While the El Chepe train started in Los Mochis (los’ m’ cheese), we read that the next town on the line, El Fuerto was a lot nicer – one of Mexico’s pueblos magico – there are 111 nominated magical towns in Mexico – and also meant you could board the train at a lot more godly hour at 8.20am rather than 6. We had tried to see if we could get the hotel in El Fuerto to arrange a ride but failed. We were told at the local taxi booth that it was 1300p ($100) for the 75min journey – actually 200p cheaper than that the hotel quoted.
We drove through Los Mochis; it looked very “Americanised” with lots of malls and American brands everywhere. El Fuerte was far more authentic with old colonial buildings and cowboys everywhere. The women wore beautiful brightly coloured cotton skirts. Our hotel – Hotel Posada del Hidaigo – was famous as the birthplace and home of Zorro. I had no idea he was an actual person. While the hotel had done a fabulous job in making the hotel feel authentic however it was a bit of tourist trap with the check in staff trying to sell us various tours before we had even got our key. The hummingbirds feeding at the entrance was special.
The town was lovely and got very basic once you left the main square. Much like Morelia, we noticed that as far as foreign tourists were concerned, we were among the youngest. No backpackers again. We had a bit of a wander before returning to a lounger by the pool and a late lunch. The hotel was empty, certainly a lot more staff than guests and yet it was hard work getting any service. It almost felt like they were staying in the same hotel as us. There were a family making a bit of noise in the room right next to us even though there were 3 empty rooms each side of us. I got up around 10pm and gave the 4 people at the front desk a bit of a spray. They didn’t understand much except that I was pissed off. Made me feel better.
We walked along the river the next morning; it was teeming with bird life. It had a bit of a Pampas (Bolivia) feel to it. We crossed a bridge and followed a path until it basically came to an end – we were meant to find some really old cliff drawings but failed. It was a lovely couple of hours but the rising temp forced us to return to the sanctuary of the pool. It was 28C by 11am. On the way back we did a bit of a detour and stocked up on booze and miscellaneous including my favourite queso (cheese) flavoured crisps. They are up there with salt & vinegar. We met another Canadian couple who had just done the El Chepe trip but going the other way. They made it sound lovely which got us excited. We spent the afternoon drinking and chatting away with them before getting a table for the “Fable of Zorro”event. A charismatic local dressed as Zorro serenaded and danced with all the ladies while the men got to dance with a slightly less charismatic backing lady. Deryn saw Zorro making a bee line so she dashed to the toilet, thereby missing seeing me fling the female assistant around the dance floor. Her head was spinning by the time I was done. Deryn returned only to be pounced on again by Zorro and so had her turn being swirled around the dance floor. It was a fun night.
The hotel was packed as a tour group of elderly Americans arrived late afternoon. We found at 5.30am that they were obviously in El Fuerte to catch El Chepe. The shuttle form the hotel left at 7.30 and these elderly folk needed a couple of hours to have a leisurely breakfast and check out. FFS. The train was very comfortable. We had tried to book a seat on the right hand side – far better views – but could not do so. It wasn’t really a problem as you could move around the train and there were quite a few viewing points – from the dining cart to hanging out the open window between the carriages. The 4 hour trip to Bahuichivo turned into 6 hours – a couple of times we just stopped with no information as to why. In addition, the views were not as spectacular as we were expecting but impressive none the less.
We were met by Manuel from Rancho Cabanas San Isidro at the station. He was the nephew of the owner of the ranch. Two brothers – Mario and Tito – ran the place with the rest of the family living on site. We were joined by a family from Austria who were visiting their son Roberto and his Mexican partner Tanya who now lived in Mexico. It was a 45 min drive to the small town of Cerocahui where the ranch was located. We all had our own very cute little cabin – each had a little pot belly fireplace but given how well the cabin was insulated we did not use ours – even though the temperature got down to single digits overnight. We were given a 3 course lunch in the common room then Manuel took us on a 11km hike back down to Cerocahui. The landscape was beautiful – quite unique – partly due to the area being at the bottom of the sea millions of years ago and also being carved out by the forces of water in creating the canyon. Our late start meant that it was dark by the time we got to the village so it was iPhone torch for the last 20 minutes.
