Summary of Copper Canyon 17 Day Piggyback Caravan

Here is our happy group of 22 couples that went on the 17 day caravan to Mexico. We all gathered at Mission RV Park in El Paso, Texas, a few days before Valentines Day, our day of departure, to get acquainted and begin our feeding frenzy. We even did some tours in the El Paso area, the War Eagles Air Museum and the Indian Cliffs Ranch that is home to the Cattleman’s Steakhouse.After we crossed over the border, which was a piece of cake thanks to the pre-planning done by Tracks to Adventure, we began to notice how the Mexican’s use color. They paint their houses many bright colors and they all live very close together. They do have beautiful courtyards behind their walls that include gardens of fruit and vegetables.

You can see how narrow the streets are as we wind our way through the town of Chihuahua.

Each day was filled with more wonders than the previous as we awaited the day that we would board the trains. It took almost all morning for us to be loaded onto the train, parking with our drivers side wheels only inches from the edge. We were to remain here for the duration of the train trip, 4 nights and 5 days of dry camping without being able to even put out our slides. Each ramp onto the rail cars was measured for each coach and moved accordingly. Scary looking but done with precision, or at least as much precision that could be obtained in Mexico.

This is our Wagon Master's rig as we connect to the engine on the first day. You can see how close his tires are to the edge. We did have railing on the passenger side so that we could walk. They also asked that we pull in our stairs when not using them so that the train personnel could pass without hitting their legs, esp. at night when it was pitch dark.

The contrasts from the working farms to the rugged mountains of the Copper Canyon, the passing the Continental Divide several times and the high altitude was all hard to believe when we seemed to travel such a short distance. I guess that with us all being used to the driving and this time just sitting back and letting the train do it we were really able to see the changes, even at 25 mph.

The Taramahara Indians are a very resourceful tribe. They have change little and still live very primitive lives and make money by selling baskets to the tourists along with woven wraps, bracelets and some children's toys.
Our last day on the train was the longest and the most interesting as far as geology goes. We went from a very high elevation to sea level, through the treeless mountains to the fruitfull valleys lush with produce of vegtables and fruits to the Sea of Cortez with its bounty of fresh shrimp, which a vendor delivered to our camp as soon as we were set up.

After 4 days in Mazatlan we began our trip north and back to the USA. We were sorry to be leaving as this meant that we would be parting ways. There are a few things that people have asked. Did we feel safe? Yes, never was there a time when we were the least bit concerned. The Mexican people are very friendly and know that the RV tourist brings money to town. We were cautious about the water and filled up with only 5 gal water jugs in Mazatlan as they had a long funnel to make filling our tanks easy. I would bring a funnel next trip and get all my water that way. We really enjoyed the fresh shrimp and fish in the coastal towns and the fresh fruits in the agricultural belt and in Mazatlan. Next trip I would bring packages of useful things like face cloths, hand towels, baby wipes, bars of soap, small bottles of hand disinfectant. I think you get the picture. These are things that they don't have and that would not take away from their culture but just might make life a little better.

There is much more that we did and if you are really interested there is much more to read on our "Blog". A "Blog" is really nothing more than a log of what we did day by day. You can get there by going to http://www.monacosinmotion.org/ and clicking on Copper Canyon Blog. Or you can go directly http://www.mimcaravanmexico.blogspot.com/ and while you are at the Blog, don't forget to click on the web album(s) so that you can see first hand our wonderful pictures of the trip. www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravan and www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravanII. I hope you'll go and enjoy reading about how much fun we did have.

Day 17, March 1. 2007

As you can see, this was an early start day as we had to cover 266 miles to the border. We drove hard with just a few stops as we were all ready to get back to the USA and a little anxious about crossing the border. Why, I don't know. We are going home! We got the to Aduana/Frontera office and they came on board to remove our holograms of importation of our vehicles. About 10 more miles up the road we passed through Mexican customs. Glad we didn't have to get in the truck lanes as they had very, very long lines. American customs was a piece of cake. Handed out our passports and they were handed right back and we were directed to a holding area for agricultural inspection. He just came on board, asked if we had any chicken, eggs or plants. I told him that they were cooked. He looked into the freezer at the same time and said, "You've been through this drill before!" I said yes and he turned around and walked out and told us to have a nice day. We drove about 40 miles up the road to a nice campground to add water, dump and do some laundry. Many passed over the border and headed on their own way. We got to say some quick good-byes over the CB radio but it will be strange not following in a caravan this morning when we leave and I really will miss "Thumper" checking our tires in the morning. This is what we affectionately called our tail gunner.

Many few friendships were made and old ones better cemented, so until the next time, Happy Trails and don't forget to visit our two photo albums.

www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravan

and www.picasaweb.google.com/mimmexico/MexicoCaravanII.

Day 16, February 28, 2007

The drive from Los Alamos to San Carlos on the coast of Sonora, Mexico, was only 160 or so miles. This is the entrance to the RV Park that we stayed in there.

Los Alamos was a town built of old money from the gold and silver days and has and is being refurbished to it's original condition and was very modern in comparison to the many towns that we had already been in. San Carlos is new money, mostly brought in by the Canadians and Americans.

There are MANY new homes being built in this small fishing/yachting town and we were told that the cost of building at this time was about $105/square foot. Each house had about 10 Mexicans working on it and there had to be hundreds being currently built all over San Carlos. We just wondered where they were living as we didn't see the typical Mexican housing anywhere that we went. This was the view from the back of the RV Park.

We had our farewell dinner right there in a lovely room at the RV Park. Mike is saying a few last words and then we ate. After dinner most of us went back to our coach's to get ready for departure.