Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we were woken up at 6-45 am gasping for air! A lorry, that had parked within an inch of Winnie (literally)
was revving up his engine and all the fumes were coming right inside to poison us even though all the windows were
shut! He finally left and we rushed to open all the windows to get the toxic fumes out and to gulp in the fresh air!
We drove the last few miles to Creel, the gateway for the Copper Canyon. The campground was expensive but to get a
discount we needed to speak to the manager who wouldn't be there until tomorrow. We've learned our lesson the hard
way in Mexico - never stay without knowing exactly how much it costs.
So we drove to see some of the sights - San Ignacio church, Valle de Hongos (mushroom shaped rocks) and then to
Cusarare where there is a waterfall. It was a steep and bumpy road down to it, so Helen walked down first to see
if Winnie could make it and asked about parking up next to the river.
Slowly Winnie made it down the hill and we spent the night by the river for free. On Tuesday we did the 3.5 mile
(6km) walk along the river to the waterfall which was just a trickle. But the walk was really good!
We got Winnie back up the hill and drove back to Creel. The woman at Tres Amigos was really helpful and gave us
lots of tips and info for the canyons. She even arranged for us to be able to leave Winnie at a hotel across the
road for free whilst we travelled to the canyons. Then we drove to the campground and negotiated a better price for
the night. We used the rest of the day to catch up a bit with our website.
On Wednesday, we got our rucksacks packed, parked Winnie at the hotel and then caught the train for a 4.5 hour
journey along one of the top ten train rides in the world. Unfortunately the best part was after we got off, but
that's not the point!!
The train stops for 15 minutes at Divisadero so that you can get out and have a look down into one of the canyons. There are over
20 canyons, nine of them deeper than the Grand Canyon. One of these is Urique canyon where we were headed.
Train ride to Copper Canyon.
There are 2 trains a day in each direction and they are always late!! The first class train costs twice as much as
the second class, but seeing as both trains are always late, we opted for the cheaper class. By the time we got to
our stop we were already one hour late.
We got off at Bahuichivo where the bus waits to take us down to Urique. What a ride!!! The ride takes 3 hours
(34 miles, 54km) and the last hour goes steeply down 1,879m into the canyon to the small town of Urique. We did
about 5mph (8kmh) on this last stretch and in darkness!! We could see the lights of the town way below us and felt
as though we were in a plane and coming in to land!!
We got down to the bottom at 9-30 pm and got dropped off at a hotel where we paid for two nights. We only had time
to have a shower and then went to bed, very tired.
On Thursday, we got up early and went for breakfast. Kirsten ordered scrambled eggs which was the right thing to
have. Unfortunately, Helen ordered scrambled eggs with ham which turned out to be ham with a bit of scrambled egg!!
She had difficulty finding the egg!
We set off to do a walk along the river through the canyon but had to come back when we didn't find anywhere to buy
drinks. It was already very hot and by the time we got under way again, it was after 10am. It was a good walk, and
certainly not flat but the heat was getting to us.
Just after midday, we found some shade and had lunch. Then we decided to turn around as we wouldn't see anything
different if we went further. There is a 3 day hike from Urique along the river, over the mountain into the next
canyon and down to Batopilas. You need a guide plus tent etc which we don't have. So we thought we would do the
start of the walk and then go to Batopilas to do the end of it without having to struggle over the mountain in
between. We weren't cheating but making the most out of it because we didn't have camping equipment to do the 3
day walk. (That's our excuse anyway).
On the way back we went through a little village where the men are very disrespectful to women. You do get warned
not to walk alone around here and it is easy to see why. We got back to our room at 3pm after walking 13 miles
altogether (21km) and drinking 4 litres!
We enjoyed the walk although it's not like the Grand Canyon. The canyon is very wide and so it doesn't seem like
it's deeper. But the view of the surrounding mountains from the bottom is quite spectacular.
That evening we went to the Hotel Barrancas for a great meal. The hotel is only 3 years old and costs $35 per room.
The rooms are superb for the price but we were fine with our $15 room, even though the shower dripped all night!
On Friday, there was only cold water in the shower. That's what you get for the cheapest room! We went wandering
around the streets of town as the bus wasn't due to pick us up until 8am. So as we sauntered back to our hotel, we
were surprised that it was waiting for us at 7-45am! Thank goodness the bus driver knew we wanted to go back today,
otherwise we would have missed it!
