Trip report for Copper Canyon

In addition to the blog posts, I also wrote up a trip report. It goes into more detail of the costs for the trip plus some helpful information like websites of some of the places, phone numbers, email. It also has some of our thoughts on security and some suggestions. We thoroughtly enjoyed the Copper Canyon and would encourage you to go there if you have the time.

If you are on a laptop, look for the link to the Copper Canyon trip report on the home page of the blog on the right hand side.

If you are on a mobile phone, go to the top of the page where it says Home, select the arrow on the right hand side and you will get a menu list, then select Copper Canyon trip report and voila, there you are.

This is also a link to the trip report.

I would appreciate any comments or questions you might have. I will try to answer as best as I can about our experience.

Please be patient, photos are coming soon. Here is a teaser..

Urique Canyon

Back on Windarra

This morning we arrived at the bus station near the airport around 9:00 am. After a taxi back to Paradise Village we got back to the boat and unpacked. Everything on the boat looks fine and the refrigeration is working well. We checked the Internet and verified our finances and caught up with some of the doings in the rest if the world until our Internet with Telcel stopped. It ends after 30 days or 6 Gb which ever comes first and we had last renewed on Oct. 30. So I will need to make a trip to the nearest Oxxo store.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Copper Canyon. It is an amazing place in many ways. I will give a synopsis of the trip, where we stayed, the costs and some of our thoughts, in the next couple of days and post it.

Now we start to focus on getting Windarra and ourselves ready to head south toward Zihuatanejo and points beyond.

Adios for now.

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Bird watching and Petroglyphs in El Fuerte

26 25.37 N, 108 37.26 W

This morning Nacho had a small wake up breakfast for us, some strong coffee and toasted sweet rolls. After a quick bite we met Nacho and Felipe at 6:30 am by their zebra painted truck, towing a trailer with a panga. We were off to go bird watching.

We drove outside of town and upstream of the El Fuerte river. We passed black buzzards sitting on cacti and drove through an Indian village before arriving at a place to launch the panga. With Phoebe and I in the front, Rich and Reg behind and Felipe in the rear with the oars we started to drift down the river. Felipe was continually pointing out different birds. He spoke excellent English which put us at ease especially when he was naming all of the variety of birds. After drifting for a while we came to a stop on the far shore. As Rich's ankle was still very sore, he elected to stay with the boat as Felipe said it was only a 10 minute walk. Phoebe, Reg and I followed Felipe down the path, our cameras ready to catch a shot of the many birds. He pointed out Cardinals, red wing blackbirds, jays, magpies, on and on. He would whistle and get an answering call and we would all anxiously look for the bird. Our progress down the path was slow. After awhile he asked if we were ready to see the petroglyphs. We passed though a y shaped branch that was part of the barbed wire fencing. The Y was wide enough for us to go through but not for a cow. We came to a seemingly unremarkable pile of small boulders. On closer inspection we could see the designs that had been carved into the rocks. Stick figures of men, upside down ones meaning death. Suns, coyotes or wolves, owl faces and spirals. It was a shame to see that one carving had been a target of graffiti. A short distance away were more carvings, including a fertility symbol of a pregnant woman as well as a series of dots, pointing toward the canyons

As I mentioned before this was a 10 minute walk. Rich had been waiting about an hour and a half, wondering where we were and what happened to us. So he grabbed his backpack and set off down the path, favoring his left ankle. Soon we met him on the path as we were returning. He was relieved that we were fine. So back to the panga and we continued our trip down the river. We saw Blue Herons, Spotted Brown Herons, Night Herons and White Herons, magpies, hawks, falcons, kingfishers, sand pipers, a phoebe and more. It was a beautiful morning and we were amazed at all the varieties of birds we saw. Felipe rowed us back to shore near the hotel. Nacho picked us up and when we got back to the hotel he made us a larger breakfast/brunch with fruit, eggs, bacon and toast.

We could easily have stayed another day but it was time to catch the bus back to Los Mochis. We said goodbye to Charles and Nacho gave us a ride to the bus stop. The one legged taxi driver saw us and waved goodbye as we got on the bus for a 2 hour ride back. The bus to Los Mochis was $70 pesos a person.

