One of the great train journeys of the world is the one in north west Mexico that travels from sea level at Los Mochis in Sinaloa and then traverses the Sierra Madre Occidental climbing to over eight thousand feet ending on the high plateau of Mexico in Chiahuahua.
The canyons were formed over some 30-40 million years by six rivers that drain the western side of the Sierra Madre Occidental. All six rivers merge into the Rio Fuerte and empty into the Sea of Cortez .
We joined the train at El Fuerte which was founded in 1563. In 1610 a fort (fuerte) was built on the high hill in the middle of town to ward off the fierce local Indian tribes. For three hundred years it was the most important commercial and agricultural center of the vast northwestern region of Mexico that stretched far into the Californias and Arizona. It was the chief trading post for silver and gold miners in the nearby mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental. In 1824, it became the capital city of the newly created Mexican state of Sonora y Sinaloa which at that time reached up into modern-day Arizona. It remained the capital for several years until the split of this state into the modern states of Sinaloa and Sonora.
Below ones first glimpse of the Hotel Posada Hidalgo just feet away from the fort on the top of the town hill.
Above a typical room in just one section of a four (soon to be five) part hotel combined from various old houses.
Below-Some of the items to be seen in the hotel among the memorabillia. A victorian era lamp and a beautiful piece of local pottery which reminds us of the close connections between the peoples of northern Mexico and the U.S. southwest.
Below-Originally the hotel was the home of the La Vega family where a young Diego was born there in 1793. He later travelled to what is now the Los Angeles area where he became the basis for the novels of a Robin Hood type character called Zorro.
Below– A Zorro-ette who entertained us after dinner.
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Photo courtesy Wikipedia
It was getting dark by the time we got to walk around the delightful colonial era town in the warmth of the evening.
The town had a nice ambience at twilight.
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Above -the Fuerte River flows past the fort at sunset. In the distance the foothills of the mountains we climb next day by train from the humid tropical lowlands up into the cool pine forested mountains .
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The next day dawned and we were on our way leaving El Fuerte behind at sea level up to 8ooo feet.
Difficult to photograph well from a moving train through sun glared glass but here are some views from the open space between the carriages.
Just a few weeks earlier torrential rains from a Pacific Hurricane had washed out long stretches of the track. An army of workers had (and still were) rebuilt the tracks in a matter of days allowing us not miss this whole section entirely.
Above- We passed the newer railcar that has an observation window.
Next.… Dramatic landscapes at 8000 feet.