To El Fuerte, State of Sinaloa

Today we completed the last leg of our Copper Canyon train journey and are now in El Fuerte (so named because there was a fort here to protect the settlers).

Tunnel Wall, Taken With Flash

 We started off the day with a pleasant morning walk around the town of Cerocahui.  The highlight for Brenda was seeing two different species of blue birds.  We also saw humming birds streaking out of pine trees in a blur. 

 Back at the hotel we had pleasant brunch at the restaurant on the second floor, planning a relaxing time for the next two hours until our departure for the train station.  But then the proprietor came up, explained that all clocks had been advanced 1 hour and instead of departing for the train in two hours we had 10 minutes to pack up and get in the car.  He drove very fast and got us to the station just in time to see the Economy class train pull out for Chihuahua.  Our train did not arrive for over an hour.  All very confusing.

 Brenda an I think that today's leg from Bahuichivo to El Fuerte was the most dramatic of the journey.  There seemed to be more tunnels, bridges, and amazing scenery.  The pine trees disappeared and we started to see cactus and other warm weather flora.  Brenda saw bananas and paw paws under cultivation.  We eventually crossed the highest bridge on the line which was located next to a very large lake with a water level well below its maximum.  After that we were moving through flatter and settled areas.  Brenda and I took the opportunity to visit the restaurant car for a pleasant 30 minutes of refreshments. 

Hotel Guerrero

Pancho Villa Recruiting Poster

High Ceiling of Tree Trunks

Our Room With Bolt Across Door, Window at Left

 We stepped off the train at El Fuerte and found a cab that took us the 6 km to the Guerrero hotel.  As I hoped with a low budget hotel near the center of town it was “interesting”.  It was built 100 years ago and sports a large courtyard surrounded by rooms.  Our room has a ceiling at least 20 ft high, composed of tree trunks spaced about a foot apart with some sort of material in between.  The walls are of stone, rendered from waist level up.  The doors are big wooden ones like you'd find in a castle (or a dungeon, I guess), and to lock it we have to pass a long bolt through a couple of steel saddles then put a padlock through the bolt.  The bed is a stone plinth with a mattress on topThey did a pretty good job of retrofitting the modern plumbing.

After we settled in and had showers we went out looking for a restaurant.  The one highly recommended by the guide was closed but we found another good one in a hotel near the main plaza.