pedalpanam

I got to Los Mochis almost two weeks ago.  After a day off hanging out around town and eating some amazing seafood at the nearby coastal town of Topolobampo with my Couchsurfing host Roberto, I got on the train that took me up into the Sierra Tarahumara.

I spent half the time getting over a cold in Creel, a town way up in the mountains.  There I met some great folks at a hostel, in particular, four Australians backpacking around Mexico.  There are many things to do in the area, but I hadn’t the energy but to go to some hot springs.

It ended up being cheaper for 5 of us to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, so we moved into our casita and enjoyed many home cooked meals and lots of poker played with cotton swabs as chips.  One night it snowed in Creel, which was  exciting, especially as some of the Australians had never seen snow.

After Creel, I made my way to the town of Urique on bus, which is at the bottom of a canyon.  The road goes downhill wit about 5,000 feet in elevation change to get there.  I stayed at a hostel that has a garden and lots of citrus trees.  Mandarins, lemons and grapefruit galore.  Tim and Anne, two of the Australians, caught up with me from Creel, and we decided to stay in Urique for a few days together.  Hikes in the valley (which really ended up being rides in the back of pickup trucks more than anything), a swim in the Urique river, and coffee roasting and tortilla making lessons were the highlights.

Yesterday we took the bus out of the canyon and the train to El Fuerte, hung out there this morning, and then made our way back to Los Mochis.  Tim and Anne will be travelling to Baja California for a while, but we hope to cross paths again, maybe in Oaxaca?

This is by far the longest time I’ve taken off the bike, 13 days so far (I haven’t taken more than 5 days off at a time, and usually no more than 2 or 3).  That I don’t have to worry about cold weather now, and that I’ve wanted to go to the Copper Canyon(s) region for years meant I decided to just take my time and be in no hurry to get back on the bike.  It was worth it and I have no regrets having put the bike trip on hold for that long.  From Los Mochis I’ll continue along the coast until Mazatlan, and then from there I’ll need to think about whether to continue along the coast or head into the Sierra again, which would most likely take me through Guadalajara.

I’ll upload pictures and tell more stories at some point.