By DAVID MANDICH - 

 

Mexico's Copper Canyon could be described as Jurassic Park, Disneyland's Mining Train ride and Zorro all rolled into one. Located in northwestern Mexico comprising over 125,000 square miles of lost canyons, lost mines, lost Indian tribes and a lost Cathedral, its sheer size and complexity defies description. Four times as big and twice as deep as USA's Grand Canyon - the flora and fauna ranges from parrots and mangoes in the lower elevations to apples and woodpeckers over a mile high up in the mountains.

 

Los Cabos is fabled Copper Canyon's newest gateway. A short one-hour flight from Cabo San Lucas, Baja California will take you to a land that time has forgotten. This spectacular adventure begins when you land in Los Mochis, Sinaloa just across the Sea of Cortez from Baja California Sur, where you board the famous Chihuahua Pacific (El Chepe) train for your 400 mile trip into the beyond.

 

Lost in the canyons, are archaeological ruins of civilizations that experts still disagree as to who they were and what happened to them. Ancient Indian cultures built cities beneath inaccessible cliffs, others round houses of stone, and still others - maze like buildings not unlike the Anasazi's in the American Southwest. Today other tribes such as the Tarahumaras survive living in caves or small log huts in much the same manner as when the Spanish encountered them 400 years ago.

 

This is a land conquistadors were unable to conquer, and priests unable to convert. It's a land where men came to mine gold, silver, precious stones and souls. And its secrets are still being revealed as in a recently discovered cave with crystals the size of telephone poles.

 

The mountain town of Creel for hundreds of years hosted wagon trains carrying gold and silver out the canyons and supplies back in on the return trip. The town evokes a Wild West frontier aura with its covered sidewalks, and false front Western style architecture. It's almost un-Mexican, appearing more like a movie set from "How the West Was Won." Local Indian guides take today's intrepid explorers beyond the rail line, deep into their mysterious world of valleys littered with enormous stone mushrooms, frogs, breasts; and gravity defying balancing boulders.

 

 

Like a surgeons knife, the Chihuahua Pacific (El Chepe) train cuts a 400-mile incision across the Los Barrancas (Copper Canyon) with track running from sea level in Los Mochis by the Sea of Cortez, to Chihuahua in northern Mexico. The railroad took nearly 100 years and over 90 million dollars to build making it one of the greatest public works projects undertaken in the Western hemisphere rivaling even the Panama Canal in size, time, and sheer audacity.

 

Most visitors get off the train at one or more of 7 stops along the way to overnight and explore. Spectacular hotels have been built along the route, some on the rim of canyons such as the Hotel Mirador in the heart of Copper Canyon; have heart stopping dive-bomber views of platinum river canyons below and snow-capped granite mountains towering above.

 

Equally interesting and thought provoking are the Tarahumara Indians whose log huts and stone cliff homes are scattered about from the rim at 8,000 feet, to the bottom of the canyons a mile below. Shy, independent, protective of their privacy and culture, they've been frustrating the efforts of governments and missionaries for over 400 years. The women weave intricate baskets for sale, the men toil in the orchards and ranches. Famed for being fleet of foot, they hunt deer by outrunning them.

 

 

The climate ranges from thorn tropical in the canyons to forests of pine, oak, cedar and juniper in upper altitudes. There are rivers to raft, mountains to climb and lost mines to discover. Lake Huites (pronounced wee-tez) is the largest lake in Mexico at 30,000 surface acres. In 1978 Florida Large Mouth Black Bass was stocked in the lake. Today, fishermen from around the globe catch bass here ranging in size to 15lbs or more, along with catfish, shad, bluegill and Tilapia.

 

This writer found it impossible not to catch fish on two half-day fishing expeditions guided by Pedro Rabage from the nearby Lake Huites Sportsman's Lodge. We caught over fifty-eight bass ranging in size up to a guesstimated 14-pounder Pedro hauled in only to break his line before sounding back into the depths.

 

Mountain Lion, Lynx, Spotted Jaguar, Ring-tailed cat, White Tailed Deer, Borrego Sheep, Javelina, wild burros and horses left behind by the Spanish are just some of the species of mammals spotted in the region. I found I could bribe burros with an apple and then scratch ears. Loose cattle- especially toros (bulls) are best avoided.

