After several hours on the train from humid El Fuerte we disembarked into the chilly air of a small station way up in the mountains called Barrancas (canyons). From there we drove less than a mile to The Hotel Mirador which is perched right over the edge of the canyons.
Local Raramuri Indians are of course always there where visitors are to sell their crafts.
One goes through the hotel lobby which could have come out of any National Park Lodge in the US southwest.
Then out onto a terrace- and then …
Below-Our room was very rustic and cosy with a fantastic view.
Above-Dawn from our terrace.
Above– Way down in the valleys are the tin roofed houses of the Ramaruri. (More on them later)
Below– There is a gondola that traverses one of the canyons. Nearly 9000 feet to that flat spot in the distance. There is also a high speed zip line for the hedonists. We chose the gondola.
Below-the gondola ride gives a chance to see how the Raramuri live deep in the canyons. They choose not to live close to each other and find any flat area to build. These people are renowned for their running (uphill) abilities and they do it in recycled old tires.
The gondoler dropped us at a flat area on top of another sheer sided hill some 8000 feet from where we started. We were greeted by a Raramuri Indian violinist. (More on that local indigineous tribe in next posting but they were of course at every tourist spot selling their crafts).
Below- How to take a blurry photo.
Below-How lucky do you feel today? One of the “adventures” you can go on if you survive the zip line.
Above- The Raramuri live in some precarious places, like here in caves along the rockface.
In the ancient cave dwellings of the U.S. southwest especially Mesa Verde, one can see that where there is a different layer of rock there is a place where water will seep out.
Below our guide Karuna who organized and showed us the very best of everything.
Next: A drive down into the canyon.