On the way down, we travelled in an old school bus from Arkansas (it still had stickers inside with various telephone
numbers and names of contacts as info for the kids). We thought the bus was really old - at least 30 years. But it
turned out it was only 15 yrs old. It's obviously had a hard life! We were picked up, though, in a small van.
The driver was the same odd guy for our return journey. We got the distinct impression that all was not right in
Urique. Either part of a drug cartel and trafficking or a mafia stronghold, or both. The driver was receiving money
and then dropping money off all over the small town. When we'd bought some bananas in the very small shop yesterday,
we saw a man counting off $600 to the shop keeper even though there was hardly anything there to buy!! Very odd!
Anyway, the small van got us back up the steep road quite quickly and this time we could see the canyon in daylight
on the way up. But it certainly wasn't easy taking photos or video as the road was extremely bumpy.
Once we got to Bahuichivo we found out there was a bus to Creel which would save us having to wait 3-5 hours for the
train. Unfortunately, the bus had broken down today!! So we tried to get a lift. We chatted to a German called Jürgen (Janosch)
and went for some lunch in a small café. He was on his way down to Urique so we gave him a few tips. Then Kirsten
asked a car that was passing, where he was going. He was driving to Urique so we managed to get Jürgen a free ride
down there in the daylight. But we ended up having to wait 5 hours for the train. Typical!!
The train was 2 hours late and then we had to go hunting for seats as it was really full. We managed to find two
seats behind each other and got back to Creel at 9pm. We asked at the hotel if it was OK for us to sleep in Winnie
in their car park for the night and then leave him there for another 2 nights, which wasn't a problem.
It was cold overnight and freezing the next morning at 6-50am when we got up to catch a bus down to Batopilas. It
was a 6 hour journey, the last 4 hours along a very bumpy gravel road and then a terrific switchback road through
various canyons including Copper Canyon. There was hardly enough room for the bus and definitely no room for two
way traffic!! We also saw a crystallised, golden waterfall on the way. We are really glad we didn't try to drive
this in Winnie!! It was definitely worth the $17 - and a lot better than the train ride.
Bus ride to Batopilas.
We hunted for a hotel and then chatted to Marilyn and David from Colorado who had been on the bus with us. They also
bought our topographic map of the area from us as they were doing the 3 day hike and needed the map more than we did.
We went out for a meal with them later and then wandered around the small town. We had to be back by 9-30pm as the
hotel door gets locked!! A curfew at our age!
On Sunday, we had arranged for breakfast at 8am and then the owner changed the time to between 8-30 and 9am. So when
she told us that breakfast was ready at 8-20am it came as a bit of a surprise. But we weren't complaining seeing as
it was included in the price of the room ($18 en suite with a hot shower).
We were served a kind of porridge made out of wheat, very tasty scrambled eggs, tortillas and very strong coffee that
was more like a syrup! Then we set off on a 5 mile walk (8km) along the river to the lost cathedral at Satevó. No one
knows why a cathedral was built there, there doesn't seem to be a reason why anyone would build a cathedral there!
Some children unlocked the doors for us and we went into the refreshingly cool interior. We sat and had lunch there
and then Marilyn and David joined us. We gave the kids some marshmallows - they kept pestering us for sweets or money!
Then we went down to the river. On the way back, David said there was a path on the other side of the river we could
follow. But when we got there, there wasn't one. So we went on a real adventure, climbing up and down continually
scrambling over rocks and trying to find a way to cross the river. It was scorchingly hot and there wasn't any shade.
We finally found a makeshift bridge across the river and got back to the path just before Batopilas. It took us 2
hours longer for the return journey!! We picked up some cold drinks when we got back and went for a well deserved hot
shower.
That evening we found out that the town had run out of chicken and potatoes - we had been looking forward to chicken
and French fries! We searched all over and finally found somewhere that had chicken! We didn't realise it was a bank
holiday and being a Sunday didn't help either! But at least we found something to eat.
We had to get to bed early as we were catching the bus at 5am tomorrow morning. Marilyn and David asked us to take a
bag of their stuff back to Creel for them as they realised their rucksacks were too heavy for the terrain and the
heat. The bag they gave us weighed easily 14kg! By the time we got to bed it was 10-30pm, so we had less than 6 hours
sleep!
