Copper Canyon Excursion

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We have had a wonderful excursion inland from the warm sea coast of Mazatlan northeast to the frosty mountains and valleys of the Copper Canyon.  The Copper Canyon is comprised of seven large valleys and is 7.5 times bigger than the Grand Canyon, over 250,000 square kilometers.  While these mountains are beautiful to look at, they are not hospitable for farming.

Yet when the Tarahumara natives (traditional farmers) were conquered by the Spanish and Mexicans over the centuries, they were moved to the mountains where they eek out a meager, poor livelihood.  The land produces very little food and they are too poor to have many farm animals or working animals. They make most of their income from making handcrafts and selling to tourists.  The early Jesuits gave the Indians the global name of the Tarahumara which means basically natives saved by the Catholic church to four separate tribes.  The tribe we saw the most in the Copper Canyon was the Raramuri.

For the two of us, our seven day trip cost about $1,000 including tax and gratuities.  We traveled by taxi, bus, train and foot ($258.00 for two).  We experienced rustic to boutique accommodations ($440), excellent food - none of which made anyone sick- ($200), purchased handcrafts for Christmas presents to support the Tarahumaran ($50.00), took some  excellent tours (one on mountain bikes and one van tour - $84.00), and enjoyed the companionship of another cruising couple as we traveled inland together.

Here is a recap of our trip along with some photos:


Monday, December 7, 2009

Having packed the night before two small backpacks and a rolling pack with trip necessities, we were ready to go early Monday morning.  It was hard to pack thermal underwear, earmuffs, and gloves while enjoying the 80 degree weather of Mazatlan. We met Laurie and Michael, another cruising couple from Nevada City,  by the Marina office just before 7:15 when the taxi picked us up and took us to the Bus station in downtown Mazatlan.  We met Laurie and Michael on the Baja Ha Ha.   Elvira in the harbor office had made the taxi reservations and the week’s hotel reservations for us on the previous Saturday. 

We bought our bus tickets from the TAP bus line for our trip 7 hours north of Mazatlan to a town called Los Mochis. We had wanted to get a train from Los Mochis to El Fuerte, but were told that there was a problem with the tracks between the two towns, and we would have to take the bus.   Since we had a half hour to wait, we looked around for a cup of coffee,  to no avail.  We found a couple of places that sold instant Nescafe.  I bought a cold bottled cappuccino instead.  If I can’t find real coffee by tomorrow, Nescafe will look pretty good.  For our trip, we bought a couple bottles of water to go along with our nuts and snack pack we had brought from the boat.

We boarded the bus and were on our way, stopping periodically for five minutes here and there, just long enough to buy a few snacks (mostly cookies and chips), drop of and pick up some passengers.  The bus had bathrooms and played movies continually which we had to listen to whether we chose to or not.  There were no individual headphones.  We saw in English with Spanish subtitles the very sad movie called something like “Getting on without her” with Julie Christie playing the part of a woman with Alzheimer’s disease.  The other  two movies were dubbed Spanish….Batman and Maxwell Smart. 

Three times during the trip, the train stopped and official agents boarded the bus.  The first official was from immigration.  He walked up and back the aisle looking at each person, not speaking.  Apparently satisfied.  He got off.  The second stop, a federale (federal agent) boarded the bus and did the same thing, except he did stop and ask a few Mexicans questions.  He didn’t ask us anything.  The third stop was at a fruit inspection station, and without any prompting most of the young men got up and got off the bus.  We stayed on the bus.  The fruit inspector got on the bus and rifled through the bags left on empty seats, presumably by the young men who had gotten off the bus. 

The inspections were very interesting, and we didn’t quite understand each of their roles.  We expected that at least once, we might be asked to show our passport or tourist visa, but we were not asked.  We passed through many agricultural areas that were irrigated from large aqueducts.  The land looked much like the agricultural areas in the central valley of California with frequent palms and cactus.

We arrived in Los Mochis around 2:45, and walked a long three blocks through a part of town that was not very picturesque to another bus station where we boarded a different bus company’s bus El Norde Sinaloa for a ride another hour and half east to a town called El Fuerte.  The bus left at 4:00 p.m.  Once we were boarded, a young man came by and handed us each two snack packs containing chocolate covered marshmallow graham crackers.  Russ commented, “Just like Southwest.”  Well, not quite!  A few minutes later after we ate the snacks, the boy came back with a trash bag.  We noticed some people handing the snacks back and others paying him for the snacks as they handed over their trash.  We forked over quatro pesos.  Some airlines are charging for snacks, but you usually know it up front and not after you haven eaten the product.  Now we know.

It was dark by the time we arrived in El Fuerte.  The bus stopped in the middle of a small street by an open market place.  We climbed off this bus and asked directions in our best Spanish to the Hotel Torres Del Fuerte.

We had read that this was a renovated Hacienda and were excited about staying here.  The hotel was a short walk from the market place.  El Fuerte is a lovely Mexican town with cobbled streets.

It felt like a movie set.  The hotel was charming.

It cost us about 1200 pesos (a little less than $100.00 per night).  We had tapas, black sea bass, and pork tenderloin for dinner.

Our room - the bridal suite

There was a small tour group at the Hotel and we were able to take advantage of a special entertainment that had been arranged for the tour group.  There were some Raramuri (Indians) and Mexican folk dancers.

