Los Mochis to Zacatecas

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After a wasted day of waiting in the courtyard of the Yeneka Hotel, in La Paz was finally picked up by truck, across the street from the bus station, on the Malecon, the next morning. They had camped at some disgustingly dirty playa… too bad they did not go a little further and find the perfect Playa Tecolote. I had rebooked myself into the room I had had the two previous nights.

None of the group had seen La Paz.
In the heat of the day they had an hours wander. I stayed on truck guard duty. I had spent a lovely time in the place already.

The ferry ride involved a long wait and then a long crossing from La Paz to Topo, 24k outside Los Mochis.
It was very noisy on the ferry. All the sitting areas were inundated with loud music or loud video programs. A meal was included in the cost of the crossing but I had already had my fill of refried beans and soggy tortillas.

Arriving late in the night, with Hills and her injury because she had fallen down, making the walk to the truck hard. When we were all on the truck we learned that we would ‘bush camp’ which means we set up anywhere there is room and we don't have to pay. After a very long drive in the dark and three times asking, we came upon an RV site. It was locked. The truck parked on the other side. We ate roast beef (very light coloured) sandwiches with onion and mayo in the middle of the night in the “ass end of nowhere”. Those of us who erected our tents did so on cement slabs because so much debris… dare I say garbage …littered the rest of the place. My tent flew away so it had to be secured with the tent pegs… the big chunks of cement I found were not doing the trick.

Merrick, who likes to say “the ass end of nowhere “as much as I say “the tail of the dog” slept out in the open. Next day we were discussing the danger of being in such an exposed situation.
We could have been set upon by thieves with guns!
It was well after 1:00 when all finally settled in to sleep … where ever… in a tent, on the truck, under the truck, in the truck or out on a slab of cement.

AND we had to get up at 4:30 - 5:00 because seven of us were catching a 6:00 train to Copper Canyon and two of us were leaving the trip to return to Australia.

The opper Canyon train ride lasted 12 hours. And we only went as far as Creel... not even to Chihuahua! Second class cost half the amount and made numerous stops at little towns along the way or at some one’s house along the track. I bought a book that tells the whole story. The train went over many bridges and thru more than 85 tunnels. Lots of Mexicans on holiday or going home after shopping or visiting Los Mochis were on the train. The windows do not open so the area between wagons was quite popular and many took turns hanging out the platform door trying to see around corners and hoping to take a great picture of the canyon.

I have a lot of pictures of trees. Had to borrow a camera because my beautiful Cybershot got wetted in the sea … by me… and why… dare not tell anyone on this trip…had to pee in an extreme way and the closest thing was the sea…so I walked out forgetting about the camera and my money and the passport…good thing the passport survived the salt water dunking.


The rest of the group had stayed in Los Mochis. Have yet too hear what excitement they were up to.
We seven who took the Copper Canyon train to Creel slept over in an extremely clean private home. The manager of the Marguarita Hostel was very helpful. He also explained possible side trips we could make in the morning. Too bad we had to catch the 14:00 trian back to Los Mochis.

It took 12 hours again and we arrived late at night. Had to get to the Hotel Lorena. Argued with the taxi driver…who knew they wanted to fill the cab with four in each car… we were seven and not one of the drivers could explain the predicament. They just filled their cars with four other people… any way one man finally solved the problem and told us to get in and then he went to find a fourth person. The guy with four of us was a jerk!

The guy that drove us tried to get 50 pesos out of the three of us but it had been decided at the train station with the other guy that we were riding for 40. No tips this time around!
Three women slept in one room but we each had our own bed. Good thing too because the other two did not take a shower. One went into the bed with the same clothes on as she had worn all day on the train. The other one washed her hands or something because one soap was open and she put on pyjamas and went into her assigned bed. This part of the story gets better because a few days down the road I am supposed to share a bed with one of them….NO WAY JOSE!!

The last morning in Los Mochis was a disaster. My huarachas (sandals) came unglued and I had to cut a piece of my shoulder bag strap to tie it on to itself so that I could walk to LEY… like Zellers… to get a new pair. When I saw cameras in Coppels my priorities changed. Bought the Olympus …but… wait for it…. No memory stick that would fit!!!!

Three shops later in my flopping soled sandal and with an 11 o’clock departure time I finally bought the memory stick that was used to determine what size fits into cameras. Thank goodness the girl sold it to me…thank goodness I was able to speak enough Spanish to beg …just a little.

At a few minutes past 11 I was on the truck with camera, memory stick batteries, instruction book but no new sandals!

Pablo has an Olympus so I did not have to read the instructions. He showed me how it all worked. And he lent me a 1GB memory stick. Three hours later, coping with the slowness of the camera’s turning on and shooting Ii have the added frustration of realizing this piece of s&%$t sucks the batteries dry before you can say jack Daniels! Have been using four AA batteries a day since. I do not like this camera and will be extremely happy if the Cybershot can be fixed in Mexico City. Once again I must reiterate…Sony and Braun all the way… these two brands have served me very well … I will continue to stick by my toys.

While without my camera drove thru the most breathtaking country I have ever seen. Sheer rocks; deep valleys; houses perched on hte edge; electical wires strung from one mountain top to the other;clouds under us; at one place could see valleys on both sides of the road with clouds so dense it appeared one could walk on them; and always the trucks coming towards us on thin ribbons of highway ...paved with solid lines warning not to pass... repeatedly ignored. Adrenelin flowing.

