Tale of the disappearing oranges

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So this morning we really are moving on! I have had a bad night with aching arms and wrists - I think it’s a knock on from the mountain biking a couple of days ago! We sleep late!

Bags are packed and stacked in the hotel breakfast room awaiting our collection later. Our hotel owner, William, is still marvelling that we made it down to the springs and is now telling us a story about his friend that went down into the canyon bottom to pick oranges. His mission was successful and he had a huge bag of fruit to take home. Now he starts his ascent back to the top which is steep and tough going. As he climbs back up, he meets people coming down and starts to hand out some of the fruit to lighten his load. By the time he reaches the top, he has only two oranges left! Never again was the phrase used.

Now we have a few hours to while away before our bus arrives. We go off to explore the museum. It’s only a very small museum but quite informative. There are displays with small placards in Spanish with English translations - we get the jist! There are some very good black and white photographs of the Taramahura, plus details of their way of life, culture and crafts.

There is also a display on the origins of the town from the arrival of the Jesuit’s in the late 1690s, through to its renaming after a prominent resident and early government minister, Enrique Creel.

Although, the Jesuits have tried over the years, the locals still have their own version of Catholicism! It’s interesting that the cross for the Indian people does not represent Christ but rather an alien with hands outstretched towards space.

Whilst we are in town the Chepe Express rolls into the station, it’s whistle blowing loudly to warn everyone off the track. The train stops and all but the first carriage is uncoupled. The express chugs off with its posh first class passenger carriage towards Los Mochis. Ten minutes later and another locomotive comes back to pick up the passengers in the lower grade regional carriages.

Well that’s our mornings activities completed - we pick up some munchies for our afternoon bus trip and go to the restaurant for lunch. We have an hour and a quarter to kill before our bus is due to arrive - but that assumes it will be running on time of course!

It’s 2.15pm and amazingly our bus has turned up...15 minutes early! One of the ‘friends’ we met the other day rushes over shouting Chihuahua, Chihuahua and helps us take our luggage over the road to the bus. He seems surprised, and very pleased, when Ian gives him a tip. Well at least he is trying to earn some money by offering a service, which is much more palatable to us.

We board the bus for our second nice surprise - this is nothing like the ‘chicken bus’ that we came in on! It has nice comfy seats and is very clean. We might even arrive in Chihuahua on schedule which would be good. We are only five minutes late leaving Creel. We are a bit sad to say goodbye to the quirky little town with its cowboys in their Stetsons clopping up the railway track on horseback and ATVs buzzing though the streets with battered up Chevvies. It’s been a nice rest stop on our journey!

Now the clouds are thickening and heavy rain looks imminent as our bus speeds along the road - no unauthorised stopping today! That’s not to say we don’t get the odd infiltrator sneaking on at the scheduled stops, selling a variety of lurid coloured snacks. We also take a toll road which speeds things up. Nevertheless, we still arrive half an hour late.

It is pitch black and pouring with rain but our Uber arrives promptly and takes us to our hotel. The roads are like rivers with huge puddles everywhere and woe betide any pedestrians as the cars speed past giving them a complete soaking.

Our hotel is only a five minute drive from the bus station and our driver appears to be warning us not to walk out in the dark here - apparently it’s a dangerous area! This does not bode well, but he tells us that in the daytime it is fine.

We book into our room which is kind of OK but not as nice as we have been used to. Maybe in the morning it will look better as the rooms are all positioned around an inner courtyard garden. Our first challenge is that there are no top sheets on the bed. I can guarantee they don’t wash the eiderdowns every day so I go to reception to ask for two more sheets. This process takes some time as the translator is clearly not explaining what we need. In the end, I accompany the lady to the laundry room and point out what I need. Two clean sheets are duly issued so we are sorted.

Now, we are both desperate for a coffee and there is an Oxxo store at the end of our block. But are we likely to get mugged on the way? The lady at the desk tells me it’s fine to go to the store, just not in the other direction. We decide to go out together with just enough cash for the coffees and a sandwich. We also leave the phone behind. As it turns out, the biggest threat is getting a soaking from the road traffic! We come back with our goodies, which we have just about managed to scrape enough money together to pay for as Ian fancied a bag of crisps which was not on the list. :-)

Now it may only be 9pm but I had a really bad night yesterday and I want an early night. It appears that the other residents in the hotel don’t think the same. They are outside our room shouting across the courtyard to each other. It’s still pouring with rain, I wonder will it be worse on a fine evening? Not that it’s likely to happen. Fortunately we are only here for two nights and it’s looking like the weather is not expected to improve!

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