Guadalajara

Guadalajara is an incredible city. I love it! There is so much to do. We happened to stay at a hostel right in the heart of downtown. It was great. We met a lot of really cool people. We even ran into a guy that we met in Creel when we were boarding the bus in Puerto Vallarta. That was pretty cool. We ended up sharing the same hostel with him in Guadalajara. We also met some pretty cool girls here from Ireland, an older man from Portland, and some guy that knew everything there was to know about peyote!

Huge park in the city called Agua Azul. There was a big bird sanctuary there.

Flower hanging from a tree in Agua Azul park.

The second night at our hostel we were informed that there was going to be a wedding at the hostel. What?! Wedding at a hostel?! Yes...it ended up being a total blast. The family was great. All people staying at the hostel were invited. There was free alcohol and food. It was great, but there was no way anyone wasn't going to partake in the festivities if they were staying at the hostel! Let's just say, I went to bed at 3am and had enough beers by then, but I still had to wear ear plugs to fall asleep!

The next day we headed out to a bull fight. It was Hootie's first and my second. In fact the last one I saw was in Guadalajara last year. At the bullfight we sat next to a Mexican guy, Jaime. He was great with sharing tequila shots and his knowledge of the bull fight. Bull fights are amazing. The culture and the ceremony behind it all is incredible. PS: Cat, I was thinking about you and I wish you were here to watch the fight. It was pretty similar to the last one that we saw together, only we didn't end up at a bar with a sand floor afterwards.

Opening ceremony at the Bull fight.

Hootie and I in the stands at the Plaza de Toros.

Matdor in true form.

Bull just skimming the matdor's body.

The man, Jaime, that helped us understand the ceremony of the bull fight.

We had time to check out some pretty cool art museums in Guadalajara too. The Exconvento del Carmen was my favorite. It was filled with some really amazing contemporary art. The Orozco paintings/murals around town were also spectacular. And at one of the museums we saw a cross that held a sliver of the True Cross. Pretty cool!

Hootie sitting outside the Cabañas museum.

View of the Cabañas Museum from the interior courtyard.

That night we headed to Lucha Libre. It was hilarious! I´ve never been to a WWF match, but I'm sure that it's pretty similar! At the match one of the staff tried to take my camera from me saying that they were not allowed. There was no way I was handing it over to him. Finally, I just played the card that I couldn't understand him. Somehow he let me be.

Wrestlers just starting a tag team match.

Wrestlers getting hauled off on a stretcher, WWF style.

Two wrestlers dressed up in some crazy costumes.

Cirque du Soleil was our next event. Let me tell you, the gymnastic abilities from Lucha Libre to Cirque du Soleil is like night and day! Cirque was as amazing as always. The show was called Dralion. It was Hootie's first show and probably the cheapest Cirque show I will ever attend in my life! It will definitely remain a highlight of my trip.

Today, I ventured out on my own. Hootie stayed in and took a nap. He has been unfortunate and has caught a cold. Poor Hootie, it sucks to be on vacation and not feeling well. I ended up taking the bus to a nearby town called Tonala. It's this cool little village with a gigantic market. While I was on the bus on the way there, I met a cool couple from Venezuela. They spoke perfect Spanish and English. I ended up tagging along with them around the market and together we discovered what bus to take back to Guadalajara at the end of the day.

Cute little church in Tonala.

Tomorrow, as long as Hootie is feeling better we will head to Leon. Hopefully we will meet up with Salvador and his family. He used to work as a custodian at Ziba and now he owns his own pizza place in Leon. I'm hoping to find some killer cowboy boots to lug around with me for the next month. Leon is known for their cowboy boots.

Puerto Vallarta

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta. The weather wasn't so nice. It was still raining quite a bit due to the hurricane that had now hit Mazatlan. We were glad we got of Mazatlan. Puerto Vallarta is definitely not my vacation destination. But, who knows until you try it!

Sunset on the church in downtown Pto Vallarta.

Beautiful wrought iron door on the church.

We took a bus out to a small area on the outskirts of town, hoping to get away from it all for awhile. There was a botanical garden and also a small beach area called Boca de Tomatlan. The garden was okay, but not spectacular, definitely aimed at tourists.

