Happy Birthday, Miles

Today I am two. This photo is me at 2 years old. My Mom is simply the best!!

This photo was taken one year ago. Can you see how much I've grown?


Nana thinks I'm great!!

Back at the Gate

We started here and we keep coming back! The summers in Mexico are hot, hot, hot. Can you think of a better place than San Francisco to temper the heat? Well...maybe Portland, but that is the next stop on our journey.

In Batopilas

Ardy crossing the plank bridge over the Batopilas River. We had just visited the old Hacienda, a mansion built by Alexander Robey Shepherd (from Washington DC, who made a fortune in silver mining) in 1875, now gone to ruins.

From the cool, crisp, pine-scented air and the lakes and forests of Creel, we meandered down into semi-tropical heat, thick vegetation, dripping water, and cockroaches bigger than the ones we met in New Orleans years ago.




One of the oldest buildings in town houses a store, as it has from when first built; just off the main plaza, it is a landmark of sorts.

Batopilas has a history as a mining site, the museum explained the role of Spaniards in building it up...and the decline that has occurred since the mines have closed. An aged aqueduct still serves agriculture in the area. Mangoes were in season, but papaya, oranges, limes, and other tropical fruit are abundant.



Today, the town deals with concerns of every Mexican town...here is the center for Family and Infant Development (DIF)

Road to Batopilas

A trip to the Copper Canyon isn't complete without going down to the bottom of one of the barrancas. A popular trip is to Batopilas, about 140 kilometers (four hours) down a winding, narrow, and, in parts, under construction road. The edges are unprotected, the bus sways over on the curves, and your breath is taken away when you look straight down for a thousand feet. Marv claims he's more comfortable (and probably safer) in seas with 12-foot high waves.

Bike trip to the Falls

Tres Amigos has a rental shop in Creel...bikes, horses, cars, motorbikes... We settled on mountain bikes and, with Matt and Katie from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, set off to find a waterfall.

Perhaps we should have listened to the note on the little map we got from 3 Amigos, the one that said "guide required."




We didn't bike on the steep slopes, and we didn't find the waterfall. :(

Part of that might have been because we were there during the dry season and everyone told us there wasn't much water coming down. Part of it because we got lost.



p.s.: small world...we had to go all the way to Creel to meet Katie, Pat Portz's second cousin. For non-family, Pat is married to Marv's first cousin, Rolly!

Around Creel

We met a wonderful couple, Javier and Paz, from Spain on the Chepe train, and toured some of the geological sites near Creel with them.



Children are shy everywhere!

Modern-day cliff dwellers, a Raramuri family settled into a natural cave.
A view of Creel from the hill where the Cristo Rey statue stands.

Out of the Canyon

What goes down, must come up. Much more slowly, however.

Into the Canyon

We stayed at the Casa de Diaz guest rooms in Posada Barrancas and one of the younger sons took us on a four-hour hike down into the Barranca de Cobre. This area is home to an estimated 30,000 Raramuri peoples (of the Tarahumara Sierra). Homes are scattered throughout the canyons, a flat spot selected for farming and the house built nearby. There are some places where, with more room, three or four homes are clustered on the flat top of a mesa that has sharp-edged cliffs on two or three sides. The hillsides are laced with trails and it is not uncommon to see someone on the far side of the canyon, making their way up or down.

Posada Barrancas

Vertigo is not a good thing to have in the Copper Canyon. The drops are precipitous and there are no warnings, fences, or barricades to keep you back.

Posada Barrancas

If you take the first class train (which we inadvertently did, since the economy class did not run on the day we were going), you can "stop over" at towns along the way. The conductor makes a notation on your ticket and you get off the train, spend a day or two in a spot like Posada Barrancas and then catch the next first class train that comes through.

Train from Los Mochis

Train buffs from around the world get excited hearing about the Copper Canyon trip. Chepe, the Mexican line, snakes back and forth through spectacular canyons and 86 tunnels, climbing from sea level at Los Mochis to Creel at about 7550 feet, then on to the grand city of Chihuahua.