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The Engine
This is the front engine of a pair which run daily between Los Mochis and Chihuahua. I hope it shows the interesting bits for train buffs out there. I have other photos if not. The fuller version...
Wednesday 29th June - Long haul to Los Mochis
Another slow morning, making the most of the hostel before catching the early afternoon bus to Los Mochis. A long journey, initially a few hours through sparsely-populated scrub to Durango just before nightfall. We were going to stay in Durango to visit the Wild West film sets but they are only open at weekends. After Durango the night falls and the road gets wilder and wilder. It is difficult to sleep with the winding nature of the mountain roads across the Sierra Madre Occidentale to Mazatlan on the coast. Shame we did not see any of it.
Thursday 30th June - Mochis to El Fuerte
We arrive in Los Mochis at something like 08:30, we had expected to arrive at 0600 but the buses are frequently late and we may also have slipped into a different time zone in Sonora, or is it Sinaloa ?
Now we have to catch the bus to El Fuerte. We follow the Lonely Planet guide but the buses do not stop there any longer. Asking three different people gets us to the new local bus station where
we wait another hour for the bus to set off. (FYI the new Azules bus station is just off Leyva, on the first road south of Boulevard Castro).
The trip to El Fuerte is uneventful. Another case of 'Are we there yet ?' at every stop, with no town or village names visible.
We get off at the right place, not a bus station but in the middle of an incredibly hot and busy stretch of high street, both pedestrians and cars. I stride purposefully along simply trying to find some space and shade in which to work out the next move. As yet we have no accommodation. I try telephoning a hostel from the guide book - 'number out of service'. We have no map.
Deb notices a posada just a little way along the street. I go in on my own. The cleaning lady(?) cannot help. Someone is away at the bank. I glance at the price list and notice 350 pesos for a single room. I say I'll try later.
Back on the street there is nowhere else to try. I return and we can have a room for four for 500 pesos.
One of many cacti
These became commonplace but I am sure I will forget if I do not include a photo. We take it, complete with air-con and shower, heaven. Rory and I go for a walk to explore the town. Not for long. The streets are all but deserted, it is hot with a scorchingly warm breeze that all but burns the nostrils. I can almost hear Ry Cooder and the Paris, Texas soundtrack.
Friday 1st July - The Copper Canyon Railway
I had already established that breakfast was not included. Imagine the pleasant surprise when the manager appeared with two cups of boiling water plus sugar and creamer (fairly standard in Mexico, though they do serve cafe olla which is sometimes like ground coffee).
After a few mins he came back with a flask of more hot water. Top stuff.
At 0900 Pepe appeared to take us to the station. The previous evening the hotel manage had arranged it, contradicting my belief that the train left at 0840. We arrived at the station and found out the second-class train was not due until 10:30. Oh well.
We sat around in the shade with a growing crowd of locals and a handful of other 'turistas'. I began to wonder whether there would be
room on the train. By 10:45 we were on the train and setting off on the Copper Canyon run. The train is air-conditioned but has open spaces between carriages where all the kids and photographers congregate - until shooed away by one particular member of the train staff.
Around El Fuerte there is nothing particularly striking. Lots of scrub, distant romantic hills, lots of massive cacti, occasional dry bones.
As the journey progresses the hills get more dramatic, the elevation increases and the greenery increases, along with a gradual change from scrub to broadleaf to pine.
There are several steep drops alongside the track, plus bridges across valleys. There were also several very short tracks perpendicular to the main track which appeared to lead out over the edge of the valley. Eventually I understood. I saw a track repairing vehicle 'parked' out of the way as we chugged past. They must do some maintenance every day and I suppose they need to go somewhere when the train is due.
It was quite fun but became a little tedious, more so when we realised that for once the guide book was correct and we would be some
hours late arriving in Creel. The monotony was broken by the stop at Divisadero. Everyone piles out for 15 mins to look over the Copper Canyon rim. It is stupendous. It is so big you cannot really appreciate how big it is.
Back on the train. Based on our late start we had expected to be in Creel at 6pm. We arrived at 8:30pm. We had nowhere to stay but did had some leads. We were headed off by crowds of people offering rooms. One of these was for one of the places we were going to try.
We threw our bags in the back of his massive pickup, and rode the short distance to the log cabanas. It was OK and a reasonable price but no kitchen. We took it.
Went to the recommended Caballo Bayo for tea. Good food, extortionate beer but live music consisting of a variety of locals who took it in turns to perform solo, duet or en masse mainly on guitar and drums. A good evening.
Saturday 2nd July - A day in Creel
Our host was keen for us to take a tour with him, as was
every other person in Creel it seemed.
We were of different mind, having spent the last two and a half days travelling.
First breakfast. Ordering porage, I was surprised to be given a banana with it. I sliced it and submerged it. It was divine. Try it.
Owen and I were restless so we set off to walk up a neighbouring hill to yet another 'Christ the Redeemer'. The sky became overcast and it was beautiful standing in the breeze up the hill watching the birds soaring, swooping and gliding. We tried to get lost in the pine hills but failed though we did encounter a fair bit of barbed wire before we made our way back to town.
We considered arranging a tour for the next day but eventually agreed that we were not that interested. We had already seen lots of unusual rocks, hills and trees. We had swum in beautiful waterfalls, and we did not want to walk kilometres over rough hot ground or sit in a truck for hours.
Missed opportunity ? Maybe but sometimes it gets that way. Instead we tried to do some advance planning for Chihuahua and further
south in Mexico. The hostel culture has not reached North-East Mexico. We could find no hostels in Chihuahua, Saltillo or Monterrey (except one that was full and had only 2-male and 2-female 'dorms'). Never mind, we'll just head for Chihuahua and find something.
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Phil
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New hostel in Chihuahua
Please note that there is now one brand new hostel in Chihuahua, named Casa Chihuahua (www.casadechihuahua.com) right in front of the train station. So far so good... Many thanks for this excellent trip report Phil