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 Travel & Outdoors | October 2007 
Excursion to Mexico's Copper Canyon: Train Climbs Through Dramatic Terrain
 Jim Fox - The Canadian Press
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| | Vallarta Adventures offers a round-trip flight from Puerto Vallarta, hotel accommodations, meals, sightseeing tours, and a First-Class train ride on the Copper Canyon railroad. Click HERE for more info. |
Barranca del Cobre, Mexico - It's a long journey to Mexico's Copper Canyon but getting there is a big part of the attraction, as this is one of the world's great train rides.
On this picture-perfect day, the Chihuahua Pacifico Railway train chugs six hours each way through about 80 tunnels and over 35 bridges, climbing almost 2,200 metres.
Onboard are a group of cruise passengers on a ruggedly exotic and lengthy - at 18 hours - shore excursion.
The excursion from Holland America's Ryndam makes it possible to absorb the splendour of Mexico's Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre) in one day.
"It is essential that you bring a spirit of adventure - this is not a typical train ride in any sense," Holland America cautions passengers. Even so, the Copper Canyon trips are a sellout with long waiting lists and a US$399 price tag.
Leaving the ship in the pre-dawn darkness at Topolobampo on the Sea of Cortez, we arrive two hours later by bus in El Fuerte, a colonial town with cobblestone streets, to board the privately chartered train.
Wending through the twists and turns of the Sierra Madre Mountains in northwestern Mexico, the train passes towering waterfalls, crosses wild rivers and dramatic gorges and heads into the remote and beautiful wilderness.
Passengers snap photos from the open windows of doors between the cars.
The Chihuahua Pacifico Railway, known by the nickname "Chepe," is an engineering marvel that took almost 90 years to build over the rugged terrain.
The train at first traverses flatlands when continental boxed breakfasts are served and a guide tells of what lies ahead.
Then, the views become spectacular, offering glimpses of rural Mexican life as a burro loaded with agave is led along a path and women wash clothes in fast-running streams.
The scenes change from fields of giant pipe organ cactus to pine-studded hills, slate-blue lakes and red cliffs around every corner.
Our destination, Copper Canyon, is deeper in many parts than Arizona's Grand Canyon, and more verdant. Copper was never mined here, but the name derives from the green-coloured lichen clinging to the canyon walls.
Copper Canyon actually comprises six separate canyons covering almost 65,000 square kilometres and ranging from 1,000 metres to 1,870 metres deep. The Grand Canyon's depth averages 1,220 metres.
About 60,000 reclusive Tarahumara Indians live primitively in Copper Canyon in caves and small huts, grow a few crops, wear traditional clothing and beat drums or send runners to communicate from village to village.
They're adept at making handicrafts, such as agave and pine-needle baskets, costumed dolls, pottery, drums and flutes. Many sell their wares to tourists at the canyon.
After arriving at the canyon's Posada Barrancas station, we board a bus for a five-minute ride to the Posada Barrancas Convention Centre for a lunch of traditional Mexican favourites, including flour tortillas and corn-wrapped tamales. Then there's another short bus ride to the Mirador Hotel where the observation terrace hangs out over the canyon.
There's only an hour or so to look around and take hikes before the return trip that follows the same route.
It's 10 p.m. when we arrive back at the ship where we're given a rousing welcome with an outdoor reception line including the captain, officers and crew, and an invitation to dinner in the Lido.
Sailing roundtrip from San Diego, the Ryndam's ports-of-call include Cabo San Lucas, Loreto, Topolobampo, Pichilinque (La Paz), Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. There are three days at sea on the 10-day cruise.
If you sail . . .
Holland America's 1,258-passenger Ryndam features itineraries to the Sea of Cortez and Baja California roundtrip from San Diego. Cruise fares start at US$999 a person, double occupancy.
The Ryndam also offers 10-day Mexican Riviera cruises, roundtrip from San Diego, from $1,049.
On the web: HollandAmerica.com; or call 1-877-724-5425. More information on Copper Canyon is at CopperCanyonInsider.com.
Jim Fox is a Kitchener, Ont.-based freelance writer. His Ryndam cruise and Copper Canyon excursion were sponsored by Holland America. |
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