Creel, in the state of Chihuahua, is a town that seems to exist purely as a base for tourists who come to explore the surrounding country, which is full of canyons and mountains, valleys and settlements of indigenous people. The town is strung out along one street, with its plaza at one end with ever-present church, and otherwise consisting almost entirely of accomodation for tourists, restaurants and souvenir shops which mostly sell tacky rubbish. For all that it is a pleasant place with a laid back atmosphere and a wild west feel, most of the tourists are Mexicans so the place hasn't been 'gringo-ised' which is a good thing!! The skies are blue and its warm during the day and pleasantly cool in the evenings. Creel is a stop on the famous Chihuahua-Pacifico railway line which runs through here on to the coast at Los Mochis. a journey of some 10 hours, but more about that in the next entry!
We planned a couple of days in Creel to explore the canyons, particularly the Barranca de Cobre, or Copper Canyon, which is actually part of a network of Canyons which are 4 times as big as the Grand Canyon in the US and just as deep. Before heading out into the canyons however we decided to stretch our legs after so much bus and city time and went for a day's hiking around some of the nearby countryside which features some fantastic rock formations and beautiful scenery. The land is part of a reserve including the Laguna de Arareko, inhabited by the Tarahumara Indians, who call them selves the Raramuri- 'the people who run fast', as traditionally they have always covered long distances on foot. Their horses, goats and cattle graze the valleys where they also have patches of cultivated land crowing corn, or beans. Its a very peaceful place, green and mostly wild with hardly any motorised vehicles. We passed first through the Valle de los Hongos (valley of the Mushrooms) where the rocks have been eroded by the winds and rains into, obviously, mushroom shapes! That was followed by the Valle de las Ranas (valley of the frogs)- yes you guessed why! The highlight though was a narrow valley which led into a dead end canyon called the Valle de las Monjas (valley of the monks). Here the rocks are tall and thin, hence the Spanish name, the Raramuri however have a far more relevant name for this place- in their language it is "Bisabirachi"- valley of the Erect Penises! Whatever name you prefer it is a stunning landscape.
Walking through the valleys which are very green and rocky here and there you catch a flash of colour- the Raramuri women wear traditional clothing which consists of a very full flouncy skirt made of brightly coloured and patterend cloth, some with matching blouses, others wearing less traditional t-shirts; seen in the distance across the valley they look like flowers.
From the Valley of the Monks we continued to the Lago Arareko which is a beautiful blue colour and popular with Mexicans who come for the day bringing what looks like enough food and drink in coolboxes to feed a small army for a week, as well as windbreaks, parasols, chairs, inflatables and quite possibly the kitchen sink- the luxory of having a big truck you can throuw everything into the back of! We considered trying to hitch a ride back to town in the back of one of these pick-ups (one that had some space alongside the essential supplies) but apparently it is illegal in this state (which is crazy as its the way Mexicans transport their large families on days out and the way half the population travels, including the raramuri when tehy are tired of running.) anyway we didn't fancy getting caught- which would be just my luck, and fortunatelya bus came a long and took us back to town instead.
We arranged to hire a pick-up of our own from Creel- not a 4x4 but a pretty sturdy looking Nissan nevertheless with a high enough clearance to get us over the 'roads' through the canyons to the town of Batopilas where we would overnight. The drive took us from Creel, at 2400m, down to Batopilas at 500m- the tropical climate found down in teh valley means the town is full of tropical flowers and trees laden with mangoes, limes, avocados and other fruits. The drive there took us 6 hours, the distance 300km, of that distance however thelast 60km took 3 hours!!! The road was paved up until that point, and while the tight curves around the contours of the mountains made it quite a nail-biting ride, it was a smooth and pretty fast one. However the road forks 60km before Batopilas and the paved road continues to Guachochi. The road to Batopilas is unsurfaced, narrow and uneven, most of the time it hugs the mountainside, winding its way up down and around the canyons affording spectacular views almost all the time, although its best to stop the car to appreciate them as concentration is definitely required to drive this track!!! Fortunately traffic is minimal and almost all pick-ups. A normal car would not make it in one piece. I would hate to think what the road must be like when it rains, and doing the trip by bus, which goes once a day must be terrifying- apparently the bus does it quicker than we did as the driver knows the road like the back of his hand!!! The road crosses the rivers in teh canyons bottoms a couple of times- the bridges do not inspire huge amounts of confidence but none of them collapsed which was a good thing :-) The peace and tranquility is amazing- at points you can se up and down a canyon, the road snakes on before and below you and not another living soul is in sight- the scale and the beauty are awe-inspiring. In other places you round a bend to find a herd of goats sitting contentedly in the middle of the road- they glare at you with balefull yellow eyes, for having the audacity to disturb them. The occasional cow can also be found muching along the road. From time to time, especially approaching Batopilas and a couple of other smaller settlements along the way, we passed people walking, mostly Raramuri, and always stopped to offer them a lift in the back of the truck (the back seats where stuffed full with our rucksacks and some supplies)- the law of the mountain roads, we had been told by the guy who rented us the car, is different- there are no police here and accidents have to be sorted out between the protagonists- so we offered lifts to people we came past, because that is the way of life here and not to do so would have been unthinkable!
Batopilas was small, hot and wet- it rained from teh time we arrived til we went to bed- typical. Most things were closed but we found a place to eat that served one dish- tacos (no surprises there), what was surprising was that they were sooo good- the best tacos I have had in Mexico- really tastily prepared meat, with frijoles on the side (refried beans) and a stack of burning hot corn tortillas to stuff. Chillies and sauces for seasoning (very picante) and a cold beer or three and we went to bed happy!
The following day we did the whole thing back again (in only 5 hours) stopping off to visit a couple of missions in the canyons. It was a great trip- definitely recommendable for anyone who wants to see more of the canyons than you can do from the train- just make sure you have a confident driver!
Mexico's Flag
Map of Mexico