OP&SS

[Chiwas]

(Somewhere in the middle is the "CH" word.)


"The Copper Canyon is everything I heard it was -- and more. Spectacularly rugged and huge, the canyon -- actually a network of intertwined canyons -- is the largest in North America: at a mile and a half deep it's longer, deeper, and bigger than the Grand Canyon. How much bigger? I've heard estimates ranging from four to seven times larger, depending on who you listen to. Yet for some reason, most Americans don't even know it about it. That's a shame since it's so close to the border and so easy to visit.

For years, I've dreamed of seeing what the Copper Canyon was really like. I'd heard about the canyon and the fabulous train that goes through it, over it, and around it -- regarded by many as one of the world's greatest train rides.

My chance to see the canyon area finally came last week. My wife had business in Chihuahua and would be there for several days. I could take a couple days off work, take the train to see the canyon, then spend the weekend with her exploring the city. Sounded great!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...
Getting down to Chihuahua wasn't really difficult, it just took longer than I'd expected. Wednesday afternoon I caught a Delta flight to El Paso, with a connection in Dallas. No problems with the flight....got in to El Paso right on time. I zipped out of the airport and caught a cab to the bridge over to Ciudad Juarez (the cabs will take you anywhere in Juarez you want to go -- but it's cheaper, faster, and easier to walk across). Once across, you need to stop in at the immigration office and get a tourist card, which now costs $15 (was free up until a few months ago). Then it's on to the bus station.

Unless you know where the bus station is (I didn't) it's best to pay a taxi a couple bucks to take you there. The central bus station was a nice surprise given my experience with stations in border cities like Reynosa: it was surprisingly modern and clean. As usual, there were several bus lines to choose from. Walk around the counters until you find the company with the next bus leaving for Chihuahua (each line runs several buses per day, but the schedules are staggered, so there's usually one leaving pretty soon after you arrive). I had to wait about 15 minutes for a bus from Omnibuses de Mexico -- one of the larger bus companies. The one-way fare worked out to about $14. One other note: even though you pass customs crossing the bridge, there is a customs checkpoint in the bus station too, complete with the usual red-light green-light routine.

The bus was my first miscalculation of the trip. I'd figured that Chihuahua was 150 miles max from Juarez. Wrong! It was more like 250 miles. Instead of taking a couple hours, I was sitting on the bus for 4-1/2 stinking hours! Maybe next time I'll look at the map. So it ends up being almost 1 in the morning by the time I roll in to town. I take a cab over to the hotel where my wife is staying and manage to catch some shut-eye for all of 3 hours.

Just after 5am Thursday morning, I'm running out the door and heading over to the train station. Guidebooks always tell you that if you're taking the train, you should buy your tickets in advance, but I don't know why. I had no problem buying a ticket at the station just 30 minutes before the train was to pull out, and the train did not seem particularly crowded. Maybe it's different at other times of the year. The fare to Los Mochis was about $50 one way.

Riding Through God's Garden...
The ride is pretty boring for the first couple hours as you travel through the scrubby looking Chihuahuan desert. You'll pass through a few towns finally arriving at Creel, where lots of people get off and lots of other people get on. The town is popular as a jumping off point for tour operators leading backcountry treks into the canyons.

Even before you get to Creel, the scenery starts getting more interesting as the train climbs into the Sierra Madre mountains. Desert gives way to pine forests as the train chugs higher. You start going through long tunnels and over spectacular bridges (don't look down!)

As the train takes you through forests and mountain passes, people in the train are getting up and walking around. People talk to each other and become friends. A guy across the aisle from me offered part of a pound cake in exchange for one of my Modelos. Occasionally, you'll want to go the vestibule area between the cars so that you can get a few good pictures.

Early in the afternoon, the train loops around and over itself on serpentine stretch of track, shortly before reaching the town of Divisadero, where it stops for a short break. Passengers can get out and stretch their legs, look out over the canyon rim from an observation platform, and pick up some refreshments from food and drink vendors. After about 20 minutes or so, everyone gets back on board and the train continues on its way westward.