Finally, our last night in Puerto Vallarta was the best! We saw a beautiful sunset and swam in the ocean by moonlight. It was fabulous. The water was like bathwater, and there were some nice waves rolling in.

Swimming at sunset in Pto Valllarta.

Walking along the beachfront boardwalk by moonlight.

El Fuerte and Mazatlan

At the end of El Chepe train ride we ended up in El Fuerte. We ended up staying at Hostel Guerrero. It was a decent hostel. Good price and in a very good location. El Fuerte is known for it´s Black Bass, so we decided to eat it at two different meals. The Lobina Flameado (Flamed Black Bass) topped the charts though. It was stuffed with bacon and ooey gooey melted cheese, then topped with a celery and soy sauce dressing. Yum!

View from the Castiallna (sp?) restaurant where we had flamed black bass.


Hootie and I tried heading out on a kayaking trip, but our guide never showed up. Instead, we ended up hanging out in the lawn at Tres Amigos (a tour place). The service was great, she had a lot of good information and gave us some beer. Also, we got to lounge in her backyard and lay around in the hammock right on the river. It was some good down time. She told us about some petroglyphs on the outskirts of town. She didn´t have real specific directions, but we decided to try and find it. We ended up finding it! It was amazing. We were hiking through old fields, and our trails kept turning into road blocks. But, we were persistent. A little old man that worked for the state archeaoligists, or something like that, was able to sort-of point us in the right direction. We ended up finding the petroglyphs at the top of a little mountain. It was a great view of the city from there.

Some of the petroglyphs that we came across on the hike.

Leaf cutter ants crossing our trails. I´ve never seen these things before except for in cartoons. I thought they were pretty cool!

Looking down the river from the top of the petroglyphs.

Sunset in El Fuerte. Taken from the top of the museum.

After leaving El Fuerte we took a bus to Los Mochis and then headed onward to Mazatlan. When we arrived in Mazatlan we found a really cool area. Really artsy and unique. It was in old Mazatlan around Plazuela Machado. There was really good food and music in this area. Our hotel, Hotel Central, was located here. We found this one after looking at another, Hotel Belmar, where we saw our first cockroach! The next day we checked out the art museum. It was here that we met Lopus. He was the exhibiting artist. He was amazing and super helpful. He introduced us to his friend, Blas Nayar. Blas owns a studio near Plazuela Machado. They were both really cool and ended up having drinks with us later that night at the little cantina down from our hotel. I bought a book from Lopus that he signed for me. It´s pretty cool. The weather wasn´t very nice in Mazatlan since we were on the edge of Hurricane Rick. Nevertheless, it didn´t stop us from taking a 10km walk down the coast to Zona Dorada. Hootie had never seen this tourist area before, so I wanted to show him just what it was like. Of course you know, we did not like it! We ended up having one beer at Joe´s Oyster Bar and that was enough! We grabbed a pulmonia back to our part of town. What a relief! We also got to eat at Panama´s. My favorite restaurant in Mazatlan. I ate here probably about 10 years ago and had my first Chilaquiles. Once again we had the Chilaquiles, they were amazing!

Church in the Plaza Municipal in Mazatlan Viejo.

Inside the beautiful church.

Hootie teaking a break to look at the ocean view on our 10km trek. The hill in the background is Mazatlan Viejo, our starting point on this journey.

Sun starting to set on the ocean in Mazatlan.

Sunset behind the clouds.

After Mazatlan we weren´t sure if we were going to head to a little surf town called San Blas or to Puerto Vallarta. We ended up going to Puerto Vallarta because we thought the weather may be better there.

El Chepe, Divisadero, and Arepo

The El Chepe is the train that we took through the Copper Canyon. We took the train from Creel to El Fuerte. The Copper Canyon is incredible. On the train ride there are some amazing views. We ended up taking the first class train because that was the only one that left on Wednesday. It was awesome, there was a bar on the train, if you sat in the bar you had amazing window seats. Also, you could stand between the cars in the open air to get some good pics. The seats were super posh and we smuggled some cheap food onto the train!

