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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