My buddy Jon, myself, and good friend Katie Rice went on one of the most incredible trips I have taken. Even though it took 26 hours in a bus to get to our destination, it was totally worth it. We decided to take a long weekend and travel to the state of Chihuahua to see the Las Barrancas del Cobre (the Copper Canyon). Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico and incredibly diverse. When we started out on our trip we entered rolling dessert hills that seemed to go on forever. Then we hit massive plains and wheatfields of all different colors...i've never seen such a large sky and felt so little-not something you see in Washington. All the sudden we hit windy mountains and we were in alpine temperatures. Our first night we stopped in a beautiful little city of Creel. Its a western-style outdoors town with lots of cool stuff to see and do. Amazing mountainbiking...next time i'm staying for longer! We went hiking that afternoon and witnessed a true fall with changing colors. We stayed at a backpacking lodge called Casa Margarita...a really cool guesthouse, more like hostel where we met some great people. Hung out with some Canadians from Victoria and went to a restaurant run by a guy from Toronto. The place provided dinner and breakfast for us ontop of lodging for a total of $10 per day! super cheap in Chihuahua. The next day we woke up early and caught a small van through the copper canyon to our destination of Batopilas. Batopilas is an old mining town who's main source of development was as a result of the mining industry. At one point it was a flourishing pueblo but when they realized there was little promise of silver, the population almost dropped to zero. Today it is a hospitable town of about 1,000 people located in the copper canyon. It is right on the Batopilas river and subtropic climate...a hiker's oasis. We took a van for 6 gut-wrenching hours down the windy dirt roads of the copper canyon until we reached the sleepy town. We were greated at the front of our guest house by an old lady, who we called Tia Monse. She runs a gift shop out of the front of our house along with a guest house in her courtyard. She has a beautiful house. Each room is a separate hut built in along her courtyard garden where she grows bananas, limes, oranges and other fruits and flowers. We had quite the sweet setup for a bargain. I enjoyed the hikes we took in the morning and then coming back to swim in the river and sleep in the hammocks. It was a rough life. We went on two really cool hikes. The first day we checked out the Hacienda, the ruins of the large mining house where the miners lived and worked during the silver rush. The next day Katie and I hiked 7km to Mision de Satevo, a cathedral that was constructed in the early 1600s by the Catholic church. After trying to convert the local indigenas, the Raramuri people, the Church decided they would build a "visiting church" which means they built the church and appointed a priest who would visit on various occasions. The Raramuris are still very present in the Copper Canyon. They specialize in making cool sandals that are made from recycled tires from trucks on the highway. They grow chiles and jalapenos as well and the women make beautiful blankets and jewelry for us gringos to buy, i suppose. Had to indulge a bit myself. We greatly enjoyed our stay, couldn't have asked for better weather and better tostadas! I would love to go back someday, down that windy road to the sleepy little town. Definitely worth the 26 hr busride.
My buddy Jon, myself, and good friend Katie Rice went on one of the most incredible trips I have taken. Even though it took 26 hours in a bus to get to our destination, it was totally worth it. We decided to take a long weekend and travel to the state of Chihuahua to see the Las Barrancas del Cobre (the Copper Canyon). Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico and incredibly diverse. When we started out on our trip we entered rolling dessert hills that seemed to go on forever. Then we hit massive plains and wheatfields of all different colors...i've never seen such a large sky and felt so little-not something you see in Washington. All the sudden we hit windy mountains and we were in alpine temperatures. Our first night we stopped in a beautiful little city of Creel. Its a western-style outdoors town with lots of cool stuff to see and do. Amazing mountainbiking...next time i'm staying for longer! We went hiking that afternoon and witnessed a true fall with changing colors. We stayed at a backpacking lodge called Casa Margarita...a really cool guesthouse, more like hostel where we met some great people. Hung out with some Canadians from Victoria and went to a restaurant run by a guy from Toronto. The place provided dinner and breakfast for us ontop of lodging for a total of $10 per day! super cheap in Chihuahua. The next day we woke up early and caught a small van through the copper canyon to our destination of Batopilas. Batopilas is an old mining town who's main source of development was as a result of the mining industry. At one point it was a flourishing pueblo but when they realized there was little promise of silver, the population almost dropped to zero. Today it is a hospitable town of about 1,000 people located in the copper canyon. It is right on the Batopilas river and subtropic climate...a hiker's oasis. We took a van for 6 gut-wrenching hours down the windy dirt roads of the copper canyon until we reached the sleepy town. We were greated at the front of our guest house by an old lady, who we called Tia Monse. She runs a gift shop out of the front of our house along with a guest house in her courtyard. She has a beautiful house. Each room is a separate hut built in along her courtyard garden where she grows bananas, limes, oranges and other fruits and flowers. We had quite the sweet setup for a bargain. I enjoyed the hikes we took in the morning and then coming back to swim in the river and sleep in the hammocks. It was a rough life. We went on two really cool hikes. The first day we checked out the Hacienda, the ruins of the large mining house where the miners lived and worked during the silver rush. The next day Katie and I hiked 7km to Mision de Satevo, a cathedral that was constructed in the early 1600s by the Catholic church. After trying to convert the local indigenas, the Raramuri people, the Church decided they would build a "visiting church" which means they built the church and appointed a priest who would visit on various occasions. The Raramuris are still very present in the Copper Canyon. They specialize in making cool sandals that are made from recycled tires from trucks on the highway. They grow chiles and jalapenos as well and the women make beautiful blankets and jewelry for us gringos to buy, i suppose. Had to indulge a bit myself. We greatly enjoyed our stay, couldn't have asked for better weather and better tostadas! I would love to go back someday, down that windy road to the sleepy little town. Definitely worth the 26 hr busride.
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