tarahumara – Page 4 – The California Native

April 20, 2009April 27, 2009

My Copper Canyon Adventure — Day 7

On a Stroll to Satevo

The following story was submitted to us by Kay Gilliland who describes her experience traveling with friends through Mexico’s Copper Canyon during the Christmas holidays. Here, Kay and her traveling companions explore the village of Batopilas and the mysterious “Lost Cathedral” at Satevo.

The California Native is always thrilled to have groups of friends join our trips to this charming region of Mexico. We appreciate it when our guests share their stories with us and we like to add them to our blog for everyone to enjoy. Excerpts from her journal will be posted regularly, so check back often to learn more about Kay’s 11-day Copper Canyon Adventure.

December 29, Monday

In the morning, we walked to Carolina’s Restaurant in the Plaza Constitución for breakfast. We saw the sandal maker’s shop and his stack of tires. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, then got ready for the walk to Satevo. One of the local dogs, Perucho, joined us for the whole walk. Along the way Jenny found a sack of cheese and Perucho devoured it. I stopped to tie my boot lace and Perucho stayed with me. All of a sudden he looked up to find Jenny far ahead. Perucho ran as fast as his legs would carry him and caught up with her.

Up ahead, we heard a lot of animal snufflings which proved to be coming from one tiny piglet. I couldn’t believe that little thing was making all that noise.

We arrived at the “Lost Cathedral” of Satevo. A woman sitting in the gazebo of the plaza was making embroidered napkins. We sat down while Jessica told us about the Cathedral. It was built in the early 1600s or maybe the 1760s but the records were lost through fire. Another name for it is “Iglesias San Miguel de Satevo” but so little is known about who built it that the name “Lost Cathedral” has stayed with it. Piled around inside the cathedral were statues, basins, and other church paraphernalia. The walls are being restored (with government money) as near to the original as possible. The Christmas manger had many additions including a giraffe. Jenny climbed the ladder into the tower of the church and out onto the roof while we took pictures.

Jessica, Jenny, Sally, Laurie and I climbed into the truck for a ride back from Satevo. At the top of the hill Jessica and Jenny got out to walk, expecting Perucho to accompany them. Perucho would have none of it. He wanted to ride all the way back. He was finally pulled out of the truck and walked the rest of the way with Jenny and Jessica.

After a shower we walked over to Doña Mica’s for lunch. This restaurant is built onto her home and she cooks everything on an old-fashioned wood-fire stove.

A young woman came to the door of the restaurant with a basket full of something in red cellophane wrappers. Jessica bought some and introduced us to a sweet candy made of Cameron. After a refreshing lunch we walked to the General Store for chocolate covered frozen bananas and cups of frozen mango.

Back at Juanita’s Place I watched life on the Rio Batopilas: women washing clothes, children playing, teens swimming and teasing each other, cattle coming for a drink, and a truck driving down through the middle of it all. Sally crossed the swaying footbridge and returned saying there were many missing and broken slats. Bill pointed out the enormous bougainvillea tree and we talked about how it could exist when we knew the plant only as a slender vine.

We walked toward the Hacienda de San Miguel. I went the long way, getting a ride from Antonio for part of it, but everyone else crossed the river on a very narrow makeshift “bridge” with lots of help from Jessica. When asked if she felt like turning back, Sally said she was determined to make it because Laurie was making it. They did make it, but it was a “one-way bridge” because Jessica did not offer to take us back that way.

The ruins were quite impressive. Jessica explained that Alexander Shepherd administered his silver empire from this site. He decided the silver mines could be profitable if the silver was processed into ingots rather than trying to ship raw ore out of remote Batopilas, and those mines made him very rich. We walked around the ruins of stamp mills, an assay office, refectory, boardinghouse, corral and stables, machine shop, iron foundry, ingot mill, and other buildings and sheds. At one time an aerial tram linked canyon slopes on both sides of the river. Several large fig trees grow on the compound walls and the tallest building is overgrown with a huge bougainvillea; Jessica said the bougainvillea is considered the largest in the world.

