Big... Small... My World

After leaving Hermisillo I had a long bus ride down to Los Mochis. Originally I was just planning to spend the night there and leave in the morning for Creel, but I met a guy through Couch Surfing that changed my mind. Also, it didn't help that the economy train didn't leave till Friday and I arrived on Wednesday.... I stick to my story that Paul told me about all the cool things that I had to see in Los Mochis and that convinced me to stay. :-).

We went downtown, he ran (I walked) up to the lookout point (twice!!!) And we watched the sunset! We saw the new baseball stadium and went to visit his mothers restaurant for dinner. We had a great time!

The new Baseball Stadium!

The halfway point at the lookout tower

Finally on Friday morning I got on the Chepe (train that goes from Los Mochis to Chihuahua) and watched the sun rise.

sunrise from the train

It was an awesome train ride... The first time on a train... Sorry grandma, going from Racine to Chicago on the Metra doesn't count. :). And 8-10 hours later I arrived in Creel!

It was soooooo cold!!! And I'm not talking like 50° cold I mean like 0°!!! There was snow....snow in Mexico! It was actually a little annoying/funny because as I was looking out the window at the snow thinking about how cold its going to be outside while all the little Mexican children were so excited and cheering "look daddy... Snow!!! We can throw snowballs!!!!" There was me like.... " greaaaaaaat" :). I must say though.... The Copper Canyon made it all worth it!!!

Once in Creel I went on a tour to some cool rock formations, indigenous caves, cities, and waterfalls. In this tour we had three French people that spoke French (one spoke a little Spanish).... Two Germans that only spoke German and English.... two Mexican guys that only spoke Spanish... And me!!!! We were the most mixed up international group ever put together!! :).

This is the inside of the case where the indigenous people Tarahumara from Creel still live to this day. Our guide told us they are very religious and they think that if they move that God will punish them.

This is a different view of the inside of the cave. That area in the back that looks like it has zigzag ramps is where the put all the animals at night so the coyotes can't get to them.

This is the outside of the cave.

After we left the Tarahumara we went to the Valle de los hongos (Valley of Mushrooms).

They say that all these rocks were positioned like this naturally and this area is not man made... but I have my doubts.

Our guide also said that this valley may have been underwater at some point in time with could explain the rocks sitting on top of each other.

Next we visited Valle de las Ranas (you've probably guessed it, Valley of the Frogs). Also said to be completely from nature.

I don't think this one had a name but it was very stone hedge esk, so I took a picture! hahahaha..

This is a church that we visited that was one of the first attempts to change the Tarahumara to Catholicism. It was very cool because it had variety of catholic and indigenous symbols all over.

These crosses were outside the church. As you can see the bigger, closer one is inside the gates of the church and the other one is outside the gates. The one outside is called El Cruz de Castigo (the Cross of Punishment) and the closer one is called El Cruz de Bendicion (the Cross of Blessing/Forgiveness). When someone in the community does something wrong they tie them to the Cross of Punishment and whip them, then once they've been punished, they crawl inside the gates of the church and pray and ask for forgiveness at the base of the Cross of Forgiveness.

Piedra del Elefante... You guessed it!! Its the Rock that looks like an ELEPHANT!!! :)

This waterfall is called Cuz Cerare in an indigenous word for Lugar de la Aguila which means Place of the Eagles in English.

It was beautiful... and the snow didn't stop us from going down to the base of the waterfall.

This is el Lago Arareco which is said to have healing powers if you bath in it... but it was WAY to cold for any of us to think of putting even a finger in this lake. hahahaha. Lake Ararco is another indigenous word, but I don't know what it means in Spanish.

If anyone ever wants an amazing place to go in Mexico that doesn't have a lot of tourists, my suggestion would be COPPER CANYON! It really is awesome!

After leaving Creel I spent the night in this little town called El Fuerte. Apparently, that is where the man who the character Zorro was based on was born! Pretty cool huh??

So I got on the bus to head to Hermosillo at 7pm. It is a 14 hour bus ride, so I figured better to do it overnight so I could sleep. Before I left everyone from Tijuana to Guadalajara told me not how miserable this trip was going to be. They told me how uncomfortable the buses were, how the desert is super cold and how the second class buses stop every two hours!!! Not surprisingly I had a different experience. The bus was packed full and just when I thought I was going to luck out and have two seats to myself, a nice older gentleman sat down next to me. He was very sweet, we talked for a little while and then I went back to reading my book. When we stopped for the first time, he got off the bus...and came back with a bag of chips and a couple drinks. He asked me to take the chips. I thought he just wanted me to hold them while he got settled, but after a couple minutes he asked "well aren't you going to open them" surprised I opened them and tried to hand them back to him at which time he promptly responded "no, I got them for us to share, here is your drink too". What!! I didn't understand but I sat there and talked to him for a while, while we had our snack. Next thing I know as its getting late, he reaches up and pulls down a big, warm, soft blanket which he proceeds to share with me for the whole night. In the morning when it was time to wake up, he bought me coffee and brought me an entire bag of creamers and sweeteners cause he wasn't sure how I took it. :). It was probably one of the most comfortable 14 hour bus rides I've ever had!!!!

After arriving to Hermosillo I was picked up by some of the couch surfers that I had talked to and proceeded to have an amazing time in Hermosillo!! First and foremost they took me to this restaurant where I saw the biggest tortillas I had ever seen in my life. They are bigger than a large pizza!!!

Tortillas sobaqueras (por sobacos recién sudados de doña Lupe). Which basically means that they got their name because the woman who originally started making these ultra thin super big tortillas used to toss them around her arm kinda like a pizza and people would say that they were made with her sweat mixed in... I was assured that the person who made the ones I ate had long sleeves on!!! :)

Gerardo let me stay at his house, I met his friends, Gaby is an incredible girl, and his family was super nice and welcoming. His mom made fresh tortillas and amazing food everyday. We went to the lookout point, saw the Government Palace, the Church and many other places in the city.