Abandoning our bikes for a couple of days

As we left Topolobampo, finally in dry weather though extremely hot and humid, the roads were showing signs of the massive rain we just had. Huge puddles and mini lakes were covering some portions of the road to Los Mochis. We lifted our legs up when driving through some deeper waters to avoid being completely splashed. Before heading south, we wanted to check out the nearby canyon, Las Barrancas del Cobre, which you can only reach by train, and since the only train that leaves everyday had already gone, we had some time to run errands.

Getting ready to hop on the Ferrocaril Chihuahua - Pacifico

We both had on our bikes pieces of metal that needed to be welded: Chad had broken his central stand and Caroline's chain guard had broken again. We asked around if there was a welder in town and were finally directed to Senor Ernesto Ferman. As we pulled into his car and truck shop, he looked at ourbikes and confirmed he could do it for $8. The welder was here and ready to help us. Chad supervised the work and in no time, there were three guys around the bikes helping. After an hour of work, they got both done and the guys were asking questions about us and the trip. We had a good time chatting with them and finally had to take off to continue our journey to El Fuerte. This little colonial town was where we would be taking the train the next morning to a huge canyon, comparable to the Grand Canyon but apparently bigger and more green.

The next morning, we got up early and left our bikes at the hotel and went to the train station. As the train pulled in, we were waived by a German couple we had met in La Paz and who were traveling the whole American continent as well but with an old beaten Volkswagen van. It was so cool to see them again so we decided to explore the canyon together with two other people they had met earlier. The train ride was a lot of fun: we went through breathtaking lanscapes, with lush forest, big brown wild rivers and carved peeks. As we were gaining altitude, the weather was also getting cooler. On the train, we also met two Mexican sisters on vacation: it was so nice talking to them and for Caroline to practice her Spanish. Finally, after our 6-hour journey we arrived in Posado Barrancas, a small mountain town close to the rim of the canyon.

Walking and riding in the canyon

After dropping our luggage in the small hotel, all six of us took a walk to the canyon. There was a small path up to the rim where we got our first view of the size of the Barrancas del Cobre: non-ending green canyons, colorful cliffs and far away, the sound of the river. With the warm light of the late afternoon, it was a breathtaking sight. It definitively reminded us of the Grand Canyon but with a different vegetation, like cactus and agave, and many trees on the rocks. We sat on a rock at the edge of the canyon, and just stayed there for a while taking in the beauty of the site. No one was talking, we were all relaxing there and looking at how beautiful nature can be. After a while, we walked a little more and went back to the hotel, to enjoy our home made Mexican dinner. The family running the hotel offered to be our guide the next day and take us on a horse back-ride into the canyon. Seems that we were all interested into living that adventure! We went to bed early to be ready for the ride, before the heat would kick in, but not without admiring the bright stars there was on that clear night. It is amazing how beautiful the stars are when there is absolutely no light pollution.

All our horses were ready before nine the next morning. Our guide helped us get on the horses: it was kind of being on our bikes but the seat was much harder and we were not as good to control the horse as we are with the bike. Where are again the acceleration and braking pedals? As we starting descending into the canyon, the horses were doing incredibly well on the steep and narrow path, obstructed with many big rocks and drops. They tripped a few times, giving us a few scares but always able to get it back together. We continued our descent, having more incredible views of the canyon and surprised to see that there were quite a few small houses in the canyon, cultivating there own crops. We crossed a few rivers, went through lush high bushes, brushing our legs, more big rocks and trees that sometimes the horses would get us into.

After two hours on fun riding (or for some, scary challenging downhill ride), we took a break and went for a short hike to let the horses rest before the long return uphill. The guide took us to more spectacular viewpoints of the canyon, and being now half way down, we could see the river we had heard the day before. It was hard not to stay and sit there the whole day, just taking in the scenery. The way back was hard on the horses: it was getting much hotter as we were approaching lunch time and they were sweating crazy with the effort. The guide had to smack them a few times to keep them going as the horses would stop every now and then and not move anymore. We were finally up back on the rim, and you could feel they knew we were getting closer to home. As we were on flat terrain, the lead horse took off into a gallop and Caroline's horse, which was third in line just followed and took off as well. It was crazy fun, the horses just running in the mud and water, splashing us all over. It was a goodway to end a great horse ride into the canyon. All of us had sore butts and sore backs but so happy we went for the adventure.

We finally got back on the train that was taking us back to El Fuerte, where we reunited with our bikes. We had missed them but it was also great to try out some other means of transport like the only Mexican train and ride horses. We said goodbye to Hannah and Matthias, our German friends, hoping that our paths would cross again in our journey. We were glad we had shared these moments with newly made friends.