North America Tips & articles

Nov 5, 2009 5:09:34 AM

Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled Mexico itinerary

Mexico's Sierra Madre is off the edge of the map: it's the wild west, a drug-war ground zero, a clash of contrasting cultures all heaped onto the forbidding continental divide. Last redoubt of the Apache, home to Pancho Villa's revolutionary riders, and current hideout of some of the biggest contraband fields in the Hemisphere and the violence that attracts, the Western Sierra Madres are a rough and tumble land of extremes. Travelling here is a calculated risk, but worth it, as the region offers some of the most incredible cultural experiences and scenic landscapes in Mexico. Hitch your burro near the charming plaza in El Fuerte, and board the historic Chepe train, a feat of engineering which chugs 408 miles through 86 tunnels across the most rugged terrain imaginable. Have the porter in period garb alert you to deboard in Divisadero, amid the pine forests of the high desert plateau, for a hand-made gordita and your first view of Copper Canyon, a breathtaking system of six gorges deeper in spots than America's Grand Canyon. Thumb a ride to Creel, a cool frontier town of sawmills and the main staging point for adventure travel in the area. Snag a bus and tip the driver to let you ride on top with the bags as you switchback down a death-defying dirt track into the awe-inspiring canyon, tracing the river to the semi-tropics below. Hop off at Batopilas, a gritty mining town of gold rushes past that bears the bullet-holes of recent drug-fueled turf wars. Rent a mountain bike and pedal the six kilometers upstream to Satevó, site of a sleepy pueblo and a lost Jesuit 'cathedral'. Or drive thirty minutes downstream and cross the wooden footbridge to Potrero for a festival with the Rarámuri, 60,000 strong in the Sierras, one of the most isolated and independent tribes in Mexico. Their Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations are unlike anywhere else in the world, a fascinating fusion of Jesuit passion plays and indigenous fertility rites, the familiar made strange: except for the drums, corn-beer, bodypainting, and wrestling, it's just like Easter at Grandma's. Hire a chopper to get a bird's eye view of the incredible gorge as you hover over Urique and ascend 1500 meters vertically to the awe-inspiring cliffside perch at Oteviachi. This eco-friendly Uno-Lodge is built on a Rarámuri ejido (communal land), supporting the local families and the 65,000 acres protected in its partnership. Backtrack to Creel and head northwest to untamed Basaseachi National Park for Mexico's tallest waterfall and climbing routes on the volcanic tufa. Drive north to Madera, where you can tour sotol moonshine stills on the edge of town, and scheme an ATV trek up Sírupa Canyon to 800-year old adobe cave ruins at Ranchería. Abandon the mountains for the plains east to Cuauhtemoc, unexpected epicenter of Mexico's Mennonites, austere, German speaking, blue-eyed farmers, who farm and export corn, apples and world-famous cheese. From here, make your last easterly push to fiercely independent Chihuahua, hometown to Pancho Villa and Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican heroes who both died untimely deaths in the frontier capital. Revel in downtown's colonial buildings, parks and murals, or tear it up on the outskirts at a coleadero, a tail-grabbing steer-wrangling raucous rodeo, best enjoyed from the bed of a pickup as dapper charros cruise for cowgirls while  beer flows and Norteño music blasts . When the hangover wears off, board the morning Chihuahua-Pacific train once more for the daytrip past cliffs and banditlands to your awaiting burro in El Fuerte. Dominic Bonuccelli travelled to Mexico on assignment for Lonely Planet. You can follow his adventures on Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled, screening internationally on National Geographic.

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