Mexico / Copper Canyon / Dec 1999

Copper Canyon

This is an amazing journey that should not be done with kids. Mexico is a great introduction to the third world .. almost a good transition ground for the 'uneducated'. Countries like Africa or India can prove to be too much of a shock.

If you are flexible, this is a rewarding journey with some of the most beautiful sights you will have seen. Its best not to plan this but rather, go with the flow. Things are unpredictable so, trying to plan things will only bring disappointment. If you have that attitude, you will be fine. The only place I was a little uncomfortable with not having reservations was Divisadero, however, given the cost of the hotel, I wouldn’t have liked wasting our reservations as we wouldn’t have made it there on the day we had planned (see train derailed, bus broke down note).

Some general tips :
- In December, its cold in Creel, Divisadero (10000 ft) so bring some sweaters / jackets.
- Knowing some Spanish helps as the moment you get to Juarez, no one speaks english even though you are 50 feet from El Paso where everyone speaks English. You can generally get by, but it certainly helps.
- Food is nothing like mexican food in the US. Sorry, no taco bells. You will see similarities, however, expect a lot of pork. There seemed to be a lot of pork (I am a preferential vegetarian) and even beans was usually mixed with pork pieces. Things got a little tough at times.

Here is a 10-12 day itinerary that I developed on the fly.

1> Drive/Fly to El Paso, Texas. You don't need visas to Mexico if you are a US Citizen. You do need to have your passports else, you may become a permanent Mexican citizen against your will.

2> Cross over to Juarez (Mexico) - Take a taxi over the border .. Easiest part of the journey .. the port of entry guards may try to get some money out of you by taking you into their office .. they will stamp your passport anyway .. just say “don’t speak Spanish ..”. Ask the taxi driver to take you to the bus station .. I think buses leave on the hour .. no big issue. Useful words at the bus station .. agua=water .. pan = bread (fresh baked available at the station). Only two words I learnt there. Smell of hot fresh baked bread will make you remember this .. trust me !

3> Take bus to Chihuahua (start of copper canyon train). Once in Chihuahua, find a hotel for the night if necessary .. you can buy train tickets at the station before you leave. Nothing really interesting in the city .. we walked around for an afternoon .. visited the govt offices (Chihuahua is the capital of the province). Watch your belongings in the city. For us, the train had derailed the previous day and so we had to take another bus to Creel. Our bus broke down midway so we had to hitch a ride .. most of the locals started hitching right after the bus broke down because they knew better .. we waited like fools for a couple of hrs in the hopes that the bus driver (who kept promising) would fix the bus. Folks giving rides are used to this .. they will accept money. Try to arrive in Creel before sunset as you will need to find a room asap.

The copper canyon train runs daily from Chihuahua all the way to Los Mochis. This journey involves getting off intermediate stops along the way and picking the train back up a day or two later.

I bet you have travelled by train before .. I bet however, nothing like this. One point of caution, you will go through some religious moments on this train. There are plenty of times when you will be unable to see the edge of the cliff even if you flatten your face against the guard rails of the window. At that point, you will be wondering what exactly is holding the train up .. questions of what happens if the train falls over will be followed by sights of crumpled train cabins approx 1000 ft. below. Dont worry, its not happened recently (I think ..).

4> Stay in Creel. The station is pictured .. i.e. the train tracks in front of the museum. Find a place to stay ASAP. There may be more options now than when we went. There are low end and high end places (max $70/night). In the low end places, they have rooms (decent - $20/night) as well as “designated spaces” for people to put their sleeping bags on $1/night (mostly for college students .. it’s a party and you likely won’t get much sleep). Stay a couple of nights here .. there are some great hikes here .. the one we did was approx 4000 feet downhill (legs WILL go jello on you) ending up in hotsprings which we all promptly jumped into and quickly forgot the hike back up would be worse. I was blowing bubbles out of my mouth on the way back up .. I had to rest every 10 feet for the final leg .. even the smokers were passing me .. it was embarrassing. They also offer horse rides etc. but don’t bother.

5> Stay in Divisadero. Train only stops there for 15 min .. when you get off the station .. you see nothing .. only wilderness .. don’t PANIC, however do get here in the daytime. There is one great hotel (Divisadero Barrancas) right near the train station .. people running it appeared French !! A French couple in the middle of Mexico .. interesting life. Pricey hotel, but worth a night’s stay (may be up to $200/night). The views are absolutely breathtaking. Your room porch will look directly over/into the canyon. In fact, my room porch hung right over the canyon edge looking straight down 10K feet. Pineapples at the bottom, snow at the top !

