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Up at 6:15 breakfast at 7:00

It was damp, cold and foggy but the air was very fresh. 

The elevation of Cerocahui is 1650 meters

The highest point on our way to Yurike canyon was 2300 meters

The first part of our trip was on a paved road but soon gave way to what can be best described as a good logging road with a steep drop-off on one side.

On the way, we stopped to shop at a stall by the side of the road. All the stuff is made by the local indigenous people “The Tarahumara”.

The Tarahumara people are very interesting. For a start, they own the Copper Canyon. You can own property there but it also belongs to the Tarahumara. If you have 10 hectares a Tarahumara family can build a house there also, “To take care of the property for you.” If they do this, they grow all the crops they need and then share it with you.  They are the world’s fastest, tireless runners. They run huge distances for whatever reason. They are also hunters, without guns or archery. They hunt by chasing their prey until it drops from exhaustion and then they pounce and kill it. 

When we got to the lookout point the views were spectacular.

Our schedule was to leave Cerocahui at noon but we left at 11:00 instead which caused a bit of confusion. 

Barrancas Hotel Mirador sits high on the edge of the canyon. Our lunch was included so that saved us some money. We had to wait a while for our room to be ready but well worth it. I’m sitting on our balcony right on the edge of the canyon. I’m muttering a few curses right now as we have no WiFi until I can buy some this evening. 

There was an optional tour to go down to the caves where the Tarahumara live. On the way, there were a lot of them sitting outside the hotel weaving baskets and selling their goods. 

The walk down was a bit steep and there were about 280 rock steps. We checked out the homes of the Tarahumara and Pancho gave us a choice of going back the way we came or going around the mountain and up to the top. We chose to go around. 

It was a bit of a tough hike but we saw a lot along the way and eventually reached the top. There was a bit of a photo-op going on so a few of us decided to find our own way back. Several times thought we were lost but battled on and eventually found our way back just ahead of the main party. The bonus was that we got some good exterior photos of the hotel.

We had a delicious dinner and then the music started. There was a two-man band mostly playing keyboards but one guy played the sax. For most of the evening, they played all the old norteño popular numbers. At about 9:30 they switched to music more popular with the younger Mexicans and did they have a good time.

These kids were late teens early twenties and they could really dance well. Not just jigging up and down, although there was some of that, but real dancing. It was fun to watch and Rosalie and I sat and watched for a long time. Eventually, we realized that we were the Norteños left in the place so we went to bed. Apparently, the party was still going strong at 1:30 in the morning.

I’m running late because we have no WiFi and I only just found out that we can buy some.

It was a bright and early start for breakfast. After which we took a tour of El Fuerte which is the home of EL Zorro. We were running low on funds so found an ATM and got some more. After checking out it was on to the train station. The platform was packed with travellers, mostly Mexican. We all wore out masks and tried to distance but it was a bit difficult.

For lunch, we had three choices, Tacos, flautas or hamburgers. They took our orders in our seats, and then we waited. Eventually, we were called to the table. We staggered to the dining car while the train was rocking like an old galleon in a storm. We sat with Pat and Sue, two very nice American ladies. We ordered white wine but Pat and Sue said they had been waiting for their drinks for about an hour so we didn’t hold out much hope of seeing ours.

Our meal eventually came. I didn’t quite get what I had asked for but that was okay as this is Mexico after all. By the end of the meal we still hadn’t seen our wine so asked what was going on and was told that they would bring it to our seats, which they eventually did. 

On the journey, we went over the highest bridge in the world, the longest bridge in the world and the longest tunnel in the world. Do you see a pattern here?

We connected with our ride to the hotel and climbed aboard. It took about 15 minutes to get to Cerocahui and our hotel. After checking in we went to hunt down a glass of wine. It was free time for a while but that soon ended with a seminar on ‘Barrancas del Cobre’ or Copper Canyon. Pancho also told us a lot about the Tarahumara, the indigenous people who own the canyon. 

