Day 6 – El Fuerte

3/23/2006 – Day 6 – El Fuerte

Since it was dark and late last night and after breakfast this morning, we begin to explore Pasada Del Hidalgo Hotel.  Check out this fountain in the courtyard.  By the way, El Fuerte is purportedly most famously known for being home to Zorro.

There are  number of courtyards in this hotel.  Check out this one.  Surrounded by a walkway live trees and flowers adore the area.  We are not in one of these rooms, but imagine sitting out under the stars in the courtyard.  Relaxing!

Now this is where our room is, under the roof overhang. 

Check out the pool area.  The bar is behind us with tables in front and to the left of us.  We will meet here for a cocktail and 3-piece mariachi band. 

We are going on a river float ride.  Well I am Carmen is staying behind.  As we head down the Hotel entrance to the road; I get a picture looking back up to the entrance.  Check out how steep the entrance ramp is. 

As usual out by the road I am taking pictures of flowers.  Check out these cactus flowers. 

Now this cactus is interesting.  I see the cactus and it has an unusual piece, so I ask the tour guide about it.  Apparently, it is a caterpillar and disguised so the birds will not find it.  Wow!  Now that is different.

I am off to the boat float while Carmen is going to walk around town.  Here I am with my boat mates getting ready for ramming speed to take out the other boats.  Well okay, I’m told that’s not what we are going to do.  Take all of the fun out of a boat ride.  LOL!

It is not a race, but we are ahead of the others.  We are seeing birds and I think there was an otter or two, and that is about it for animals.

After several miles and about an hour on the river we are docking and departing the RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat).  As you can see, the dock is small and we have to take turns.  But everyone is back on dry land without any mishaps. 

Now while I was on the water, Carmen was running around town.  She went to some of the other hotels to see how they look.  Now I like blue and this would be perfect for me.  I really like the vibrant colors and I’m sure that is why Carmen took the picture.  

Now this is a courtyard.  Look at all of the flowers and colors.  Wow!  Imagine waking up to this each morning coffee in hand and relaxing in a chair.  

Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón is the name of this chapel.  Carmen was able to get the full view from this angle since there was some sort of ceremony going on while she was there.  Still its in good shape for being built in 1673.

Inside the church, as with many Spanish heritage churches, the architecture is simple with clean lines.  The dais is adorned minimally, but the alter is as ornate as can be.  Very nice.  

Carmen went to the nearby El Fuerte municipal building.  Of course she went up to the second floor to take the picture, as I would have.

Carmen couldn’t figure out what was going on here.  Is it cowboy fiesta time or is everyone getting ready to go to a rodeo?  Carmen said they were there for awhile.  We’ll never know and the sign doesn’t help.

Near the cowboys, were these police.  Carmen was very carful when she took this picture.  It’s a good thing she didn’t get arrested, I had sneakers and a cheap belt so I would not have been able to come up with bail.  And I wasn’t giving up my camera.  LOL!  Carmen was also surprised that one of the police was a woman.  She also said that there were other police with rifles on other street corners.

Walking around a little more Carmen found the Museo El Fuerte or Museum of El Fuerte which is located inside the historic fort of El Fuerte. 

Inside museum is a statue of Zorro.  As I mentioned earlier Zorro is said to have come from El Fuerte. 

The tour group met at a restaurant in town for lunch after our boat ride and Carmen's trip around town.

After lunch we toured more of El Fuerte.  We have seen some unusual food items on our travels, but at one of the outside markets we saw these skinned rattle snakes for sale.  Anyone for rattlesnake tacos?

Speaking of street foods, here is one of the food venders that we have seen. 

At happy hour before dinner, we are serenaded by a Mariachi band.  And who should also show up?  None other than Zorro, with his rapier and whip. 

After dinner, a local troupe of dancers once again entertained us.  The men and women perform several traditional dances from the area. 

Later, dancers asked people from the tour group to join them.  Yes, Carmen goes up before all of the male dancers are taken.  

While Carmen is back in the room packing for tomorrow’s early departure, I am running around the hotel taking pictures.  Did I mention that the hotel appears to be one or more haciendas?  

Tomorrow we will get back on the train and head back into Copper Canyon where we will stay at a hotel overlooking the canyon.  

Day 5 – Train ride through Copper Canyon

3/22/2006 – Day 5 – Train ride through Copper Canyon

This morning we are up early to meet the train before its departure.  The bags are packed, we have our flashlights, and we are ready to go.  The train ride aboard El Chepe, will cover 405mi (652km), passing through 86 tunnels, crossing 37 bridges, and rugged Copper Canyon.  This train goes from Chihuahua to Topolobampo on the west coast.  But we’ll only go so far as El Fuerte.  