There was an interesting incident on the bus. An older man got up from his seat in the front of the bus, walked to the back and took at seat in the last row. The young woman right in front of us left her seat and went back to join him. They closed the curtains over the side window and when I glanced back, they were in a passionate embrace, kissing each other. I am not sure if this was a lovers' tryst or if the woman was conducting business on the bus but the man who was collecting money for tickets on the bus was directing new passengers to seat in the front of the bus.

The bus dropped us right at the TAP bus station in Los Mochis but Reg and Phoebe had to walk about 5 blocks to catch their bus to Topolobampo. Since I was unable to buy the tickets online, it cost $830 pesos each for our tickets back to Puerto Vallarta. We waited in the bus station until we could board the bus, just before 6:00 pm. In the meantime we watched the movie 300 in Spanish.

The ride back to Puerto Vallarta was uneventful. We did not even have any agricultural inspections as we did on the way north. I tried to watch "The Devil wore Prada", again in Spanish but it was too fast for me to pick up anything.

Early tomorrow morning we will be back on Windarra

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El Fuerte again

26 25.37 N, 108 37.26 W

We got up leisurely and went to the Hotel Hidalgo for breakfast. Afterwards, Rich went back to our room to rest his ankle. Reg, Phoebe and I went exploring. The Hotel Hidalgo professes to be the birthplace of Zorro and where he lived until he was 10 years old. There is a statue of him in the courtyard. I am not sure if this is all true but it does add a little mystery to the Hotel. Apparently Zorro makes an appearance selected evenings at 7:00 pm.

We went looking for the El Meson del General restaurant. It was recommended to us by Cesar. It was not too far from our hotel and they serve seafood, so we decided it would be a good place for dinner.

Even though it is Sunday, most of the shops are open and people are doing their shopping. Since Xmas is coming soon, there were many shops and stores with toys and bicycles. We passed through one open air market selling fruits and vegetables and had drying rattlesnake skins for sale. Some stores were offering cowboy boots and hats which are very popular, the more pointed the toes the better and white hats.

We did see some police wearing balaclavas and carrying semi-automatic weapons riding around in a truck. Everyone seems to accept and ignore them. We did the same.

After a bit more walking we went to the museum. We saw a short film about the local indigenous peoples and about the secret forest. The secret forest refers to the remaining sub tropical forest that is in the area but once stretched all the way to Panama but deforestation has shrunk the size to just the local area around El Fuerte. Sorry I can not give you exact dimensions but it is home to a wide variety of bird life, which we will be seeing tomorrow as we have signed up for a bird watching tour. The museum also had many old photographs of the area including the Copper Canyon. It was surprising that many of the photographs were reproductions from the archives at University of California - Davis. After seeing the canyons and the train stations / towns, the pictures were more interesting as we could compare to what we had just seen. Many photos were of the settlers of El Fuerte. What is it about old pictures, nobody smiles. They all look so dour. I can imagine that life was hard then but, geez, at least smile for the camera. A group of young boys (10 year olds I would guess), came up to us in the museum and said random English words, like "stand up", "sit down", "hello", "what". We tried to respond in both English and Spanish. This went on for a bit until they started asking for money, then we ended the game.

In the afternoon we celebrated Reg's birthday. Phoebe got him a t shirt from Creel. We got him a small bottle of Lechuguilla, the local agave liquor. We all shared some and had a few beers and some wine on the patio, watching the river go by.

In the evening we went to the new restaurant we found. It specializes in seafood. Rich and I had shrimp scampi ($125 pesos a plate), Phoebe had the grilled shrimp and Reg has the black bass with onions. We all liked our selections. For dessert we had flan and what was billed as cheesecake. We all decided it was more of a vanilla cream pie with a graham cracker crust. It was still good.

We went to bed early as we need to be up and ready by 6:00 am to go on the bird watching tour.

