Backpacking in Semana Santa

Our main aim was to visit the Copper Canyon, but it took 3 days to get there. So actually our trip consisted of taking 4 different kinds of transportation, let's see!

Sunday, 16th of March: taking the bus to Guadalajara, at 8. Before this, Metrobus, but as we were a bit late, after 13 stops (it would have 25 stops altogether) we took a cab with Lisette. Arrive at Mexico Norte, and taking bus to Guadalajara, which would normally take 6 hours, but we were so lucky, to spend 7,5 hours, with 4 beautiful movies!!!!! We spent 6 hours in Guadalajara, and this was enough to visit the most interesting sights....

Monday, 17th of March: I forgot to mention, that we met two nice friends in Guadalajara and we took the nightbus together to Mazatlan, 8 hours. As our bus left at 10, we arrived 5.30 in Mazatlan, checked in to our Hostel, and slept 5 hours. After waking up, we headed to the Market where we had a delicious lunch, while we tried the speciality of Mazatlan, "aguachile". We explored Mazatlan, Lis and me mostly from the sea-point-of-view, whilst Paulis and Carlos (Daniel) from the architect-point-of-view. This meant, that Lis and me were spending time at the beach, lieing in the send, while they were having academical conversations about the architecture styles in old Mazatlan. A coulpe of hours at the beach, and then heading to OXXO to buy some necessary alcohol for the night. We had a nice dinner and then a funny ride in a golf-taxi....Anyways after sleeping 4 hours taking another bus to Los Mochis!!! I also have to say, that the first tragedy of the tour happened in Mazatlan, in the morning, when Lis burnt her leg with taxi......imagine how.

Tuesday, 18th of March: Bus to Los Mochis, where the railway to the Copper Canyon starts. Afer 5 hours and another 2,5 nice films we arrive in the metropolis of shoes. Yes, shoes. There is a shoeshop in Los Mochis in every 50 metres. There is not so much to do in Los Mochis. We were already nine here: los italianos and and dutchee joined us at 3, whilst Karolina (Jukebox) and Lisa arrived at ten. The railway leaves Los Mochis at 7, but the tickets are available already at 5. So, as we knew that Semana Santa-there will be many people, we went to the station at 5!!!!! Second tragedy happened in Los Mochis, where someone gave a kind-of-fake credit card to Paulis in the bank, but a day after it was solved.

Wednesday, 19th of March: Getting up at 4 (4 hours of sleep again!!!) and heading to the station. 1,5 hours of standing in the line, everyone is stresses, we are shouting, some impolite Spanish guy runs to the window before us, where they sell the tickets, although Mari (dutchee) put all her effort and her nicest smile in order to attract the security guy....Anyway we finally get the tickets, the next "war" is for the seats on the train, everybody needs to sit on the right side, as the view is the best from there. Now, a short description besides the photos about the Canyon:

The Copper Canyon (Spanish: Barranca del Cobre) is a group of canyons consisting of 6 distinct canyons in the Sierra Tarahumara in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. The overall canyon system is larger and portions are deeper than the Grand Canyon in the neighboring United States although the Grand Canyon is larger than any of the individual canyons. The system is transversed by the Chihuahua al Pacífico railroad, known by the nickname “Chepe”. It is both an important transportation system for locals and a draw for tourists. Mexico established the Parque Nacional Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon National Park) to showcase this remote area. The canyon is the traditional home of the indigenous Raramuri (Tarahumara) people.

So now is Wednesday morning, just a little summary till here: altogether we spent 20 hours on 3 different buses, we slept in 2 different towns, and from the first 2 of us, we were nine already: Idolo (Francesco), Nadia, Dutchee (Marajke), Jukebox (Karolina, who knows every song in the world), Lisa, Paulis, Carlos (Charles, Daniel, Peruvian), Lisette (China, Buttercup, Claire) and me, Dori (Exlporidori, Pumpkin, Dictator).

So after fighting with 23 people we get to the train, sit down, and calm down a bit. Sleeping for a couple of hours, as the first 2-3 hours are not so interesting. As the sun comes up, and we are also starting we wake up, we have to realize, that the air conditioning does not work in our wagon...well, well, mala suerte, what can we do. So we either spend our time standing outside between 2 wagons, or try to sleep, but it is not possible for more than half an our, as the wagon is bloody hot!!!

We got to know some other intercambios, Spanish guys, who study in Monterrey so we hang out with them, maybe we will meet later. After a nice stop in Divisadero, after 9 hours of travelling on the train, we arrive in the city of Creel at 17.30. Most of us are stressed out, we dont have a hostel yet and the whole city is full of backpackers...so what will we do now? My first little fight with Lis, and last luckily happens, but after occupying a nice romantic suite, we all decide to go for diner. As it is not the easiest for a group of 7 to make a decision, we walk around the city for half an hour, and at the end we decide to go to Veronica's, which has a very good reputation according to the lonley planet. Nice dinner, we decide which tour to take the next day and we go to sleep, all the 7 of us.

Thursday, 20th of March: just to not to forget it: we spent 3 nights together with Lisette in the same bed, but we are just friends!! We took a tour together with the Spanish guys and the two Canadians we met the day before. This was the day, when we saw most of the Tarahumaras and their villages.

The Tarahumara are an indigenous people of northern Mexico, renowned for their long-distance running ability. Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Tarahumara retreated to the Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. The area of the Sierra Madre Occidental which they now inhabit are often called the 'Sierra Tarahumara' because of their presence. Current estimates put the population of the Tarahumara in 2006 at between 50,000 and 70,000 people. Most still practice a traditional lifestyle, inhabiting natural shelters such as caves or cliff overhangs, as well as small cabins of wood or stone. Staple crops are corn and beans; however, many of the Tarahumara still practice transhumance, raising cattle, sheep, and goats. Almost all Tarahumara migrate in some form or another in the course of the year. The Tarahumara language is in the Uto-Aztecan family. Although it is in decline, under pressure from Spanish, it is still widely spoken. It was amazing for me to see how these people live. So far from my-our civilized world, where we can not spend a day without checking our emails, at least on our mobile phone...and they don't even have concrete roads and running water in their houses. We saw the religious ritual in a church, we went to a cemetary, and visited a family, who still lives in cave!! Yes, it is really a cave.

Before visiting the Tarahumara villages, we went to the Cascades and also Lake Arareko. All in all, Thursday was a day with impressive adventures and funny bus-rides. After a cigarette with Dutchee and Lis, I went to pick up the Colombians, as they arrived a day later, but with first class, honey!!! We left Karo and the Italians, as they were keen on walking all the back from the lake. So all the members of our nice little group came together again, and we had a nice dinner, in our next hostel: Margarita's.

Just a small note: I know, it is getting very long, but it was 9 days altogether!!! please keep on reading...

We grabbed a Vodka and some juice and started to play our old game, the mix of Never have I ever and cards, and started to drink. We ran out of drinks very soon, so went to bed at 12ish....don't remember very well...