Tour itinerary:
7:00 am Breakfast at the Hotel included
9:00 am Today, we will visit Creel a former logging town and the last stop of the Kansas City-Mexico, and Orient Railway. Since the Chepe train arrived in 1961, it has become a popular tourist destination at 7,700 feet above sea level. We will explore the San Ignacio de Arareco area, managed by the
Rarámuri community, and take in stunning landscapes. We will also visit the Valley of the Mushrooms and Valley of the Frogs, known for their unique rock formations, and stop at the historic San Ignacio Mission, still used by the Rarámuri on Sundays.
Lunch in downtown Creel on your own
Return to the hotel
7:00 pm Dinner at the hotel included (drinks are not included)
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BUT FIRST we got to make a visit to a local woman who is developing opportunities for her small community. She has opened her home to visitors and everyone was amazed and appreciative that we had this chance.
The electricity is from some solar panels.
The view out the window.
It took some climbing to get down here, it was all built into what seemed a ledge in the mountain, and I failed to get a photo of the scene or of our host. There was shopping of course, baskets, carvings, etc. and it was a little crowded with us and the local people but what followed was a highlight for me.
Janice shared this picture of our host and it even includes my shiny red cane.
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I thought to start early going back up so I could take my time (No Falling!) and this young girl could see I was being super-cautious making my way slowly over the rocks and oddly spaced steps. She took my hand and led me up to the top, so gentle and sweet and firm and decisive. Oh lordy. And when we got to the top I asked if we could walk to her house and she led me through the trees to a nice place with folks doing chores in the yard, and then she let go of my hand. Look at her little finger looped around my bag. SIGH!
Now we continued on our journey to Creel.
El Museo Tarahumara de Arte Popular
Notice the walking sticks with the bird heads. Many in the group bought walking sticks and at the airport they combined them all in one wrapped package to get checked and the airline didn’t charge them anything. Clever!
Just a little corner of a town that looked very appealing, spiffy, with personality, and ambition.
Across from the museum and the train tracks were two churches, this one that I couldn’t get into and…
…this one, that I could get into.
This was unexpected and charming.
I took this picture to remind me of the Mennonite community being of Dutch and Prussian ancestry, settling in West Prussia, then moving to Canada in the 1800s, and then in the 1920s, coming to Mexico. Mestiza are the people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry. Tarahumara seems to be a controversial name since the people call themselves Rarámuri.
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Here we are arriving at the Valley of the Mushrooms and Valley of the Frogs.
I get it. My Mushroom pictures are too weird though.
One of us. We could hear his drumming from a mile away, and the clarion call of shopping too.
A local church, the historic San Ignacio Mission, still used every Sunday…
…where the congregants stand.
Scene from a Western movie.
This day had two surprises from our hosts not on the itinerary, the stop at the local home, and this event of dancing and foot races.
Notice the rattles around the dancers legs, and notice the sandals on the violin player’s feet, made of leather strips and tire treads. They can run hundreds and hundreds of miles for years and years on one pair. All the footwear is made in exactly the same way.
This is an example of a training game for the Rarámuri. They run back and forth like this for hours. We broke up into the red team and the white team so we knew who to root for. The men are chasing after wooden balls that they flip up with their toes and hit with the sticks and the women are chasing after rope circles that they fling with their sticks.
Everyone’s here, our last big get-together.
