El Fuerte Hotel

Et nous voici enfin dans le mythique train Chihuahua - Pacifico (connu sous le nom de CHEPE).
Les chiffres :

90 ans pour le construire
90 millions de dollars de coût de construction
630 km reliant Los Mochis sur la côte Pacifique à la ville de Chihuahua
39 ponts vertigineux
85 incroyables ...

... best way to see the canyon versus taking the train. After driving three hours on country roads from Alamos to El Fuerte the day before, we finally decided that it was a little much to drive two full days to get there and then two days back. We went from taking the train, to driving, to scrapping it all and going to Mazatlan in a matter of an hour...very spontaneous...sort of...or just indecisive.

Marisol and I decided to take a little day trip as Guasave´s sights were starting to wear a little thin. As we couldn´t actually get the train to Chihuhaha over the famous Barranca del Cobre we went for the next best thing and headed for the town of El Fuerte at the very beginning of the route. A pretty town filled with elderly Canadians and, not surprisingly considering it´s name, a fort with views over the distant mountain ranges and a small ...

Quite unexpectedly we found that this place was far more luscious in vegetation than we'd ever imagine. We caught the train from El Fuerte and spent 8 hours slowly chugging through an overwhelming green canyon, with some quite serious drops a foot or ...

... no sign of Alanna and I beginning to think we would have to take the ferry tomorrow. I was speaking to an American who was worried where his mate was as he too had headed off to get tickets over an hour ago when he suddenly appeared. I asked him if he had seen a blonde chick which he advised he had and that she should be about 30mins behind him. Alanna eventually turned up 10mins before official departure with tickets in hand. Given that we are in ...

... of Americans who are staying at the very posh & historic Posada del Hidalgo hotel (they had hired an entire carriage on the Copper Canyon railway !). Apart from seeing them once , I haven't seen another tourist here and this is the first place in Mexico where I have noticed something of a reaction to me being the obvious foreigner , ranging from Mexican blokes shouting at me in Spanish on the streets ...

Wow ! Today I travelled on the truly spectacular railway from Creel down to El Fuerte. The "El CHePe" train (Chihuahua-Al Pacifico Railway) runs through the "Barranco Del Cobre" (Copper Canyon) and is scheduled to take about 7 hours to do my particular journey. The route is quite simply stunning as the train descends through the Sierra Tarahumara mountains (at over 2000m altitude) down towards sea level at ...

I catch the ferry across the Sea Of Cortez (gulf of California) from Baja California to Mainland Mexico and the port of Topolobambo. It takes approx 8 hours and there is a nice sunset while we cross. I arrive at 9pm and jump on a local bus straight for the town of Los Mochis. From here i will take the Copper Canyon train ´Ël Chepe´ to the town of Creel. The bus is so packed i have to throw it in the back with all the locals and get in the front. i ...

... town, tiny and almost as old as the few patrons within it. The senora served only beer, and only one kind of beer (Tecate), but it came in either a can or a stubby, and it was cold, so there was no complaining. After I feasted at a nice restaurant on local Black Bass caught from the river I passed earlier, delicious, I strolled the streets some more. In doing so I ...

... and you´ll see why. The railway carves it´s way through the mountains, passing through tunnels, over canyons, lakes, and rivers. The closer you get to the coast the hotter it gets and the more tropical birds, palms, and cacti you see. For a lot of the way the railway follows rivers, at places we saw railway carriages from derailed trains in the river. We caught the first class train as this leaves ...