View of El Chepe train heading into a tunnel.



Looking into the Canyon at the Divisadero stop. At this stop we had 15 minutes. Enough to get a quick view of the canyon and grab a quick bite of the local food.

The next stop was Arepo. It was a last minute decision made by Hootie to get off of the train here. When I say last minute, I mean, he decided as the train was pulling up to the stop. I´m glad that Hootie made the decision. It was an incredible stop. I would recommend anyone traveling through the Copper Canyon to make this a stop. We got off of the train without a place to stay. We ended up walking down the road a bit, speaking some Spanish to the locals and buying some cool rocks from a local. He told us that there were cabañas for rent just up the street. We headed to the cabañas, they were amazing. We had our own living room, bedroom, and bathroom. There was also a table with some chairs out on the porch where we enjoyed a game of cribbage. The owners of the cabaña were great. We ate breakfast and dinner at the families house. She cooked some really good local fish and some fried eggs for breakfast. It was yummy! The night we arrived we decided to head out on a hike. We found out that the canyon rim was right out our back door! We had a wonderful hike. We found some really cool rocks. Similar to the ones that we bought as we were finding the cabaña. The sparkly quartz was everywhere! The next morning after breakfast we headed out on another hike farther down into the canyon and back up to a lookout. It was beautiful! I´ve never been to the Grand Canyon, but I bet it´s similar.


Hootie playing recorder on the canyon rim.



Me posing for a shot on the canyon rim in Arepo.


View from El Chepe, a bridge that we would cross on the train ride.



A lake near the end of El Chepe train ride.

Batopilas

Woah, this was an amazing adventure! The drive was definitely the best part. It was completely sketchy, but we finally made it to the bottom of the canyon safely. Let me tell you, I am not afraid of heights, but during this trip I was definitely clenching the seat and praying to God! We left for Batopilas, the town at the bottom of the canyon, in the morning. It was pouring down rain because there was a hurricane just off the coast in Los Mochis. The pouring rain definitely didn't make the road any safer. It was a one lane dirt road. We were on a bus and at times had to sneak by parked and moving trucks! We were literally driving over waterfalls! We did get some amazing view and pictures. It was an incredible adventure!

Bus we rode in down to Batopilas.

View of the river when we got closer to the bottom of the Canyon.

The road hugs the edge of the cliff.

The soggy road conditions on the way down to Batopilas.

Some of the passengers on the bus clearing a rock slide so we could get through.

.The town of Batopilas.

Some more views of the roads on the edge of the canyon. We were looking down from the same road above.


Once we reached the bottom we found a hostel to stay in. The hostel was pretty sketchy. It was located right on the river. And you can imagine what happens to a river at the bottom of North America's deepest canyon during a rainstorm! Yes, a very very very high river! I was afraid to go to sleep that night because I thought there may be a flood. Thank God for Hootie, he kept me as calm as he could! The owner of the hostel was not too comforting when I asked what should we do if the place floods? His response was, "Run to the other side of the house!" ...We did not stay at this place the next night. We ended up staying the next night at Real de Minas. A very nice hotel further from the river.

We spent one full day in Batopilas. In order to see more of the town, we decided to take a tour with a local guide. He brought us to a church outside of town, to some old mine ruins, and some aquaducts.

On our tour with Arturo we rode in the back of a truck. It was nice and breezy, a good escape from the hot cab of the truck.

Another view of the beautiful, cute little town of Batopilas.Iglesia that we visited. Under the floor of the church there were people buried. The cleaner of the church and her family. A cross made of lit candles lit the burial spot.

Tower of the iglesia.

Hootie on top of the old San Miguel Mine Ruins.

San Miguel Mine Ruins.

We ate dinner and breakfast at an amazing little restaurant. It wasn't even really a restaurant, rather a ladies home. Each meal she had a choice of about two different things. Her cooking was very good. I am definitely not losing weight on this trip!

