Quick Trip - Day 2

Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico

Riding the rails today...

We were up early, greeted to an eerie fog along the river below.  It was a bit brisk this morning, sort of refreshing after the endless summer in Mazatlan.  A taxi was waiting to take us to the train station, a few kilometers east of town; we arrived at the station around 8AM.  The train was almost on time, pulling out of El Fuerte at 8:40AM.

Up until recently there were two trains each day; one for first-class and one for second-class.  Now, due to the current decline in tourism in the area, there is only one train a day for first-class, and three days each week they attach some second-class cars to the same train.  Today was one of the days that we had a choice of first or second class.  There were only 3 first-class cars and 5 second-class cars.  A Trafalgar tour group showed up with a bus-full of tourists for first-class; otherwise we were the only non-locals waiting for the train.  We elected to ride in second-class, as the price was about half - the cars are the same except that they have a dining car for first-class and they have some carpet on the floors.  With the money we saved (our cost was 552 pesos ($43 CDN) each), we figure we can afford to stay in luxury when we get to Creel tonight.  Regardless of class, the train was very roomy and comfortable - lots of leg-room for me.

 The train snaked its way through a series of canyons, slowly gaining altitude for the first half of the trip, at some point crossing into the state of Chihuahua, then stayed at high altitude for the remainder of the ride to our destination at Creel.  Because this train had the second-class cars, it made many stops to let people off and on along the way - most of the passengers were only going short distances.

To quote our Lonely Planet guide, "One of the world's most scenic rail journeys, the Ferrocarril Chihuahua Railway (Copper Canyon Railway) is also a considerable feat of engineering; it has 37 bridges and 86 tunnels along its 653km of railway line.  The beauty of the landscape it traverses - sweeping mountain vistas, sheer canyon walls, sparkling lakes and fields of flowers, most of it free of humans and development of any kind - has made it one of Mexico's prime tourist excursions."

We would agree with that statement, except for the "prime tourist" part.  Once the Trafalgar group left the train at Posada Barrancas station, I think we were the only non-Mexican tourists on the train - certainly the only ones who did not speak Spanish.

There was one 15-minute stop at the town of Divisadero where you have time to jump off the train and grab some food at the Raramuri market.  Gorditas, tacos and chiles rellenos, cooked up in makeshift oil-drum stoves - pretty cool and tasty too.

As the altitude rose, we found ourselves surrounded by pine forests and spectacular rock formations.

Upon arrival in the town of Creel, we found it vaguely reminiscent of an alpine village.  In a lot of ways it reminds us of a miniature version of Jasper or Banff, with a single main street full of hotels, restaurants and tourist shops.  Most of the places seem to be shut-down for the winter or just very depressed, with little or no tourist traffic.  We found the "classiest" place in town, the Best Western: The Lodge at Creel, designed to look like a hunting lodge.  Great log-cabin style rooms with gas fireplaces and wood-beam floors, big-screen cable-TV and lots of hot water for showers.  Fortunately for us, with the lack of tourists, they are very negotiable on the price - we paid around $100 per night, including a full breakfast.  Of the 50 or more rooms available, only 3 or 4 were occupied, and this seems to be the busiest hotel in town.

We had another great meal, this time at a restaurant called Veronica, sampling one of their specialties, and El Norteno, a cheesy, beefy mess served in a cast-iron skillet that you eat with tortillas.  Good salsa and chips as well.

While we were eating, there was an odd parade up and down the street (which had been blocked off for several hours).  About 30 or so semi-trailer trucks cruised back and forth, using their horns continuously - there is nothing that Mexicans like more than lots of noise.  As to what it was about...

On December 12, people from all over Mexico converge on the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern neighborhood in Mexico City, where they will celebrate Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Many consider this to be the most important date in Mexico, even more so than Christmas, Easter, or any other national holiday. One quote I found online: “When Mexicans no longer believe in anything, they will still hold fast to their belief in two things: the National Lottery and the Virgin of Guadalupe”

The fact that the holiday happens to coincide with 12/12/12, the last time this kind of date will be possible this century, just adds to the moment.

So far, this has been a very interesting and entertaining journey.   We can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

{GMST}27|44.9478|N|107|38.085|W|Creel, CHI, Mexico|Creel, CHI, Mexico{GEND}

Quick Trip - Day 1

El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico

The adventure begins...

Not the most exciting day if you must know.  Lots of riding in buses, watching the Mexican landscape slide by.

We started very early, leaving the boat at around 5:15AM.  With the short days of winter upon us, this means it was pitch dark outside.  We had looked up the local bus schedule and it indicated that they should start running by 5:30AM, so we were on the sidewalk in front of the marina at exactly 5:30AM.  We were NOT disappointed - the first bus of the day on the Sabalo Centro line was there by 5:45 and were whisked down to the Malecon in no time at all (hardly anyone around at that time of the morning and we had the bus almost to ourselves).  A short 3-block hike to the Central Bus Terminal, arriving around 6AM allowed us to catch the 6:30AM TAP bus to Los Mochis.  We were pretty proud of ourselves until we found out we were on a bit of milk-run route - we only saved about 15 minutes on our arrival time compared to the 8AM express bus.  Oh well, we got to see a lot of little towns along the way, and that is always interesting.  The TAP buses are first class and very comfortable, so we were happy.

