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05/14/2005 Entry: "Adventure break in Copper Canyon (Part I)"

“I’m tired of Mexican beaches! I can’t stand Acapulco’s heat, Cancun’s American invasion and Huatulco’s boredom anymore: I need something new!” Armed with that groundbreaking conclusion I decided to look for a different sort of weekend break destination and came (...)

From Mexico City the only reasonable travel option is to take a flight to Chihuahua. Three main airlines compete on that route: Aeromexico, Aerocalifornia and Lineas Aereas Azteca. Normally Aerocalifornia is the cheaper option (as low as Pesos $2000 return) if you don’t mind sitting in a DC-9 straight out of an 80’s movie. However, my last minute booking meant paying a hefty premium (Pesos $4000) and Aeromexico won the day with the best arrival and departure times. I couldn’t help wincing at the fact that my Pesos $4000 could have bought me a nice Aerolineas Argentinas return flight to Lima in Peru – why are domestic tickets in Mexico so darn expensive?

Landing in Chihuahua the culture shock is rather strong considering that I hadn’t left Mexico: the airport is tiny, modern and clean; people speak Spanish with a distinctive accent and eat burritos more eagerly than tacos; girls are taller and rather good looking by Mexican standards; the desert surrounds the city and the dry atmosphere is almost palpable. I stayed in the hotel Sicomoro and found it adequate for the price of Pesos $850 I paid, though located in an area devoid of decent restaurants, tourist attractions or shopping options. The hotel Westin Soberano is quite probably a better option if you can afford to pay a little bit more.

For most tourists Chihuahua is hardly more than a launch pad to the Sierra Tarahumara, unless you are fascinated by the Mexican Revolution and Pancho Villa. Many tourist guides sing the praise of the Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico (aka CHEPE) that runs from Chihuahua to Los Mochis via Copper Canyon. Since I wanted to see more than glimpses of the scenery I opted against spending nearly Pesos $1200 on the CHEPE and instead took an Estrella Blanca bus service to Creel for only Pesos $180. Estrella Blanca buses depart every hour from Chihuahua and are a more flexible transportation option than the train. Their competitor Autotransportes del Noroeste (also in Chihuahua’s main bus station) is a good alternative.

The bus ride to La Junta was uneventful, large cattle ranches alternating with Mennonite farms producing a famous cheese (which I find rather bland compared to French or Swiss cheeses). In La Junta the bus driver unceremoniously dumped all the passengers bound for Creel, using as pretext a steering wheel problem. La Junta is the middle of nowhere, the perfect place to wait 3 hours until the next bus service arrives: that I didn’t die of boredom is still a surprise to me. As icing on the cake the inbound Estrella Blanca bus was full to the brim and I had to endure a 2-hour journey standing up in the middle of the central corridor, next to someone who obviously had never seen the color of soap in his life or read the manual of the bath tub!

With a sigh of relief I finally arrived in Creel where the van from the hotel Villa Mexicana was still waiting for me despite the tremendous delay. Located South of the village of Creel, Villa Mexicana is not ideally located and you must be prepared to walk 15-20 minutes to reach the restaurants, bus stops, souvenir shops, etc. Nevertheless, the log cabins are lovely and come with a divine smell of pinewood. For Pesos $750 to $950 (plus tax) they are not only much bigger than the rooms of the Best Western “The Lodge at Creel” hotel, they also give you some privacy and the pleasure to wake up with the sound of the bells of the cows performing a natural lawn-mowing of the campground around the cabins.

Creel’s social life revolves around the central avenue Lopez Mateos where the locals just can’t resist slowly driving back and forth to show off their pickup trucks while their stereos blurt out ranchera music tunes. Welcome to rural Mexico! Creel has a distinctive frontier town charm that reminded me of Patagonian villages. There are many restaurants in Creel but trust the tourist guides and local advice – try out Restaurante Veronica on Lopez Mateos. The food is plentiful, tasty and cheap.

In the next installment of this Copper Canyon post I will delve into the tourist activities available from Creel, an incredible array of hikes, bicycle rides, tours amidst mysterious Tarahumara Indians and some of the most majestic scenery anywhere in North America. Stay tuned.

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