After our seminar, we ordered a bottle of wine and found some other people in our party to pass the time with. Pat and Sue were at the bar so we sat with them sipping our wine. At dinner, it was noted that there wasn’t much left in our bottle. I wonder where it went? I would like to know as we paid about $36 Cdn for it. Oh well, they still had more behind the bar, so after dinner, we went there with Pat and Sue and Martina joined us. By this time we were having fun. We got another glass of wine each and I ordered what we thought might be a liqueur, ‘Azteca de Oro’ for Rosalie that turned out to be a kind of brandy she didn’t much care for. I had a tequila and sat chatting for an hour or two before bed.

When we first got to our rooms they were freezing cold but there was a large wood stove and lots of logs. Pancho said he would get it lit for us but me being an expert dived right in. In 15 minutes I had to go and find Pancho as the fire had gone out. Oh, the shame!

Up early again in the morning.

Up at six-thirty made some tea then woke Rosalie at ten to seven. Showered and finished packing. 

Ruth was to pick us up at 8:10 but I was a little concerned as the roads here are still really bad with running water and mud. She arrived on time and I didn’t have to get Rosalie to push us out of any deep puddles.

Our first stop was Barra to pick up a lady who was coming with us. Her name is Martina originally from France.

We got to the airport in Manzanillo and waited in line for about an hour to check-in. Ruth had done a great job, our boarding passes were all printed ahead of time and she handed them to us in the car. The flight was scheduled to leave at 10:30 am but there was a lot of air traffic over Mexico City so we left at 11:30.
We had booked early and Ruth had us in the good seats at the front of the plane, first class no less. Most of the rest of our party were back with the peasants (where we usually are.) We think this is because we booked early.

Mexico City was the usual gong show. The board showed our flight as area ‘M’. I knew where that was as we came this way before. So, we waited for the gate number to show up. But… they then changed it to ‘room D’.  After finding ‘room D’ it was a while before we found which gate to go to. We finally got it figured out and got on board. 

At Los Mochis, we were met by Pancho our tour guide. He counted us all and took us to the bus for a two-hour drive to the hotel. Los Mochis is the largest producer of tomatoes in the world. It’s very flat here. Please don’t tell the flat earth nut jobs about this.

Los Mochis is in the middle of the snoring desert. No wonder I kept nodding off. Wait…Rosalie said it’s the Sonoran desert but I still nodded off.

We arrived at La Fuerte at ‘Hotel Posada del Hidalgo’ which is very old and also a five-star hotel. We could tell how good it was when we saw the prices on the menu. We met up with Martina and enjoyed a nice meal with her. The bill was a bit pricey by Mexican standards but the ambiance was great and we probably paid what we would have paid in Canada at any local restaurant.

We heard that La Fuerte is the home of El Zorro so we will have to wait to find out if that is true or not.

Sent from my iPhone

We have a lot of birds in El Rancho. Not as many as last year because the parotta trees are no longer with us. (I crossed myself at this point even though I’m not catholic, just in case.)

The lawn here lights up at night with fireflies. But they are getting less and less because there is a flock of some sort of blackbirds gathering almost every day and chomping down on them.

The songs of the birds are very intense and really quite nice. They are loudest in the morning although there are some we can hear chirping at all times of the night.

I don’t count the chickens that sometimes wander in if we leave the gates open too long. You’d think they would leave an egg or two.

A few days ago at lunchtime, we picked up Jim and Ylda and went for a drive to Playa de Coco. There is a lovely little restaurant there called ‘La Palma Negra’ (The Black P alm.)

Palma Negra is way out of the way and when they first opened out there vlast season, we wondered whether they would make it with no other customers in sight. That was put to rights on this day as the place was packed with almost all Canadians. The food is really good and we had a great meal. Jim and Ylda knew a few people from playing pickleball and there was a bit of a festive air about the place.

After the bill had been paid it was decided to go to Colomilla for another drink and to admire the view from La Vista Restaurante.

We want to take a trip to Europe in 2023 for our 25th anniversary year, so have to be careful about our BC Medical. The rule is, that to maintain our medical we have to stay in BC for 153 consecutive days. It’s not been a problem so far but this trip was for July which is in the middle of the 153 days.

“No problem” we thought, because there are exceptions that Rosalie has been investigating, but now the fun begins. Without going into details I have come to the conclusion that there is, in our bureaucracy, a department that is responsible for coming up with the most convoluted and stupid ideas. (I should get a job there, I would be good at it.) I suspect the person who comes up with the stupidest idea would get a nice fat bonus out of the taxpayers’ money at the end of the year.

