Seen One Canyon...

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By the time I got through writing about everything we did up to reaching Chihuahua there wasn´t enough time to write about anything else, including Chihuahua. Truth be told there´s not all that much to write. It is a working town and we had the good fortune to meet some friendly people at the bus station when we arrived who were kind enough to direct us to the correct bus before we passed out from the heat. Man, have I mentioned how hot it is yet? If not, I´m sure to do a lot of repeating.

Temperature wise things did not change in the time that we spent in Chihuahua. We did, if anything, spend as much time as we could in air-conditioned comfort. But ofcourse not before we were running around like dehydrated chooks. We´re starting to learn our lesson about always having water with us, stopping if a cafe looks nice and not waiting for the greener pastures that never seem to eventuate. Think there´s a life message in there not too deep beneath the surface.

Chihuahua did introduce us to a variation of the same thing - beer cocktails. The first "cocktail" we had was called a "Michelada". This is a combination of pale sparkling beer mixed with fresh lime (none of that syrupy stuff they serve at home) served in a glass filled with ice and rimmed with salt. Very refreshing on a hot day : ) We also tried the variation on the same theme - a dark beer served with a mix of worcestchire and tabasco sauces, lime, ice and again rimmed with salt - my personal favourite. Think I know what I´ll be mixing when I get home although I might wait until the weather gets a little warmer before I do.

Now, Chihuahuan men don´t seem to mind drinking their beer through a straw with ice and still appear quite masculine in the process. As for the lime green/orange/purple crocodile skin cowboy boots, stetson, jeans and cowboy shirts do seem a bit contrived but it seems to the the outfit de jour here.

There was not really any more aimless wandering of streets, watching of fountains animated by music such as the theme from Bonanza, or one more brass band (who actually played in the bandstand) we could listen to. It was time to say adios to Chihuahua.

Another frenetic start to the day trying to find the bus to get us to the central bus station for our trip to Creel. We had the good fortune of arriving just in time for our imminent departure. Actually, the bus was leaving at 10:30, I was busting and they held the bus to allow me to go the toilet. Ah, you have to love Mexico.

So now we´re in Creel. Today we rented a couple of bikes and rode through the San Ignacio ejido owned by the local Raramuri people. It was a great little ride on a dirt road through some wonderful pine forest complete with rock formations reminiscent of Hanging Rock, probably no more than about 20km. However, little as the ride was my right knee was killing me by the end of it and I could not help but think how I ever did my trip in 2006 and whether this spelt the end of my cycling days. I hope not! I´m sure there´s another one still left in me!

Tomorrow we´re off to Los Mochis on the Copper Canyon Railway - this was the main reason for coming here in the first place and all our crossing borders in El Paso etc. Anyways, this canyon is bigger in scale than the Grand Canyon which, you know, takes some beating. I´m so excited about the scenery but not so much about the 9 hours that it will take to get there. And then, after all the wonder and beauty in store for us tomorrow, we´ll be arriving in Los Mochis late at night, in conditions that the guidebook assures us will be sultry (yay!), attempting to find somewhere to sleep and then doing our darndest to get out of there as quickly as possible. The "plan" is to get out of Los Mochis and find the quickest route to Guadaljara. It´s not looking promising - it´s a 7 hour bus trip to Mantzilla and then a 9 hour ride to Guadalajara.

Anyway, that´s way into the future. I have tomorrow to look forward to. It should be a spectacular day!

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