Copper Canyon
We woke up sad to leave Chihuahua so soon but very excited about the Copper Canyon railway. We couldn't wait to see the gorgeous views we've read so much about.
The first half of the train journey took us to Creel, where we stopped for some hiking. We didn't just want to see the canyon system from the train; we wanted to see it up close. The scenery from Chihuahua to Creel was nice but not spectacular, especially not when compared with the Copper Canyon area. At Creel is where the canyon system comes into view.
We got out at Creel with a vague idea of which hostel we'd try first (from descriptions in our guide book). As we came off the train, someone from the hostel was there to lead anyone to the hostel. So that worked out well! We went along and paid for one night. It was more expensive than the book mentioned, but it included dinner and breakfast, so we gave it a try.
Our main priority was to find a tour to go on the next day. There's no public transportation for getting into the canyons, and we didn't want to rent a car. There are various companies who offer tours, though, so we were interested in checking them out. Unfortunately, the tours that interested us required at least 4 people, and it's low season for tourism just now. So we hoped that at dinner we'd find some other people wanting to go on a tour. In the meantime, we walked along Creel's main street. It's a small, very peaceful place in the low season, and we were delighted to find recycle bins! Woo-hoo!
Soon it was time for dinner at the hostel. There were lots of people there, but the way it was laid out we were only able to talk to a few people around us. None of them needed a tour, and we ended the meal feeling a bit frustrated. That didn't go as planned! No matter, we hit the streets to find Iff a hat. Success! It's a black bucket hat with no symbols or signias on it! Genius.
On our way back into the hostel that night, we saw several people checking out the tours run by the hostel. We overhead 2 of them asking about a place we wanted to visit, Batopilas, so we asked them if they were interested in getting a tour there. They were! It turned out that that tour needs a minimum of 8 people, though, and the other people checking out tours weren't interested in that tour. The four of us asked around a bit, but we couldn't find anyone else interested. We agreed to meet first thing the next day at a tour agent up the street and see what we could manage.
The next morning, we were there bright and early at the tour agent's. We were waiting for Bernd and Sandra, the German couple we'd met the night before, when someone asked us if were interested in doing a tour. It turned out that this French family of three were in the same situation we were, and luckily this tour agent went to where we wanted and required only 7 people. Perfect! Bernd and Sandra arrived, found out we could go on the tour, and very kindly allowed us to store our backpacks in their room that day. (We checked out of the hostel that morning since we weren't sure if we'd be getting an overnight tour.) Then off we went!
The tour was to various views of the Copper Canyon system, not hiking like we'd imagined but still a much closer look than we'd get from the train. It was amazing. We saw such gorgeous scenery on a beautiful day and with great company. We had a wonderful time. Near the end of the day, we saw some sites near Creel: Cusarare waterfall, a lovely lake and an old mission still used by indigenous people. We resolved to see more of the sites near Creel, preferably on foot the next day.
We got back to Creel having enjoyed the day's tour. We then had to find a new hostel; we weren't entirely happy with the first hostel, and we knew other hostels were cheaper, so we wanted to shop around. We figured we'd stay for two more nights so we'd have a full day for hiking around Creel. We went to a hostel which sounded lovely in our guide book and was lovely in reality. The owner, Luli, was so hospitable and showed us a gorgeous room. Unfortunately, I completely misunderstood when she quoted a price to me in Spanish. We went to pay her and realised she wanted a lot more money than we wanted to pay. She speaks no English, so it was awkward trying to explain to her that I'd misunderstood her and that we needed a cheaper room! In the end, she offered to let us stay for one night for the price we wanted, and in the morning she'd recommend a different hostel for us to try. How nice is that!
That night we decided that we'd leave Creel the next day rather than stick around for a third night. We were disappointed about not seeing the rest of the local sites; the train would leave at mid-day. But it just seemed like time to move on. In the morning, we were delighted to find out that Luli's son would take us on a tour of the local sites as well as to Divisadero, from where we could get the train for the rest of the Copper Canyon rail journey. This was perfect; we wouldn't get any hiking in, but we'd get to see everything we wanted to see without having to rush for the train. Also, we'd get to see the sites in Divisadero rather than settle for the 15-minute stop the train makes there.
This tour arrangement required at least 4 people, but luckily there was another couple wanting to go too. They're a Mexican woman and a Dutch man, and they were lovely. The woman speaks Spanish and English and was nice enough to translate when our tour guide talked so quickly in Spanish that I couldn't follow him. She was also happy to recommend various things for us to do and see in Mexico; advice from locals is invaluable. We had a great time seeing cool rock formations around Creel, another mission for indigenous people, a cave inhabited by a family of 6 of those indigenous people, and then on to more amazing views of the Copper Canyon system.
The Copper Canyon system is comprised of a few canyons, rivers, waterfalls and lots of gorgeousness. There are various lookout points known to be especially striking, and we were thrilled to visit them, especially El Mirador and La Piedra Volada. The word of the day was "maravilloso" -- I couldn´t stop saying it. We got to Divisadero in time to grab some lunch before our train journey resumed (and see the French trio from our tour the day before as they waited for their first-class train; we were on the economy train of course!). The train was late, so we had a couple hours to eat some lovely veggie food from a stall by the train tracks and watch what Chris thinks were condors soaring over the canyons in front of us. There was so much natural beauty right before our eyes, and we couldn't have been happier.
We were probably spoiled by all that we'd seen in those two days. When we got on the train for the rest of the Copper Canyon journey, nothing could top what we'd already seen. The train journey itself is amazing, though. It goes across a canyon system that cars and buses can't traverse. It utilises lots of bridges and tunnels. It's a work of art really, and we're so glad that we got to experience it.
The train terminates in Los Mochis, but we decided to stop before there at El Fuerte, a smaller and supposedly safer town. So that's what we did...more on that later!