It was  a lovely evening.  The owner of the Hacinda, Jesus who attended UC San Francisco, talked us in to returning on Saturday, December 12 and spending the night again instead of going to Los Mochis.  He even called Los Mochis and cancelled our reservations for us.   El Fuerte is much more picturesque and we wanted some more time to look around in the daylight.  Our taxi would be picking us up around 9:00 in the morning to take us to the train.


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

We were up early again and had a buffet breakfast of scrambled eggs, chorizo, refried beans, pancakes and fruit.  Before the taxi came, we scurried downtown for a quick look around and to pick up some lunch supplies for our trip.  We were taking the second class train (half the price of the express train), and it does not have a dining car, just more sweet snack stuff.  Russ and I bought a stack of fresh tortillas, a soft cheese, tomatoes, mandarins, bananas and bottles of water for about $5.00 dollars.  We snapped a few pictures knowing we would be back on Saturday for more and dashed back to he hotel to get our 9:15 taxi to the train station which was  7 kilometers away.

We figured out that we just needed to board the train and pay once we were on.  The first class train was late.  Our train was behind the first class train by 20 minutes.  The small tour group that had been at our hotel the night before was boarding the first class train.  We watched and wondered with a little concern how different the second class train would be.  Russ saw this train on a side track and wondered if they wold hook it up to an engine for us.

Three federales (federal police officers dressed in black with machine guns) boarded the first class train.  Yipes!  Were they  worried that the first class train was  going to be hijacked?  Turned out, we had some federales who got on our train as well.  It must just be standard procedure.  Our trip from El Fuerte to Posada Barrancas on  the second class trained turned out to be just fine.  Nice seats, air conditioning, nice people.

We enjoyed a scenic ride that gradually climbed upward into Manzanita and oak forests and then into pine forests, mountains and lakes.

We followed one valley with a gorgeous river with deep swimming holes that looked like it would be quite a nice white water ride when rushing.  The river valley reminded us of the Feather River Canyon from Chico to Lake Almanor in California.  A little after 1:00 p.m. we prepared a terrific picnic lunch while sitting in our seats.  Laurie and Michael contributed salami and mozzarella cheese to the feast.

It was only later in the train station where we read that eating and drinking in the passenger cars was strictly prohibited.  Thank goodness we didn’t make a mess or spill anything.

We arrived late afternoon in Posada Barranca (7,500 feet elevation) which consisted of an ascending and descending cedar plank platform on either side of the track.  There was a handsome Mexican man about our age with silver hair and mustache, cowboy hat, Levi jean jacket, jeans and pointed leather cowboy boots waiting for us at the train station with his van. Armando is the patriarch and proprietor of Cabañas Diaz. His  2 year old grandson, Diego, was with him.  We drove a short distance (perhaps a ¼ mile through the small community past  a small church, pre-school, school, grocery store with mostly non-perishables, and a festively decorated cemetery,

left from the Day of the Dead.  Armando turned up a very rough rode to his home and a small motel like establishment adjacent to his home with rooms “Family Diaz Cabañas”. 

The sun was low in the sky and there was a chill in the air.  We were at 7500 feet elevation.  Wood smoke filled the air. It was refreshing and reminded us of home.  I was glad I brought my long underwear.  Armando showed us our rooms.

They were very rustic, more so than the Sierraville Motel or Canyon Ranch Resort.  We had a small fireplace with a wood box filled with oak, hot water, but no pressure, a tiny bathroom not big enough for more than one person at a time, clean but very worn towels, two very hard beds with heavy wool blankets, a bald overhead light, and a TV that had rabbit ears and didn’t really work.

We took a short walk to look around and gather some tinder and kindling to light the fire.  Armando supplied us with a couple of matches and a piece of kindling that had been dipped in paraffin or some other combustible that would help us get the fire started.  There was no other heat in the room and the temperature was dropping.  There was no flu to damp down the fire, so most of the heat went up the chimney.

Once we got the fire started, we walked up to Armando’s home, met his wife Linda, and daughter, Ophelia (daughter-in-law?) and sat down at the family table for dinner.  I think the family eats here when they don’t have guests.  They did not sit down with us.  There was a large family kitchen on the other side of the dining area that had an eating bar for the family.  The children were doing their homework, and the family in the kitchen was watching TV.

Ophelia brought us each a cup of  steaming water to make tea or Nescafe.  Then she brought out fresh salsa with lots of jalapeños, tomatoes, and onions and hot tortillas followed by a hot lentil soup.  The main course was a large bowl of chicken vegetable soup.  The chicken was in big pieces still on the bone.  Ophelia also brought out rice and refried beans.  The meal was hot, filling, and very tasty.

After our meal, we went back to our respective rooms.  It was only 7:30 and our room was still very cold.  Taking a shower from a dribbling faucet wasn’t appealing, so we jumped into bed and read with our flashlights.  We threw in a few more logs in the fireplace around 9:00 and slept until 1:00 in the morning when we woke up completely tangled in the sheets and blankets. 

The sheets, unlike cotton sheets, were a slippery nylon that had long lost their fitted corners and had come off of the mattress like a snake skin.  We found ourselves on a bare mattress.  After getting up and remaking the bed, we through the last of the wood in the fireplace and crawled back in the sack. 


Wednesday, December 9, 2009

When we awoke at 7:30 a.m. we were once again completely tangled up and the room was icy cold.  Again, no hot shower.  Russ turned it on, but it was just a dribble.  We hurriedly dressed and went up to the farm house for breakfast.

Ophelia brought each of us a large bowl of sweet creamy oatmeal, eggs, beans, tortillas and chili.  I was desperate for coffee….There was only Nescafe, so Nescafe it was. 