The bus took us through a lot of agricultural land - they grow virtually everything here - there was a lot of young corn in the fields just now, and a lot of other things we had no clue what they were.  We had a 20 minute break in the city of Culiacan and managed to grab a couple of sandwiches for breakfast (around 11AM).

We arrived at the TAP terminal in Los Mochis around 1:45PM.  We had decided not to stay in Los Mochis (a city of about 250,000 people) but rather to push on to El Fuerte.  We walked about 6 blocks and found the Azules del Noroeste Bus Terminal, with service to El Fuerte, leaving almost immediately.  This was a 2nd class bus, more akin to a Greyhound service, with lots of interesting local characters.  This is ranching country and there were a lot of cowboy hats to be seen.  The bus was not too uncomfortable and it was only a 1-1/2 hour ride to El Fuerte.  We arrived at around 4PM.

El Fuerte is a picturesque little town, noted for its colonial ambiance, its Spanish architecture and mostly for being a good starting point for a trip on the Copper Canyon railway.  You can catch the train in Los Mochis but it leaves at around 6AM.  Here you catch it at 8:30AM instead, a much more civilized time of day.  We followed the advice of an old copy of the Lonely Planet guide, and stayed the night at the Rio Vista Lodge, a rustic and a bit eccentric hotel that has some great views of the river.

 

 

We are on the 2nd storey - those are tall cactus!

The town itself is very small and most everything is within a 3 block radius of the main square, so we managed to see it all in what little daylight was remaining.  We had a stunningly good meal at the Restaurant Dilligencias (breaded lobina (black bass) zarandeado-style (kind of blackened and smothered in onions)) - Susanne figures this is best thing she has tasted since we have been in Mexico, so the trip has already been worth it.

As night fell (around 6PM) the streets got real quiet and spooky.  One disconcerting thing about this place was the number of machine-gun-wielding black-clad police roaming the streets.  We know they have had drug problems in this part of the state in the last few years but it was not all that comforting to see so much fire-power in such an otherwise unassuming little place.  We decided we would be moving on in the morning.

Even though we have not gained much altitude so far, we are over 400km north of Mazatlan.  The night was definitely colder.  OK for sleeping but tough to get out of bed in the morning.  This hotel does not have any heat, and the shower has no hot water.  I think we will be looking at more upscale accommodations as we go on to the higher elevations of the canyon itself.

{GMST}26|25.4058|N|108|37.272|W|El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico|El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico{GEND}
{GMST}25|47.3628|N|108|59.9202|W|Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico|Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico{GEND}

In search of winter

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

Life is just a bit too easy here in Marina Mazatlan.  Every day is a picture perfect summer day, lots of sunshine, gentle breezes, good inexpensive restaurants all around, and just cool enough at night to make sleeping on the boat, with no air conditioning, very pleasant.

Each day a couple of boats come or go, but the majority of the boats here are here for the long term.  A lot of the owners have been arriving over the last month, driving or flying down from the U.S.A., ready to live on board for the winter months - some of them might go as far as Puerto Vallarta for part of the season.  We know first hand how addictive this place is - we spent almost 4 months here in early 2011 when we first arrived in Mexico.

What we really needed was some incentive to move on.  So, with that in mind, we attended the presentation on the merits of sailing to El Salvador.  They make it sound pretty good, so we have signed up for the Cruisers Rally to El Salvador - and now we have a goal!   Actually, this rally is what is known as a "destination" rally.  You have to make your own way to the destination and, once there, you can participate in lots of sponsored activities (or not, as you choose).  So far, there are only 10 boats signed up for this year, but it is still early.  Last year there were about 50 boats signed up, of which about 1/2 actually got there. This year they are charging a nominal fee ($66US) to join, in an attempt to discourage boats from joining just to get the discounts at some of the Mexican marinas, with no intent of actually sailing to El Salvador.

The schedule for El Salvador means we have to be at the south end of the Mexican coast by early March, 2013, which means we still have plenty of time.  With this in mind, Susanne has hinted that we need some more "adventure" in our lives before then.  Thus the plan to visit Copper Canyon has re-emerged.  I think that really she just misses "winter" - the canyon is at high altitude and everyone assures us it will be cold up there this time of year.  It is still Mexico; how cold could it be?  I guess we will find out.

We plan to take a bus from Mazatlan to Los Mochis, about a 6-hour ride north, still in Sinaloa state, and then try and find a local bus to El Fuerte, where we hope to catch the train along the canyon rim.  Sounds like lots of fun (and a bit of an adventure).  We plan on travelling light so I am not taking a computer along - thus there may be no updates to this blog until we get back, probably in 5 days or so.

Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy our time in Mazatlan, visiting some of the more touristy areas to remind ourselves why most people come here.  The economy continues to be very depressed - not a lot of foreign tourists - but there are some.  The hotels were actually quite busy during the marathon last week - a nice change of pace for the town.  Oh, and Christmas is coming, as evidenced by the arrival of tree lots and some decorations showing up here and there - hard to believe when it still seems like the middle of summer to us.

Our progress through Mexico could be compared to this little fellow's journey.  We spotted him on the beach at Ensenada Grande, just before our passage to Mazatlan.  He takes his home with him wherever he goes too...

{GMST}23|16.19|N|106|27.30|W|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico{GEND}

The long run

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

It is funny how familiar this place seems.  We spent about 3 months here a year and a half ago and got quite used to it.  One thing that becomes immediately obvious to us is how much larger Mazatlan is than La Paz.  The roads are busier and the distances are longer - it is really a long walk to get into town from the marina - a bus is much more necessary.  Fortunately the buses service is also a lot better.

While a lot of things are the same as they were when we were last here, there have been some changes.  The most disappointing to us is that our favorite coffee shop (Calypso) is missing (it is now a Sushi restaurant, of all things).  We now have to go across the street to Rico's, a much more upscale Starbucks kind of place.  It is always busy and the service is always bad!

This last weekend was a busy one.  Saturday was a holiday to commemorate the change-over of the government (the election was held while we were in La Paz).  Down on the Malecon, the aquarium was releasing a batch of young turtles into the sea.  We took a bus ride to get close, then walked for a long way - the Malecon was completely closed to traffic for the entire weekend due in part to the holiday but mostly because of the huge marathon event that took place on Sunday.  We could not believe the crowds of people that showed up for the releasing of the turtles - a real party atmosphere.

Later in the evening there was a huge fireworks display along the Malecon but we elected to skip it and the throngs of people, and headed into the Golden Zone for dinner at Cristies, where a very hot rocking blues-band was performing.  I am such a sucker for a good blues guitar.  The food was pretty good too. We actually went out to another palapa with live music on Monday night, but they were not in the same league.


The marathon route went right by the marina on Sunday morning and we spent a couple of hours watching and encouraging the runners.  Reportedly there were about 10,000 runners for the combined marathon, half-marathon and other distances.  The Kenyan runners cleaned up as usual.

 

Our planned stay in Mazatlan got extended a bit when we found out that there is a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) for this season's El Salvador rally.  We thought we would stick around and find out if this is what we want to do this coming spring.  Also, we have been trying to sell off our old chartplotter and radar equipment as it is taking up a huge amount of room on our small boat.  There is a swap-meet planned for this Saturday so we figured that would be an excellent opportunity.  As it turns out, we managed to sell the stuff to a fellow cruiser just a couple of hours ago, so the pressure is off.  We may still hang around till next Monday though before pressing on for greener pastures to the south.  BTW, this is still one of the least expensive places to keep a boat in Mexico so there is not a lot of incentive for us to leave.

It feels like home

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

After a good night's sleep at Playa La Bonanza, we were ready for our crossing of the Sea of Cortez.  The anchorage overnight was perfectly calm and we awoke to a beautiful sunrise on the long, deserted beach.  We left at around 8:30AM, bound for Mazatlan.

We made the decision to do this crossing in two days, hoping to arrive at around 8:30AM on Thursday in order to take advantage of the high slack tide to get into the harbour at Mazatlan.  The shortest route from Bonanza to Mazatlan is 223 nautical miles (not the 180 I had thought earlier) which meant we needed to average better than 4.5 knots for the trip - this meant we would likely not be able to sail the entire way in the forecast light winds.

We motored in a very light breeze for all of the first day.  The couple of times we tried to sail resulted in speeds of around 1.5 knots, crawling along in the calm seas.  At one point we passed a turtle sleeping on the surface.  We were going so slow and quiet that he never woke up, even as we passed within about 3 feet of him.

The winds piped up around 11PM and we were able to sail the rest of the night and into the morning.  We motorsailed for some of the 2nd day, mostly to maintain our preferred course, not because there was no wind.  The winds for this entire trip came from the NW and we were going SE, directly downwind - not the best point of sail for this boat.  By late afternoon, we were sailing again, and were able to keep this up until we were within about 15 miles from Mazatlan.  The seas were pretty lumpy for most of the time.  The winds at night were consistently between about 12 and 20 knots, kicking up some nasty short-period wind-waves from the north - we rocked and rolled our way across the sea.

As we approached the breakwater entrance to Estero Sabalo, at 8:45AM, the wind died and we had completely slack tide conditions, as predicted.

We made a non-dramatic docking at Marina Mazatlan where we are currently moored on dock 3 - nice and quiet but a long way from the washrooms.  Our first order of business was to find breakfast, then take a long nap.

Total mileage logged for the crossing was 237 so you can see that we made a pretty straight line across.   Life is good on Sine Timore!

Take a look at the home port of the boat in front of us.  What are the odds?

{GMST}23|16.19|N|106|27.30|W|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico{GEND}