Mar 17, 2012 - Barranca del Cobre,Creel, Chihuahua

Partons à 7h30 par taxi, que nous avions réservé via le camping, pour se rendre à la gare dont le train doit arriver vers 8h. Il y a toujours des retards sur ce train. Finalement l'arrivée du train en provenance de Los Mochis, se fait vers 8h45. Il y a beaucoup de passagers qui attendent car cette destination est très populaire. Nous devons être une centaine. Je suis agréablement surprise de voir tant de gens car l'endroit (la gare) est très isolé de la ville de El Fuerte. Avons aussi réservé le taxi pour le retour qui sera dans 3 jours car...

Feb 20, 2011 - The Copper Canyon

Since Palenque we have spent a lot of time on buses, travelling to the northern part of Mexico. We spent a couple of nights in Chihuahua, quite a nice city despite being pretty big. This was our gateway to the Copper Canyon, actually a series of over thirty canyons which together are bigger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Having made our way to Areponapuchi (I never did manage to pronounce it right), we found the house of Gustavo Lozano and his family. We had been given an introduction to him by people we met in Chihuahua, and what a...

Nov 29, 2010 - Creel

Creel! Ich hab mich auf den ersten Moment in diesen Ort verliebt.. vielleicht weil er etwas Oesterreichisches hat. Creel ist ein 5000 Einwohner Bergdorf auf 2338 Metern ueber dem Meer. Hier merkt man wirklich das es schon fast Dezember ist (das erste was ich mir gekauft habe war eine peruanische Wollmuetze) und der Gedanke, dass in einem Monat Weihnachten ist wirkt nicht mehr ganz so bizarr wie am Pazifik, wo die Weihnachtsmaenner bei 25ºC am Hausdach winken. Wir haben uns ein Zimmer um 250 Pesos genommen und es ist sein Geld allemal Wert!...

Nov 26, 2010 - Last day in Culiacan

Letzter Tag in der Notaufnahme.. und er war sehr bezeichnend fuer das vergangene Monat. Um 7 in der Frueh war tote Hose, eine Patientin mit Kopfschmerzen und sonst nichts. Das hat sich bis nach der taeglichen "clase" (heute: der EVC - enfermedad vascular cerebral, oder auch Schlaganfall) aber schnell geaendert, es waren dann doch ein paar Patienten, und mindestens eine kritisch (St.p. Trauma). Gegen 1 Uhr Mittags wars dann wieder ruhiger, und wir konnten die Zeit fuer einen feierlichen Abschied von allen nutzen, das inkludiert natuerlich...

Nov 10, 2010 - from Creel to Divisadero

We left Creel on a school bus to see Tarahumara villages and houses around the village of Creel. We visited a family that lives in a cave during the cold months because it is easier to heat the rocks than to heat a log cabin home that isn’t insulated. We visited a mission or church where the men sit on benches along the sides of the church while the women sit on the floor in the center. We saw the valley of the mushrooms and the valley of the frogs, so named because of the rock formation shapes. After going back to the hotel in Creel for a...

Nov 9, 2010 - back up to the rim

After breakfast, we got loaded up and rode for 5 hours back to Creel. We had a sandwich with their good bread, some cheese, and a mystery meat with no flavor. That’s okay though because of all the heavy meals we’ve had so far – we all felt we would eat dinner tonight! Where we stopped was off the main road by a creek or river. Two girls came down from their home, the older one carrying baskets she made herself. The younger one was too shy to cross the creek to join us. Many of us bought a basket or two and gave her our uneaten sandwiches....

Nov 7, 2010 - interesting ride to the canyon floor!

After a big breakfast at the hotel, we gathered into 2 vans for our day long trip to the bottom of the canyon. Cesar will be our guide for the next 3 or 4 days. He sat in the front of one van and explained some things to us while talking into a CB for the other van. On the way back, he will sit in the other van and talk via CB to the first one. I sat in the back row of the van and couldn’t hear or understand some of what he was saying, so I cannot relate too much. I understand the 2nd van couldn't hear him through the CB radio either! The...

Nov 6, 2010 - a long train ride!

We met outside our RVs at 5 AM in order to take a bus to the train station and be on the Chepe train hen it left the station at 6! Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and I was given a card that was signed by everyone – how nice! We saw some pretty poor housing conditions along the way. Women swept the dirt off their dirt yards and wet them down while the men went off to work on the commercial farms nearby. We stopped in a few towns and more people got on at each station until the train got quite full. We had breakfast and lunch on the train...

Mar 28, 2010 - Urique - Copper Canyon

March 25, 2010 The other day I was eaves dropping on some Canadians and this woman, whom I’m going to call…“The Teacher”. She wouldn’t shut the fuck up about how much the Olympics cost blah fucking blah. She sounded nauseating. A CBC radio broadcast. The three others just sat there transfixed while she ranted. Manson came to mind. I can just hear the intro, “Ladies and Gentlemen, today we have a special call in guest so put down your knitting, let in the cat in and fire up a blunt. It’s gonna get rich! Yes ladies and gentlemen straight from...

Mar 28, 2010 - Creel - Copper Canyon

March 23, 2010 2 degrees out this morning. Not in the desert anymore. I wonder if I’ll see snow today. Long johns – everywhere I have ridden they are the best tool I have ever brought. Compact size, about the size of my fist, light and best off all - warm. Shitty room last night. Hot water though. ‘Aguas Calientes’ the sign said. Fuck yeah. They had satalite TV also. Spanish. Oh man it was a cold start. It’s about 10:30 and Im still freezing. I left at 7:30. I don’t think I’ll get to Creel for another 4-5 hours. It’s about 110kms from...

Mar 28, 2010 - Copper Canyon

We decided to treat ourselves to a vacation away from Blue Aweigh. It may sound funny, but just as on land, it’s nice to change your environment from time to time. Because of the logistics of getting there and the many destinations, we booked through a travel agency that had everything from trains and transfers to rooms and meals all pre-arranged for us. Am I glad we did. From Mazatlan, we took a bus for about 6 hours to El Fuerte, home of Zorro. Yes, he really existed and the beautiful historic hotel where we stayed has a guy come out...

Mar 28, 2010 - Chinipas - Copper Canyon

March 26, 2010 Today I drove from Urique to Chinipas. It was fucking hot. At one time, near the end, my thermometer read 47. Another thing that's broken. In full riding gear. The air that flew past me was hot. Electra didn’t like it either. About 10km out was a huge gold mine. It’s called Palmarajo. I was told by one guy that it was a silver mine and by another a gold mine. One guy told me it was Canadian owned. They both told me that Canadians, Australians and Americans work there. It’s anyone’s guess who owns the mine. Everything is hot....