Saturday, May 13, 2000
Chihuahua al Pacifico
The most scenic part of the Copper Canyon train is from El
Fuerte to Divisadero. The first-class tickets were 270 pesos each,
which we were able to buy on board. The big advantage of boarding
at El Fuerte rather than Los Mochis is that you board at 8:30 a.m.
rather than 6:00 a.m.
The scenery begins...
We occupied and successfully defended an open window between
cars on the south side of the train - a much coveted position. This
allowed us to look down the mountainsides at the occasional piece
of previous trains that didn’t quite reach its destination. Besides
the wreckage, we also observed very pretty scenery and lots of
tunnels (86 of them).
Mangled trains
We arrived in Divisadero about 2:15 p.m., the only stop the
train makes along the canyon rim itself. The train only stops for
about ten minutes, so we decided (in advance) to stay for an hour
at the overlook and wait for the 2nd class train to take us to
Creel. It’s a beautiful view, but you just can't capture it in a
photo.
Divisadero
At Creel, as expected, a local kid dragged us to the infamous
Casa de Margarita’s, which is Backpacker Central. When we walked in
we were greeted by an American employee, a girl in her mid-20s
claiming to be named "Yolanda" who wouldn’t say where she was from
- we suspect Ohio from her accent. She likes to call the people of
Creel "stupid mountain people." She said it was only safe to drink
at Margarita’s, because the "stupid mountain people" might try to
start trouble with us when they get to drinking. I took an
immediate dislike to "Yolanda." Imagine that. Our room was tiny -
had to go outside just to change our minds.
We went out to buy some tequila, but the cashier girl was
apparently telling us they don’t sell alcohol after 4:00 on
Saturdays. She then went on to try to tell us something else in
very fast Spanish that we didn’t understand. We were all confused
until she pointed at Jana’s backpack. Jana handed her the backpack
and she shoved the liquor in it. Creel rocks! This place also had
home-brewed something or other that was waaay cloudy and had a
piece of saran-wrap and a rubber-band on the top instead of a lid.
We didn’t try that stuff.
Went to Margarita’s "the sequel" (Margarita’s Plaza Mexicana,
the nicer Margarita’s) down the street that evening to chase rumors
of four ladies who wanted to go to Batopilas the next day. The
ladies were Americans who all retired in Mexico and were just
taking a short vacation. We all arranged to go down the canyon to
Batopilas the next morning, spend the night, and come back the next
day.
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