Copper Canyon Rambles, part 1

Joined by Seattle friends David and Diana, we recently returned from a week long adventure exploring the Copper Canyon.  No easy junket, the journey's travel stats included: 2 trains, 10 buses, 4 taxis, 3 trucks, 1 tram, and at least 26 miles of hot, dusty hiking!!!  This was round trip out of Mazatlan!!  Was it worth the effort?  Absolutely!  The Copper Canyon is truly a spectacular region.  Encompassing 6 major canyons in the SW part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, the entire Copper Canyon is both larger in area and deeper than Arizona's Grand Canyon. 

We began our trip by bus, taking two buses the first day to El Fuerte, where we spent the night.  This pretty, historic town, high over the river (though not high enough to thwart a major population of ravenous no-see-um's) is a stop on the Chepe (Chihuahua Pacific) Railroad, and we boarded the train the next morning. 

The train offers both 1st class and 2nd class fares, but 2nd class only runs 3x per week, so we went first class as we wanted to "make tracks" for the Canyon.  Prices shown are in pesos...divide by app. 12 for $USD prices.  We rode from El Fuerte to Bauhuichivo, around a 6 hour trip.

The Chepe train is a fantastic bit of engineering.  Taking over 100 years to complete, the route takes 39 bridges and 86 tunnels to wind the 390 miles from Los Mochis on the coast to Chihuahua.  Check out the map...the "s-turn" on the upper left.  The train runs along the river, makes a hairpin turn over a bridge, then vanishes into a 2.5 mile tunnel.  A few minutes after entering the tunnel, we come out the other end, pointing in the opposite direction!!!  Pretty cool!

Someone's gotta yield here!

 This is where the train is running along the river to the left.  After crossing the bridge, and doubling back on the other side, it will enter the tunnel and come out on the track up above, heading the opposite direction.   Neat trick!!!

Karaoke conductors

Cindi and Diana join in....."Let It Be" will never sound the same!!!

The views are spectacular as the train makes it's way up into the mountains.  A lot of fun as they allow passengers to ride between the cars taking pix or just enjoying the scenery.
 




 We arrived in Bauhuichivo in early afternoon, and eventually found a bus heading to the bottom of the Canyon, in the town of Urique.  The Copper Canyon is the deepest canyon in North America, and Urique is it's deepest point.  The road from Bauhuichivo is some of the most dramatic bus travel anywhere, as the entire 54km dirt road is single lane, steep, and nearly non stop hairpin turns down into the canyon below. 

Our bus, work release style!!!

Guardrails???  We don't need no stinkin' guardrails!!!

Heading home

Taking nearly 4 hours, we stopped often seemingly in the middle of nowhere, to let out one of the native Tarahumara folk, who would then head off on foot, presumably for a village or home some distance away.

Adam at the sleeping cabin.

Urique proved to be an interesting town.  Far off the "gringo trail", tourism is not at all a mainstay of the local economy.  Set in this spectacular canyon, the main economic engine is probably marijuana farming, or "support industries".  (As one guidebook said, the locals didn't buy shiny $40,000 SUV's selling baskets at the train station!!)  We were told that the trails were safe to hike, however we were always aware of a rather different vibe than we've experienced elsewhere.  Not at all hostile, there was nonetheless a sense of indifference to travellers.  We stayed at a fun spot, Entre Amigos, owned (and built) by Keith, a part time expat from the Pacific Northwest for the past 25 years.  Part hostel, part individual cabins, the unique homestead setting with it's communal kitchen serves as a focal point for adventure travellers from all over.  (We enjoyed chatting with Nathan, a Brit who has ridden his bike here from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and plans to continue on down to Tierra Fuego).

We arrived in Urique during the festival of Semana Santa, which is the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Easter.  We had heard that the festival is a major deal to the indigenous Tarahumara people in a village above the valley floor, Guadelupe. 
Although the main event evidently begins on Friday night, and involves a lot of alcohol and some peyote, we hiked up there on Saturday morning and things were still in relatively full swing.  Actually we're not quite sure what "full swing" means!!! 

We never did get a great understanding about the meaning of the ceremonies that we witnessed.  People were running around in the square outside of the church, many of the men still in costume from the night before.  They rolled around on the church floor, flooded with water, before burning an effigy of Judas outside.  We were not only the only gringos present, but likely the only folks not from the village or region. 