We came back from our walk to find the museum as well as the craft store closed. We hung out in the Main Plaza watching the kids play ball. As we walked to supper Jessica saw Señora Montes and asked her to open the store after we had dinner. She said she would be there. We ate a wonderful supper at Patio Cinco Restaurante. The tostadas of avocado and of chicken tasted especially good. Jessica took glasses from the restaurant and walked across the street to get them filled at a place with a license. When we walked back the light was on in Señora Montes’ store and she greeted us at the door. We bought butterfly rattles, drums, baskets. Jennie bought a magnificent big drum for Lori.

We returned to Hotel Juanita’s and went star gazing on the roof. We found Orion, Auriga, Canis Major with Sirius the Dog Star, the Pleiades, the Great Square of Pegasus, Cassiopea, and the Milky Way but we never saw the Big Dipper, North Star or the Little Dipper. We went back down to our room and were soon asleep.

April 15, 2009May 10, 2018

My Copper Canyon Adventure — Day 4

Next Stop: Divisadero

The following story was submitted to us by Kay Gilliland who describes her experience traveling with friends through Mexico’s Copper Canyon during the Christmas holidays. Breathtaking is the word quite often associated with someone’s first view of the Copper Canyon at the area around Divisadero. Below Kay offers us a similar response.

December 26, Friday

Jenny made a fire in the neat little stove. We took pictures of the room and the rock high on the cliffs that resembled Yogi Bear.

Breakfast included eggs, cheese and mild chili sauce, all on a taco. We watched our cook make tortillas de aveno, then packed and thanked our hosts. Sally, Laurie and I went off for a hike with Jessica while Jenny went horseback riding. The hikers crossed an open area near lava- and tuff-layered cliffs, then up the arroyo to a small dam. Laurie decided to sit on a rock by the water. Sally and I followed Jessica upstream where she showed us an arrowhead. I asked if I could keep it and she said, “Oh, no. I always place it back under this leaf and rock so I can find it again for the next group. It is not considered to be of local origin, probably obtained in trade.” We continued upstream to the Cave of the Crosses. Fifty-three white crosses were painted on the black wall of the cave and there were human bones on the rocks. It is believed that the people died here of disease sometime around 1890 to 1900. There was possibly a storage area against the wall and there were several examples of the mano metate used for grinding corn. We hiked back down passing many kinds of oak and pine. Jessica pointed out the Alligator Juniper—it gets its name from the bark. I had seen a flock of little birds and a large bird like a woodpecker, but we did not see them again. We continued on to where Laurie was waiting and all four of us returned to the lodge in time to see Jenny coming in on her horse.

Jessica helped hoist our bags into the van and we all piled in for a ride to the train station. We talked with various people at the station. I rode between the cars in the open window. The canyons are very deep, 6135 feet in the case of the Urique (compare that to 6030 for the deepest part of the Grand Canyon in the United States). We passed the place where three canyons came together: Tararequa, Urique, and Copper. As before, many tunnels and bridges. The train stopped at San Rafael, a very colorful spot, where I bought my fourth basket.

Jessica explained that the pink-flowered trees were called Amapa and those trees came in yellow also. The beautiful fig type trees with yellow trunks and branches were Tescalame, one of the fig tree types. We got off at Divisidero for a van ride to the Mirador Hotel. We had a little porch outside our room with a fantastic view. Every room has a similar opportunity for its occupants to marvel at the canyon.

I saw a woman weaving a beautiful basket and wanted a picture. I bought my fifth basket so I could take a picture of her working on the basket.

The Mirador Hotel knows how to take full advantage of the reason for being on the rim of the Copper Canyon area. Jessica pointed out the place where the three canyons converge, only one of which is the Copper Canyon proper. Jenny’s and I sat on our porch filling our souls with the magnificence around us.

