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Our Travel Adventures
Welcome to the Adventures of Larry and Connie Farquhar.
Copper Canyon, Mexico RV Trip - First Half
San Fernando Church in Guaymas
While the name of our next RV caravan tour is called "Copper Canyon", it will be a highlight. Our main destination and turnaround point will be Mazatlán.
After we crossed back into the U.S. at the east Mexicali border from our Baja trip, we made a long drive bee-lining to Tucson to get ready for our next trip down the Mexico mainland. We had 2 days to resupply our groceries, get our tire fixed and put back on, do laundry, fuel up with diesel and propane. Then we were ready to meet at the South Tucson Desert Diamond casino. Though this tour doesn't officially start until March 3rd, Manny agreed to bring us across the border at Nogales where we needed to fill out more paperwork and pay more money to be able to travel past the freezone, (I don't remember what it's all called). Manny guided us to San Carlos, Sonora to the RV park where the rest of our group will come to join us. Jim & Patti, who traveled with us on the Baja trip, and ourselves had 6 days to rest and relax before the others showed up. During that time we visited the grocery store several times and played games. Larry and Patti enjoyed the hot tub (when it was open), we went out to eat, and had our laundry done.On March 3rd, the two other rigs and Manny joined us at the Totonaka campground. That night we had our welcome dinner. The next day we had a city tour of Guaymas. Unfortunately, half of what we were to see and do on the tour, was closed. Our tour guide said he had planned on taking us to the Dolphin show, but it was closed on Tuesday's. We then went to the pearl farm and learned how cultured pearls were made. I was hoping to buy a pair of earrings, but their prices were way out of my budget! Afterwards, we were going to drive to downtown Guaymas. The street was closed but they let us get off the bus and walk to to a church and a little museum where they had Poncho Villa's surrender letter from the Mexican Revolution and some artifacts of his. After boarding the bus again, they were going to try to take us to a flea market, but it was a no go with more closed streets. So off to lunch we went. Our bus driver had to make a U turn to get to the restaurant, but a driver who was clearly recklessly speeding, ended up crashing into us. No one was hurt and we barely felt the impact. We were only half a block away from the restaurant, so we off loaded and let the two drivers take care of business. After lunch we had a Walmart stop for some shopping. We really didn't need anything, but Connie found a few items. For the last stop of our tour, we made our way out to the San Carlos Vista Point for a "Million Dollar View". Our final day in San Carlos was a relaxing day.
Lobster Newberg
Getting to know our new tour group
View from Guaymas of San Carlos across the Gulf of California
Cerro Tetakawi in San Carlos
Learning about cultured pearls. Our tour guided was very animated and enthusiastic. Perlas del Mar de Cortez
Cleaning the oysters of barnacles. The oysters weren't ready for harvest yet.
Oyster shells
Depending on the oyster's life determines which netting they are in.
The item in his left hand is a natural pearl
The different netting baskets the oysters live in while growing the pearls.
Partial view of Guaymas
Street lamp in a park in Guaymas
Inside the San Fernando Church
Park across from the church with Lots of pigeons!
View from San Carlos Vista Point
View from San Carlos Vista Point
View from San Carlos Vista Point
View from San Carlos Vista Point
Tourists at the San Carlos Vista Point
Alamos
Our next stop was in Alamos, Sonora for the next two days. Along the route we passed some interesting statues. We boondocked in a working dirt pit that will be a beautiful campground ....someday. We all had a siesta before being picked up in a Música Trolley and taken to a main plaza to start our Callejoneada. We met with a group of minstrels who played traditional Mexican music while strolling through the alleys of the town, being followed by attendees while enjoying the music and the free-flowing wine that's carried by a donkey. Such fun! The next day we had a city tour of Alamos followed by a delicious lunch. Later that afternoon we invited the group over to play pegs & jokers.
Beautiful shrine
Alamos dirt pit aka campground
Actively working on building a campground... someday
We had a beautiful sunset in Alamos
Plaza in Alamos
Waiting for the minstrels, donkey, and wine!
Church in Alamos
The plaza was so colorful
The trolley that brought us to the plaza
Alamos church
The wine carrying donkey, Casper.
Our minstrels. The little boy on the steps played the castanets. He was so exhausted he was falling asleep.
All of the chimneys had these brick house looking covers over them
Pretty street in Alamos
The kissing alley
Smooching in the kissing alley
Our Alamos Tour Guided was multi-talented. He built this car.
Very beautiful and powerful statue of a Yaqui Indian
Beautiful entrance to Alamos with our motorhome
The little boy playing the castanets asleep. Patti and I brought bread and cheese to pass out so we wouldn't get too tipsy from all the wine. I gave the little boy a sandwich to help him along.
The beach in Huatabampito
In Huatabampito we had a 4 day beach stay. It was super windy when we arrived, but thankfully it was nice for the next few days. Larry was able to get up on the roof of the motorhome to do a solar panel check and was able to give the panels a good wash. This RV park had a restaurant where we had dinner, drinks, and a table for us to play pegs & jokers. On our third day we had a cooking class where we made Whisker Tamales (shrimp tamales). We were able to mix our masa dough, spread it on the corn husks, and the filling was a huge raw shrimp (still in it's shell head and all) placed on top of the masa along with some potato, carrot, and bell pepper sticks. We added a little more masa on top of that, then folded up the corn husks. Later in the day the cooks placed all the tamales into the steamer basket and cooked them for about an hour. This was our dinner that night. While the flavor wasn't that bad, they were super messy since we had to pull the shrimp out of the cooked tamale to clean the head and shell off before eating it. If we ever see a Whisker Tamale on a menu, we would pass, lol. Our last day on the beach we opted to play pegs & jokers outside as the weather had cooled off and it was quite chilly inside the restaurant. This worked out as we could then enjoy my Jamica (Hibiscus) Margaritas as well.
