Copper Canyon from El Fuerte to Divisadero, September 4-5-6-7, 2001Copper Canyon from El Fuerte to Divisadero, September 4-5-6-7, 2001
Tuesday, September 4th, 2001 - We Prepare to leave from El Fuerte, Sinaloa
by
C. Juk; all photos property of Zihrena Systems©
We
arrived at the small town of El Fuerte, the western gateway to the Copper
Canyon, on September 4, 2001, after traveling up the Pacific coast of
Mexico from Zihuatanejo.
We were approaching our Copper Canyon tour with a "let's wing it" attitude, and hadn't made any prior arrangements for this trip into the Sierra Madre by train, other than to look at a map and a few pieces of information gleaned from the Internet. Upon reaching town at close to 5:30 pm, we decided to immediately find the railway station and see if there was a chance of getting tickets for the next days train. According to our sketchy sources, the station was located at a place some 7 kms outside of town called Hoyancos, and there was supposed to be a clear sign pointing the way. Going down the road past the arched entranceway into El Fuerte, we saw the sign: a blue and white informational marker depicting a Locomotive. We continued along the narrow paved road in pursuit.
15 or 20 minutes later, after passing what looked like a defunct cement plant and coming to a crossing of the train tracks with still a no sign of a station, John and I looked at each other and finally stopped to ask a couple of boys who where standing roadside, holding up small bags of green chiles piquin, and who were, after all, almost the first sign of life we'd seen since passing by the gates to town much more than 7 kms. back. The boys, in halted, accented Spanish, told us we were way off mark - the turnoff to the train station was right in town, right EXACTLY where that sign with the locomotive on it was standing. We thanked the boys, stowed the little bag of chiles we'd purchased off of them in our ice chest, and turned around. There, effectively, we saw that a small road angled off on the opposite side of the road from the entrance to El Fuerte, and this road, much narrower and more slipshodily paved than the road we had just traveled, did lead to the train station.
Not that it did us any good. The station was locked shut and deserted. A lone yard worker informed us that tickets are not for sale at the station, anyway. Just get on the train and pay the conductor. The train schedule posted in the window indicated that the 1st Class train was to leave at 8:30 am the following morning; 2nd Class would follow at 9 am.
We
then turned back into El Fuerte, through the welcoming arch that proclaimed
it's founding in 1564. We drove around through the surprisingly wide streets
in search of lodging. After touring around the square and side streets
a few times, we finally stopped in front of the Hotel Herradura, situated
behind the Church and next to the Posada del Hidalgo, one of El Fuerte's
major hotels. There we were greeted by the owner of the Hotel, a large,
dark and friendly man named Julian. He showed us a room - small and basic
but for the air conditioning, and clean. It was one of about 8 rooms
in the hotel, although Julian said he was working on the 2nd story which
would house another 8 rooms in the future. We unpacked the truck
and asked Julian if there was any place we could park and leave the truck
safely while we took our train ride into the mountains. He told us that
he did have a place where the truck could be left - at his own house,
which was a comforting thought. He also directed us to a restaurant -
Restaurante Supremo, which I'd noticed in our way into town, where, he
said, we could get a good, home cooked meal.
After
repacking a bag with what we thought we'd need on our train journey (we
planned to leave everything else locked in the truck), we found Restaurante
Supremo, where we had a simple but hearty meal of Liver & Onions (yes,
I like it!) and Beef Enchiladas (John doesn't). The restaurant didn't
serve anything stronger than Coca Cola, so after a short post-prandial
sojourn through the colonial archways and passages around the square,
we wandered over to La Mesa del General, a block off the square, where
we had a comforting drink before retiring to the hotel.
The weather was hot and close, even in the evening. The A/C was a comfort. A thunder and lightning storm was lighting up the night skies when we went to bed at 11.
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