As we entered the lodge, Felipe gave us sombreros and began to play his guitar—lots of great songs. The Hat Dance brought a few people up to dance and more joined in as other tunes were played. Dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots (standing up like sentinels in the mashed potatoes) was followed by tea and cheesecake. Another wonderful day and off to bed.

April 14, 2009May 10, 2018

My Copper Canyon Adventure — Day 3

Cerocahui Christmas Morning, Urique Canyon Christmas Day

The following story was submitted to us by Kay Gililand who describes her experience traveling with friends through Mexico’s Copper Canyon during the Christmas holidays. In this entry, Kay learns how Christmas cheer spreads from the lodge in Cerocahui to the village of Urique, deep in the valley below.

December 25, Thursday, Christmas Day

Jenny brought coffee from the lodge and made a fire. I wrote in my journal. The shower was nice and hot, breakfast was delicious including the bañuelos. I turned them over and filled all the little spaces with cinnamon and sugar: delicious. Laurie and Jenny helped stuff candy into a piñata. Children and parents began arriving and soon the piñata was swinging from a rope held by a boy on the roof. Diego started each child off and soon the piñata was broken and candy scattered out over a pile of children diving for it. Afterward Anna María handed out toys and toothbrushes and the children were delighted. The stuffed toys became prized possessions for each child and especially among the older girls.

We had a few minutes to get ready for a van ride to Urique Canyon. Along the way Diego picked up a man walking. We stopped at lookouts and then at a cave along the road. Diego Rhodes said at one time a family lived there, two parents and ten children. Now it is their shop and we bought baskets from a young girl inside the cave. It was my first basket purchase. The basket is made from the leaves of an agave plant and pine needles. We stopped at Mirador Cerro de Gallego, bought baskets, my second, and watched a family preparing and cooking goat meat. Later we visited that family in their home. From the lookout we could see our dirt road far below us with winding switchbacks clear to the bottom of the Urique Canyon.

As we approached the town we stopped to see a cemetery and then walked to Tortillerî Paulina Restaurant Plaza for a delicious lunch in an outdoor patio surrounded by flowers, other plants, and joyfully drunk people. We walked down the main street of town where trucks full of families lumbered toward an area near the Urique River. We turned back because of the dust and walked back up the main street. Young boys were driving four-wheelers up and down the street. By the time we got back toward town, people had cordoned off the central part of the street for a celebration. Diego drove back up the dirt road picking up those who were walking—a man, a family, some children—and dropping them off wherever they wanted at seemingly desolate places with no building in sight.

We stopped at the house of a Tarahumara family whom we had met at the lookout, Paula and Fabian. We saw their grain storage, the house, the fields of corn, some beans and melon, some apple trees, and the new room they had just built.

Back at the lodge, we had time to rest and write until 7:00 P. M. The five of us had a margarita together and then dinner: turkey and apple dressing. Off to bed afterwards, Jenny and I talked until late that night.

April 13, 2009May 10, 2018

My Copper Canyon Adventure — Day 2

Christmas in Copper Canyon

The following story was submitted to us by Kay Gililand who describes her experience traveling with friends through Mexico’s Copper Canyon during the Christmas holidays. On this day, Kay recalls her experience riding the train into the Sierra Tarahumara and spending Christmas Eve at the Paraiso del Oso Lodge in Cerocahui. The holidays are a fascinating time to visit Copper Canyon.

Pinata

Jessica’s knock on the door summoned us to a walk through El Fuerte. The town plaza was bordered by a church and public buildings with an elaborate ironwork gazebo at the center. Jessica had given us maps of El Fuerte, so it was easy to walk to the fort. The fort was constructed in 1610 under the order of the Viceroy of Montesclaros. We took pictures and hurried back for breakfast.

We returned to the Torres del Fuerte and walked through the lovely courtyard by the outside lounge area and into the dining room: papaya, watermelon, coffee, fresh orange juice, Mexican eggs, bacon, potato pancake and special toast.