After breakfast, we took a walk to an area that was to give us our first glimpse of the Copper Canyon.

The early explorers mistakenly thought the green lichen on the rocks was copper and hence it was named.  I don’t know if there are any significant amounts of copper in the canyon.



Nevertheless, we were approached by locals to buy some copper bracelets, which of course we did. 

Tarahumaran Cave Dwelling with a View

Tourist Hotel with a View above Tahraumaran Dwelling

Laundry Day

The Tarahumara natives the primary residents of the Copper Canyon, mountains and valleys, having been conquered many times by Mexicans and Spaniards over the years. When they tried to rebel, the were beaten back and displaced from more fertile lands to the mountains.  They now live as dirt poor  farmers as the mountains do not have the best grazing or agricultural land.

There is the prevailing belief of the Mexicans that the Tarahumara prefer the “simple, traditional” life they lead.  I personally think that the tribe has worked hard to maintain their traditions, but they have no real choice or economic means to be anything or do anything other than what the situation presents. The girls are married after their first menstrual cycle (12-14 years old average) to boys (14 -16 years of age).

It is not uncommon to see 13 year olds with babies on their backs. Most of the small children we saw has snot running from their noses and watery eyes.  The would look at us with sad eyes and ask for pesos in exchange for little handcrafts, claiming they were hungry. It was difficult to say no to them and in many cases we caved, buying little trinkets and giving them cookies.

The Tarahumaran men and boys where fairly conventional clothing.  Some men still wear traditional loin cloth and blousy shirts.  The women and girls wear very colorful full skirts and shawls.  Beautiful woman to Raramuri  men are short, stout, and sturdy to bear children and work hard.  The women take care of making all of the clothes, home tools, meals, and woven handcrafts.  They have no electricity so all is done by hand.  The boys and men farm the land, herd sheep, and work away from home as laborers and farm hands.  When the family is together, they live in in dwellings in cliffs and crudely built houses with dirt floors and pit fires.

They make their living by weaving shawls and beautiful baskets.  Their life is hard.  There are 65,000 Tarahumara natives in the Copper Canyon area.

While we were still in Posada Barrancas, we  saw the hotel we had chosen not to stay in because the rooms were $200.00 a night, about 2,400 pesos. (Photo of hotel above)  Retrospectively, it would have been nice to stay in a place with better views and accommodations, but we really enjoyed the experience of being on a Mexican ranch-farm, even though it was cold and rustic.  

Our bill for the room, meals, pickup from train station and drive to scenic Divisadaro to get a better view of the canyon and to board a bus to Creel was 740 pesos, $59.20! Armando dropped us off in Divisadaro which is a tourist area park for viewing the canyon.  We said adios and spent the late morning and early afternoon exploring the views via lookouts and suspension bridges, the local artisan market, purchasing a basket and some bracelets, and enjoying some of the pan fried local cuisine.  Photos below:

A hotel built right on the cliff had gorgeous views of the canyon….almost better than HD TV!  We all decided that we would have preferred staying in Divisadaro at the expensive hotel and if we had to do it over again, we would as two couples, shared a double, double room which would have brought the price into the ballpark, about $150 per couple.

The bus to Creel arrived at 2:15.  We boarded an almost completely full bus and were lucky to find seats.  The bus was filled with local Mexican and Raramuri Indians in their colorful attire.  They watched the TV on the bus as if they were in a trance.  No one was talking or making any noise.  The movie was very contemporary dark violence America with dubbed Spanish.  The story and scenery must have been totally foreign to the ways of the Tarahumara culture. Much of it was personally foreign to us as well.  I didn’t really watch it, but the other passengers were glued to it.   The bus winded its way down a steep two lane highway to Creel.

After an hour on the bus we arrived in the mountain-valley town of Creel that reminded us of Truckee, California.

It was crispy cold and wood smoke filled the air.  The first thing we noticed was the uniformity of the beautiful sidewalks and the underground utilities on the main street with decorative lamplights.  We later found out that Creel is considered a “magic” city and qualified for government assistance to beautify itself for tourist trade.  As soon as we got off the bus, a cadre of young adolescent boys aggressively tried to steer us to the Best Western Motel in the center of Creel.  They would not take no for an answer, and ignored our No Gracias, continuing to hang around us.

One of the boys had a pellet gun that he previously shot at the bus when we were arriving,  They were almost like little gangsters wanting to guide us around and carry our bags with their pellet gun in hand.  We thought we had successfully shaken them off, but they had followed us to the Parador La Montaña.

As soon as we had stepped in the door, the boys stepped in behind us and began to claim a fee from the inn keeper that they had guided us to the hotel.  Michael, who speaks Spanish, indicated to the innkeeper, much to the boys’ disappointment that we had reservations.  They slunk out of the door and into the evening.

The lobby of this hotel has a Christmas tree, beamed ceiling, and large fireplace where we vowed to sit and drink a glass of wine.   While Russ, Laurie and Michael did a little scouting around after we had checked in, I took a hot shower and spent a few minutes catching up on the blog that I had started on the train the day before.  We met for dinner in the hotel dining room at 6:00 to strategize our time in Creel.  Tomorrow, we are renting mountain bikes for the day and visiting local sites. Russ refers to tomorrow as a “lazy day mountain biking day.” Ha,  that’s  an oxymoron!  He was trying to appeal to my “I hate exercise” mentality.  A 20 kilometer mountain bike experience on rutted dirt roads and trails in the mountains for anyone other than Russ is anything but lazy. On Thursday, we are signing up for an all day tour that will take us to some sights farther down in the valley and surrounding area.  Now, that’s what I call a lazy day.