The next day Mario had planned a full day visiting the small town of Urique 2650m down in the bottom of the canyon. The plan was to walk down from the Mirador but when we found out it was walking down the road we decided it would better to drive down and do a walk along the river to a town 7km away. The drive down was an adventure along a narrow winding dirt road with sheer drops cliff side. Urique was a authentic rural town with plenty of cowboys and brightly coloured dressed ladies. Once again there were loads of locals just sitting around as if waiting for something. No idea what and when I asked Mario I could not get a satisfying answer. Its been a common feature of rural Mexico. Urique was also distinct for having its main road double as a runway. It was supposedly for medical purposes but given the number of narcos operating in the area, there was scepticism around its purpose. Either way, the takeoff would be intense.
The walk to the town of Guadalupe was pleasant. Had a lot of fun playing with the kids in the town’s school. They pretended they hated having their photo taken; they would run away squealing when approached by a camera but would soon sneak back to enjoy it. Thankfully we did not have to walk the full 7kms back as Mario met us half way in the van. It was nearly dark by the time we returned to the ranchos. The Austrian family, bar Tanya, all headed off for a temazcal experience (a sauna – rocks in water and no fire in Mexico). We huddled around an outside fire having a few drinks until it got too cold an we moved into the indoor fireplace. It wasn’t long before we (I?) were doing shots of an artisanal local tequila called Sotol. Things were a bit hazy (for me)by the time the rest of the family arrived and we sat down for dinner.
It rained all night- apparently. Our train was due at 12.20 so we left at 9.45 to spend some time in the local village which was a bit of challenge given the rain. We have noticed a lot of dogs in this part of Mexico with most of them looking really skinny and mangy. So we bought some dog food and fed some of the locals (dogs) . Our 12.20 train did not arrive until nearly 2pm, again with no information provided as to it running late. Not a lot to do in a tiny little village station waiting for the train. Once we were on our way there was little to see given the weather plus it was getting dark. The destination was Creel, another Pueblo Magico. Our hotel – Maria del Tio Molca – was a 5 min walk from the station and yet we had someone met us to drive us to the hotel. We understood why when we got there – we would never have found it as there was no signage and it looked like a house. Our room was in a motel like wing; while the room was fine there was absolutely no facilities and the area outside our room smelt of cats pee – we think it was the smell of the plants.
It was a dash outside in the rain for a quick meal before retiring for the night. It rained all night and all the next day so apart from breakfast down at the Best Western in front of the fire and then across the road to La Cabana for dinner, we pretty much stayed in all day. We also did a slightly longer dash to the laundromat which was a bit of an oasis given its roaring fire. A real shame our ‘hotel’ didn’t have a lounge with a fire. The rain stopped overnight, and while the weather still looked a bit dodgy, we decided to hire some bikes from the 3 Amigos and explore a few of the local canyons. The bikes were brilliant and they also provided helmets and gloves (which were a godsend given the cold).
First stop was the Valle de las Ranas (Valley of the Frogs) and the Valle de los Hongos (Valley of the Mushrooms) just 5km outside of Creel. We enjoyed riding along the dirt road surrounded by rural Mexican life as much as the interesting shaped rocks. The amount of rain over the previous 36 hours meant lots of the road was under water which made for interesting riding – we had gained some experience from our Isla Holbox trip. Next stop was meant to be Lake Arareko but somehow, much to our pleasure, we found ourselves 1km from Valle de los Monjes (Valley of the Monks). Initially we had decided not to visit them because we thought it was too far but we were so glad that Deryn’s Map.me decided to divert us there. It was amazing. These towering rocks that looked like monks (funny that!). We had it to ourselves for the first 30 minutes until a tour bus arrived.