Buenas Noches

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To El Fuerte via Divisadero

26 25.37 N, 108 37.26 W

This morning after breakfast, Cesar met us and we drove to the Mirador del Rio Otero. Mirador is viewpoint in Spanish. After we turned off the road we drove down what used to be an airstrip, which is covered now by occasional rocks and branches. Apparently it was used for illegal activities and the police put in the rocks to discourage any pilot from landing there. After driving down the field we came to the view point and there was a Tarahumura woman with her children with tables of goods to sell to anyone who came to the view point. Phoebe and I bought a few items. Cesar led us down a path to the cliff side and we came to what we thought was just a large rock. On closer inspection we saw a small set of stairs on one side leading down underneath the rock. Under the rock there is a cave that an elderly Tarahumura woman had enclosed with a wall of boards, some still covered with bark and a door with a padlock. She was not a home but we were able to look around. She has a fantastic view looking directly across the canyon. A short distance away she has an outhouse. We were thankful we had the opportunity to see an example of the cave dwelling of the Tarahumura but we are sorry we were unable to meet the resident which is a friend of Cesar.

Our next stop was Divisadero and the Copper Canyon adventure park. It costs $15 pesos a person to enter the park. We went to see miradors or viewpoints, including the Balancing Rock. This rock is on top of a shear rock outcrop and it rocks back and forth. Daring tourist 'rock' the rock. Cesar demonstrated and Reg went out on the rock and struck a surfer pose. Apparently a few tourists have fallen off of the rock and died on the rocks below. But this is Mexico and you are responsible for yourself, no lawyers involved. Besides the Balancing Rock there is a short suspension bridge that we went over and some other viewpoints where three canyons converge. For the more adventuresome there is a gondola with a glass floor that goes across to a rock outcropping that you may stand on to see the view before returning, a zip line which looked like fun, a small rock wall where you could practice rock climbing and a playground for kids.

 

After the park, Cesar dropped us off at the train station. We went to one of the food stalls an had gorditos and quesadillas and a pop for lunch ($55 pesos a person) before the train arrived. Phoebe and I walked around the stalls selling souvenirs from t-shirts to shot glasses, more Tarahumaru baskets woven from pine needles, jewelry, hats, shawls, etc, etc. Reg and Rich kept guard over our luggage and people watched.

The train arrived and we got second class tickets on the train. It cost $436 a person to ride second class from Divisadero to El Fuerte. We think we had the same seats as when we rode up. The train left shortly before 2pm and arrived at El Fuerte a little after 7:30 pm. I had called ahead to the Rio Vista Hotel for reservations and they had sent the one legged taxi driver to pick us up.

We went to the restaurant at the Hotel Hidalgo for dinner. We had a great meal. Rich and Reg had the fresh fish with garlic and lemon. Phoebe had a salad and tomato soup and I had the chicken and cheese enchiladas. The portions were generous and the food delicious.

Now it is time to sleep.

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Back to Creel

This morning we were up to early to get a good start on our trip back to Creel. Cesar arranged for sandwiches for our picnic lunch and for some coffee to wake us up in the morning with some sweet rolls. By 7:45 am we were on the road, so to speak.

When we arrived in Batopilas on Wednesday evening we had been traveling in the dark the later part of the way. This morning we got to see it in the light. It is a series of short switchbacks that go up the side of the valley. I am glad it was dark when we came down! I must say that the views we had today were spectacular. We looked down from part way up the canyon to see the town below. At one point we had to pass a bus on this narrow road and we were on the outside. It was a little disconcerting as there is no guard rail, no reinforcement or retaining wall, but we made it okay. Later we come around the corner and on one side we are looking into Batopilas canyon and on the other side it is Urique canyon. The truck with the bad tire was no where to be seen so we guessed that they made it somewhere. We did see another truck that had problems and a gentleman waiting besides it. His partner had gone down to get a replacement part and we saw him several hours later trying to get a ride back to the truck. We stopped at a viewpoint for our ham, cheese and jalapeño sandwiches and wafer cookies for lunch. We each took turns riding in the front seat. At one point I was looking down at the iPad, we stopped and I looked out and I was looking straight out at the canyon, it was a little shocking but I quickly recovered when I realized we were just stopping to take pictures and had not driven into mid air.

For some reason the ride back seemed longer than the ride going. We arrived in Creel about 4:30 pm and are staying at Hotel Margarita not far from the train station. Phoebe and I looked at a few shops nearby for some souvenirs. Dinner and breakfast are included in the price of the hotel so we had our meal here. There was no menu, just what is being served. It was cream of corn soup, something similar to pot roast with some beans and rice with fruit and cream for dessert. Not gourmet but okay.

Tomorrow Cesar will drive us to Divisadero.