 

 

Pancho Villa- Mexico's hero of the revolution of 1910, hid from the U.S. Army for ten years in the impenetrable canyons. His home, tomb and museum, are in Parral near Chihuahua, where political rivals assassinated him. Mormons have run prosperous farming communes here for over 100 years alongside Mennonites who arrived later.

 

 

The town of Chihuahua springing out of the barren desert is the railroads northern terminus. It's chock full of museums, mining baron palaces, ornate religious and governmental buildings of historical and architectural interest.

 

Many distinctly different tribes inhabit the territory speaking native languages, and as little Spanish as they can get away with. Huichols, Mayos, Tarahumaras and other tribes have held out against the Aztecs, Spanish, Mexicans, missionaries, and others who have sought to conquer, exploit or convert.

 

Religious conversion here is problematical. At Easter, Tarahumara drums beat all night celebrating Christ's crucifixion by imitating the beating of his heart. At sunrise, (the moment of his death), the drums increase tempo to drive away evil spirits. If I were a Jesuit missionary, they could convert me.

 

Sleepy villages, dramatic mountain peaks, waterfalls, and forested hillsides touch river canyons as the train chugs along. The modern cars have cushy armchair seating, are heated and air conditioned, and the dining car food is surprisingly good.

 

The train ride takes 14 hours to cross the series of canyons. Contractors blasted and Indians dug 86 tunnels and built 36 bridges from sea level to over 8,000 feet in elevation and back down again. For train aficionados there's one triple switchback up a mountainside and another that makes a complete loop.

 

Many people fly to Cabo San Lucas in Baja Sur for a few days of fishing, beach fun, golf, or partying; then take a one-hour flight across the Sea of Cortez to Los Mochis to begin their Copper Canyon adventure.

 

The Santa Anita hotel in Los Mochis is a good place to base ones trip into the interior. It's an elegant continental styled hotel full of original contemporary art, classy marbled dining rooms, and portraits of Samuel Johnson, the American entrepreneur who founded the sugar plantation town over 100 years ago. The hotel is part of a chain of six small award winning hotels started by Roberto Balderrama over forty years ago and strategically placed along the trains route on canyon rims and in quiet towns and villages. The Cabo Surf Hotel in San Jose is the chains base in Cabo.

 

In the colonial town of El Fuerte (The Fort) is Zorro's birthplace and former home in Mexico, now a hotel and museum called The Hotel Posada de Hidalgo. The hotel is a real gem with lush gardens, antiques and a regional museum. Travel writers have called the hotel: "One of the most beautiful small hotels in Mexico."

 

When visiting be sure to see the mural covered secret exit from where Zorro's family coach would depart when trouble came knocking on the front door.

 

El Fuertes colonial ambience includes museums, an enormous rose colored municipal palace, a traditional fountained plaza with a Victorian iron bandstand, shops, cafes and side streets to explore. Go bass fishing or enjoy wildlife tours at nearby Lake Huites. The nearby Rio El Fuerte is known for its year-round river rafting, birding and for the delicious grilled fresh-water langostinos served at the Hotel.

 

Get off the train for side trips into villages, ancient ruins and mines hidden deep in alpine canyons. From the canyon rims of Divisadero, clouds thousands of feet below, drift up and envelope the Hotel Mirador in the early dawn hours while deciduous trees shimmer wet in the breaking sunlight.

 

In the tiny mountain village of Cerocahui, the Hotel Mission has its own vineyard onsite producing fine red and white table wines. The original vines were planted by Jesuits over 400 years ago.

 

One can visit the adjacent Jesuit Indian mission girls orphanage, and hear the girls sing at mass in the village's 300 year old Indian built stone church. Their music is heartfelt and hypnotic. Above the valley is a rim where 100-mile vistas of mountains and mile deep canyons offer up another kind of magic.

 

On this trip you will experience cultures, nature and geology that will transport you hundreds and thousands of years back into the past. Off the train, you can descend into the canyons by backpack, bus, burro or Hummer. And you will emerge a different person than when you entered.

 

David Mandich, has been living, writing professionally and selling real estate in Cabo for 10 years. A Cabo Century 21 Agent and expert on Condos, Villas and Gated Communities, he can be emailed at: yachtdorado@yahoo.com or reached via telephone at: (From the USA) 866 722 1795, Local: 624-143-1011, Cel. 044 624 132 8919