At 6:30AM this morning we were all awakened when our locomotive slammed the couplings together as it made up our train. We pulled out of La Junta at 7:30 and proceeded west and then south as we climbed into the Sierra Madres and towards the canyon. The Copper Canyon RR took 100 years to complete and is the only way to travel the full length of the canyon which is three times as long as The Grand Canyon.
Riding in an RV as it sways along on a flat car was a new and exciting experience for all of us. We almost immediately passed from modern Mexico to a countryside filled first with Mexican farmers and ranchers using horses for locomotion and later with barefooted Indians living in caves. What a transformation viewed from our own private vista observation cars.
The train moves at less than 20 miles per hour which makes it possible to be outside on the flat car while moving. While some of the group bundled up and did so today it was still quite chilly as we climbed to over 8,000 feet at the Continental Divide. Sue and I decided we would wait until we move further south and to lower elevations before venturing out to the fresh air platform.
We passed through three small towns today before pulling onto a siding in Creel around 1:00PM where the engines disconnected and left us for the evening. We were parked 2 blocks south of the center of town and as it is Saturday afternoon in a small country town so there were people everywhere.
Our bus tour today took us out to visit a church, boarding school, and cave home of the Tarahumara Indians. This tribe is one of the least changed groups in Mexico, indeed North America, and are living as they have for centuries. The interaction with civilization is going forward with help with healthcare and schools but the Tarahumara live much as they did migrating up and down the Canyon with the weather.
The boarding school was closed as it is the weekend and the Indian children walk back into the hills to their homes for the weekend, some as many as 30 kilometers. They spend Mon-Fri living at the school from age 6-12. The kids above are playing with frisbees one of our group passed out and having a ball!Tonight was -what else!- another fun evening having dinner at the Mexican Hotel and listening to a local Mexican music group. A great ending to an exciting day that was really the highlight of the trip so far.
Tommorrow we travel further into the Canyon to Divisadero.