 

 
But it was good if confused fun, and when it was over we happily hitched a ride with a vegetable truck back down to Urique rather than repeat the 6 mile trek as the temperature climbed over 100 degrees.


The next day we went for another hike to a "town", Naranja, around 6 miles up from Urique.  The trail was steep, and again the temp climbed over 100.  Finally reaching the top of the endless switchbacks, we found that the town was merely a settlement of perhaps six houses and a church...all extremely poor, with little in the way of thirst quenchers.  (did I mention that the day was HOT???!!!)

Panorama of Naranja

  We made our way back down via the road.  On the way a brand new red Chevy Suburban passed us.  No license plates.  Stopped, rolled down the dark tinted windows, the three young men gave us a stone faced once over, and headed on by.  Not even an "hola".  Hmmmmm.......

The views on these hikes were certainly spectacular.  We took the trail up on the left hand side of the valley, and decended via the road.

Although our boots were hard on our tender feet (we've been in sandals for the past 6 months!!!), it was great to get deep into such remote and stunning country.

In the next segment, we'll be going horse racing, Urique style, and will explore a bit more of the Canyon before making our way back to Mazatlan.  ARRIBA!!!

Something's gotta give!!!

MEX_2257, a photo by svbravo on Flickr.

Back in Mazatlan, after brief stateside visit

Well, we've returned back to Bravo after a 6 day whirlwind visit to Seattle.  Wow, the pace was hectic after getting used to life down here in Mexico for the past 4-1/2 months!!!  From the moment we stepped off the plane at LAX and dealt with customs, to our arrival back in Mazatlan, it was really a full tilt boogie all around!   We got to see many friends while back up north, but missed seeing a good many more.  Sorry about that...we'll do better on our visit this summer, where we hope to spend two or three weeks.

Speaking of LAX customs, we had a weird episode at the immigration window.  Adam's passport photo has his face hiding behind his full beard.  To those who haven't seen him in a while, he's now trimmed for speed!!!  Clean shaven for the first time in many a year!  (Dive mask fits much better, and it's a lot cooler as well)  Well, immigration officers don't take kindly to this sort of blatant attempt to change one's identity.  He wanted Cindi to advise him of any "distinguishing marks or characteristics" which would identify the reprobate, as well as prove that we are married (he also wasn't happy about married couples having different last names!!!).  Thinking officer was kidding around (he wasn't), and that he was probably in a joking mood (he wasn't), Adam couldn't help but let out some snide comment, purely in jest (have you noticed, immigration officers don't joke around...Adam made note to self..."immigration officers don't joke around!!!).  After a flurry of quick apologies all around, and trying hard to repress our giggles, we were allowed to proceed to the rest of the re-entry process.  No harm done!

Driving in Seattle sleet

The week in Seattle flew by, and we picked up a lot of items which are difficult to find in Mexico that we've come to want aboard Bravo.  Some mission critical (new raw water pump for genset), some nice to haves (new manifolds to replace the leaking ones on the watermaker), and some, well, how do you categorize a flat screen tv to better watch movies???

Getting it all down here was no picnic.  Even with our T.I.P. (Temporary Import Permit for yachts in transit) the customs officers were out to get SOMETHING!!!  They gave us a "good deal" of about $70 US (could have been as much as $300.  Said we could go the following day to the customs office downtown (about $80 round trip from the marina) to avoid paying anything while saying, knowingly, "most people just pay the duty"!!!  Felt like a shakedown, but "whatchagonnado"???

So we're back aboard at last.  Busy with a myriad of repairs and projects.  Friends David and Diana are coming down today for a couple of days in Mazatlan before we head out by bus and train to the Copper Canyon for some exploration and hiking.  Then it will be time to cross the Sea of Cortez along with the hordes heading north for the spring (25 boats left here yesterday!!!)

Had a great time at the Sunday market in the Juarez neighborhood of Mazatlan.  12 blocks of street stalls selling everything imaginable (and some not so...)  Here are a few pix...

This guy was selling some interesting things...lots of grim reaper statues, burning incense, pyramids, horseshoes.....I wanted to take a few more photos, but he didn't seem into it, and after all, sailors are a suspicious lot.....just sayin'

Pirated movie dvd's are everywhere.  Quality varies, sometimes you see a person's silhouette walk across the bottom of the screen!!!