However, a new decision was made to take the trip either in April or September before or after the 153 days. It’s safer that way and a lot less stressful.

The flyer from Coppel arrived today and I almost bought some winter clothes for walking on the beach until I remembered where I was.

Our trip to Copper Canyon starts on Thursday December 9th, so watch for some hopefully interesting blogs, unlike the drivel I’ve been putting out lately. Bye for now.

We decided to go and eat out for brunch. Halfway to town, Rosalie mentioned that she wanted to try Las Naranjas somewhere down the highway just south of Jaluco.

It was down a dusty side street but still a very nice place. It was obviously a Mexican restaurant as we were the only Norteños in there. On the way to the buffet, a guy stopped us and asked if we spoke English or French. (?) He had some apartments for rent in Melaque and wanted us to know in case we knew anyone who might want to rent one.

As it turned out the food was not that great and somewhat cold. Next week we go to my choice of restaurant.

Omar said he had to cut down some Cocos for a friend who was ill. I looked at him, and he knew we wanted coco locos. Later that morning he showed up with another friend and they started stripping the coconut palms. In the meantime, three kids also showed up to collect some. They had a hard time carrying them so the young girl dropped hers, lifted up her t-shirt tucked one coco inside and grabbed the shirt in her teeth. She then picked up the other two and went on her way. Later, Omar delivered two cocos to us but we had to go out so had to defer it to another day.

John, Ronda, Rosalie and I went out for America thanksgiving dinner. We only went for the great turkey dinner. John and I had a laugh at the table cloths being red and white but no blue. The next day Rosalie had enough leftovers for us to have her traditional turkey bun.

Rosalie had arranged to meet the young lady, Claudia, who used to her pedicures, manicures and haircuts. She had recently had a baby so has not working. Her husband wasn’t working that day either so she brought the whole family. We had a great time. David (Daveed) her husband doesn’t speak any English but showed interest in what we were saying and we spoke to him a lot in Spanish.

He offered to take me out fishing but I’d rather fish from the shore so politely declined. David Jnr. (about 10) loves fishing so he and his Dad go out often.

The week ended up with meeting Jim and Ylda on Saturday evening for happy hour and a meal. We went to Bugambilia’s for a drink. A huge party of young Mexicans at the next table were having a great time.

After, we walked across the road and had dinner at Ava’s restaurant. Not being finished visiting for the evening we went around the corner to Pata’s bar near the beach to each have a piña colada or margarita to round out the evening.

I wonder what next week will bring?

We were at Papá Gallos minding our own business when one of the beach people came by. He was selling hand carved figurines. They were a little expensive but we decided to buy some anyway.

The artist said he carved them from iron wood with a hammer and chisel then sanded and polished them with shoe polish. They are beautiful and we love them. They cost $2,200 pesos or about $132 Canadian for all three. Considering the work and time put into making them they were very inexpensive.

Also at Papa Gallos, we mentioned to Rafa that we prefer him making our margaritas. We told him we don’t want to offend the rest of the guys but he said they would be okay, as they were used to rejection.

After my guitar fell apart last year I decided that I wanted a new one. This time I was going to raise my budget to $300. We went to the guitar store in Cihuatlán and after finding the perfect guitar, and then buying a small amplifier, guitar cover, strap, spare strings, picks and a stand, we parted with nearly $600. It’s a great guitar but I still play like crap. However, I am getting better.

Dave Spink and Roz were back in town this week after many adventures driving down from Canada in their motor home. We went to see him perform at La Oficina and had great time reconnecting with them. And of course the music was great as always.

The streets around here have been a bit of a challenge lately. The water is still running freely down the dirt streets. Every time we leave it’s a tough decision as to which is the best route to take going out. We had one route picked out but the puddle we had to drive through kept getting deeper and deeper. Slowly though, things are getting better; things are drying out more each day.

Because of the extra water around, we have a lot more flies this year. Not too many mosquitos but there are some that really bite. So, we asked Omar if he could get us some cascaras de coco (coconut husks) as they smoulder well, making a great smudge pot. He told us that he has a friend who makes bricks and would likely sell us some. He did get some for us, earning him and his friend a small reward so that they would be interested in providing some again next week.

