Carlrbrush.com is primarily a literary website (hence all the books on the home page) we do occasionally feature other items of interest. Below is quick snapshot of our group excursion to Mexico’s Copper Canyon. A rather rare destination for gringos, as it turns out. Rare because it’s well worth the  trip. The group called themselves “Busterites” because we were waiting for our excursion bus, which was late. Repeated attempts to seek more information drew the response that “Buster” would arrive soon. Though it sounded like “Buster” to us gringos, the lady in charge was informing us about the “bus tour.” embarrassing, but we recovered.

El Fuerte

An interesting little colonial town. Home to a hilltop fort, a closed museum, and a swarm of bothersome nauseum little insects. They turned out to be our only threatening encounter with wildlife on this excursion. Fuerte was reputedly home to the original El Zorro He appeared at dinner and threatened to dance away with female members of our company.

We, of course could never allow such a thing to happen, and he soon retired in disgrace.

Hotel Mision

We’re at about 8, 000 feet elevation now. High enough to look out on the rest of the world. And at the same time, the rest of the world falls away. Here we met up with the celebrated bad guy Zorro. Hee attempted to crash our party and make off with our women, but we thwarted him easily, warriors as we are. How often do we get to go both high and deep at the same time? It’s the geography we came for.

Various Sites and Insights

More important than the wonderful scenery, though were the people. The Tarahumara or Raramuri people are in ancient indigenous tribe who have dwelt in these hills and valleys for many centuries. They are legendary long distance runners. That ability supposedly came from their tenacity in tracking deer and other game. An informative, amusing, and heartwarming story on this subject can be seen on Netflix, of all places. “Lorena, light footed woman†is the name of the 28 minute piece.

In the present, the Tarahumara still live largely the way they have for a very long time. They are fabulous basket weavers and jewelry makers. They raise goats and cattle, use products of the land for their food and building materials. Some of them are cave dwellers. The women wear the skirts and blouses you will see in the following photos as their everyday clothing. They are not just dressing up for tourists like us.

One constant feature of our meanderings were the feral dogs who hung around each hotel. They would sort of adopt one or one group of us for the day or for a hike. Very friendly and good to have around. There was one rather savage dog fight at one point. Scary, but no dog died and it didn’t spoil the memory.

No Wonder That the Natives Thought of These Formations (Below) as a Village of Giant Gods

Random Moments (There Were Lots of These.)

Yet Despite All the Scenery and Unique People, This is Still Mexico, and How Could We Leave Without a Fiesta? This One Marched by Completely Unexpected, but if We’d Designed It, It Couldn’t Have Been Better.

So, like the girl in the lavender dress, we Busterites wave adios to our amigos and memorias, climb back on El Chepe, the train which carried us for much of the trip. What does “El Chepe mean? Many explanations were forthcoming. My favorite is “Pork Chop.” So I will leave it there Looks like the train has arrived, so we are ready for a grand ride back to Los Mochis, Tijuana, and all the rest, our lives much enriched by this extraordinary adventure in La Barranca del Cobre.

Epilogue

At the Airport

And We Are Homeward Bound. Hasta Luego, New Friends. What a Time We Had. Now on to more literary matters.