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Batopilas, day 2

27 01.63 N, 107 44.36 W

This morning we went to Restaurant Carolina for breakfast. My mushroom omelette was delicious. Rich enjoyed his huevos rancheros. The food is made fresh and tastes great.

Batopilas is a small town of about 2000. It stretches about a mile along the river, with two main streets paralleling the river, most often used as one way streets going the opposite direction but this is not always the case. The homes and buildings along the streets are clean and brightly painted, often with small porches on the second floor. There are two plazas, a large one by the municipal offices, the museum and the oldest building in town which houses a tienda. The plaza has some large and old trees, a gazebo with stained glass and park benches where several men congregate during the day. Nearby is a store called Casa Morales, which is the equivalent of a Walmart in Batopilas. If there is something you want you can get it at Casa Morales, otherwise you just don't want it. Batopilas received all goods by mules from Chihuahua until 1961, when the train was completed, then they received their goods from Creel again by mule until 1977 when a road was finally completed. Granted the road is still not completely paved between Creel and Batopilas. The government is in the process of paving the road to Batopilas. Folks have mixed emotions about it. I hope it does not change the flavor of the town but I am afraid it will.

 

 Batopilas also has a boarding school for Tarahumura girls. If you decide to visit this area, we suggest that you bring school supplies to donate to the boarding school. Maybe then the shy girls will let you take their picture.

After breakfast, Cesar drove us to the Lost Cathedral at the Jesuit mission of Satevo. Satevo means sandy place in Tarahumuran. The cathedral was built with only one tower, as the architect died before the second tower could be built. He is buried beneath the floor of the cathedral. The Jesuits came to convert the Tarahumura and the location of Satevo was a large settlement of Tarahumura. Now there are only about 200 people living here and the priest from Batopilas comes every Sunday to say mass. It is not a simple drive and requires a four by four vehicle to cover the terrain.

On returning to Batopilas, we stopped by the museum. The curator became very engaged as we asked questions about the exhibits on the mining operation of Alexander Shepard. Mr Shepard was a former mayor of Washington D.C. and came to northern Mexico in search of silver and he found it. He also bought 16 other mines from the Spanish who had been using the Tarahumura as slaves to work the mines. Mr. Shepard built a large hacienda across the river from the town. This hacienda included not only his family home but also a swimming pool, stables, smelter facilities to convert the raw ore into pure silver ingots weighing 90 lbs each, plus a church for the workers, and a communal outhouse so the workers did not have to go home to do their business. The ingots were sent to Chihuahua via mule, 2 ingots per mule in long mule trains. A few years ago they reenacted a mule train and people from all around rented a mule and a horse and journeyed through the canyons from Batopilas to Creel. We saw pictures of this in the museum.

After the museum we had lunch at Restaurant Carolina for $200 pesos for Rich and I and 1/2 of Cesar's lunch. We also met Patrocinio Lopez, a famous (in this area at least) Tarahumura who makes violins. He did not have any violins to sell but we did buy his CD of Tarahumura music which we have yet to hear. He also wears the traditional Tarahumura dress, a loin cloth, sandals made from tire tread, a large blousey shirt and a headband. He consented to letting us take a picture of him.

After lunch we went across the river to see what it left of the Shepard hacienda. It is a mere shadow of what you might imagine it once was. An 83 year old local man bought the hacienda with the idea to put in an hotel and to fix up the buildings but it is still in a sad state and would require a lot of funds to fix it up.

This evening we had chicken mole or beef with prickly pear cactus at Dona Mica's. I opted for the mole which was great. Rich said he liked the beef and cactus. Don't worry, they remove the thorns before they cook it.

Tomorrow we will get up early to head back to Creel.

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Batopilas

27 01.63 N, 107 44.36 W

This morning after breakfast Phoebe called Maclen, who was the guide and driver recommended by the folks on SV Magic Carpet. He was off at Chihuahua and recommended Cesar who would be by in 15 minutes. And sure enough he was. We arranged a grand tour with Cesar. He picked us up at 10:30 am, and after a stop at a small grocery store to pick up some snacks we were on the road by 11:00 am and on our way to Batopilas, one of the deepest canyons in Barrancas del Cobre. 

The fun began after we left the paved road behind. Cesar's 4-wheel, all wheel drive vehicle got a workout as we forded streams, climbed up and down, around hairpin turns, avoiding cattle and one skunk. The elevation at Creel is 2330 meters and Batopilas is 460 meters. We travelled through groves of Ponderosa pines, long needle pines, weeping pines, then lower to madronas and oaks and then cacti as we got closer to the bottom of the canyon. We passed families of Tarahumuras walking miles from a village to their settlement, including women and small children in brightly colored clothes, men wearing jeans and cowboy hats or loin clothes. In the hillside we saw their cave dwellings and corn fields. Some raise livestock such as cows, pigs and goats. There are about 65,000 Tarahumura living in the Copper Canyon and they own a large portion of the land.

 

We bounced along on roads used for logging. The views were spectacular. We could look across the deep valleys and see the different levels of floral, and the amazing rock formations. We passed a group of loggers who shared a sip of Lechiguilla, an agave liquor locally made similar to moonshine. It has a bit of a kick to it. Cows in the roadway would stare at us as we drove by. Some seemed indignant that they had to move to avoid getting run over. It was a little hair raising to look over the side of the road, steeply down into the valley below, hoping the vehicle would not slip over the edge.  

 

It became even more disconcerting as night approached and we came around a corner and met the headlight of a truck with a flat tire in the middle of the road. Cesar and Reg got out to see if they could provide some assistance. I took advantage of the stop and relieved myself behind the SUV. The truck has a flat and the spare tire did not fit the hub and was barely a tire (no tread and the steel belt was visible). The spare was secured by only 2 nuts and they moved the truck enough for us together by. Not sure how many feet it moved after that. We finally arrived at Batopilas. The town was founded in 1708. It's heyday was in the late 19th century when an American, Alexander Shepard, was mining silver in the area. 

We are staying at Hacienda Batopilas,a gorgeous place with lovely Mexican tile work in the bathroom and stained glass windows. Cesar took us to Dona Mica's for dinner where we had a home cooked meal of chicken with mushrooms, refried beans and rice with freshly made corn and flour tortillas.

It was a long drive today so we are to bed to sleep.

Tomorrow we will see the local sites of Batopilas. 

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Creel

27 44.53 N, 107 38.22 W

This morning we had breakfast on the patio at the Rio Vista Hotel. Our bill for 1 room was $500 pesos, plus $750 pesos for our half of dinner, breakfast and the beers on the patio. The one legged taxi driver picked us up at 7:45 am and drove us through town and beyond to the Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico train station. It is also known as El Chepe (using the Mexican initials for Chihuahua and Pacifico). Tuesday, Friday and Sundays there is a economica or second class train as well. The cost is $552 pesos a person to ride the second class train from El Fuerte to Creel, our stop for today. The economica train is pulled by the first class train, so the stops are the same but there is only a snack bar and no dining car. That's okay, we have some snacks with us. We met some folks from Oshkosh (I was wearing my Oshkosh shirt today) who were on a tour and waiting for the train as well, small world. The train left at 8:30 am.

The railway is made of 656 km of track, 37 bridges, 86 tunnels, took more than 60 years to make and was completed in 1961. At one point the train entered a tunnel going in one direction and did a 180 degree turn and came out of the tunnel going in the opposite direction. We passed hillsides covered with cacti and ended with seeing pine trees at the upper elevations. We saw where they were growing corn and sesame seeds and cows were grazing. The train followed a river, some times on one side and then we would cross and it would be on the other side of the train. The train would stop and drop off or pick up passengers in small settlements along the way. Sometimes the settlement was only 3 or 4 houses. Major stops included Temoris, Bahuichivo, Cuiteco, San Rafael, Posada Barrancas, Divisadero and then Creel. At San Rafael we saw Tarahumara women and children, one of Mexico's most distinctive indigenous peoples, selling bags of apples and woven baskets to the train passengers, wearing brightly colored clothing and sandals made from tires and leather straps. They are famous for their long distance running. The smaller baskets are made from pine needles.

At Divisadero we had a 15 minute stop where we got a quick look at the canyon itself as well as buying some wonderful tacos, 4 for $80pesos, a nice snack for the train ride.

