Zacatecas, Mexico

I stayed one night in Flagstaff, Arizona and in the morning rode to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The canyon is stunning and spectacular, with visitor centers perfectly designed to accommodate thousands of tourists, and which managed to slightly spoil the experience. Wanting to head into Mexico, I rode north to Monument Valley in the Navaho Nation Reservation - a welcome change of culture from other parts of the US. It was the wrong direction, but the valley is at least as amazing as the Grand Canyon and I was pleased I took the detour. I then waited in Phoenix for a few days while some parts I ordered for the GPS unit I’d bought arrived, so I was happy to have met the sculptor David Therrien in a bar on my first night in town. Over the next few days he showed me his work, his studio and around Phoenix. I have a feeling we’ll be doing some work together in the future. It was really nice to see my good friend Brian in Phoenix too. His parents live there and he was over from Britain to see them. Very kindly they’d also been my delivery address for the GPS system I’d ordered from San Antonio. So, with just one more night spent in the US, staying with Beth in Tucson (who’s a friend of David’s) I left for Mexico.
I ended my first week in Mexico at the city of Mazatlan on the central Pacific coast. I traveled there from Nogales where I crossed Mexico/Arizona boarder, via Guaymas and the Barranca del Cobra or Copper Canyon. In Nogales I met Omar. He was riding a GS like mine so we stopped and talked. He helped me get my paperwork sorted out with the officials on the Mexican side; which turned out to be pretty straightforward. When I arrived in Guaymas the carnival, which occurs in towns all over Mexico in the days before Lent, was just getting underway and went on all night. But after just one night there I rode to El Fuerte to catch the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico. This is the train service that runs from Los Mochis on the Coast to Chihuahua. I left my bike in El Fuerte and took the ferrocarril through the stunning Copper Canyon to a small town called Creel high in mountains. It had been hot in El Fuerte and assuming I’d left the cold weather behind me I didn’t bring enough warm clothing for the snow flurries found at that altitude. A blanket borrowed from the hostel kept me warm and made me look a little like one of the regions indigenous Tarahumara Indians, but still very obviously a tourist in a blanket. Partly as a consequence of living in such an isolated and inaccessible region the Tarahumara have managed to retain many of their traditions. In fact some Tarahumara still live in cave dwellings, one of which I visited. From small stalls the Tarahumara women sell beautiful hand woven baskets, jewelry and brightly coloured cloths. I felt privileged to have met them and also a little uncomfortable; theirs must be a fragile culture that is easily eroded by contact with the western world.
Leaving El Fuerte I rode along the Pacific highway to Mazatlan. A road that judging by the rusty signs and broken tarmac must be at least twenty years old, but doesn’t appear at all on my GPS map. The toll roads are expensive too; I must have spent over 50 dollars on tolls since Nogales. But Mazatlan is a tourist town, and there are too many American accents, so I rode inland road towards Zacatecas and the northern central highlands. It’s a great road. I kept stopping to take photos when I thought the view just couldn’t get better, but it did. Zacatecas, where I am now, is a beautiful colonial city. I’ll spend tomorrow wandering about; there are apparently some excellent galleries and museums, and a cable car to ride. I also need to get some more pants and socks - some strange person at the Phoenix hostel stole most of mine!
I just found out that I was frontpage news on the Silver City Press, Arizona. www.scdailypress.com 02.06.2007 was the issue. Mileage 9836.