Copper Canyon, Mexico - One More for the Bucket List

 

During the 1970’s a friend and I conducted tax seminars for investors and small business that we held at various remote locations.  We asked my spouse, Dolores, to do the administration work handling the site locations, registration, travel, etc. while we focused on the presentations, investment, and tax intricacies.  While the seminar business didn’t grow as we had anticipated, Dolores efforts as a tour developer-organizer blossomed.  One of the perks of such a business were “familiarization trips (Fam Trips) sponsored by industry wholesalers.   Therefore, approximately 25 years ago she was asked if she’d like to participate in a Fam trip to Mexico’s Copper Canyon sponsored by a recently formed group of West Coast travel wholesalers.  She did and as they say the rest is history.  Even though we never formed a trip offering Copper Canyon, the memories-experience left her with a desire to visit once again to share the experience with me

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Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre) refers to a geographical area which covers 25,000 square miles located in the Sierra Madre Mountains of the state of Chihuahua.  Five of the six major canyons are equal to or are greater depth than the US Grand Canyon (4674 ft.)  The Urigue Canyon (6136 ft.dp.) is the deepest canyon in the system.

We had invited Dolores brother and wife, Jose-Stephanie, to join us on this adventure through Superior Tours of Puerto Vallarta and along with 12 other passengers, our driver and the tour guide, we boarded our road trip vehicle, a Mercedes Benz Sprinter, and began our first days trip north to Mazatlán arriving mid-afternoon for an overnight stay, then the next morning on to El Fuerte, The Gateway to Copper Canyon.  I’ll gloss over the combined (going/returning) 12 hour road trips except to say that my legs and back still have barely forgiven me! 

 

Arriving in El Fuerte early the 2^nd afternoon we signed-into the Hotel Poasda del Hidalgo originally a beautiful colonial mansion[RB1]  built in 1860 and was the largest in El Fuerte.  El Fuerte is known as the birthplace of Senor Diego de la Vega also known as “El Zorro.”  A statue erected in his honor is found in one of the hotels gardens.  After a quick assignment of rooms we stored our luggage and with, Jose and Stephanie, headed for the open air restaurant to satisfy our “hungries.”  Dolores and I had the featured broiled freshwater lobster (also known as crayfish) combined with freshwater black bass.  Steph had the “Anahuacalli” tortilla soup and a shrimp dish while Jose enjoyed the Mexican shish kebab.  One of the finest meals I’ve experienced in years.  What a way to take the edge-off the long bus drive.  Most of our party did some exploring of various El Fuerte points of interest.  We crashed with our Kindles for the evening.

After breakfast early the next morning we departed the hotel to the Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad Train Station to board the Chepe at 8:30AM for our first stop at the Bahuichivo train station 4 hours later where we were transported by a converted school bus to the Hotel Mission located in the village of Cerocahui.  The hotel and its vineyard, which produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, is located adjacent to a 300-year old Jesuit cathedral and a Misson Indian girl’s orphanage.  The next morning early we boarded the bus for a grinding trip to The Cerrto de Gallego Urique Lookout at 7500 feet to view the Urique Canyon, the deepest canyon in the Copper Canyon system, then returned to the train station at Bahuichivo for an hours spectacular ride to the Posada Barrancas train station then transfer to the Mirador Hotel and our room on the canyon rim. Each room has a private terrace overlooking the canyon.  The Tarahumara women weave their baskets in front of the hotel and are considered the best made in the whole Canyon system.  The afternoon was spent, hiking around the hotel, dining and enjoying the scenery.  

The next morning we visited the Divisadero Overlook of the Copper Canyon, Some of us rode across the canyon in a cable car that is 2750 meter in length – the third longest in the world and the longest in Mexico.  Some others took the zip line across the canyon, the second longest in the world.

Later in the morning we boarded our train back to El Fuerte.  This railroad is one of the engineering wonders of the world with 86 tunnels and 37 bridges along its complete route.  This includes a 180 degree turn inside solid rock at Temoris.  The Readers Digest calls it “the most dramatic train ride in the western hemisphere.”  Arriving at El Fuerte we were bused to Los Mochis for a late dinner and our overnight stay.

The return to Puerto Vallarta was pretty much a reversal of the trip up, arriving in PV in late afternoon of the 7^th day.  You might want to consider this a possible “must” addition to your travel bucket list!

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 [RB1]

Driving in Mexico

During our first three years of living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Dolores and I became very proficient in the use of public transportation, buses and taxis, to get around and about.  Obviously this allowed us to become somewhat familiar with the layout and location of the streets; however, we were very limited in our flexibility to vary or change our destinations when we were “out and about.”  An example would be  when we shopped for our cooking classes we’d go north to SAM’s/Walmart complex by bus, then return home by taxi with our many purchases missing many items that could be found at other stores and vendors.  Additionally, we found ourselves limited to the close in local scene – not able to explore the world around us.  Finally we were presented with an opportunity to purchase a car by our then administrator.  His partner had passed away and he inherited a car even though he didn’t drive.  He offered the car to us at a good price, thus began our driving experience in Mexico.

Our biggest advantage in beginning this experience was that both Dolores and I can be classified as “aggressive” drivers.  I as a result of spending my earlier years competing successfully in car time-distance Rallies and other SPCA sport car events and Dolores by also being involved with sports cars and in rallies.  This made it easier to adapt to the Mexican driving environment.  The following tongue-in-cheek guide lines was published locally and in my opinion is a very good description of driving in PV.

“Puerto Vallarta driving tips (according to Harvey)

Taken from Puerto Vallarta Mirror - www.pvmcitypaper.com

1. Turn signals will give away your next move. A real Vallarta driver never uses them.

2. Under no circumstances should you leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, or the space will be filled in by somebody else putting you in an even more dangerous situation.

3. Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane-change is considered going with the flow.

4. Never, ever come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it and it will inevitably result in you being rear-ended.

5. Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS kicks in, giving a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it’s a chance to stretch your legs.

6. Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It’s a good way to scare people entering the highway.

7. Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as suggestions and are apparently not enforceable in Puerto Vallarta.

8. Please remember that there is no such thing as a shortcut during rush-hour traffic in Vallarta.”

Many of the more unusual and different moves  we refer to as “doing the Mexican.”   We are waiting until we’re able to import our car and get Mexican plates before we attempt to duplicate them.  Our favorites include 1) - cutting in front of the lead vehicle at an intersection.  Envision this: you are the first car waiting on a lateral at a stop light to turn left. A car on your right drives up beside you in the next lane and then pulls his/her car in front of you to turn left.  You are now car number 2 waiting to turn; or 2) – waiting several cars back at a stop light on an arterial to make a turn when several cars will pull out into the opposing lanes and make a run to be the first cars into the intersection to make the turn (always check your rear view mirror before your turn).  These are just two of many tricks that we call “doing the Mexican.”

The most important thing to remember while driving anywhere is keeping your mind on the task at hand.  In Mexico that becomes your number one concern.  We quickly learned to always expect the unexpected when behind the wheel of our automobile.  There actually is a yin and yang balance between being both aggressive and being passive while on the road.  Find it, and driving in Mexico becomes a fun experience.