Come Wednesday, it was time to leave Batopilas. We woke at 4am and went to the front of the church where the bus was supposed to pick us up. We got there and a police officer told us in very fast Spanish that the bus wasn't going to make it all the way into town. So, after finally translating what he said with a lot of confusion, we headed down the dark streets to catch the bus. It was a pretty scary walk through the dark town with all of our possessions. We ran part of the way so we did not miss the bus. It was the only bus out of the canyon for the day. We got to the bus at 5am. The bus was supposed to leave at 5am. Instead, after our huge rush, the bus left at 5:30! We were happy we made it after a mad rush in the blazing heat of Batopilas!

Our ride back to Creel out of the canyon was just as sketchy. At one point Hootie and I both got off the bus with our most crucial bag. There was a Truck broken down and the bus had to pass the truck with barely enough room. If it would have been an inch further, the bus probably would have toppled over the edge of the canyon! All of the Mexicans got off the bus too, some were helping direct the driver. Hootie and I were not about to take the chance of toppling over the edge!

Sunrise on our bus trip out of the canyon.

Sun shining on the canyon´s highest peaks.

Crazy switch backs on the road out of the canyon.

We finally arrived in Creel at 10am and then began our journey on the Chepe train.

Creel

We arrived in Creel on Friday. I didn´t think Creel would be such a great place. I thought it was going to be super touristy. It ended up being pretty cool and sucking us in for 3 days. We stayed at a hostel called Casa de Margarita´s. The rooms were amazing. They cost a couple bucks more than in Chihuahua, but still a great price. While in Creel, we met some pretty cool peeps at the hostel. They were from all around, Texas, New Zealand, Denver, Mexico, England. I think that may have been it. Sorry if I missed any of you!

Hootie walking the streets of Creel.

The church where we attended Sunday morning mass.

The first night in Creel we had some amazing food and some great cervezas con limons. The next day we headed out on some bicycles for about a 12 mile bike ride. It was beautiful. On the ride we visited the homes of Tarahumara Indians, made a lunch at some incredible rock formations, chilled at a lake, and saw some great countryside.

Tarahumara home in the side of a cave. She is making handicrafts to sell.

Hootie and I on our mountain biking excursion through the countryside of Creel.


The Tarahumara are native people to the region. They still speak their own language, Raramuri. They live inside of caves. They live very simple and make some amazing handicrafts. They are the fastest long distance runners in the world! We understand now that we see how far they have to walk to town each day.

Some more views of Tarahumara homes inside of the caves.

Some of the Tarahumara handicrafts.

The rock formations that we saw were also pretty cool. In one valley, they were all shaped like mushrooms, in another they were all shaped like monks (but are also known as the valley of erect penises). This is where we ate lunch, in the shadow of an erect penis!

The amazing rock formations.

The lake Arareko was a pretty big lake. We didn´t have too much time there. We had to get the bikes back. The bike trail was pretty cool. The mountain bikes, not so much. Hootie´s had a flat tire right from the start and mine wouldn´t shift gears going up hills. So, it was interesting, but still really fun.

Hootie on his mountain bike.

That night we went with the peeps from the hostel to a dance that was being held by the Taramuhara people. They have a dance one night a year. They have to dance the entire night, from dusk til dawn. They dance for peace, health, and I can´t remember the third thing. It was beautiful, they had very colorful clothing and costumes and were singing and playing violins. They were on peyote and drinking an alcoholic corn drink. I guess that´s why they could stay up dancing the whole night! We tried the drink. It was interesting to say the least.

The Tarahumara danced all night down the street from our hostel.

The next day, Hootie and I were beat. We wanted to catch the bus to Batopilas, but it didn´t run until Monday. So, we lounged around most of the day, and then finally got bored and went on a tour with a guy named Manuel. We drank some cervezas on the way, and then we headed out down a crazy road to a waterfall named Cusarare. It was pretty but, it would have been much prettier if there wasn´t so much trash : (

A burrito, loaded up with firewood, that we saw on our hike to the Cusarare waterfall.

The Cusarare waterfall view from below.

We woke up, it had been raining all night. We had to make a decision...were we going to go to Batopilas or not? Will the road be washed out? Will we get stranded? Lots of questions...we decided to go!