Secret forest

---

---

Another early start since we are visiting the only sight in El Fuerte - the Bosque Secreto (Secret Forest). This is a large part of the only remaining dry tropical forest left in North America. The weather is already hot and humid at 7.30am, but overcast. Equipped with long trousers, hats and long-sleeved shirts to defeat the bugs, we are warm before leaving our air con room.

The tour, as advertised, was by boat followed by a bit of walking. In the event the river water level is too low for a boat so we were offered kayaks instead. I am keen to give it a go but Ian point blank refuses. He claims that his ability to fall into water is too great a risk. A compromise is reached and it is decided that we will walk the bird watching trail, and then walk to the area of the petroglyphs.

We are issued with binoculars and, starting at the bridge over the river, we head upstream, with our guide pointing out a variety of colourful species. Apart from several species of heron, we see osprey, kingfishers and woodpeckers. A flock of Mexican parakeets fly over landing in a tree...almost invisible since their bright green colouring is identical to that of the foliage. The forest is also home to a range of flycatcher species, all busily swooping through the trees and over the river. The most colourful of these is the male vermillion flycatcher, having a brilliantly scarlet chest and head feathers and brown wings. Our guide is an accomplished twitcher and can imitate all the bird calls.

Suddenly our path is blocked by a fenced area with a gate and sign that clearly says private. No matter, our guide leads us down to the river, along a narrow, overgrown path and round through a hole in the fence! When I ask the guide about this, he tells me it’s to prevent the goats from wandering in! Yeah.

Now our trek leads us up to a series of 2000 year old petroglyphs carved into the rocks...they were only discovered in 1992 after a series of floods. The petroglyphs were carved into basalt rock using only stone implements - a time consuming process. Our guide explains what is thought to be the meanings of the engravings - in most cases concerned with life and death, the local calendar or animal migration. He also points out a stone which was used for making poison and sharpening stone arrowheads and hatchets.

Back at the hotel by 11am just as the rain starts. It doesn’t last long. I decide on a quick swim in the tiny pool (which looked much larger on the internet) while Ian lounges on a hammock. There is a huge water slide which, normally, I would like - but this one looks decidedly dangerous so I content myself with swimming like a goldfish in a bowl!

Now it’s time for lunch. We try a restaurant in town which is supposed to do all day breakfasts. We are warmly welcomed in...we still being the only tourists in town! It would appear they are only serving full blown dinners so we eat now and will try to get something lighter later. We both have steak in one form or another.

Now, we still have to decide on an exit strategy from here. We have three options, all of which will require us to first take the 2 hour bus back to Los Mochis before we do anything. Our choices are:

1. Take the bus back to Celuida (3 hours), then take the overnight bus to Chihuahua via Mazatlán and Durango (15 hours), then take the morning bus to Creel (4 hours). That’s 22 hours total without any unforeseen delays.

2. Take the bus to Hermosillo (6 hours), overnight in Hermosillo, then take the mountain bus to Cuauhtemoc (10-12 hours), overnight in Cuauhtemoc, then take the morning bus to Creel (2 hours).

3. Fly from Los Mochis to Chihuahua (1 hour direct or 12-16 hours via Mexico City), then take the 4 hour bus to Creel.

All options are equally annoying and long winded. It would appear that all the direct flights are sold out, so no point exploring option 3 any further. We decide that we will take our chances with option 2, it being the ever so slightly shortest in hours and maybe we will enjoy seeing some different places in Mexico on the way! That’s until Ian reads the reviews of the mountain bus service - old dilapidated buses which they oversell so we might end up standing for 10-12 hours - no way. OK, so it’s backtracking all the way.

This evening we pack up in readiness for an early start tomorrow - I have to go back to Los Mochis to attempt to get a refund on our train tickets. They cost in excess of £100 and it took them less than 30 minutes to take payment from my credit card - so why can’t they simply issue my card with a refund? All has gone very quiet and my emails appear to be being ignored. Stand by for guns at dawn!

---