The 13th of November was the twenty-seventh anniversary of the first day we met; so it was party time. Any excuse for a party. I don’t mind parties but I have to put away all the electronics we keep on the patio including the big screen monitor that we watch Netflix on. The next day of course it has to be all set up again. It’s my job to do the dishes here, so the next day I had to do it in two shifts there was so much. It’s not as bad as it sounds really as we only have a small draining board.

We invited another seven people over and had a very enjoyable evening. They had a bit of fun getting here as the roads are still pretty bad. In fact, when the taxi came to pick some people up, after the party, he wouldn’t come down our street so went around the block to get them.

While preparing for the festivities Rosalie mentioned that we could use a few more good knives and forks and that we should bring some down next time in our carry-on. I reminded her that if the airlines think the little file on the end of nail clippers can take over a plane, what could someone do with a fork. “Look out he’s got a fork,” I think I might get one for self-defence. Eventually, though, we will have to register them and then they can only be used for hunting. Except of course in The States, where people will be able to open-carry.

The day before the party they were supposed to come and re-grade the yard but they didn’t show up. It might still be a bit too soft as there is still a lot of water around even though it hasn’t rained for over a week.

On the main road from Melaque, there were a huge series of puddles in the road that were a challenge to negotiate. When you drive through you tend to push the sand and dirt up to the side to form a hump which makes it an even more fun obstacle course. One day I bottomed out twice one after the other. So we were happy to see a grader levelling it out the other day and hopefully filling in the holes. Nope! Too much to hope for. They knocked the humps down into the puddle but didn’t fill the holes right up so the whole process will soon start again.

It’s starting to cool off a little here. It’s 21 C in the morning and gets to 30-31 C in the afternoon. The best part is that it’s getting less humid. The heat doesn’t seem to affect us too much but some of our friends really suffer. If it does get too hot (or even if it doesn’t) there’s always Papá Gallo’s.

My phone started to talk to me this morning. It was Siri. I don’t know what woke her up but Rosalie said Siri was talking to Alexa.

The car needed an oil change and the brakes were acting a bit weird so I made an appointment with a recommended repair place “El Cowboy.” Not an auspicious name but they were recommended.

The guy spoke English and wrote the appointment in a tatty old book. I arrived the next day at 10 am for the appointment and actually got in a bit early. He looked me up in the tatty old book and took my keys.
They were so busy that he had to do the work outside. I, in the meantime, sat and waited and amused myself with starting this blog on my phone.

A little while later the guy came looking for the security socket for the wheel nuts. I found it but at first, they had trouble making it fit. Eventually, it worked and they pulled the wheel off. They were quite professional even putting covers on the car seat and shift lever. They even stuck a list of repairs on the side of the car so the mechanic wouldn’t forget what he had to do. I may never get the glue marks off but what the heck?

After a while the mechanic showed me one of the brake pads, it was totally worn down. I think it may have been one he kept in the back for just a gullible Norteño like me. I told him to go ahead and change them and could see by the smile on his face that the bill just got bigger. I really don’t think they had a spare brake pad in the back but it sounded funny at the time.

Eventually, after giving the brakes a thorough cleaning and adjusting, they pulled it out and got it into one of the bays for the oil change. While driving it for that very brief trip, the mechanic heard a noise in the steering. I too had heard this noise but chose to ignore it as it sounded expensive. They did a fiddle here and there and carried on with the rest of the job. I noticed going home that the noise was no longer there.

During the oil change, they blew out the engine compartment and all the various filters. When the guy had finished the oil change, he checked the dipstick by first wiping it on his T-shirt and then again when had checked it

Then they checked all the lights and turn signals and topped up the windshield washer. On the way home I noticed the air conditioner was working better; so, bonus. We didn’t even get a complimentary dent this time.

The cost for all this service came to $1554 pesos or about $93 Canadian The last time we had an oil change in Canada it was $70. and the last brake job cost $700.

This is how we meet new friends:

Linda and Dan live close to us in Pinal Villa. Rosalie had been in contact with Linda through Facebook messenger but we had never met since they stayed away last year due to Covid. They called and asked if they could come by. Are we going to say no? I guess not! We had a really nice hour or so with them and agreed to meet again soon.