For the next couple hours, the train passes through several tunnels, and over some incredibly high narrow iron truss bridges as it goes over various branches of the canyon. There are a few short whistle stops where passengers get on and off, until finally, the train approaches an area called Temoris. The conductors alert people to this spectacular sight, and there's a rush for good window spots and a few more people than usual head for the vestibules. Temoris is an incredible feat of railroad engineering where the tracks pass over themselves three times! It's now getting on toward late afternoon and the sun is starting to cast red and orange shadows over the canyon walls. A little while later and it's too dark to see anything. It's about another two hours before the train descends the mountains to the town of Los Mochis, a few miles inland from the Sea of Cortez. By the time the train pulls into the station it's about 8:30 pm.

I'm beat from the long day and the lack of sleep the night before.

Agony and Defeat
I planned to get back to Chihuahua by simply reversing my steps. Up at 5 and over to the station for the 6am train to Chihuahuha. Not a bad idea...if you manage to get up in time to catch the train!

My room had an alarm clock, and I swear I set it, but for whatever reason, it didn't work, or maybe I shut it off in a state of drowsy stupidity. Whatever. By the time I'm at all aware that a world exists, it's almost 8am. I missed the train by 2 hours! Okay...Plan B. Wait! I have no plan B! Chingado!

I do a 1-minute shower, throw my stuff in a bag and take a cab to the airport, which turns out to be smaller than some sheds I've seen. I stop at the Aeromexico counter. There's a plane leaving for Hermosillo around 9:30, and from there I can connect to Chihuahua. It'll set me back over $250. Youch! I check with Mexicana. No good. They have only one flight going to Chihuahua, and it doesn't leave until 7pm. "Check with Aeromexico," the helpful Mexicana agent suggests. I kick myself mentally several times, bite the bullet, and fork over my credit card to the nice Aeromexico agent. The plane isn't even very large -- it's one of Aeroliterol's Saab 340 turboprops. After a couple hours in the air, a couple margaritas, and a brief stop in Hermosillo, I find myself totally exhausted but back in Chihuahua, where sleep awaits...

Next Time...
Technically, I guess I've seen the Copper Canyon. In truth, I feel like Chevy Chase in "European Vacation", jogging through the Louvre. "Oh look, there's the Mona Lisa." I feel a moral obligation to leave Copper Canyon at the top of the "must see in my lifetime" list.

Any advice for others? Yeah. This is probably the most awesome natural attraction I've ever seen in my life, but please... Do NOT visit the canyon the way I did! The place is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful with sharp drops into canyons and incredible vistas as the train twists its way through narrow mountain passes and over mile deep chasms. Words do not do justice to this place. Even the best photos come up short. Copper Canyon is the kind of place that I doubt even an Ansel Adams would have trouble dealing with justly.

Taking the train through the Copper Canyon was a wonderful experience, and I'm glad I did it, but my trip was horribly inadequate. I don't feel like I have any sense of what the side canyons are really like, what the villages are like, what the Tarahamura people are like, or what any of the natural wonders that lie in the backcountry are like. Next time I go, I'll spend at least a week. I'll get off the train and take one of those mule treks down into the canyon's depths. Maybe I'll go to one of the abandoned silver mines. Maybe I'll just sit on the deck of one of the fine resort hotels, my feet propped on the rail, a beer in one hand, and nothing important to do but watch in wonder... Next time."

[Chiwas]

<< Great review (Reply to this comment)
by Mrsfitts
My Spanish is a bit rusty, but I think I remember what that one word was! lol
I think I have nightmares about your experience with missing the train. Thanks for a great insight into the canyon &amp; beyond.
Mrsfitts >>



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[OutletPass]

chingado ? Naughty, Naughty...but I'm doing this trip come hell or high water...thanks Chi