One of our projects for 2005 is to make more trips inland in Mexico to get more of a flavor for the country.  We left San Carlos and drove south an hour and a half to Obregon where we headed east on some small, and poorly marked roads.  Well perhaps not poorly marked, but marked differently from the road maps that we had.  Across the flat plains and into the mountains the roads were pretty good.  As we got fully into the mountains the roads became very steep and winding.  They were in pretty good condition, but pretty slow going.  We passed through a few small towns and arrived late in the afternoon at Basaseachi where the waterfall park is located.  We didn't find a good place to camp and it was getting dark so we found a small family run motel and restaurant and spent the night there.  Very basic but quite clean.  The dogs weren't thrilled as they were barred from the room.  Dinner in the restaurant didn't involve a menu, just an offer of what they felt like making, which was fine.

The next day we hit the waterfall park and had a great walk to the lip of the falls.  Unfortunately despite the overnight rains there was very little water in the stream so the cascade was not too impressive, but the view into the canyon over the lip was superb.  Back on the road we took the long way around to Creel.  The roads on the East of the mountains were much better with longer straights and fewer extreme grades.

Creel is the heart of the mountain tourist area.  Tourists arrive mostly by train and bus, but a few like us come by car.  The old part of town is nicely cleaned and cared for, a bit of a contrast to the usual Mexican town.  Lots of restaurants, handicraft and curio stores, and a few displays and museums.  Also unlike any other Mexican city we have been in, cool and comfortable!  Creel is at 7000 foot altitude which gives it cool summers and frosty winters.  Many Tarahumara women in traditional dress are in town, some hawking handicrafts, but many just going about their business. 

After camping overnight near town we drove to Divisadero and Arepo for views of the copper canyon.  Unlike the Grand Canyon, Copper Canyon is much lusher, with green plants from the rim to the valley floor. Also the rock formations don't form the same high cliffs, but are thinner and offer more opportunities for trails or tracks.  The Tarahumara have houses throughout the canyon.  Summer places near the rim, and winter homes near the bottom.  Lots of small fields near their camps or homes in the caves.  Copper Canyon is spectacular, deeper and longer than the Grand Canyon, but also very different and more welcoming.

Another night camping and a morning spent in the museum and shopping for Christmas gifts and we were off to the flatlands around Chihuahua.  We had originally planned to cross the mountains back to Hermisillo, but decided that the roads back to Tucson via Chihuahua and El Paso would be much faster and more pleasant.  It also gave us a chance to see more of the State of Chihuahua.

We camped overnight near Cuantemoc in the Mennonite country.  Then on around Chihuahua and onto the road north to El Paso.  Chihuahua generally was a surprise to us.  The homes and businesses were in much better shape and organization than any we have seen in Mexico.  The whole are seemed much more prosperous.  Factories and industry appeared to be productive and well cared for.  Lots of quite nice middle class housing, and less of the third world squalor than in other cities we've seen.

After a long wait at the border in El Paso we found a hotel for the night.  The next day we zoomed on to Tucson where we spent several days shopping for those things that are hard to get in Mexico, like peanut butter.