Thursday, December 10, 2009

The heat kicked on in our room about 7:30 a.m. and drove us out of bed quickly to escape the inferno. Apparently, the hotel is having some problems regulating the system. It’s either off or gale force ON. We ate breakfast in the dining room of the hotel with the intent of meeting up with Michael and Laurie for our lazy day of mountain biking at 9:00.  It was so cold however, that when we did meet up with them, we postponed our ride until later in the morning when the temperature and wind chill wouldn’t turn us into to popsicles.  Russ and I spent the morning browsing through the shops in town and trying to unsuccessfully connect with the WiFi in our hotel to get our email.  That was the lazy part of the day!

We met up with Laurie and Michael, purchased a few lunch supplies from a local market (tortillas, ham, cheese, cookies, and bottled water), rented the mountain bikes for a half day (about $5.00 each)  and took off on our adventure.  We traveled about 20 kilometers on dirt roads and visited the cave dwellings of the Tarahumara natives, valleys of the mushrooms,

frogs, monks, and pine forest.  We also skirted by a beautiful alpine lake, lego Arareko  The scenery was beautiful, the sun was shining with wispy ice clouds, and the air was frosty. I was glad I was wearing thermal underwear, ear muffs, and gloves.

We returned the bikes at 4:30, and dropped our tired fannies in front of the crackling fire in the hotel’s lobby with a glass of wine, had another terrific dinner and retired to our rooms by 8:00. (The glass of wine by the fire wasn’t quite as easy as I wrote it.  The hotel didn’t have any wine, so Laurie ran down to a  local grocery store and purchased a wine she was not familiar with but liked the label.  When she brought it back to the hotel, the staff couldn’t find a cork screw.  They finally found a broken one that Russ was able to open the bottle with anyway.  The wine turned out to be very sweet like a port/sangria.

We were all disappointed, so Russ went down to the store and bought a Merlot which turned out to be a hit. Laurie left the other bottle for the staff when we left.  Tomorrow, we are on a full day tour to the bottom the of the canyon and waterfalls.  This time in a 4 wheel drive, air-conditioned Suburban with cushy seats.



Friday, December 11, 2009

After another early morning blast of the heater (Russ took advantage of the hot wind blast to blow dry his just washed underwear in less than 10 minutes), we ate breakfast in the hotel and arrived at the Three Amigos tourist company where we met up with Julio, our guide and driver.  Julio spoke excellent English (attended Garfield High School near Pasadena), answered all of our questions, and was very knowledgeable about the history, traditions of the Tarahumara, and the geology of the canyons.  He spent the entire day with us.  It cost us about $50.00 per person.

 

 

He took us to some of the most wonderful overviews of the different canyons and rivers. Since many of the places he took us required 4 wheeling, and little hikes that were not in obvious tourist places, we felt very fortunate that he was our guide and shared his favorite places and knowledge with us.

We went to three of the seven canyons that comprise the Copper Canyon, the Cascade Casanare (waterfall) and mission.  When we reached the village with the Mission and Rumarai boarding school (a place where native children  from a broad geographic area are boarded all week from kindergarten through sixth grade and return home on weekends), the road was filled with families walking towards us.  The parents were “picking up their children” at dusk and walking miles and miles back to their homes and then many returning later in the evening for temple ceremonies in the mission church (which is a blend of Catholicism and native tradition.) Their church has an alter, but no pews as they express themselves in the temple with prayerful dance.

The temple is basically a dance hall with alters.

The Tarahumarans do not have cars.  Julio told us they preferred to walk.  The truth I think is that they are too poor.  They don’t even have work animals other than an occasional burro.  According to our guide, the natives have excellent night vision and do not need flashlights to see their way nimbly over the rough terrain.  See pictures below.




When we returned from our day with Julio, we tried a new restaurant for dinner and were not disappointed.  Russ and I had  something called a Norteño which was a skillet bake with beef, peppers and covered with melted cheese.  We tried to stay awake in front of the lobby fireplace in the hotel drinking hot cocoa so that we could see the annual festivities of the Lady of Guadalupe festivities that wouldn’t get started until 11:00 p.m. at the church.  Alas by 9:30 we couldn’t keep our eyes open and decided to go to bed, hoping we might enjoy some of these festivities in El Fuerte when we arrived on Saturday evening.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Once again, we awoke to the furnace blast, ate breakfast in the hotel dining room, finished packing, and checked out of the hotel by 9:30.  We wanted to take advantage of the anthological museum before we caught the premier train back to El Fuerte at 11:35.  We had been told by the clerk at the hotel that the train often came early, and we should be there by 11:00.  Apparently the trains don’t have a tight schedule.  They might come early and LEAVE early.  As it turned out, that’s exactly what happened.

The museum was very interesting.  One of the facts we learned is that the cross that is symbolic to Christians, is also a Tarahumaran symbol of universal man with his arms outstretched.  The Jesuits were pleased not to have to infuse a new symbol when they conquered these people. 

We arrived at the train station and found out that the premier train was coming about an hour early and the second class train was going to be right behind it an hour later.  We looked at the price difference of the tickets and decided that we would go second class and get to our destination two hours later than the premier train.  The premier train was $999 pesos per person(.$88.00)  The second class train was $385 pesos per person ($32.00). 