Somewhere in this time period we cqamped beside the highway in a curve off to the side with barely enough space to park the truck so that we could open the hatches to take out the cooking gear. To get from one side of the truck to the other it was necessary to walk on the road with one foot. The tents were pitched so tightly together that the guidelines were crossing.

All night long...repeat ALL night long the transports whizzed..yes...whizzed around three corners and past the truck...made the truck vibrate... and then had to brake as they hurtled down the hill. Many of these trucks farted their way down the inclines trying to stay their speed. After a breakfast I have stopped eating we wwere on our way again thru the rest of the fantastically high altitute country...2900m!!!


Durango Market
Hot pink canopies caught my eye. The truck stops at a gas station. Can we have lunch at the market? Only three vote yes ... but all are later seen strolling thru the market ...even have some caught on film. We all walk the piece back because it is easy to park the truck at the station. Parking the monster is always a problem.

Clothes, junk, flip-flops (buy a pair with orange flowers at the toe ... bottom of feet now blue...die haas come off the plastic), religious spray for believers (the guy was spraying out of some kind of spray canister..smelled good ...could have benn hairspray...peoople paid money to have their hand sprayed...looked very fishy!), church goers, food of all kinds smells colours and quality. Did I mentiion there was junk ...lots of junk!!

I bought a beautiful purple sombrilla with a frill all around for the sun because the other I had bought is already falling apart.

Found a few of the group and had guisadeos(sic) cheese and meat inside two ...TORTILLAS!!... and fried on a hot skillet. There were many ppots tochoose from. I picked cactus with egg and chicken for one and cheese and meat for the other with salsa verde. It was good...the cactus tasted flat...needs cheese. To buy it costs 20 pesos the kilo.

Walk back to the truck, use the inevitable garage toilet and we are on our way to Zacatecas.


Zacatecas

This is an old colonial town with wonderful architecture left from Spanish days. The place also has a cable car ride that takes you up so that the whole town can be viewd at once. The old part is much smaller than the sprawl that has mushroomed around the historical centre. We arrived late at night, had not had dinner, and finally walked to a hotel in the rain. Was to share beds with no bath character...paid for my own room... 400 pesos for two nights... at the Hotel Gami. Was able to walk around naked and watch Spanish TV until 2 in the morning.

Had a great wander finding lots of interesting corners to photograph. Also found the market and ate a sugar donut. Bought a new pair of shoes so that ai would not have to walk around in flip flops all day. Had brunch at Hotel Argento .. 64 pesos...eggs with meat and salty green salsa,fruit, yogurt, glass of milk, glass of REAL orange juice and coffe. Not bad..except for the salty salsa.

I visited El Eden mine because the tourist info guy told me to get to the cable car I would have to climb 1259 steps. It was midday. Even with m y lovely purple fringed umbrella I was not about to do that. He told me about an elevator. Showed itto me on the map. I walk to the elevator. Coould have climbed the 1259 steps for all the effort it took to get to the place he showed me on the map.

Thanks to a Mexican from Nebraska I figured out I had to go thru the mine to get to the elevator. So also thanks to the Nebraskan Mexicqan I paid half price to get in, put on my hard hat (with a little clothy showercap kind of protection under the hard hat), sat on the small train and the tour was on.

It was in Spanish. Good thing I live in a mining town so was able to make sense out of the guides speal(sic).
The tour was good and I learned that silver mining had begun here in the 1500. It showed the ladders .. tree poles with notches cut into them. Children worked the mines as they still do in many parts of South America. The baskets taken up the ladder weighed 100k ... I assume this was the adult load...the figures depicting workers had a smaller basket on the child's back. The part of the mine we were in was 900ft down. IS THIS possible ...will have to check it out. An underground rock display and gift shops were located on route for the pleasure ofthe tourists and the profit of the group that is running the tours.

At the end of the tour... three quarters of an hour later ... finally the promised elevator. Felt a little like Alice as I waited for the door to open. There was a man in the elevator. We went up one number and when I walked out ...I was alone! Walked towards voices...left that group behind and walked about one block alone thru the shaft to get ...hopefully too daylight.

It did appear with a gift shop at the edge. Out the mine along the street and finally to the cable car. Again reduced entry and up the side of the mountain to the Pancho Villa Museum and .... more gift shops. Going up in the cable car the town loks like so many lego pieces laid down to make a town.

Spent an enjoyable hour reading about the revolution and made my way back down to the Cathedral where we were all meeting to celebrate Aussie Paul's birthday.

We celebrated at the Triviata... an Italian restaurant some of us had visited during the day. One beer and quatro fromagie noodles later and it wastime to return to the hotel... more TV and a elaxed sleep without bother from others. The bathroom had a lock on it on the bed side of the room because the window in the bathroom a) did not close and b) looked out on to a courtyard. Locked this door during the day too.

The truck was safely parked in front of the hotel. In the morning with just coffee from the OXXO-24 hour shop, we are on out way to Teotihuacan and the ancient Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. I did buy yogurt and orange juice to go with my left over bun... anything better than ....tortilla!!

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Comments

[Sandra M.]

Lovely Mexico
God bless you Barbara! I am enjoying your trip vicariously thank goodness. I actually like tortillas but I guess after eating them all the time they must get a tad boring. I cannot believe where you have to park the bus and camp. I would be scared #^%*less! I can certainly understnad wanting a room to myseif every once in a while. But you are certainly more adventurous than I. Keep it up! Sandra