12 blocks of stalls...something for everyone!

Mazatlan

Tsunami damage to a few of the La Cruz marina docks.

  

La Cruz fishing fleet sorting gear

Well, the weather window opened as anticipated, and we left La Cruz last Tuesday, 3/29, headed around Punta de Mita for an anchorage in Chacala Bay, approx 45 miles away. 

Catch of the day, great variety at the La Cruz Saturday mar

Had a great day, w/ a good sail, close hauled most of the way to Chacala.  Anchoring in Chacala proved unbelievably rolly, as it's very open to the ocean swells.  One boat was using a stern anchor to keep pointed into the swell, and during the night, we certainly wished we had as well.  Not a lot of sleep that night, as we got tossed around the bunk.

The next day we woke to flat calm, and we motored out, heading north approx 150 miles to Mazatlan.  What little wind we had, up to 7 or 8 knots, was all right on the nose, and we motored and motor sailed all the way to Maz, arriving at the Stone Island anchorage at around 9am.  Saw several whales, with some grays breaching fairly close to the boat.  Also a few turtles bobbed by during the day.  One fish brought aboard, a little skipjack tuna.  Not great eating, we sliced him up into bait strips for the yellow fin and dorado which must be soon to follow!!!  All in all, a very calm passage, but we certainly motored a lot more than desired.

Mazatlan long line fleet.  Note the bundled marker buoys, complete with black flags!

One scary sight was the flag at the end of a long line fishing rig, which panga fisherman set miles out in the middle of the ocean.  Happily we sailed by the right side of the flag in the evening, only missing it by around 100 feet.  Another boat reported getting caught up twice during the night, and having to stop and cut themselves free.  Amazing that the fisherman use BLACK flags to mark the nets, with no lights.

Goats overlooking the harbor on Isla de los Chivos (Island of baby goats)

We anchored at Stone Island, a beautiful spot right outside of Mazatlan's big commercial harbor entrance and the city's "Old Mazatlan" section.  We took the water taxi over to explore the city, which really is beautiful.  Great historical sites, as well as a fantastic market, beautiful malecon beach walk, and excellent restaurants.  Benji's, right on the beach at our anchorage, had a special pizza, the "Shrimper", with shrimp, garlic, and ham....damn good!!!  And the hike up the hill behind the beach, complete with the local goat herd, had spectacular views of the city beyond the port.

A few shots of Old Mazatlan:

Pulmonia taxi's...golf carts w/ VW engines, a Mazatlan original!!

Absolutely shocking.....!!!!!  And they worry about people stealing cable TV in the US!!!

Pork stall at the local market...it was right next to the goat vendor.....Awwww...kinda cute!

Girls enjoying a school performance from the cheap seats

Lovely little Mazatlan city house.

Cindi hikes up some scary stairs for an even better view!

After two nights at anchor, we headed this morning to the marina district, about 5 miles north in an area known as "Nuevo Mazatlan".  Three marinas here, so many boats we've heard on the radio or met over the past few months are moored.  We just had a quick walk about, and the area is a pretty harsh contrast to the pretty and "seasoned" ambiance we experienced in Old Maz (not to mention La Cruz before that).  It's, well, as the name says, "Nuevo", or "New".  Pretty sterile, with resorts and condos surrounding the marinas.  There is an active cruiser's community here, though, so should be some good activities, such as tomorrow's bike ride, to keep us occupied until we fly to Seattle for a weeklong visit next week. 

A boat checked into the local radio net yesterday, saying he was entering the marina on an "S&M 49".  Said he was here because he had heard Mazatlan is famous for it's great leather work, especially with studs.....Ahhhh, ya gotta love April 1, celebrated all over the world!!!!!