We decided to take the later train, saving each couple $100.  Again, Laurie and I hit the grocery store for some dinner supplies (yes, you guessed it….more tortillas, ham, cheese, etc.).  We were looking forward to stopping at Lucy’s stall in Divisadaro during a 15 minute stop for lunch. 

The second class train makes a few more stops, carries fewer tourists, but more locals, doesn’t have a dining car, and arrives two hours after the premier train.  The interiors are basically identical with plush, reclining seats, window blinds to cut the sun heat, heat or air conditioning depending on the time of day and elevation.  The only problem with the second class train was that by the time we got to some of the scenic areas it was dark.  It didn’t really matter because we had taken tons of photos on the way up the hill.  I loved the train ride, not only because of the sight seeing, but for the terrific opportunity to catch up on our blog as we comfortably traveled.  Now when we return to Mazatlan, I hope to upload it quickly with photos.

When we arrived at the train station in El Fuerte at 8:30 in the evening, we were met by the same taxi driver who had originally delivered us.  Just prior to catching  the later train, Michael had called Jesus at Hotel Torres letting him know that we would not be there for dinner.   Jesus made the taxi arrangements for us.  We were expecting to see the streets alive with festivities.  All we saw as we came into town was traffic going out of town.  The town itself was closed up tight.  Foiled again!  We don’t know where the Lady of Guadalupe festivities were being held, but far enough away where we could only hear faint music and occasional fireworks.

As we had never gotten around to eating our picnic dinner on the train, we walked around town and found a nearby restaurant.  Afterwards, we walked back to the Hacienda and went to our rooms.  This time we slept in the room Laurie and Michael had had when we were here last, and they experienced a new room.  All of them are uniquely and beautifully decorated. We enjoyed taking a hot bath and tumbling into a soft king size bed.



Sunday, December 13, 2009

Our alarm woke us at 7:00 a.m.  The hacienda does not have window glass in the rooms.  The openings are closed with wooden shutters.  Had the alarm not gone off, we probably would have continued sleeping as the room was pitch black.  We dressed, packed, and enjoyed an American style breakfast of hotcakes, omelets, fruit yogurt, bacon, and hash browns.

After breakfast, we walked up to the fort of El Fuerte that overlooks the Rio Fuerte and spent an hour exploring the fort and museum before returning to the hotel to check out, pickup our bags, and walk downtown to catch a bus to Los Mochis.

Since there is no bus station in Los Mochis, we went to the open market area where we had been dropped off.  The first bus to Los Mochis looked a little tired like and old school bus.  We passed.  The second bus from the Azules bus line looked like a decent ride.  It turned out that it was not a direct route and it took us two hours instead of an hour an a half to get back to Los Mochis.  It was also a little less expensive.

When we arrived in Los Mochis, we were dropped off in a part of town that was different than where we were before.  We found the Norte De Sinaloa line and decided to take this bus as one was leaving within just a few minutes and the TAP company only had a few Sunday busses running.  I almost missed the bus.  When we boarded the bus at 12:55.   It was apparent that it did not have bathrooms.  I got off the bus and hurried to the restroom.  When I came out, there was an attendant waiting for me that ran me out to the bus gate where the bus was “on the runway: ready to take off.  Russ and crew looked very relieved to see me board.  This bus line is cheaper than TAP, but there are no bathrooms and one must have a strong bladder and be very quick at the few bus stops.

We finally got around to eating our picnic lunch from the day before and settled into our seats for the final ride back to Mazatlan.  We should be in Mazatlan around dinner.  Tomorrow, we’ll take care of laundry, provisioning, and boat chores.  If we are successful with all of that, we hope to head to Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday.  If not Tuesday, then Wednesday.  I probably won’t post another blog until we arrive Puerto Vallarta sometime between December 18-22.  

Have a happy holiday season and winter solstice.

Exploring Mazatlan

We have been in Mazatlan for a week, resting, fixing, and exploring.  Tomorrow, Monday December 7, we are leaving with another couple, Michael and Laurie from Nevada City via bus and train to the Copper Canyon.  We met Laurie and Michael (boat name Laura) on the Baja Ha Ha.  Here is a photo-text recap of our first week in Mazatlan.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

After a drizzly, cool night, we were awakened by the radio at 6:00 a.m.  Juniata, with friends Marcia and Dave, were approaching the entrance channel along with Baja Ha Ha and Berkeley Yacht Club friends, Catherine and Doug on Galetea, and Laurie and Michael on Laura. They had just finished their crossing. There was a flurry of morning activity as each of the boats came in and docked up all around us.  

Galetea pulling in next to Juniata.

We swapped hugs and stories.  The three boats and crews spent most of their day cleaning up, showering, and resting.  Russ and I took a long bicycle ride through Mazatlan and along the Malacon. 

 When we returned late in the afternoon, the whole neighborhood went to dinner together.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Dave brought over a freshly prepared chicken tamale for breakfast. We traded for just brewed hot coffee.   He had been up early and cleaned out the tamale lady’s stock by 7:00 a.m.  Russ rode his bike to Home Depot for some supplies and we finished the door and skylight net screen project.  We used up all of the netting but still have two small hatches to go.  Marcia and Dave came over for dinner and we had a lovely evening sitting outside on the lido deck.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Five dock 6 ladies (Laurie, Pat, Catherine, Roz, Marcia) went into town to check out the big Mercado and surrounding old town shops and have lunch.  We had a great time seeing things at the market displayed a little differently than in the states.  

Wilbur and friends!  

I think these must have been the fish we saw with the glowing red eyes.  Red Snapper.

