Sunday, April 9th – Train Ride into Copper Canyon, Tarahumara Indians, Posadas Barrancas
Tarahumara woman selling baskets
Another early morning, but this time I arose with more anticipation. Finally, after waiting for 40 odd years, I was about to fulfill my wish to see the Copper Canyon.
The station was crowded. We spent our waiting time giving food to one of the street dogs who was obviously feeding a litter of pups somewhere hidden from view.
Waiting at the crowded train station
Today is Palm Sunday and school vacation was starting for many. The Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad had added quite a few additional cars to take the many vacationers, but we still sadly left many behind who had not booked and paid for their reservations. Our train was full.
Tim and Joanne on the train
This is considered one of the most dramatic railway journeys in the Western Hemisphere. The “train ride in the sky” takes you into the Copper Canyon which is four times the size of the Grand Canyon.
“The rail line, an engineering marvel, took almost 100 years to build in this very difficult and rugged terrain. Ascend from sea level to almost 7,500 feet, passing through numerous tunnels and over spectacular soaring bridges with awe-inspiring views.” ~ Gate 1
The scenery starts out with vegetation similar to what we have seen throughout the desert with a variety of cacti.
The tall cactus with a single stem which then splits is the Giant Cardon
The desert gave way to mountains and lakes and a variety of trees including pine and oak.
Reflections in the lake
The lake went on and on
Deep canyons with remnants of a creek down below
Crossing over another bridge
Near the end of our ride, at one of the stops where the train changed crews and did an inspection and maintenance, we had the opportunity to purchase woven baskets from the local Tarahumara Indian women.
The Tarahumara women
Colorful dress, and an almost shy demeanor they presented their goods. No hard sales, just showing us what they had made. The colors were vibrant and tightly woven. Our guide advised us that the women really had no concept of the worth of their baskets vs the amount of time it took to create them and asked us not to bargain, but please just pay what they asked if we saw something we wanted.
I ended up with a small purchase for $3.
Can you imagine all the time and work that went into this – Only $3
We arrived at Hotel Mirador in Posadas Barrancas, on the rim of the Copper Canyon, which was to be our home for the next two days.
Welcomed with a margarita, we took in the scenery from the balcony and observed numerous hummingbird feeders, swarming with the largest hummingbirds I have ever seen.
Off to inspect our room, where we each had our own private balcony with spectacular canyon front views.
Our room
Our traveling companions, Dick and Karen on their private balcony
The view from our balcony
Dinner at the hotel with this cleverly decorated desert.
I could even do this one
Overnight: Posadas Barrancas
GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful to have seen the Copper Canyon with my own eyes. To stand on the balcony and soak up the panorama before us was a dream come true.
A Note From Abroad 
Definitely adding this to my travel bucket list!
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Good! Make sure to include San Carlos.
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Thank you for sharing this marvelous journey! It looks amazing and I will have to follow in your footsteps one day.
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Gate 1 does a great job.
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Sounds just wonderful. Great to fulfil your dreams! Helps fuel us armchair travellers…
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Thank you Joy. So glad to have you join us from the comfort of your armchair 😃
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A changing landscape you experienced. I’m crazy about the baskets in the first photo.
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I really wanted one of the large baskets, but thought it might be a challenge to get home on the airplane from Phoenix back to California.
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Beautiful scenery and photos. Man that train station looked crazy. Isn’t it nice to check one more thing off the old bucket list.
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The train depot was crowded. Not to India standards though. And yes, so nice to check one more off. Especially one I’ve wanted to see/experience for so long.
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40 years— that’s a long time to have something on your bucket list, Joanne. Congratulations on making it! looks like a great view to have from your balcony. –Curt
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I figure it is going to take me another 40 to do that the rest of the list 😃
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That makes two of us. 🙂
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Weren’t the birds just amazing? Beautiful!! So glad you are enjoying yourself!
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Those hummingbirds were great fun to watch. There were some cute, tiny ones but most were of a larger variety than what I have seen in California.
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Yes. Amazing aren’t they?
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Love the photos. Thanks for taking me on your trip.
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Thank you very much. So happy to have your company.
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Wow! … just … wow! 😀
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Yep, that pretty much sums it up…
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Glad you got to finally fulfill this dream of yours. It is spectacular and looks like someplace I might actually enjoy going! Love the view from your balcony. I can only imagine. The basket you bought is beautiful too! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.
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This was a relatively easy trip, but we spent a lot of time on the bus. I’ll be posting about the rest of the trip over the next few days.
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Certainly adding this to my travel basin list!…
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I was pleased to be able to cross it off of my very long list 😃
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Really enjoy traveling with you! I have been doing more traveling, and want to work on my blog, but just never seem to have time for that, so Imjust end up posting photos and commentary on FB as it is so much easier for me! You do such a wonderful job!
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What a nice compliment. Yes, it is a bit of work and takes time, but I enjoy writing and photography is my hobby. Throw in some travel adventures and all of a sudden a blog got born…
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Lovely! So nice to finally reach a bucket list destination! I am hoping this will inspire me to get blogging again 😉
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Would love to inspire you to do whatever brings you joy, laughter and inner peace 👍
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Wow…isn’t that Lake just beautiful. Great photos.
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Thank you Sue.
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Wow! Nice photos and descriptions! I’ve never heard about Copper Canyon – but that train ride sounds awesome. Did you get any photos of huge hummingbirds?
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The train ride was relaxing and an enjoyable way to get an introduction to the canyon. I posted one picture of the large hummingbirds on the next post : https://anotefromabroad.com/2017/04/14/copper-canyon-tarahumara-indians-and-aerial-tram/
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I just checked out the next post. Also great coverage of the zipline/rockclimbers and nice shots of the local folks!
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Thank you
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