It was not far to the train station. Bags were unloaded and we joined about 20 people waiting for the Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad. A local boy carried my bag to the dock. Jessica gave us good maps of the train route and of the general area called Sierra Tarahumara, Barrancas del Cobre. We had assigned seats on the train but there were few passengers so we soon went wherever we wished. Favorite spots were a table in the dining car and standing on the platforms between the train cars. Those were the best viewing spots. Jessica pointed out typical plants of the thorn scrub: Kapok Tree, Palo Verde, Morning Glory Tree, Organpipe Cactus and Acacia. Many bridges and tunnels through spectacular mountains kept us on the platforms between the trains most of the time.

We got off the train at Bahuichivo Station. Our bags were loaded into a large van for the ride to the Hotel Paraiso del Oso (Paradise of the Bear). Located at kilometer 12 route 51 between Bahuichivo Station and Cerocahui, the lodge is in the Huetoibo Valley, Ejido de Cerocahui, Municipio de Urique, State of Chihuahua at an elevation of 5648 feet. Doug “Diego” Rhodes and Anna María Chavez de Rhodes own the 2.5 acre lodge and a 23 acre Rancho with horses. The theme is built around the enormous rock feature shaped like Yogi Bear, thus the name Paraiso del Oso.

Later, we went for a ride to Cerocahui. Diego picked up a family who were walking the road and then continued to the church where people were gathering for a posada because it was Christmas Eve. We looked into the church then walked about the town, bought food to take to a family, and returned to the plaza in front of the church to watch children trying to hit a piñata.

After a ride home, a few minutes of rest, a fire in the wood stove thanks to Jenny, we were off to the lodge for “ponche” (hot Christmas punch) and dinner. We were invited to a Midnight Mass with traditional dancing, but we were too tired and went to bed instead. Christmas Eve had been a delight.

January 30, 2009April 17, 2009

The California Native Announces Stimulus Package

With the economy being at its lowest point since the Great Depression, our government is trying to give it a jump-start with a number of stimulus packages. We at California Native are announcing our own stimulus package:
In Mexico's Copper Canyon, a young Tarahumara weaver modestly smiles.
We are giving a $100 discount to each person signing up for any of our trips to Mexico’s Copper Canyon. This offer applies to each person that you sign up, and you can join a small group tour or enjoy one of our independent adventures.

To qualify all you have to do is mention this offer at the time you sign up. Hurry, our stimulus package is valid only until April 15, 2009, but you can travel at any time. Yes You Can!

November 21, 2008May 8, 2009

Run With the California Natives

The Tarahumara Indians are purported to be the world’s greatest runners,

Tarahumara runner in
Mexico’s Copper Canyon

running up and down the rugged canyons of their homeland, in Mexico’s remote Sierra Madre Mountains. The Tarahumara run for transportation and sport, and villages often compete against each other in races which last for several days. The area is commonly known as Copper Canyon, and its unique scenery and cave-dwelling inhabitants make it a favorite destination for active tourists looking to get off the beaten path.

The California Native has been running Copper Canyon tours for more than two decades, but the Tarahumara aren’t the only runners associated with the company. Several members of California Native’s staff are also avid runners.

The company’s founder and president, Lee Klein, began running two weeks before his 61st birthday. He has since competed in eleven marathons and is now training for his 12th.

Lee’s wife, Ellen, who also serves as California Native’s destination scout and researcher, is a race-walker and has completed five marathons, countless half-marathons, 5k and 10k races.

Lori Klein-Del Rosario, Lee’s daughter, who has guided California Native trips for almost twenty years, began running last year and completed her first marathon in June. She is now training for more races and is mentoring new runners.

In addition to running, California Native staff members participate in many other outdoor sports. Laurie Kraft, California Native’s Operations Manager, is an avid swimmer, while Jason Hall, California Native Tour Coordinator, can often be found surfing the waves at Malibu (after all, we are the California Native).


Lee at Long Beach CA Marathon	Ellen at Long Beach CA Marathon	Lori, Lee, and Ellen at El Segundo CA 5k race