At Creel, we off loaded, and most of the train was empty as it only makes one more stop before ending at Chihuahua. An enterprising young man tried to take us to Casa Margarita to stay but we found a taxi to take us to Hotel Villa Mexicana where we are staying tonight and enjoyed drinking and a filling dinner. We each have a small cabin complete with a kitchenette with refrigerator, microwave and small stove and coffee pot. It is cooler here and we have on light jackets or sweaters. The Mexican tourists are wearing heavy coats and down jackets. I guess they are used to the heat and not the cold.

Tomorrow we will see about having a tour of the area and the canyons.

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Copper Canyon

This is a glimpse of the Copper Canyon at Divisadero during a 15 minute stop at the station. We look forward to seeing more of the canyon.

El Fuerte

26 25.37 N, 108 37.26 W

This morning we joined Reg and Phoebe at the Plantation restaurant at the hotel for a breakfast buffet. For $138 pesos it is an all-you-can-eat affair with coffee, orange juice, yogurt, plain and strawberry, cottage cheese, sweet rolls, watermelon, papaya and cantaloupe which they bring to start you out. Next is made-to-order eggs, omelettes, huevos rancheros or pancakes and finally the buffet which includes hush puppies, refried beans, and several meat dishes. We ate well, rationalizing that we would be skipping lunch. "Where would you be without a good rationalization every day"*.

Reg, Phoebe and I went to the ATM for more cash, and then on to three pharmacies looking for an Ace bandage for Rich's ankle and possibly a cane. No cane but we did find something like an Ace bandage.

The bellhop gave us a ride to the Autobus Azule, for $60 pesos for the 4 of us. It was a longer ride than usual as today is a Mexican holiday and the main street was blocked off for the parade through town. We put our luggage in the 'hold' of the bus and waited about 10 minutes for other passengers and the driver to arrive and off we went to El Fuerte. Buses leave about every 1/2 hour or so and we happened to catch the next bus. This bus was not a plush as the long distance bus from Puerto Vallarta but it did have foot rests, air conditioning and free wifi. The drive was almost two hours with multiple stops for people getting on and off along the way. At one point a fellow walks down the aisle collecting the bus fare of $70 pesos a person to go all the way to El Fuerte. We pass large planted fields and orchards of trees. All types of vegetables and fruits are grown here. We crossed a few railroad tracks but I was not sure which were part of El Chepe, the railroad to the Copper Canyon.

Our bus dropped us off in the middle of town. We immediately got our bags and found a pickup come taxi right in front of us with a one-legged taxi driver. We put our stuff in the pickup and got in. We asked for the cost to go to the Rio Vista Hotel which was $30 pesos for all of us and away we go. It turns out that it was not too far but we had no idea. It was passed the museum then around the corner. The hotel got a good write up in the Lonely Planet guide so we gave it a try. When we passed the sign for the hotel and the driver stopped, we were not too sure at first. Rich and Reg went to check it out while Phoebe and I waited with the driver in case we needed to find another place. Two thumbs up was the response and here we are. The hotel is next to the museum built on the original site of the fort that protected the city. It is on a hill overlooking the rio and like the name implies with beautiful views. The owner, a bird watcher, has incorporated murals and pictures of birds in the rooms and around the hotel as well as artifacts such antique farm tools, swords, old pictures of Pancho Villa, etc to decorate the rooms and the surrounds of the hotel. In front of our rooms and overlooking the river is a patio with a palapa roof. The owner brought us a cooler with Pacifico pony beers so we sat an relaxed. How could it get any better?

Reg and Rich took separate naps while Phoebe and I explored a bit of the town. We heard a band playing and it was a high school group of drummers (mostly girls) and buglers (guys) marching around the town square and playing. We went inside the Municipal Palace and saw the beautiful murals. In the middle of the town square is a plaza with a gazebo and fountains and palm trees with Christmas lights. One of the town stray dogs started to follow us for a while but finally lost interest when he figured out we were not a meal ticket. We looked at the Hotel Hidalgo, which is nearby and claims to be the birthplace of Zorro. There is a statue of Zorro in the courtyard of the hotel.

In the evening we had dinner on our patio. It was an excellent meal of nachos, tortilla soup and fresh water perch with citrus and a sauce with potatoes and zucchini. It was topped off with fried plantain. A wonderful way to cap off the day.

Tomorrow is the train and we go to Creel.

* - Jeff Goldblum in the movie, Jurassic Park.