La Cruz again, on way north

At our last post, we were anchored in Chamela following Japan's devastating earthquake and the subsequent tsunami which we felt over 7,000 miles away.
We spent nearly a week in Chamela.  Cindi signed up with a local dive shop to get her scuba open water certification.  The instructor was great, and she was the only student in the class!  They did the classroom sessions (and tests) on the front porch of the shop facing the dirt road.  Pool sessions were at a small local hotel.  The four dives were in the island group near the anchorage, reached by local panga.  Lots of wildlife were spotted, including rays, lobster, scorpion fish, nudibranchs, and the myriad of colorful reef fish.  And the best part....of course she passed, and is now a certified diver!!!  We're looking forward to diving as we continue our journey both in Mexico and beyond.
It was interesting anchoring in Chamela this time as compared to our previous visit a couple of months ago on our trip south.  Very few boats remained, with most already heading back north, or south to the South Pacific.  One night there was only one other boat in the large anchorage, whereas at times earlier there had been as many as 20.

"Fish on"!!!  Adam brought the 15 pounder aboard, 

 

but it was just a jack crevalle, so it was "catch and release".

We watched the weather closely, and left Chamela one evening for the 100 mile passage past Cabo Corrientes to Banderas Bay / La Cruz.  We left with Ponderosa, a Valiant 47 from Seattle, and had a great sail/motor trip north through the night, arriving in Banderas Bay at dawn. 

As we settled into the last leg of the passage, from the Cape to La Cruz, we fired up the watermaker to fill our tanks, as the water in La Cruz is, well, let's just say we weren't wild about drinking it!  After it ran for a few minutes, we heard an engine alarm indicating water in the fuel filter.  Opening the engine compartment, we found that the prefilter intake manifold for the watermaker had sprung a bad leak, and was spraying saltwater all over the engine!!!  A bad thing indeed!!!  So, we shut everything down, cleaned up the mess, changed the fuel filter, and were underway again a couple of hours later, but without the watermaker.  Another project for "the list"!!!

Ah, "the list".....  We arrived in La Cruz to a very different atmosphere than when we were last here in January.  The docks at the marina are full, and an incredible bee hive of activity.  This is a major jumping off point for the "Puddle Jump"...boats leaving the west coast for the South Pacific, typically the Marquesas.  It's also a place where all of the boats who have been cruising Mexico for the past several months are ducking in to refurbish, refit, and repair...cruising full time is indeed hard on gear, and everyone, it seems, is up to their eyeballs in projects of all sorts.  Rigging, engine, bottom, running gear, systems, electronics.....it goes on and on.  It's kind of like a naval fleet coming into port and drydock for needed repairs.  That, coupled with the crossroads of boats with stories to share and old friends to meet up with makes for a great sense of comraderie at the bar....How many stories can start with: "So there we were...."  

One major project for Bravo was to fix the broken watermaker.  The prefilters are fairly standard items (so we thought).  A factory replacement of the broken manifold was over $400, and we figured we could make our own filter manifold for a few Home Depot water filters and a bunch of pipe fittings.  All good so far....Home Depot is about 1 hour by bus, so the trip somehow takes most of a day!!!  Back with the gear, the second day saw it nearly finished.  Day three, Adam goes to put in the old filters (remember, they're "standard", right???)  Wrong!  The cannisters at Home Depot hold a proprietary filter which is 3/8 inch too short!!!!!  The whole damn thing needed to be started over!  We ended up finding the right filter housings at a pool supply store, and another day, and whole Rube Goldberg contraption is working like a charm, complete with a new fresh water flush system!!!  Success...

What's that guy whispering in Steve's ear???

While here we had a surprise email from a former coworker of Cindi's, Steve and his wife Laura, vacationing here in Puerto Vallarta for a few days of sun.  They braved the busses to get out to La Cruz, and we had a nice evening together with them at Ana Banana's, listening to a good local blues band.

Adding our boat name to the legions who came before us at Ana Banana's

So here we are at La Cruz, a really great spot to spend time.  Bravo's been getting a thorough cleaning and waxing from the local "boat boys".  We've enjoyed spending time with friends both here and in P.V., and seeing others off on their journey across the Pacific.  A few boats are leaving daily.  Soon it will be our time to depart as well, as we make our way up into the Sea of Cortez for spring.  It looks like we'll have a good weather window to head north up to Mazatlan early next week.  We'll be sorry to leave La Cruz behind, but are really looking to exploring Baja....and know that we'll be back here in the fall as we turn our sights southward....

