Cowboy fantasies seem to be universal. Girls, boys, gays,
trans, those with unusual pronouns, and Germans (for some weird reason
especially people from Germany) and basically everyone, including even robots (ref.
Westworld) fantasize themselves as gun-toting, sombrero-wearing,
bad-asses-but-with-hearts-in-the-right-place sorts of people.
We too reimagine ourselves as too-hot-to-handle coffee
drinking cowboys(girls) that’r into horses and/or boys that’r also into horses
‘n cacti ‘n leather goods.
The moniker “cowboy” however is gendered, so forgive us
when we use that word. Realize that what we really mean is Horse People. We all
want to be horse people. And for other horse people to think we are the hot
sort of horse people that other horse people, you know, want to be horsey with.
But Alice just informed me that that isn’t it at all.
What we are both trying to say is we wanted to go on a train. The train is
called “El Chepe”, the Copper Canyon Train and on the train and in the canyon
there are people who wear sombreros.
We got to our train-ride starting place at a town called
“El Fuerte”. This seemed like a really sexy name for the start of a cowboy
fantasy. But after a promising start, our protagonist writer cowboy promptly
got taken by a strong Mexican mala, under which affliction would he spend most
of his stay at the charming hotel Torres in the prone condition known as “no
romantico, muy banyos.” Luckily Alice was unaffected and able to escape the sick
room and try to catch the eye of all the manly El Fuerte cowboys by taking
pictures of them.
Courtyard in the 400 year old Torres del Fuerte Hotel
The Fiji Room and Greg's sick bed
This looks interesting. Let's go inside.
The bar at the Torres del Fuerte Hotel
Stuff on the wall.
Keeping a close eye on the gringos at the bar
#cowboylove #sexy #hot #badass
Love in El Fuerte
Baptism Photo
The Quinceanera Celebration - 15th birthday passage to womanhood.
Fuck that's young. She should be out climbing trees.
The Hill of the Mask - Petroglyphs 800 to 2500 years old
Still feeling queasy on the morning of the second day,
and giving my sphincter what the British might call “stiff upper lip
instructions”, we presented ourselves to the conductor and were allowed on the
train.
The Chepe train is an old-school marvel, with uniformed
staff and a traditional dining car. El Tren de El Chepe is pleasure to ride on,
but really the whole point of the undertaking is to admire the incredible views
out of the rail car windows. Tren El Chepe winds through a massive canyon
system formed by the Rio Urique. The scale of this natural formation dwarfs
that of the better known Grand Canyon of Arizona, and the views are simply
spectacular, as are the mind-boggling feats of railroad engineering required to
build a line through this rugged terrain. The train tracks cling to the
steepest imaginable slopes and the line includes eighty six mountain tunnels of
up to 7km length and numerous humongous bridge spans.
What better way to get up close and personal with a
cowboy than at a ranch? At Bahuichivo we checked in for some country living at
Cabanas San Isidro. A nice wood burning stove in our room kept us warm in the
tolerably chilly nights. We adventured down 1,800m to the valley floor and the
namesake town of Urique, not on a horse, but on a roof with seats. Wee!
At rancho San Isidro we met a lovely Mexican family from
Tepic and toured another little town with them called Cerrocahui. Being from a
hot part of Mexico, they had to dress up in puffy clothes, and we as Canadians
responded, “Cold? This ain’t cold!”
Cabanas San Isidro
Cabanas San Isidro - campfires at night
Riding on top
Heading 1800 meters down to Urique
Wazoo!!! Hang on tight. Seatbelts broken.
Urique
See Greg Run
Overheating on the climb up
Cerocahui tour - Canadian in T-shirt & Mexican in the puffy jacket.
Cerocahui Catholic Boarding School for the local Tarahumara girls
The train stop at Posada Barrancas is famous for its
crazy precipitous views, the Hotel Mirador and for its adventure park. Being
too cheap to spring $300/night for the Mirador, we stayed in the nights in
modest rooms at Cabanos Diaz. In the afternoons we mooched off the Mirador’s
luxurious accommodations and enjoyed the viewing deck with a bottle of their
wine.
The skyrider zip line at Barrancas is the longest in the
world and takes you flying in your little canvass seat at over 120km/h across
the canyon. The near freezing rain drops felt a lot like bullets on our cheeks!
It felt a lot like a skydive, actually, though maybe a slight bit tamer. At night
in our Diaz cabin we were thankful for a great big fireplace and a large supply
of firewood. Hmmm, it does seem to be getting cold in cowboy country...
Hotel Mirador view
Zip Lines
El Chepe at Posada Barrancas station
Which way to the Cabanas Diaz?
Cabanas Diaz
Staying warm at night
Met us at the station and brought us to the Cabanas
#happycowgirl
Our horse handlers
Next stop was Creel, and the recent snowfall convinced us
that it was time to stop pretending that it was in any way warm outside. A
shopping excursion provided us with some touques and gloves. We needed those
for a mountain bike excursion through Tarahumara country, where interesting
rock formations included some very tall rocks known as “Bisabirachi”,
translating as “Valley of the Erect Penises”. Cowfolk are straight talking
people, doncha know?
After getting slightly lost on the bikes and forced to
route-find our way home on paths that wound through Tarahumara homesteads, it
was time to head out again on the train. Last stop, Chihuahua.
Tarahumara selling baskets at the train stop
Biking in Creel
Bisabirachi - Valley of the Erect Penises
More beautiful countryside was viewed from the dining car
window frames, with our window rubbernecking finally terminated by darkness.
Getting off the train at nearly 10pm and with our sombrero fantasies abating,
we checked in to a lovely room at Hotel San Felipe El Real.
Chihuahua looks like a town worth further exploration,
but sadly we had time only for a late dinner overlooking the lights of the church
square. The morning would take us on a flight back to Mazatlan and a return to
everyday boat life. Adios, all you sexy, leather clad, hat-wearing hombres and
chicas. Until next time!
Last stop - Hotel San Felipe El Real in Chihuahua