I, with my weird sense of humour, imagined them riding off on their bikes and the conversation going something like this: “So what do you think?” She replies “Well, Rosalie seems nice and I really like the dress she was wearing but he’s a bit weird with that phoney British accent and all”

Once they’re gone our conversation goes like this: Rosalie, “So, what do you think?” I reply ” She’s okay but I don’t like him. He’s younger and better looking and obviously way smarter than me.”

We all have these conversations when we meet new people and can only hope that they mostly go well; which in this case they did..

It’s so nice to see so many of our other friends arriving here. We were a little lonely last season but now we can’t keep up with the social life. We are suddenly inundated with invitations. I think that people we know here haven’t caught up yet and assume that we are the only Norteños here and invite us out.

Jim and Ylda and Art Sr. arrived on the weekend. We thought we were picking them all up at the airport but J&Y already had a ride so we thought we were taking Art home. He came out the gate and was greeted by a lady so we thought we had come to the airport for nothing. It turns out that this was the Mexican friend coming to pick up J&Y but they didn’t quite have enough room in their car so we got to take Art home after all.

I went to pay for the parking at the machine inside the airport. I inserted my ticket with the total being 60 pesos, I put in a new 20 peso note but the darn machine spat it out. I tried an old note and that was accepted. The guy behind me traded my new note for an old one and I tried again. No Luck! It spat that one out too.

I ran to the car to get change from Rosalie but she wouldn’t part with even 20 pesos. By this time I was getting desperate. The parking cost was probably getting in the 70 peso range and all I had were 500s. Finally, I borrowed 50 pesos from an acquaintance who happened to be waiting for his sister and I made it work. In the future, I won’t be going to the airport without a whole bunch of change. In the meantime, Art was waiting by the car sucking on a cerveza chatting with Rosalie.

I punished him by taking him home and feeding him one of Rosalie’s delicious dinners. He also had access to a cold beer on the way home so he seemed quite happy.

After we finally dropped him off at his place we dropped in to see J & Y who live almost next door. We only planned to say hi and leave but after a few cervezas we ended up driving home in the dark after all.

The following day we had to pay the money for the rest of our trip in December so off to the bank to take a hefty amount out, Like 70,000 pesos. We still owed Art about 22,000 so had to get that too. After paying all this out there wasn’t enough left for us so back to the bank. Unfortunately by then, the bank had run out of cash. I had to make sure I had enough for our car repairs the following day.

That evening we met with Dan and Linda for an evening of entertainment at Tito’s restaurant. We also met up with a lot of old acquaintances including Jim and Ylda and of course Art. Afterwards, we went by Banamex and picked up more cash.

It was a rough twenty-four hours.

A few days ago Rosalie was feeling a little queasy and as the day progressed she got worse and entered the full upchuck mode. I, on the other hand, was feeling quite chipper…for a while.

I drove into town and got some ginger ale which seemed to help a little. Then later in the evening I started to feel bad and entered upchuck mode as well. The heat seemed to intensify as we got worse. I had a rough night and sometime in the night I woke up and found that I had a bit of a fever. The next day we were feeling a bit better but still not quite there yet. The heat didn’t help. But it rained the next morning and cooled things off so that helped.

On the third day, we still felt queasy but were getting cabin fever so decided to go to Papá Gallos for a change of pace. I was still feeling bad enough that I thought we may have to return home. Rosalie though was getting desperate for a glass of wine so I toughed it out for her sake.

The main square was busy as Dias de Los Muertos was coming to an end so we decided to stop and take a look. There were students everywhere putting up shrines. Rosalie wanted some ‘pan muerto’ a festive bread for the day of the dead. Trying to enter the bakery we found that they were blocked by boards strung across the entrance. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that it was to keep the floodwater out. I spoke to one of the shop keepers and he said that the water even came over the top of the boards.

At Papá Gallo’s we decided to only have one glass of wine each as we were still feeling a little off. The waiters were very talkative and friendly as we were the only ones in there. Anyway, after two hours, a lot of wine and a shared fajita we were feeling a hundred percent better, so we went home and watched Netflix.