Solar panels getting a needed wash
In the kitchen assembling the Whisker Tamales
Playing pegs & jokers
Cooked Whisker Tamales
Freshly made Whisker Tamales (uncooked)
Sunset on Huatabampito Beach
Our group with Zorro and a lady Zorro
Zorro statue
Early the next morning, we left our motorhomes to board El Chepe train. This 8-hour train ride took us to Creel, which is in the state of Chihuahua. We felt lucky to be in the business class of the train. This meant we were able to have lunch in the dining car. Though we didn't see any other class of cars, our seats were nice with plenty of leg room. Though we were comfortable enough, it was still a very long trip with plenty of motion. The scenery was nice, going from desert to a high desert with a few stops along the way. One stop in San Rafael had many Indian people selling baskets and other souvenirs. We were warned that Creel was considerably colder than El Fuerte so our clothing choice was good. Creel is a tourist town. The hotel we stayed at was very nice and our rooms were huge! One of our travel mates was celebrating her birthday that day so Manny arranged to have a band play while we ate dinner, and the restaurant provided a birthday cake for her. The one strange thing about this hotel was there wasn't any heat in the rooms, and it was cold that night! We didn't know we were given the best room because we were the only room that had a portable heater in it. After others heard we had a heater, they went to the front desk to ask for one as well. They were only given extra blankets. The next morning it was 35°F. Thankfully the dining room had a couple of roaring fireplaces. After breakfast we loaded into a tour bus. The Rarámuri, or Tarahumara, are a group of Indigenous people living in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, with a significant presence in the Creel region. We toured an Indian's house, saw a few rock formations, a 1700's church and plenty of shopping along the way with more of the Indian's baskets and wares. We went back into Creel for some more souvenir shopping and for lunch. From Creel our bus took us to our next destination in Divisadero. We stayed in another interesting hotel. More of an old Mexico - castle feel with lots of stonework and turrets. Thankfully our rooms had their own heaters this time! The next day we were taken to an Adventure Park where we took a sky tram into the canyon with beautiful views and more Indian vendors. When we returned back to the main park, we had lunch overlooking the canyon. It was beautiful! The next morning, we were up early to catch the train back to El Fuerte, with another 8-hour trip. We are glad we were finally able to do this Copper Canyon trip and it's one to check off on our bucket list.
This church was built in the 1700s and is still used today. It's situated on a Tarahumaras reservation.
Inside the church
The original 1700s front doors
Toad rocks
Mushroom Rocks
Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico
Hotel Mansión Tarahumara
Hotel Mansión Tarahumara
Hotel Mansión Tarahumara
Hotel Mansión Tarahumara
Hotel Mansión Tarahumara
Hotel Mansión Tarahumara overlooking Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon)
Tram arriving across the canyon
The Tarahumaras also known as Rarámuris, welcoming us
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
It was still a little chilly. I found a good deal on another poncho in Alamos. Larry has the wolves and I have the roosters. Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
It was a long way across. Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon) views
The restaurant in the adventure park. The floor that extends over the cliff has a glass floor.
Making baskets
Glass floor in the restaurant
Cherry blossom trees blooming!
Cherry blossom trees blooming!
We're back in El Fuerte's heat now, ugh! Happy St. Patrick's Day. We were taken to a delicious breakfast at the same hotel where we saw the Zorro show. Larry stayed home and missed this day's tours as he had some computer issues, and some computer work to do. After breakfast we were taken to a Mayo Indian village where we saw tortillas, fresh coffee, and pottery made the old school way by two Indian ladies. It was a great presentation, and the tortillas and coffee were delicious. We then went to another part of the village to see the "Deer Dance". The guy dancing was very good!
Mayo house, heating up the cook top for tortillas.
Lining up our coffee cups, that she made herself.
Coffee cups
Filling our coffee cups
My cup of coffee, it was pretty good.
Filter for the coffee
Making tortillas. She ground the dough, hand made them perfectly round, and cooked them for a few minutes on each side.
She's making a clay bowl.
Pottery for sale
She shaped the inside with a piece of gourd
She shaped the inside with a piece of gourd
Added some red clay slurry for decoration. To fire the pottery, she left it outside in the heat.
Mayo Indian Dancer
Preparing for the Deer Dance
Deer Dance
Deer Dance
Manny, Mayo Deer Dance, and Connie
Raft trip down the Fuerte River
Wood Stork
Raft trip down the Fuerte River
Later that afternoon we had a raft tour on the Fuerte River. While it was pretty warm and buggy, there was a nice breeze to keep us cool. Lots of bird watching. Osprey, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Wood Storks, Geese, an Iguana, just to name a few.
Raft trip down the Fuerte River
Snowy Egret
I never saw any, but this is an Oriole's nest.
Geese
Heron nests
Raft trip down the Fuerte River
Beautiful Cottonwood hanging over the river
This bridge brought you to an island with white deer on it.
Geese
Heron nests
Sunflower looking flowers in the river
Wood Stork
A nesting goose
Iguana
Wood stork
Egret
Climbing vines in the trees. Sadly they're a parasite and will eventually kill the tree. I thought this shape looked like a rat.
Lots of geese
A flying Great Blue Heron
We were pretty sure we wouldn't be getting any corned beef and cabbage that day and since dinner was on our own, we all were really hoping for pizza. Unfortunately for us, March 17th is also a Mexican holiday, Benito Juarez's birthday, so all the pizza places were closed. So it was Mac & Cheese with meatballs for dinner.
Our next stop is in Las Glorias for 5 days of beach time. We're really looking forward to some nice cool weather and roaring waves!
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