but only long enough to get to the town of Cuiteco where it was pretty much immediately clear that this small town doesn’t see much in the way of tourists.
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World’s Best Blue Corn Tortillas – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico (Part 1)
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 10 November 2009
Though you can get on the CHEPE train for a trip through the Copper Canyon starting in Chihuahua city, we decided to drive our truck part of the way into the region (this is a road trip after all) and we were glad we did if only for the chance to drive through the scenery between Creel and Cusárare. Many visitors choose to stay in Creel because it has quite a few hotel and restaurant options and a kind of backpacker hangout vibe.
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All Aboard El Chepe – Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 9 November 2009
It’s easy to get swept up in the awesome mountain scenery that reveals itself around every bend, but the train that takes you through the Copper Canyon (Barrancas del Cobre in Spanish) is a marvel in and of itself: 408 miles of track with 86 tunnels and 37 bridges (one spans a chasm at more than 1,000 feet above the canyon floor). During one unbelievable eight mile stretch the train make a series of three 180 degree turns (one over a bridge and two in tunnels) in order to change altitude by more than 1,000 feet–a mind-blowing rate for a train.