Some good hikes/trips here .. I think one was to visit the Tarahumara Indians .. they had a kid as our guide who didn’t have much to wear .. he was shivering through the hike so I gave my jacket to him .. I still remember his bright smile ! The braver make the trek down the canyon and go camping for a couple of days. Recommend this be a guided tour as this didnt look easy.

6> End in Los Mochis .. it is a city with all the typical evils. You have to find what you like / interests you. I had the best fresh coconuts spiced with lemon / tamarind etc here. I didnt find anything significantly interesting here .. stay 1 night max. We walked into the town and visited the marketplace .. it had some great cheeses. Also, we found a travel agent and spontaneously made a change to our itenarary .. we decided we had roughed it enough. We bought a flight to LaPaz and then from LaPaz back to ElPaso. Cost us $80/person. We were not in any mood to go back via the train (too long).

La Paz is a beach town like Cancun etc. .. there is also a ferry from Los Mochis to La Paz, however, strangely, it said it wasn’t recommended for children under age 2 and pregnant mothers .. we concluded that the fumes from the engine were toxic and so decided to skip it (whats not good for babies and pregnant women is likely not good for us either). You can also take a taxi or hike around a couple of places here .. everyone says this city has a very high crime rate, however, we didn’t really have any trouble.

Egypt / Cairo / Dec 2002

Cairo

Stayed at the Marriott in Cairo - lap of luxury to ensure we didn't miss good ol' USA.

Do not miss the Egyptian Museum. No matter how much you have read about the splendors of King Tutankhamun, this will take your breath away. This is an amazing, truly amazing museum. Remember, it is either the fourth or fifth collection of artifacts, the prior collections being lost to either looting or floods.

All through this trip, I was dumbstruck. All I was looking for was signs of aliens in all the carvings / hieroglyphics. This is because I was convinced that no-one could have accomplished what these people have done 5000 years ago without some alien help. It is sad that a lot of people still make their living off what this ancient civilization accomplished. I can only explain this as what this civilization accomplished is just to awesome to surpass. As a result it overshadows everything and everyone lives in its shadow.

Call me an idiot, however, I thought Pharoahs etc. were buried in the Pyramids. I had visions of walking into a pyramid through complex mazes (ala The Mummy series). Not quite true .. you dont go to the Pyramids for anything other than look at the exterior or see what a real desert is .. all the pyramids were completely sealed off. For tomb raiding, Its the Valley of the Kings / Queens near Luxor that you really want to check out. Will post on that separately.

All roads lead to the highly avoidable Papyrus Museum (although I confess, I did buy a couple of pieces). This is because the locals get a cut of the sale made to tourists. As a result, you will find everyone 'selling' you certain shops as they are the ones who give a more generous cut. So, that's the spoiler .. this is infused everywhere. It is quite standard and very accepted. You will not get a straight recommendation from taxi drivers, bystanders, or anyone that we met.

Be careful about prices. I had bought a pair of onyx masks for something like a 100 Egyptian pounds. Having bargained the price down by half, I was feeling quite good about my Indian upbringing. Well .. not so. We were waiting at a bus terminal that of course had a number of kids that were selling souvenirs. Sure enough, I realized my masks were not as unique as I was made to believe. Still regret it, but curiosity (or some madness) overcame me and I had to ask. The can of worms was opened. That was it .. what I thought would be a simple validating question turned out to be something that still haunts me.

The asking price started at 200 pounds. I was overjoyed and looked to close the chapter. My lack of interest and absolute refusal to engage in a 'bargaining' conversation somehow became personal to the folks trying to sell me these onyx masks (I already had two of them).

200 Pounds ! Twice the price I had paid .. OK .. I had gotten a good deal. I could sleep.

Just when I thought I was done came this little voice behind my back .. "Wait .. OK .. 150 pounds". There was still hope. I tried valiantly to explain that I had only asked the price to validate my prior purchase, however, this bugger was not budging until he had made his sale. Believe it or not, he took his price down to 2 pounds.

TWO POUNDS !!

I was in tears, I have not slept since that day. Well .. OK, the no sleep thingy was because of two kids that came into my life ..

eg. Islamic art in mosque