The eighth wonder of the world, via rail

by Colleen Friesen

The hot desert wind scours our faces as we cling to the rails of our open-sided box car. We are rocketing full-throttle down Mexico’s Pacific Coast on the vintage Sierra Madre Express.

It is our first morning enroute to the Copper Canyon aboard this four-car “consist.” Last night, the rails waltzed us to sleep in our little Lucy and Desi bunks. Somewhere in that starry night, we left behind the twin border towns of Nogales. My husband Kevin and I are on board with 33 other passengers, eight Mexican staff and our Tucson tour-guide team, the Molines.

MEXICO's Copper Canyon, in the northern part of the country, is most spectacularly accessed via rail.

Jim Moline speaks: “We will be entering into the territory of one of the most remote Indian tribes in North America. There are more than 60,000 Tarahumara in these canyons, many of them still living in caves or primitive plank houses.”

The cacti forest morphs into pine as we climb inland 5,100 feet. A dustry drive and we’re at Hotel El Mission in Cerocahui. Heavily scented roses surround the open-verandah hallways. Margaritas await in the dining room. The buzz of non-stop conversation is punctuated with loud laughs as everyone shares their stories.

That night we tuck in under woolen blankets, falling asleep to children’s laughter in the town’s centro. Roosters summon the dawn. The aroma of coffee and hot corn tortillas slips through our open window.

Back on board, we trundle up, up, up. The single use of the word “canyon” is almost a misnomer. Known as the eighth wonder of the world, this is a series of almost 20 canyons that fold and fall into each other, eventually encompassing an area almost five times the size of United States’ Grand Canyon. The comparison ends there. These barrancas are sunken forests of pine and endless blue-green crevasses, like an inverted mountain range. Ultimately we will pass through 87 tunnels and over 37 trestle bridges on tracks, reaching 8,100 feet on a railway line that took nearly a century to complete.

Near Creel, the train stops. Alongside, Tarahumara women quietly display their intricate baskets woven from grasses or foot-long pine needles. This is not the Mexican bargaining we’re used to. Silent babies, wrapped in bright cocoons, cling to hot-pink sweaters and orange shawls. Homemade sandals protect the women’s feet; floral, pleated skirts create tents around their muscular legs. Our tiny compartment fills with the scent of hot pine.

Our hotel for the next two nights hangs from a cliff. Silence, thick as snow, pushes into our thick-tiled room. Far-off fires from tiny Tarahumara homes light the way to a view of forever. Beneath our balcony, a hard-packed trail leads to a family’s cave.

The last night on board, Donna Winchester of South Carolina leads with the first toast: “I thought I’d signed on to travel by train to a remote landscape . . . I had no idea I would end my journey so educated about the local culture.” We all nod, raising our glasses in tacit agreement.

Updates:

• The CHEPE (or public train) is the only way to journey by rail through the Copper Canyon as of February 2010.
• The town of El Fuerte was recently named one of Mexico ’s “magic towns,” a new initiative designed to promote lesser known cultural gems throughout the country. As a result, many of the colonial buildings surrounding El Fuerte’s town square are now being renovated.
• A Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Mexico’s Copper Canyon Region.  75% of the proceeds from each book purchased through the author’s website are donated to an educational scholarship for Tarahumara and mestizo girls in the Copper Canyon. Contact author Linda Ford at spade53@juno.com.
• Girls’ school in Cerocahui

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Photos: Colleen Friesen