| The following morning we made our farewells, the
Americans were going to Chihuahua (5 hours by bus) then flying back to
Philadelphia via Houston. The talk was about whether the US would let them back in or
close the border. |  |
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The Frenchman and we had a later breakfast and discussed Mexican politics,
the drugs, and the Tarahumara Indians with the owner in Spanish. There were interludes
in French while the Frenchman and Jan debated some translation and I tried
to follow what was going on. |
About 90% of the drug mafia have now been
eliminated (usually in internecine warfare) and the government has captured
a major drug baron who apparently offered to pay off the national (or was it state?)
debt if they would let him go free. Some measure of the money involved. The
owner was in favour of the government cleaning things up. These two pictures
(above and right) were painted on the wall of a museum and
represent aspects of Indian life. |  |
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By 1100hrs we had made our way to the station and saw this horse riding
along the tracks. I don't think he was inspecting the rails. |
| Neither was this historical rail carrier, very similar
to those still in use today. |  |
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The train duly arrived with its five carriages but with two engines on the
front. The second one was making a lot of smoke so I guess it was being
moved to a maintenance depot in Los Mochis. |
| From the train we saw this ploughing old style
although the horse was a bit frisky. Perhaps it is not used to such labours. |  |
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This section of the train journey was new to us as we travelled upwards from
Creel towards Divisidero. |
| At one point the train goes in a complete loop and
crosses itself as it tries to gain height to get over the ridge. |  |
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And then you are on the top at around 7000ft and can see for miles. |
| At these elevations the trees are mainly pines, here
one with particularly long needles. |  |
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We are still moving along the canyon sides with quite steep drops down. |
| You can see the smoke from the second locomotive as
they both work hard pulling the train up the steep grade. Soon it will be
easier since the bulk of the journey from then is downhill. |  |
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The stop at Divisidero station. This is actually on the continental divide
and is almost the peak point on the journey. Many folk get off for something
to eat or buy or just to have a last look at the view. |
| All too quickly we are off again. There are several
stations in this area but the first class train stops at few of them.
Logging is a major industry here, and was the main reason for the town of
Creel. |  |
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There is some freight traffic here. We did pass a train with five
locomotives. These logs are waiting to be loaded. |
| Whenever we do stop the train is surrounded by
Tarahumara anxious to sell us some baskets. They are woven from grasses and
the long pine needles, some of which are coloured with natural dyes to make
the designs. We did buy a couple. The Indians are also known as the
Raramuri and are renowned for their long distance running skills. The women
always seem to be wearing really bright colours and nearly always
headscarves, even on quite young girls. |  |
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It is hard to refuse the kids but there are so many of them. They don't push
and are basically a very shy people. |
| A typical residence at the side of the railway track.
There is probably a satellite dish somewhere. |  |
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And so it's back to the 87 tunnels and 36 bridges as we make our way down
the canyons towards El Fuerte. |
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