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Cervesas at El Fuerte

Reg, Rich, Phoebe as we sit in the patio in front of our rooms at the Rio Vista hotel in El Fuerte. Rich twisted his ankle in Los Mochis so he is keeping it elevated with ice on the beer box!

Wish you were here to join us!

Los Mochis

25 47.83 N, 108 59.45 W

This morning after it got light you could see large planted fields, including sugar cane and corn. The bus stopped several times during the night. Police or inspectors would look at every one on the bus. Sometimes they would ask for someone's identification. No one was ever asked to get off the bus so I am not sure what was going on or who they were looking for. The bus stopped at Tepic, Mazatlan, Culiacan, Guamuchil and Los Mochis.

We arrived around 8:00 am to an empty bus station and caught a taxi to the Plaza Inn Hotel so we could get some breakfast and a nap. Reg and Phoebe took a taxi from Topolobampo where they left their boat to join us.

Unfortunately as we were walking to the front of the hotel to meet them, Rich slipped on the wet marble sidewalk and hurt his ankle. We hope it is just sprained so we are putting ice on it and he is keeping it elevated.

We had dinner at a restaurant in the hotel. We were the only customers. It was a little spooky but the food was great.

Tomorrow we will head to Barranca Del Cobre, the Copper Canyon

The bus to Los Mochis

We are on the bus to Los Mochis. The trip will take about 12 hours but we have seats that recline, snacks, some movie with Spanish subtitles, and free wifi as well as air conditioning!

Road Trip

This evening we will catch the TAP bus north to Los Mochis for the start of our trip to Barranca Del Cobre, or the Copper Canyon. The Copper Canyon is in northwest Mexico and it is a group of 20 canyons, together being 4 times larger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona and much deeper in some places. We have hear this is a great trip from many other cruisers so we are going to check it out. In Los Mochis we will meet our friends Reg and Phoebe of SV Three Sheets who recently sailed from San Carlos to Topolobampo to leave their boat and join us on this excursion.

 

We bought tickets online for the bus, purchasing Servicio Conforto class tickets ($1494 pesos for 2 tickets), which was more expensive than Primera Class so we will see what it is like. We have packed some snacks just in case. The bus boards at 7:10 pm and it is about a 12 hour ride north to Los Mochis. We will probably not see much as it will be dark but that is part of the adventure. If Rich is able to sleep in a taxi on the way from Salt Lake City to Park City, Utah, at night, in the dark, in a blinding snow storm, perhaps he will be able to sleep on this trip.

 

Let the adventure begin. 



Working our way back north, overland?

Sunday before noon we lifted anchor and motored by SV Anna. We had a brief chat with Rich on deck. They recently built a hard dodger for their boat from aluminum. You can see details on their blog, go2anna.blogspot.com. They plan to head south to Central and South America as well. We hope to see them again down the coast.

We motored north, adding engine hours as there was no wind to speak of. We stopped for an overnight at Isla Passavera, just off Chamela. The island, is rugged, covered with brush, cacti and birds. The evening was hot and muggy with little breeze. A cool rinse in the shower helped us to go to sleep.

This morning the alarm buzzed at 6:00 am. It was still dark so we had our coffee in the cockpit waiting for the light to improve. At 7:15 am we were on our way, bashing north with the swells on our nose,, riding up, then splashing down, 5 ft, 6 second centers, slow going.

Just an aside about charts. We have a Furuno charter/plotter in the cockpit and we are using Jepperson C-map mega wide electronic charts for Mexico (cost $300 for charts only, not hardware). We also have an Ipad2, and we used the iNaxX app with the Navionics Gold charts for Central and South America (cost $50 for charts only, not app or hardware). The C-map chart indicated we were going overland to anchor in Tenacatita. The Navionics chart showed we were remaining in water. This is just one example of differences in electronic charts between one supplier and another. Unfortunately, when you buy electronic charts it is a bit of a hit or miss proposition. One reason electronic charts are off I suspect that the datum is incorrect and that could be from the Mexican source. Some suppliers cater to the bigger customers such as commercial customers like cruiser ships, container shipping and larger yachts so they have lots of detail for Puerto Vallarta but not Tenacatita for example.

So, what should a cruiser do?

If you have plenty of funds, (which few of us have), then buy electronic charts from multiple suppliers and hope that at least one has details for the places you want to go.