We travel for some distance then the train makes a regularly scheduled stop for about 20-30 minutes.  We are in, I think because I forgot to write it down, Divisadero.  It is an overlook to one of the most spectacular natural wonders in Mexico.  There are three canyons here: Urique, Tararecua and Cobre.  Carmen is standing in front of a viewpoint for the Canyon.  Looks like the Grand Canyon in the U.S.

There are several Tarahumara Indians selling the items that they make.  I might add that they are simply beautiful pieces of work.  You can see the baskets they made and one of them is showing a man how she makes the baskets. 

We are back on the train and continuing our travel to El Fuerte and we have had a Federal Police escort at both entrances of the car the group occupies.  I am finally able to get a picture when one of them was not looking.

The train makes another stop to drop passengers off and take some on.  While we are sitting several of the Tarahumara Indian women come to our windows and once again begin hawking their baskets.  I am still amazed at the quality of the baskets.  Several of the people in the tour group purchase baskets saying they were cheap compared to what something like that would cost them at home.

Some of the views we are having on the train along the way.

Carmen and I are taking pictures from the space between cars.  There are two stairwells that have raised platforms so people can stand and look out.  Here is a picture of Carmen taking a picture of me, taking a picture of the train. 

The landscape has been very interesting as viewed from the train.  We are simply enjoying the ride and the views.  Notice the cross near the bottom of the picture.

We have passed several villages along the train route and decided to take a picture of one of them. 

On this train ride, we have passed some very nice rock formations and mountain scenery.  These rocky peaks are very impressive. 

Again, as we ride we pass more mountains that are impressive.  We are so busy looking that we sometimes forget to take pictures.  Considering that we are constantly passing great looking scenery, we still manage between the two of us to get a picture or two.

We are heading down hill now.  We can tell by the angle of the train ride.  Also, we are beginning to leave the high rocking mountains. 

We are now crossing over the Fuerte River.  We are close to our destination. 

Running along the Presa Miguel Hidalgo (El Mahone Reservoir Lake) you can see how much the water has dropped.  This looks similar to the white rim at Lake Powel in Arizona. 

After a long day we arrive at our train stop for Le Fuerte, which is the town of Estación Hoyancos.  It is getting dark and our ride to the Pasada Del Hidalgo Hotel is an old school bus.  It is pretty dark, hence the flashlight, and late by the time we get our room key.  So I’m sorry to say you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see pictures of the great looking hotel.

Day 4 – Creel, Mexico

3/21/2006 – Day 4 – Creel, Mexico

We are in Creel, which is at 7250 feet above sea level, all day today mostly waiting for the train.  Outside our hotel this morning, Hotel Grand Vison (I think because I did not write down the name), it is just a bit cold, since I can see my breath and my coffee is steaming.  We are about to go for a walk around the town before coming back to make sure we are packed for the early start tomorrow morning.

As we make our way around town, we see many of the streetlights are made with a dragon motif, like this one.  Also, many have bare light bulbs.

As we near one of the parks there are many shawls folded over the railings.  Many vibrant colors, but I’m partial to the blue ones.  We did not check on the prices of the shawls, since we have no room in our bags to pack one if we did buy it.  Too bad, they are really nice.

One of the churches in town.  Notice the stone construction of the walls. 

Here is one of the tourist shops in town.  Like in all other tourist towns we’ve been in this is a crafts shop which also sells t-shirts and other souvenirs. 

Walking north and west around the edge of town, we approach the rocky outcroppings.  It would be interesting to hike around these hills with the rocks. 

Behind one of the houses that borders the rocky hills is a small prayer alcove tucked up on the cliff.  There is a small statue inside the small room.  Not sure if this belongs to the town of Creel or to the people that own the house at the base of the rocks.

Walking a little further around town we find another hotel.  This one looks like it has small Juliette balconies for the rooms facing the street.

We make our way along a trail that takes us to the Cristo Rey Statue.  Part of the trail was pretty steep, with no hand railings.  I was holding onto Carmen’s hand, so I wouldn’t fall over; LOL!!  There is a nice overlook of the entire town of Creel, which I did not take a picture of. 

As we are heading back to the hotel and stopping in several of the shops, I see this Indian woman looking into the store from outside.  I had to take a picture.

One of the Tarahumara Indian women making belts and beads and other items which she is selling on the street. 

During our walk we find out that there are a number of train flat beds waiting for motor homes to get loaded.  One of the trains travels back and forth brings motor homes and campers on flatbeds towards the west coast of Mexico towards Los Mochus where they will either take the ferry to La Paz on Baja California or drive up to Tucson Arizona.

Tomorrow we jump on the train.  We are told to have flashlights handy as we  will finish the train ride in the dark.  Early to bed I see.