The first half of the train journey took us to Creel, where we stopped for some hiking. We didn't just want to see the canyon system from the train; we wanted to see it up close. The scenery from Chihuahua to Creel was nice but not spectacular, especially not when compared with the Copper Canyon area. At Creel is where the canyon system comes into view.
We got out at Creel with a vague idea of which hostel we'd try first (from descriptions in our guide book). As we came off the train, someone from the hostel was there to lead anyone to the hostel. So that worked out well! We went along and paid for one night. It was more expensive than the book mentioned, but it included dinner and breakfast, so we gave it a try.
Our main priority was to find a tour to go on the next day. There's no public transportation for getting into the canyons, and we didn't want to rent a car. There are various companies who offer tours, though, so we were interested in checking them out. Unfortunately, the tours that interested us required at least 4 people, and it's low season for tourism just now. So we hoped that at dinner we'd find some other people wanting to go on a tour. In the meantime, we walked along Creel's main street. It's a small, very peaceful place in the low season, and we were delighted to find recycle bins! Woo-hoo!
Soon it was time for dinner at the hostel. There were lots of people there, but the way it was laid out we were only able to talk to a few people around us. None of them needed a tour, and we ended the meal feeling a bit frustrated. That didn't go as planned! No matter, we hit the streets to find Iff a hat. Success! It's a black bucket hat with no symbols or signias on it! Genius.
On our way back into the hostel that night, we saw several people checking out the tours run by the hostel. We overhead 2 of them asking about a place we wanted to visit, Batopilas, so we asked them if they were interested in getting a tour there. They were! It turned out that that tour needs a minimum of 8 people, though, and the other people checking out tours weren't interested in that tour. The four of us asked around a bit, but we couldn't find anyone else interested. We agreed to meet first thing the next day at a tour agent up the street and see what we could manage.
The next morning, we were there bright and early at the tour agent's. We were waiting for Bernd and Sandra, the German couple we'd met the night before, when someone asked us if were interested in doing a tour. It turned out that this French family of three were in the same situation we were, and luckily this tour agent went to where we wanted and required only 7 people. Perfect! Bernd and Sandra arrived, found out we could go on the tour, and very kindly allowed us to store our backpacks in their room that day. (We checked out of the hostel that morning since we weren't sure if we'd be getting an overnight tour.) Then off we went!
The tour was to various views of the Copper Canyon system, not hiking like we'd imagined but still a much closer look than we'd get from the train. It was amazing. We saw such gorgeous scenery on a beautiful day and with great company. We had a wonderful time. Near the end of the day, we saw some sites near Creel: Cusarare waterfall, a lovely lake and an old mission still used by indigenous people. We resolved to see more of the sites near Creel, preferably on foot the next day.
We got back to Creel having enjoyed the day's tour. We then had to find a new hostel; we weren't entirely happy with the first hostel, and we knew other hostels were cheaper, so we wanted to shop around. We figured we'd stay for two more nights so we'd have a full day for hiking around Creel. We went to a hostel which sounded lovely in our guide book and was lovely in reality. The owner, Luli, was so hospitable and showed us a gorgeous room. Unfortunately, I completely misunderstood when she quoted a price to me in Spanish. We went to pay her and realised she wanted a lot more money than we wanted to pay. She speaks no English, so it was awkward trying to explain to her that I'd misunderstood her and that we needed a cheaper room! In the end, she offered to let us stay for one night for the price we wanted, and in the morning she'd recommend a different hostel for us to try. How nice is that!
That night we decided that we'd leave Creel the next day rather than stick around for a third night. We were disappointed about not seeing the rest of the local sites; the train would leave at mid-day. But it just seemed like time to move on. In the morning, we were delighted to find out that Luli's son would take us on a tour of the local sites as well as to Divisadero, from where we could get the train for the rest of the Copper Canyon rail journey. This was perfect; we wouldn't get any hiking in, but we'd get to see everything we wanted to see without having to rush for the train. Also, we'd get to see the sites in Divisadero rather than settle for the 15-minute stop the train makes there.
This tour arrangement required at least 4 people, but luckily there was another couple wanting to go too. They're a Mexican woman and a Dutch man, and they were lovely. The woman speaks Spanish and English and was nice enough to translate when our tour guide talked so quickly in Spanish that I couldn't follow him. She was also happy to recommend various things for us to do and see in Mexico; advice from locals is invaluable. We had a great time seeing cool rock formations around Creel, another mission for indigenous people, a cave inhabited by a family of 6 of those indigenous people, and then on to more amazing views of the Copper Canyon system.
The Copper Canyon system is comprised of a few canyons, rivers, waterfalls and lots of gorgeousness. There are various lookout points known to be especially striking, and we were thrilled to visit them, especially El Mirador and La Piedra Volada. The word of the day was "maravilloso" -- I couldn´t stop saying it. We got to Divisadero in time to grab some lunch before our train journey resumed (and see the French trio from our tour the day before as they waited for their first-class train; we were on the economy train of course!). The train was late, so we had a couple hours to eat some lovely veggie food from a stall by the train tracks and watch what Chris thinks were condors soaring over the canyons in front of us. There was so much natural beauty right before our eyes, and we couldn't have been happier.
We were probably spoiled by all that we'd seen in those two days. When we got on the train for the rest of the Copper Canyon journey, nothing could top what we'd already seen. The train journey itself is amazing, though. It goes across a canyon system that cars and buses can't traverse. It utilises lots of bridges and tunnels. It's a work of art really, and we're so glad that we got to experience it.
The train terminates in Los Mochis, but we decided to stop before there at El Fuerte, a smaller and supposedly safer town. So that's what we did...more on that later!
posted by Trace at
10:35 pm
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