 Sierra on the left.  Smoked Marlin on the right

 

Marcia and Roz check out the fruit.

 

We explored the town center and enjoyed the recycled Christmas tree from plastic water bottles.  

Later that evening, Russ and several of the same folks went to a baseball game.   

Good time, Good food, Good friends.  Too bad the local team lost!

I begged off for an early bedtime.  They had a wonderful time and I got some down time.

Friday, December 4, 2009

We had breaksfast with Laurie and Michael is morning to plan our Copper Canyon trip.  Which buses, trains, hotels, etc.  Once we nailed the itinerary we went to the office to make arrangements and discovered that there is a big marathon this weekend disrupting all the public transportation, so we postponed our trip until Monday.  Marcia, Dave, Russ, and I spent the afternoon and evening downtown,

dining out and  at the first of the month art walk where we saw some lovely arts and crafts by local artists (many artists displayed in their homes), not the normal tourist stuff.  Everything now is beginning to light up for the holidays.

 

Saturday, December 5, 2009

We spent the day working on chores, visiting, and taking a dinghy ride into the estuary at sunset where we saw lovely homes, fish jumping everywhere, and native birds fishing and roosting in trees.  Some of the birds we’ve seen here with which we are familiar are  osprey, cormarants  herons, turkey vultures, plovers, and egrets.  Birds that we did not now and saw for the first time are  American Oystercatcher with a bright orange bill and the Whimbrel.  I’ve also seen a large robin sized bird with a yellow breast that I have yet to identify.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Russ and I joined a group of folks this morning for a bicycle ride to a beach restaurant about 4 miles north of our marina.  We had a great ride and a fabulous breakfast with coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, omelets with guacamole, tortillas, refried beans and fruit for about $5.00 each including tip.  We can hardly make breakfast for that ourselves.   

We watched the staff decorate for Christmas with fascination as they teetered on wobbly tables, definitely not OSHA approved.   

 

 

 Later in our ride, we found some little girls playing house under a table and couldn’t resist taking a picture.    

We spent the afternoon packing for our trip and getting the boat ready to be buttoned up for a week.  We will catch up again, when we return from the Copper Canyon.  Take a glimpse of the Copper Canyon while we are traveling? 

Across the Sea of Cortez

Hello everyone!  We are currently in Mazatlan, enjoying a wet, rainy day and catching up on little tasks.  Here is a recap of our last week and sail across the Sea of Cortez:

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we debated about staying in La Paz until after Thanksgiving so that we could celebrate with the other cruisers here.  The call of the sea won.  We left CostaBaja marina after saying goodbye to dock mates.  I am sure some of them we will meet up with again, and others we will never see again.  Kind of sad really when you think about all of the nice people in the world that could easily become friends and yet everyone is on their own journey.  These journeys  may intersect or not at some point in time.  I think about those intersections a lot and how some are fleeting and others are enduring. 

Russ and I for instance when we were young, lived parallel journeys attending the same high school, not knowing one another or even seeing one another,  but our paths intersected one day over a hundred miles away.  The rest you might say is history.  What if we hadn’t met that day?  Would we be on this sailboat traveling around the world?  What would we be doing?  I guess as we approach tomorrow, we are ever so thankful to have met, had a wonderful family, and an opportunity to live our dreams together.

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When we left La Paz, the wind was right on our nose along with a 3-4 foot fetch.  We had commented on the rocking horse boats leaving La Paz when we had entered a week previous.  Now we were beating our way out with salty waves spraying over the bow.  There was a dark overcast. 

Had we been in the San Francisco Bay it would have been pretty miserable, but in 78 degrees in Mexico…not so much.  We had gotten a late start and decided that sailing all the way to Ensenada de los Muertos would have made for a night landfall.  We entered Ballandras Bay only about 15 miles from La Paz and anchored close to the north east bluffs to get out of the wind.  Even with the flopper stopper (gismo that hangs off our spinnaker pole into the water that moderates the sidewise rock), we rocked around most of the night.  We were the only boat in the bay.  We think everyone else was in port getting their turkeys ready.  We watched a DVD called The Trouble with Angels with Rosalind Russell and Haley Mills.  This is the DVD from which Julia Sweeny in her one woman monolog, Letting Go of God, quotes Haley Mills in saying, “I have a scathingly brilliant idea!”  Julia’s performance was brilliant, the DVD was not.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 - Happy Thanksgiving

We got an early start on Thanksgiving morning.  The wind and sea had died down considerably.  We motor sailed north/northeast during the morning.  As we looked northward ,we counted an armada of power boats strung out across the horizon, motoring south to La Paz, FUBAR survivors! (I previously spelled this as FooBar and got an anonymous tip on the correct spelling and acronym.  See comments for this blog.) The FUBAR  is an equivalent rally to the Baja Ha Ha for power boaters.  The FUBAR left San Diego around the time we were arriving in Cabo San Lucas.  By noon we had passed at least 25 power boats.  When we were clear of the power boats and the wind was on our quarter, we put up the sails and headed south.

We arrived once again in Ensenada de los Muertos, determined this time to eat in the little open air restaurant 1535 (the year Cortez discovered this bay), but not tonight.  Russ had been waiting all day for turkey and the trimmings.  Once we anchored about 3:00 I got dinner under way.  Instead of trimming a turkey, I gave Russ a  hair trim while we waited for the sweet potato pie to bake.  The only thing we missed was family and pumpkin pie.  But we did raise our wine glasses and wished you all a happy Thanksgiving.  Did you hear us?

