Mexico: North & Central Travels

We left the beach at Bucerias with Sheila kicking and screaming. We stowed her in the bus luggage compartment so that she wouldn't disturb the other passengers. Four days of travel (27 hours of north-bound bus and trains) took us through Tepic (huge sugar cane processing plant) and Mazatlan, the world's shrimp capital and home of the world's worst Chinese food (who would eat Chinese food in Mexico?). The Copper Canyon Railway travels from sea level through 86 tunnels to the high Sierra (2300 m elevation). It made us wonder: why or how did they build it? and how much longer is it till we get there?

We stayed 2 sub-zero nights in the 2 horse town of Creel before hiking down into the impressive San Ignacio River canyon via the Recowata hot springs. The terrain was rugged and had impressive rock walls, epiphytes growing on the trees, superb camping sites, waterfalls and cool bats that fed on insects above the river pools at dusk. We saw no one for 2 days. We paid dearly for our 3 1/2 months of inactivity at the beach; our leg muscles screamed with pain after the trip. Stairs were significant obstacles as we hobbled about on our return to Creel.

We took a spectacular road from the sierras to the canyon bottom at Batopilas (500 m elevation), Mexico's most hidden town. Crumbling old colonial buildings are squeezed along the Batopilas river. The single lane street, designed for mule trains, presents a challenge to 2-way vehicular traffic. Plenty of Tarahumara (indigenous people) in traditional dress and Mestizos in full cowboy attire swarmed into town for a local election day. On one of our day walks, we followed the correct protocol to ensure that we were not shot at while visiting a ranchito that grows marijuana as its cash crop.

We were told that it was easy to get lost on the 3 day walk to Urique so...we put Sheila's "donkey money" account into a deficit; we hired horses and a guide (Polo) to get our gear and ourselves up from Batopilas and over the canyon rim (1800 m climb). We did the knee jarring descent on the other side (an equal 1800 metre drop) to the Urique river. We confess that a friendly campesino offered his donkeys' services when we were about 2/3 down and we could hardly decline his generous offer.

Urique (500 m elevation) is a 2 donkey town and boasts a very impressive canine choir at night, so we opted for a hotel room in the back of the Hotel Cañon. Our garden view ensured that we stayed awake for the entire performance of the rooster chorus that started up at 4:00 a.m.

Our return drive to Creel was through a recent snowfall. We then aimed our sights south and began our great bus trek south to Central Mexico. Sheila was struck down hard by a stubborn case of Giardia (a stomach bug she picked up on the hike), so we stayed in little-known Hidalgo del Parral. It is home to the not-so-famous retailer "Hualmart", it is the place where Pancho Villa was assassinated and it boasts dozens of stores selling cowboy boots, shirts and buckles. It is a 3-horse town.

In Durango, we stayed at the Hotel Gallo (Rooster Hotel). There were no roosters but in the middle of the night, we awoke to what we thought was an earthquake. It was someone snoring, one floor above us. No horses.

After miles and miles of more cactus, we drove by THE Corona brewery and entered Zacatecas, home of "Burger Queen". Zacatecas (don't you like the way, the name just rolls off the tongue?) is a particularly beautiful colonial city with enough to keep a tourist busy. Over at the nearby Guadaloupe bullring, we watched young aspiring matadors bludgeon six bulls to death. Remnants of Aztec blood sacrifices and Roman coliseum savagery seem to live on in this "sport".

Guanajuato is a magnificent, vibrant, colonial city. It's no wonder that it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From Guanajuato we took a bus to Morelia that showed a movie WITHOUT any violence. Morelia itself was one polluted colonial city. Our hotel manager strictly enforced her 10:00 pm curfew, so we didn't crawl the streets at night.

Patzcuaro was "precioso" (precious) with its whitewashed colonial buildings and tiled roofs, but the real highlight of Mexco was the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary.

Many millions of Monarchs flutter up to 3500 km between Eastern Canada and Mexico and more (have you ever seen a butterfly flutter in a straight line?). We visited the pine forest where huge clumps of butterflies dragged tree branches down with their weight. As the sun warmed the cool air, the butterflies came to life and suddenly there were butterflies EVERYWHERE. There were so many that they made the sound of rustling leaves. The Monarchs winter at 3,000 metres above sea level in a very cool environment - we had 5 blankets on our bed - those poor shivering butterflies go north to warm up!

We then left the fresh pine scented air for the smog of Mexico City. We loved it. Half of the city's 20 million people joined us at the nearby Teotihucan pyramids to celebrate a holiday and the spring equinox. The hundreds of people dressed as Aztec warriors contributed to the festive atmosphere. And the drum beat went on...

It was fun but exhausting work, being a tourist in Mexico city, visiting the Archeology museum, the plethora of Rivera murals and paintings around the city, churches, palaces, the world's 3rd largest collection of Rodin sculptures, the street markets, etc, etc. Then of course, the ancient waterways of Xochimilico are the place where people party on the week-ends. Where else can you find floating Mariachi bands?

Heading north through the enjoyable San Luis Potosi, we reached Real de Catorce, a town of 40,000 people over a century ago, where 1,000 people now live ("The Mexican" was filmed there). We met Brad Pitt (well, he looked like him anyways) who gave us the low down on a desert excursion. A 1958 Wiley Jeep took us on an exhilarating ride down to the desert floor where we spent a fascinating day wandering the desert and an evening with the colourful Don Carlos and supporting cast of not-quite-right folk in Wadley. Huichol Indians make an annual pilgrimage here to collect enough peyote to supply them with another year's worth of visions.

During our last few days in Northern Mexico, the dormant cucaracha count rocketed as hotel prices rose and quality dropped each day closer to the U.S. border.

Finally, well into the U.S., an American border patrol boarded our Houston bound bus and dragged seven illegal aliens off including three trying to hide under the seats. Here in Houston, we are "decompressing", drinking water from the tap, eating fruit without chili powder, catching a few movies on a 120 channel TV and enjoying David's hospitality.

FOR THE RECORD

2001 tent nights: stuck on 5

Hours on Mexican trains and buses: 108

IF YOU GO: Bring lots of money (or an ATM card) because Mexican costs have risen considerably in the last few years. We found traveling on 400 pesos (45 USD) per day for 2 persons very tight. Don't miss: Copper Canyon, Real de Catorce, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Patzcuaro, El Rosario (November to March) and Mexico City.