Additions to the trip

We were told to bring warm clothes for the evening in the mountains. I mostly have muscle shirts here, so was lacking in that regard. I have a lightweight jacket that I use for such an occasion but of course, I forgot it at la casa.
I did have a heavy sweater for cooler nights but it’s not very practical.

In Cerocahui I found a really nice hoodie that I snapped up and it came in really handy. Even so, I wore one shirt about three times.

I checked out the bridge height, length etc. The ones we crossed didn’t even come close.

Pancho headed up a project to reunite the indigenous people of New Mexico with the Tarahumara in Mexico. The idea was to get Tarahumara to New Mexico to sell some of their baskets and meet their cousins.

There were some problems of course as the Tarahumara had no passports and some didn’t know their date of birth. Pancho sorted that out and applied to the US consulate in Chihuahua for visas. Then they waited but heard nothing back.

A few days before they were scheduled to leave they got their approval and had to go to the consulate to get the visas. However, when they got there they weren’t ready after all, so were told to come back the next day. Pancho explained that it was a 50 miles drive each way. Finally, they were told they would have the visas that afternoon.

All set to go. The Tarahumara carried all their belongings and baskets in black garbage bags so it could have been a nightmare at the border. But it wasn’t, they were waved right through.

In Albuquerque they were to display their baskets etc at the side of the road. Pancho went to the first person and asked how much they were asking for a basket. They said 50 pesos, about $3.30 Canadian. Pancho told them to charge $25 US. He then went to each of the vendors and told them the same thing. They were sold out by the end of the day.

There was a huge party that evening hosted by the New Mexico indigenous people. The following day they had to return to Mexico. When they went to the US they took 40 Black bags with their baskets. When they returned they had 80 bags stuffed with clothing and school supplies. Once more at the border, they had no problems and so got home safely.