Day 3 – To Creel, Mexico

3/20/2006 – Day 3 – To Creel, Mexico

We are up early today since we are entering Mexico and will try to beat the “rush”.  In any case by the time we get to the border crossing it will be about 7:30 AM.  When we get to the border, one of the Mexican border guards comes on board and asked for three volunteers to leave the bus and be checked.  So, I said okay I’ll go.  The checking was pressing a button and wait for the traffic light to turn green or red.  The three of us press the button and the green light comes on, so the bus as a whole is free to pass.  When asked what happens if one turned red, there was no answer.  Oh well, we are in.

We are heading south on Mexico route 45 out of Cuidad Juarez and see several of these small shrines along the road.  Apparently, the small shrines are for truckers to pray for safe travels. 

The views as we head south are fantastic.  The mountains in the distance are impressive.  Too bad that we don’t have time to visit and do some hiking.

About an hour after leaving the border, we begin traveling past sand dunes.  After looking at a map we find that this is part of the Médanos de Samalayuca national park.  Traveling at 60 mph the dunes are a little blurry but still impressive.

During our drive we pass a number of partially finished homes.  Not sure if they are in the middle of being built or in the process of degrading, but the scenery is really nice.  I could see myself having coffee on the back deck looking out at the mountains.

Further south on the highway we can see where the wind is blowing up a storm or a vehicle is driving along a dirt road putting up a dust trail.  Either way that is a lot of sand flying around.

We pass this restaurant and lucky for us we are not stopping here to eat lunch.  It looks a little small to hold all of us on the bus.  Our lunch will be with the Mennonites just off of route 50 and route 33 on our way to the town of Creel.  In the mean time we are happy to see these views.

We continue to have great views of the mountains in this area of Mexico.  We are still in the State of Chihuahua and have been since entering Mexico.  I can see why many of the western movies were made in this area.  Great landscapes with little population to interrupt filming.

And a lonely buffalo out on the prairie.  It is a little blurry because we saw it at the last minute and had to move quickly.

The mountains that we are passing appear to be made up of basalt columns.  Traveling as we are it is difficult to tell if the rock face is just cut and broken this way or basalt columns as I mentioned.

The columns are clearer on this rock face with more noticeable column separation.  Still the view is nice.  During our drive through this terrain, I cannot get enough of looking at the mountains.  

As we pass on our way to Creel we have yet another view of the mountains.  We are still enjoying the rocky terrain. 

We came out of the mountainous area into grassland and farmland areas.  It was funny that I was able to capture this lone tree in the middle of these rolling hills.  All there is is this one tree with nothing around it but grass.

These crops have cloth covers.  They must be either to keep the birds out when the fruit is ripening or to stave off any hail that might destroy the plants. 

We finally make our way into Creel and the town is surrounded by rocky hills like this one.  Tomorrow we will explore the town, but for now, it is getting late.