After dinner, we watched  yet another DVD - Jack Nicholson in Anger Management.  I think I know now why I got such a deal on these DVDs.  After the DVD we went outside and shined the lights in the water to see if we could replicate the red-eye special we had seen the last time we were in this bay.  We couldn’t.  We did see occasional amber eyes, but no red-eyes in the water.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Originally, we were going to head down to Frailles to stage our trip across the Sea of Cortez.

However, after studying our charts, wind and wave angles, we decided to jump off from Muertos where we would have a quartering fetch instead of a beam fetch.  Since leaving from Muertos lengthens the time across the sea, we also decided to leave on Friday afternoon which would give us plenty of time to sail and get to Mazatlan some time early Sunday.  We heard from Dave and Marcia and Juniata and they have decided to sit tight for a day or two because of conflicting forecast model that indicated a possible tropical depression near Mazatlan causing some strong winds on Sunday night.  Their journey is from farther north and their boat a little slower.

We spent the morning doing some chores (laundry, deck cleaning, window washing).  I decided to review marine weather forecasting.  I had taken a course over a year ago and have a nice computer trainer, so I spent time doing that.  Then we got the boat ready to pull up anchor at 4:00.

At 2:30 p.m. we went ashore for our chili rellanos and enchilada dinner.   We enjoyed the sun in the western sky and the gentle breeze.  We returned to the boat, hoisted the dinghy, attached the rudder for the hydro vane, and weighed anchor.  We were under way on a 095 degree magnetic heading across the Sea of Cortez.  This two night passage will mark our first duo passage.  In previous overnights, we have always had crew aboard.  We set all three sails and were clipping along at 5 knots with hydro happily at the helm.

I had first night watch from 8 to midnight or 1:00 if I wasn’t too tired.  After we were underway, I tried unsuccessfully to take a nap.  At 8:00 p.m. everything looked good we were still sailing along at a nice clip with a northeast wind right on our line.  The waxing moon was brilliant.  We had made arrangements to connect Juniata on the same HAM frequency as the Sonrisa Net at 2000 hrs.  But alas, there were several other folks using the same frequency, so we gave up on that idea.

Russ got into bed.  At 8:30 p.m. the wind suddenly died and started to clock around.  The jib flogged, the mizzen boom gibed  and the main boom was jumping all around.  Russ, who had been reading, and not sleeping, got out of bed and we reset the sails for a northeastern wind.  The wind was so light that hydro was doing no good. 

We took down the jib and the mizzen, leaving only the main.  Our speed over ground now was reading zero knots.  We decided to put hydro to rest, start the motor, and get Ado the autopilot up and running  The wind had died but the fetch had not.  It took Ado nearly a half hour to find itself with the sea state, arcing 45 degrees on either side of our course line. Good thing we don’t get sea sick.  By the time Ado finally settled down, it was 10 p.m.  Russ finally went to bed and I restarted my watch.  We motored along at 6 knots, with absolutely no other boats anywhere on the horizon or radar screen.  I stayed on watch, recording and charting our position, adjusting the auto pilot, scanning the horizon for lights, listening to pod casts, exercising to the Mama Mia sound track, and playing solitaire on the computer.  At 2:30 a.m., Russ and I changed watch.

Russ ramped up the engine speed to make water, and I drifted off to sleep.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

At dawn while I was still asleep, a pod of dolphins ushered Worrall Wind into the sunrise.  Russ said they were not the big bottle nose dolphins but gray and about 4 feet long.  I looked on our sea mammal identifier, and we think it was a Vaquita o Cochito, resident dolphin found in the Sea of Cortez.  By 7:15 a.m., Russ woke me up with a steaming cup of coffee.  Clark, the coffee guru, had me well spoiled and Russ jumped in to pick up the slack.   The wind had picked up to about 8 knots, so we shut down the motor and pulled up the sails.  By the time we checked into the Sonrisa net at 7:40 we were up to 4 knots.  Marcia was the net control on the Sonrisa net this morning.  She does a great job.  It was fun listening to her direct traffic.  Sounds like she and Dave are still hanging tight and may not leave for a few more days.  There are some northers expected to blow beginning on Monday, further narrowing their travel window.  I am glad we are underway and will be in Mazatlan before the brisk winds on Sunday night and the northers on Monday.

The sky is pale blue, the sea deep blue.  There are a few wispy clouds, the temperature is in the upper seventies and the wind is blowing about 12 knots from the northeast.  We are sailing on a close reach.   The conditions are about as perfect as they can be.

We spent the entire day lopping along between 3.5-5 knots.  By 3:00 p.m., the wind had shifted from close reach to beam reach.  Russ took a nap from 3:00 to 5:30.  While Russ was napping, I was on the lido deck keeping hydro adjusted as the wind was shifting.  I noticed a brown sea bird flying around the boat.  It circled the boat three times, swooping down and passing closely over the bow sprint.  On the fourth swoop, the bird thread under the billowing sail and through the safety lines to land on the bow sprint.  I took a few pictures and was surprisingly able to get  pretty close to the bird without spooking it.  I couldn’t find an exact match on my bird identifier and was guessing that he russet color was juvenile plumage of a brown booby.  

Me a Booby?