While riding back down the road we came across a sign saying Creel to Arareko Tarahumara bike track. Perfect. However it soon became clear that the actual track was under water so we had to sort of follow it on the slightly higher ground amongst the pine forest. It was magic. At one point we had to cross the river which meant carrying our bikes and wading thigh deep into a reasonably fast flowing river. We both made it without any major incident. We arrived at Lake Arareko after a 10 minute wait under a tree for a heavy shower to pass. The lake was a unique u shape, but apart from that, nothing special. Map.me was telling us that we basically had to retrace the way we had come to get back to Creel. Bugger that, so we carried our bikes across the river and followed a hiking trail (again carrying our bikes a fair bit) until we found a rideable track. Funny enough we passed a couple of local kids carrying their bikes but going in the opposite direction. It was then a matter of using Map.me to find our way home. We took a few wrong turns, asked locals for directions and poor Dits even had a slight crash before we eventually found the road back to Creel. It rained for the last 45 minutes or so but that just added to the adventure. We made it back to 3 Amigos 3 minutes after our 4 hour cut off time. 30km with over 400m of climbing. Perfect. We were covered in mud and soaked but felt fantastic. Best day for a while.
We felt a million dollars after a hot shower, a beer and a feed of chicken wings, pizza and salad. I dashed to the laundry to pick up our stuff from the day before and drop off our muddy gear. We were back in our room, tucked up for the night by 6pm. We had to check out by 12 the next day and our train wasn’t due to 15.38 (plus 2 hours!) so we had a chilled morning before checking out. We climbed the local mirador (via the laundry) to admire the statue of Jesus and sweeping views of Creel. After our day yesterday and a bit more sunshine, we could understand why Creel had been designated a Magico Pueblo. Our train was 2 hour late again but at least Creel had a few more sights to entertain us as we waited. We arrived in Chihuahua at 11, got ripped off by a taxi as had to pay 150p for a 5 km journey (the hotel told us the train taxis are a mafia that beats up any outsider taxis trying to get business – it costs 50p going the other way). Our hotel Doroteo Hotel Boutique was another converted homestead. It was beautiful.
We spent 3 lovely days in Chihuahua. Plenty of long walks exploring the old part of town; watching the locals in the main square and even a trip to the movies (Ford v Ferrari – great) in a very American mall. Deryn made a trip to the Mammoth museum which she said was amazing. A full skeletons oF a mammoth plus dinosaurs etc. She got chatting to a local who said if we needed any help to call him. Lovely people. We tried to have some fun one night but it was all a bit too hard. We did however find the most delicious shrimp ya os in Mexico. Surprisingly there were very few dogs in Chihuahua and certainly not of the little type. We saw one. We treasured these last few days as we knew it was the last of our 8 months of speaking Spanish.
Our flight to Tijuana was effortless while the crossing into the US via the Cross Border Xpress was also although we were again disappointed at how miserable the US border security people are. We grabbed an Uber (Mexican driver) to our lovely hotel in the heart it the Gaslamp district of San Diego.
And a note from Deryn….
Getting lost is not a fate to avoid, but a destiny to be embraced.
We arrived late after yet another epic chepe 2 hour train delay, into Chihuahua our final destination in this trip to Latin America. We awoke to a glorious sunny day but somehow I felt sorrowful. We began our usual meandering around the local Plaza del Armas, cathedrals and museums. I started to take in all the small things that I would miss from this adventure. Dogs, dogs, and cats (actually we only saw 1 dog in chihuahua and yes it was a chihuahua), not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, the beautiful bright colours of the clothes of the indigenous people, being immersed in Spanish, tacos… Many people have expressed that they couldn’t move around like we have. I am struggling to imagine not doing it. The natural wonders that we have seen, the physical challenges that we have faced, the chance to see a little of the way many other different cultures live. We have been unbelievably fortunate to have had experience.