Tsunami update

Hola amigos

Yesterday was an interesting day, to be sure.  Being around time to join the migration of northbound boats, we decided to leave Santiago Bay yesterday morning at dawn, to make it up to Chamela by dark, around 60 miles.  We heard about the quake and tsunami on the radio shortly after getting underway.  We were already out to sea at that point, and were, of course, fine.  There were still several hours to go till any tsunami hit down here, and we monitored our radios, both local VHF and long range ham and maritime frequencies.  The next big anchorage up the coast from us was Barra de Navidad.  The lagoon there is very shallow, and has many boats anchored.  They were all on the radio, trying to figure out what to do, and in conversation with the local port capitan.  As the morning unfolded, many, I'm not sure of #'s or %'s, headed out of the anchorage...we were sailing by, around 5 miles offshore at the time, and we saw sails all around and radar blips spilling out of the lagoon, it looked like a major regatta!!!  ....most boats were playing it safe, going out to sea to hang out till the tsunami passed.  Prediction was for 1 to 2 meters.  Someone in the lagoon made a mark on a piling and said it went down 6" and up 11", though this was the first surge, and my understanding is that the next was somewhat larger.  A Mexican navy patrol boat was keeping the beaches cleared, and they eventually closed the lagoon for any entering boats, just allowing boats to leave.  We hear that it remained closed all night.  But then this morning there was a report of a 12" fresh water pipe that goes from the mainland to a small island in Barra that had come loose from the bottom due to currents in the channel, and it is blocking the entrance to the lagoon, trapping the 7 boats that remain.  Yuchhhh.....at least it's a fresh water pipe!!!

We sailed and motored north all day.  Saw a lot of wildlife on the trip, with sea turtles, jumping rays, and dolphins.  Had our closest whale encounter ever, just before anchoring, with two humpback whales feeding no more than 50 feet from the boat.  Truly an amazing sight, if a bit close for comfort!!!  Fishing proved unproductive for fish, but we did catch a brown booby (the bird!!).  The hook had caught him through the webbing in his foot.  We circled back and were able to free him.  It was a real relief to see him flap his wings and take off, perhaps embarrassed to have been fooled by a rubber squid, but hopefully none worse for the experience.  We continued on with light winds, but at least the southerly had us flying the spinnaker much of the afternoon.  Lots of radio chatter as you can imagine.  We finally got to Paraiso, a pretty little anchorage around 8 miles from Chamela (see earlier blog post for description of this tight little spot) and decided to anchor for the night.  For the first time, we couldn't get the anchor, a 90 lb Rocna, to hold, in very wierd, swirly currents.  Another boat next to us was having the same trouble, and both of us (the only 2 in the little bay) decided to head to Chamela, a big bay w/ plenty of swing room.  We anchored here, and wow, the currents were sure strange, turning boats in all different directions, in spite of a steady 10 knot wind.  Small whirlpools everywhere...not dangerous, just unusual, and it made figuring out the anchoring a bit of a crap shoot.

Got the hook set, and settled into a prawn dinner and a movie to relax after a most unusual day.

Backtrack to Santiago and Las Hadas.....

With all of this tsunami chatter, we nearly forgot an update on our Santiago Bay and Las Hadas experiences.  Both Santiago, and the resort around the corner, Las Hadas, were great places to hang out for a few weeks.  Very different vibe in each, but fun experiences to be had at both.  So here are some more photos from the past few weeks.....

Beautiful homes between Santiago Bay and Manzanillo Bay...it's easy to see how the area was named "Mexican Riviera"!

Fantastic views from a hike above the Santiago anchorage.

A nice pair of boobies!

We spent a total of around one week anchored off Las Hadas, enjoying the pools and visiting with friends.  There was quite a contingent of Seattle boats, and we enjoyed seeing 3 other boats from Shilshole marina back home, Ponderosa, Odessa, and Panta Rhei.

Another Corona moment!!!  (and yes, those feet are TAN!!!)

Hanging with friends Cary and Michelle from s/v Kailani

The anchorage from happy hour at the Paradise bar

Attended a minor league pro soccer football game.  Lots of fun, lots of noise, and the home team won...ya gotta like it!

All's going great down here, as we work our way back north.  Cindi is getting her scuba diving certification starting Monday here in Chamela.  The plan is to then head back up to Puerto Vallarta, around 100 miles north, and then up to Mazatlan, where we'll fly home for a week of business and visiting in early April.