 About an hour later, the bird took off and joined another bird that I did identify as a mature brown booby.  The mature bird circled the boat a couple of times, eyeing the spreader on the port side.  He apparently had a few more brains than the pelican that killed itself on our spreader in 2001 and passed up the chance to hitchhike.  The younger booby, however, was now a pro at threading the needle and landed once again on the bow sprint.  It is now well into Saturday night as I am on watch, and the booby is still with us.  Other than the dolphins this morning and the boobies this afternoon, Russ and I are the only visible beings on the sea.

Our watch schedule this evening has been, Roz 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. with Russ sleeping. Russ from 6:00-10:00 p.m. with Roz sleeping.  Roz from 10:00 - 2:00 a.m. 11/29 with Russ sleeping.  Russ from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. with  Roz sleeping.  We think we have timed our arrival in Mazatlan between 8-9:00 in the morning as long as we keep a relatively slowed pace between 3-4 knots.  The winds have been light but fairly constant, not necessitating any motoring.  The gentle movement of the boat and light breeze has made sleeping and watching a peaceful experience.

The sun rose about 6:30 a.m. and land was in in sight about 20 miles east.    The wind had nearly died out and the sea was fairly calm with a 1 foot northeast swell.  We started  the motor about 7:30 a.m. and hoped to have everything rolling quickly  so we could  listen to the Sonrisa net and check in.   Our friend the Booby, who had been hitching a rid to Mazatlan throughout the night, decided it was time to take one more Booby poop on the bow and bid us adios.  Russ had strapped down the hydrovane in preparation for turning on the motor, but the prop wash had loosened hydro’s bolts just enough that the bottom part of hydro’s vertical shaft popped off the horizontal shaft attached to the stern when I put the boat in forward motion. 

So much for getting everything ready by the morning net.  Our mantra when things go wrong is why we are sailing, and we keep repeating. “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”  “It’s about the journey, not the destination!”

We turned off  the motor, lowered the dinghy and prepared to lift hydro’s rudder out of the water and try to remount the shaft.  Because there was no wind, the boat gradually turned sideways and we were taking sea swell on the side.  The dinghy, usually protected in the lee of a forward facing boat, bobbed up and down  and occasionally wildly as we tried to reposition the shaft.  During the process of raising the rudder, the dinghy did a wild dance, and while nothing major was lost overboard, Russ did lose his socket wrench and the pin that holds the rudder on to the shaft.  “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”  We’re going to need to get a stockpile of those pins, and it’s another trip to a hardware store.  Once these little maneuvers were completed.  We raised the dinghy and got underway.  Of course we missed the morning net completely and our timetable of an early arrival was delayed a bit.  Our almost hapless journey across the sea had a little ding or more positively another challenge!  

We found our way to Marina Mazatlan and were in our slip with the help of dock mates by 11:00 a.m., a little later than we anticipated.  By this time the sky had a high overcast.  It was 84 degrees, 67 percent humidity, and not a promise of a breeze.  The marina office is closed on Sundays, so we had the afternoon to reorganize, orient ourselves to the marina facilities, and meet our neighbors.  The nightly cocktail hour on dock 6 started at 4:30.  During the afternoon, we lowered the dinghy to make final repairs on the hydro shaft.  Russ and I rigged a pulley hoist off the mizzen boom to lift and realign the vertical shaft of the hydrovane and tighten down all of the bolts.  The sun was low on the stern and we were both glistening with sweat from the effort.  We needed to have the stern sunscreens raised to accomplish the work off the stern.   As soon as we finished this task, we dropped the shades, hosed ourselves down to cool off, grabbed a beer and headed for the cocktail party.  The evening was beautiful once the sun went down.  There is a 40 percent chance of rain tomorrow.

Dave and Marcia on Juniata left this morning to come across the Sea of Cortez.  We hope they have an uneventful journey.  Now that we are in the marina, our radio reception and transmission are dismal, so we cannot  connect with them.  We’ll need to connect with our sail mail (radio e-mail) program and see how they are doing.

Monday, November 30, 2009 

It’s raining! Raining hard and almost straight down with only a slight breeze  It’s 70 degrees and 95 percent humidity.  Wonder what it takes to register 100 percent humidity?  It feels like Hawaii.  Our sun  cover is now a rain cover, but it is still pretty wet on the lido deck.  We are enjoying the rain and catching up on inside chores. Russ is discouraged because several of the intensive seal repairs on hatches and dorads to stop leaks didn’t work.  We still are leaking.  I guess it takes an intensive rain to find this out.    As I write this log, Russ dug out our foul weather gear (which I just deeply stowed in La Paz), and limped up to the marina office in his shorts, sandals, and windbreaker with hood pulled over his head to sign us in. 

The night before last, while he was on watch, he stubbed his little toe on the threshold from the saloon to the galley.  His toe is  purple and swollen.  He may have broken it.  He never said anything about the stub until I asked him why he was limping yesterday while we were taking a stroll…macho man.  He slept with his foot elevated last night and the toe looks less swollen.  I think it will be a few days though before he can wear anything other than sandals.  As soon as he returns from the office with our WiFi password, I hope to get this blog posted.

We may be in Mazatlan for a week or more before leaving for Puerto Vallarta and meeting up with Abby and Neal who are flying down to spend the holidays with us.  If you have anything for us, if you get it to Abby and it's not too large, she may be able to bring it down with her.

We are looking forward to meeting up with Dave and Marcia who are due to arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, exploring the city, and taking a trip out to the Copper Canyon which is supposed to be seven times bigger than the Grand Canyon.  The trip to the Copper Canyon may take six days via buses, trains, and sights along the way.  Apparently, it’s not just about the destination, but the journey along the way.  Makes sense to us!