Use the option we are taking which is a combination of suppliers on two platforms, the charter/plotter and the IPad, supplementing with cruising guides like Charlie's Charts, and having some paper charts as well. Since we use the iPad for other tasks such as email, Internet browsing, calendar, etc, we could justify the expense. When we went cruising in 2001-2004, we strictly used a laptop for navigation and a combination of purchased and bootleg charts and had the same problem.

Using paper charts and guides is still a tried and true method. It is least expensive in terms of electronic hardware but I do like the electronic benefits of overlaying radar, gribs and AIS information on the charts.

My advice to cruisers, new and experienced, who are planning to purchase electronic charts, to look at several platforms and suppliers before you buy. When you go to the boat shows, talk to the vendors and have them show you the charts of the areas you plan to cruise and see what the details are. Bear in mind that one solution may not be sufficient and that you may need more than one to get the coverage you need. If you are planning to cruise just within the United States, you should not have to worry and any supplier will have sufficient detail. Cruising outside the United States, this is not the case.

Well, enough of my digression into charts. Time for some cold water.

Sent from SV Windarra iPad

Tenacatita,

We arrived at Tenacatita early on Wednesday morning. The harbor was empty except for a Mexican navy boat. We anchored out in the middle not too far from a resort and a spa seen in the photo below. We wanted to give the navy plenty of room.

 

The first day here we just relaxed, rested, read books, did generally nothing.

 

The next day we got out our new inflatable kayaks. We bought these new toys at REI when we were back in Seattle in April carting them down on the airplane and lucky to get the green light going through customs. Now we had time to try them out. They seems to inflate fairly well but we don't have quite the right connector for one of the fittings so probably not inflated to optimum. We also found that the paddles which come apart into 4 pieces, did not assemble as we thought. The paddle ends are either incorrect or they swelled in the heat. Now they are on to stay and our 4 piece paddles are now just 2 piece.

 

 

 

Anyway, we had fun paddling around and we stopped by to visit one of the boats in the anchorage.Lo and behold it is SV Storm Bay of Hobart. We were first introduced to Margie and Chris by Paul and Suzette of SV Altair in Seattle. This is the first time we have seen them since. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and conversation with them the following evening. They are also headed to South America so we will have company.

Elvis has left the building

Today we cast off the dock lines and headed south towards Tenacatita, a spot that we enjoyed twelve years ago. We needed to put some hours on the engine before our 50 hour warrantee maintenance and now seemed as good a time as any. It is a good thing we planned to motor because the seas are relatively calm and there is almost no wind all day. Unfortunately since there is little wind, it is a might too warm.

But, we were treated with a beautiful sunset, no green flash but colorful.

Getting ready

Windarra is getting back to sailing shape again.

On October 30, we took the boat over to the Opequimar boatyard, near Marina Vallarta, to have the bottom painted. The last time we were in this boatyard was in March, 2002, just before we left for crossing the South Pacific. Going to a boatyard is always a little dubious. There is the planned work, in this case having the bottom painted and the zincs replaced and a survey. Sometimes there is unplanned work, like having to have the end of the shaft cut off so that the propellor fits properly. This time we were very lucky and there was no unplanned work. We were in and out of the boatyard, on time and on budget. David and Rigos and their crew did a great job painting the bottom.

While the boat was in the yard we opted to stay at the Comfort Inn nearby. We could have stayed on the boat but the hotel had air conditioning!!!! It was luxurious.

We returned to Paradise Village and put the boat back together. The head sails are on, the boom brake installed, the preventer and downhaul lines run. Rich got the watermaker installed, the solar panels put back on, checked the outboard motor and the hydraulics. Today we went to Walmart to do some provisioning. We still manage to have time each day to go to the pool and cool off before showers and dinner back on the boat.

Tomorrow we plan to check out with the part captain and then head south to Tenacatita. With any luck we will miss the returns from the election. Sarah sent us our ballots and we were able to fill them out and send them back via UPS. We went to the local Mailbox, Etc and the proprietor gave us a ride to the main UPS facility so we could get out ballots out. We are very lucky for the kindness of strangers.

Tomorrow is Jesse's birthday. He will be 27. He said he doesn't mind missing an overnight passage. I guess he had enough going across the South Pacific.

Hope all is well with you.

Adios
Sent from SV Windarra iPad