After breakfast at the hotel, we packed up and checked out, and drove to the train station, where we joined a crowd of people waiting for the Chepe Express (w):
...which is a tourist train, running from Los Mochis on the coast, over the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range (part of the range which is called the Rocky Mountains in the U.S.), over the continental divide, and ending in the city of Chihuahua, 415 miles (668 kilometers) from where it started. Along the way, the train goes through 86 tunnels, crosses 37 bridges, and reaches an elevation of 7,900 feet (2,400 meters) above sea level. In addition to the tourist train, there is also the Chepe Regional, a slower service with more stops, for locals.
And here we are on the train:
Now, you may have noticed a conspicuous absence in that picture - no dog. That's right, Terry didn't bring her dog on this trip - mainly because the train wouldn't let Terry in the dining car with the dog; she would have to eat her lunch at her seat. Terry was not happy when we found this out, and we complained to the tour operator, who complained to the train company, but it was no use. Yes, Mexico has service dog access laws like we do in this country; nevertheless, the train company wouldn't budge. So, to avoid having to stay in her seat when the rest of us went to the dining car (although I, of course, said I'd stay with her, and so did Lucia), and also to avoid any other potential problems, such as access to hotels, restaurants, etc., Terry elected to leave Kettle with a friend of hers for the week.
By the way, Blanca was sitting across the aisle from us - that's where I took the picture of her on the first page.
Along the way, I took pictures of the scenery:
Yes, that's my reflection in the train window in the second picture. And no, that's not a cigarette I'm holding, it's a pen.
I noticed a lot of strange conical shapes in the fields alongside the tracks:
...which Juan identified as sesame plants stacked to dry before harvesting the seeds.
One interesting thing that I noticed was the change in the vegetation as we climbed higher:
As we got higher into the mountains, the train made many switchbacks, as evidenced by this picture:
Our train was on that track just a few minutes before I took that picture.
When the train made a stop at Divisadero, these local women (along with several others) came to sell things to the tourists:
These women were Rarámuri (ra-RA-moor-ee), or Tarahumara (ta-ra-MOOR-a) (w), an indigenous people that live in the area. They are known for their hand woven baskets, which these women are selling. I didn't get any good pictures of them, but if you go to google.com and enter "Tarahumara baskets" and click on Images, you'll see a lot of good examples.
We finally got off the train, and were driven to our next hotel, the Hotel Mansion Tarahumara. And what a hotel it was. In the first place, it had a sort of fairy tale castle atmosphere, as evidenced by these pictures:
Entrance arch
The main building
A mural on the wall of the hotel gift shop
The entrance to the main building
The dining room
A mural on the back wall of the dining room
In the second place, all of the rooms were up the mountain above the main buildings. And our rooms were almost all the way to the top. A road with several switchbacks led up the mountain to the rooms, and there was also a flight of stairs:
What you see in that picture is just the beginning. There were 165 stairs (yes, I counted them). I climbed those stairs once. Just once. After that, I was content to have the hotel staff drive me up to the top... at least as far as they could. This is far as the road went:
As you can see from the railing at the end of the road, there was more walking ahead. First, you walk up this ramp...
...across this platform...
...and up more stairs...
...then you make a U-turn, and go up more stairs...
...and then you make a U-turn, and go up MORE stairs...
...and at the top of the stairs, there's a room!
Sorry, that's not your room. You make another U-turn, and go up a few more stairs...
...turn and walk down this corridor...
...turn and walk down another corridor...
...and at the far end of the corridor, there's your room!
All in all, another 56 stairs. But the view is worth it:
