A week in the beautiful Barrancas del Cobre: a train journey through the Copper Canyon

El Fuerte - the start point

We stayed in the small riverside town of El Fuerte for a few days before getting on the train. El Fuerte was a lovely Mexican town, which has been given the status of a Puebla Mágica - a magical town. We enjoyed wandering the colourful streets, walking to the river, visiting the fort (El Fuerte means ‘the fort’), and sampling some lovely food. 

El Chepe - the train journey 

After the disappointment of not being able to get on the train, the next day we eagerly awaited el Chepe, and we were not disappointed! The train ride into the mountains and through the canyon was spectacular. We were a little disappointed to be on the tourist train as we weren’t allowed to open the windows or hang out of the doors (like you can on the local train!), but we enjoyed the scenery anyway.

Our first stop - a stay in an old ranch near Cerocahui (elevation 1600m)

After being on the train for four hours, we reached our first stop on the canyon - Cerocahui, which is a small, remote village near the canyon rim. 

Cerocahui is off the beaten track, and we opted to stay in a ranch outside of the village which was very remote and beautiful. The ranch was built and ran by a lovely family, the Rhodes Chavez family, and we loved hearing about the history of the family, the ranch and the local area. They only had electricity installed a few years ago, and still use oil lamps in the evenings which was very atmospheric. Ash enjoyed playing with the ranch dog, Oso, which means bear in Spanish!

There were no shops or restaurants nearby, and so we ate all our meals with everyone together in the ranch, and the food was lovely - home made mostly with ingredients grown on the ranch. It gets cold at night here in the mountains, and our room had a wood burner to keep us toasty. The best bit for me was that the ranch is in a complete dark sky area, and the night sky was like nothing I have seen before. 

On one of the days we stayed we did a 15km hike from the ranch to the top of the canyon rim, with our guides Arturos and Oso the dog - there are no trails or paths here, so we were glad to have Arturos to navigate the way. The views from the top were wonderful, and worth the hike in the hot sun. 

We also spent a day visiting Urique, a village at the bottom of the canyon. The drive down to the village took around two hours on a dirt track, with lots of switch-backs and sheer drops, and was lots of fun! Along the ride we met some Tarahumara people, who hitched a ride in the back of our car. The Tarahumara travel everywhere on foot and walk great distances, but some will accept lifts on the way up or down to Urique as it’s a steep and challenging walk, especially in the heat. One lady we picked up was 72 years old! In Urique, we spent time wandering around the village, walking to the river, chatting to the locals, and having a lovely lunch at Mama Titos. We stopped at a viewpoint on the way back up to appreciate the views of the canyon. 

Second stop - Creel (elevation 2345m)

After spending three nights at the ranch in Cerocahui we decided to hop back on el Chepe to head to our next destination, Creel. Creel is a small highland town in the Canyon, and close to a large Tarahumara indigenous people settlement. The town itself is not that interesting, but we enjoyed some trips out in the mountains in this part of the Canyon. 

We visited the Parque de Adventuros, which sits on the rim of the canyon and has great views. We went on the cable car from the rim to half way to the canyon floor with spectacular views of the moutains. 

We also went on a day trip around Creel to the lake, a local Tarahumara village, a waterfall, and to the valley of the monks (an area with some interesting rock formations!). Ash and I really enjoyed this day trip, he said it was the best one we have done so far in Mexico! 

Overall we have had a great week in the mountains, and enjoyed visiting some authentic Mexican towns and villages and learning about the history and way of life of the people living there. The canyon was much greener than we had expected, as the rainy season here had just finished, and the train journey didn’t quite have the views we were anticipating throughout the canyon.   We were also surprised by how few tourists there were along the journey, we only saw a handful of Europeans/Americans the whole trip and it was very quiet, though we enjoyed being able to chat with local people and not having to queue, we also felt sad for the locals who rely on tourism here. 

Next stop: Oaxaca.