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Our journey began in Tucson and we set out by coach to cross the US/Mexican border at Palomas into the most northwest state of Mexico. We spent several days getting to the Copper Canyon learning about Mexican culture and visiting some of the local cities, towns and villages. Our first stop was Mata Ortiz. There we visited a local potters studio where we watched master artisans at work. A few in our group elected to try some of the steps of mixing, throwing, turning, firing and painting some ceramic works. This beautiful and unique art has been refined and passed from generation to generation in this small and mostly hard working creative town.

Our next stop was to the Jearuz Mormon community. Here we learned how a group of Mormons fleeing the US and Canada found in Mexico a place not only to practice their faith freely, but also to contribute to the economic development of the area. They have a very advanced way of life compared to other parts of the area. Their schools are entirely run by solar power and the have an education system where teachers broadcast subjects via Internet to the classrooms and have a local teacher maintain control by assisting and grading.


The following day we had the opportunity to visit a group of families who for many years have been making jewelry out of rocks. This group would locate a promising area of land that they could dig for raw materials to make their fine jewelry. Then they would lease 6 acres of this land from the Mexican government. Then they would dig and with their experienced eyes look for the right kind of rocks to make their products. Wetting the dry rocks would help bring out their innate colors, These raw rocks would be cut shaped and ground with up to 15 grades of sandpaper ending up polished stones used to make jewelry.


Continuing on we stopped to visit the ruins of Paquime. These ruins were recently designated a World Heritage Site. This site dates back to 1060 A.D. and ended about 1340 A.D. when the buildings were destroyed by fire. When the buildings collapsed hundreds were killed. The city was defiled by the conquerors and abandoned. Thought the Paquime Era was short lived, they produced multi-storied buildings and a commerce system that extended as far north as Colorado to as far south as southern Mexico. Their buildings were not made of adobe as such, but were constructed of cast mud and caliche, using no straw or grass as a binder. The walls were plastered with mud and caliche and often were painted or decorated with artwork. The roofs were built with pine timbers and planks as supports then covered with layers of fiber and several inches of mud. Many treasures were found during the excavation. The pictures below show the natural ruins after excavation and several others which were rebuilt with rock. They had a water and sewage system that went to most of the buildings. The picture with the shadows is a self portrait of Gloria and myself standing at one of the wells.


There are 2 ways to reach the Copper Canyon from the east. That is either by van or train. The road was never built west of our destination at the Hotel Divisadero Barrancas the highest point of the Copper Canyon. We drove to the top by van and when we left a few days later it was by train going west down to the coast of the Gulf of California.

The railroad itself was proposed by Albert Owen in 1872 as a quicker way to move goods from the mid-west to the Pacific Coast and back. By 1893, Owen had to abandon his plan, but in 1900 railroad tycoon Arthur Stillwell took up the effort. Once again work stopped on the railroad because of the Mexican Revolution. In 1910, the government took over the project and due to the ruggedness of the land it kept the pace of construction to a crawl. It would be more than 50 years later in November 23, 1961 before the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico went all the way west to El Fuerte and the Gulf of California. Actually comprising six canyons formed by earthquakes, river and wind erosion, it totals area is four times the of the Grand Canyon. The sight is awesome.


In the grandeur and desolation of the Copper Canyon nature dominates -- a land of steep ups and sharp downs, of spires and rocks, and of abundant vegetation. Copper Canyon is so narrow that the river sees only an hour or two of direct sunlight each day. The Hotel Divisadero Barrancas was built after the railroad was completed in the 1960’s. It was built on solid rock right on the edge of a cliff that drops over 1000 feet. If you up before breakfast at 6AM you can see the sun rise.


But this land is more than a natural wonder -- it is home to the reclusive Tarahumara Indians. For at least 2,000 years the Tarahumara people have lived in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northern Mexico, resisting outside intrusion by retreating, when necessary, to ever more inaccessible territory. Today the Tarahumara live in caves, under cliffs, or in simple canvas covered huts. We were overlooking a world that is untouched by time. As the sun rises on the canyon, you can’t help but imagine that 1,000 years ago this place looked nearly identical to today, and that eons from now, after the last humans have vanished, only their footpaths and the soot of their fires on cavern walls will mark their existence.


Local Tarahumara women demonstrate the making of their famous baskets from pine needles and other local materials. They sit with their children in tourist locations trying to sell their wares all day long as the weave and string beads. Their men are rarely seen. Their Tarhumars are historically known as great runners.



The Hotel Divisadero Barrancas was built right on the edge overlooking the canyon. The dining room was all constructed with local woods, and the entire front of the lounge area was glass and gave wonderful views of the sunrise, the canyons and hundreds of hummingbirds. As you can imagine getting water was a bit of a problem. They had a man made water reservoir that enabled the entire facility to have clean potable water. The reserve is always full in the dry season and adequately supplies for the rest of the year. The reserve gives a continues supply of water to a filtering system and then to a hot water reserve that is heated during the day by the sun. This gave the hotel plenty of good water for drinking, cooking and showers. The only thing the hotel requested was that you took your shower at night as there might not be any hot water in the early morning because the storage system cools down after sunset.


There was plenty to do and the hotel grounds were very colorful in spite of the desert like conditions all around us. If you were a serious hiker this was a good place to go. And although there were marked walking trails you didn’t want to venture off too far because one missed step could mean a long way down. The Hotel Divisadero Barrancas is built on several layers of rock with rooms on different levels. The hotel was comfortable with a colorful outside garden.
 

After 4 days at the canyon it was time to catch the Chihuahua-Pacifico Railway south west to El Fuerte and the Gulf of California coast. Although we didn’t ride the entire length (we arrived to our hotel by coach) the present 1 day route through the canyon winds passengers from an altitude of over 8,000 feet to sea level a 6 hour ride through 86 tunnels (the longest measures almost 6,000 feet) and across over 39 bridges. You didn’t want to stick your head out to far in as the passage in some places was petty close.


It was a great experience and we will leave our last week of this adventure for another day.