A good day in the city of Durango, Mexico

On Sunday, we took the group into the city of Durango (pop 700,000).

Our host Eduardo here at the Balneario San Juan (24.054335, 104.545167) has been really helpful, bending over backwards to make sure that we have everything we need. He organized a 14 passenger van to take us into the city and back for 1,000 pesos ($69 CAD, $52 USD). Divided by 14 people, that's a good deal for the convenience alone.

A productive day, followed by a soak in the hot pool

We were all due for a day off to do our own thing and we think that everybody enjoyed doing just that!

We have full access to the pools here at Balneario San Juan so quite a few people took advantage of that throughout the day. I saw quite a few of our group getting laundry done at 20 pesos ($1.40 CAD, $1.05 USD) per load to use the washing machine here. Stuff dries so quickly in the sun that you don't need a clothes dryer.

Long travel day with a few encounters with the police

Yesterday was one of the longer travel days on our route... from Canutillo to Durango city, a distance of 342 kms (212 miles) with some road construction. We left Canutillo just after 8:00am, and arrived at Balneario San Juan on the outskirts of the city of Durango at just after 3:00pm.

A long day, but we took a few breaks along the way. A couple of our breaks were forced on us by police and military checks.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Parral to Canutillo

We planned a late start at 10:00am because it was only an 80 km (50 mile) or so drive on relatively straight roads. Everybody in this group is always ready to go ahead of schedule and it seems like it's Ruth and I who are the last ones ready, even though we are also on time!

We were already at the south east corner of Parral, so we didn't have to drive through the city to get out. We were quickly on a nicely paved road heading south towards Durango.

Touring Parral, Chihuahua

On Wednesday, with clear sunny skies and a forecast high of 25C (77F), we walked from the hotel parking lot to the center of Parral, a distance of about 4 kms (2.7 miles) one way. Mostly downhill.

The city of Parral is known best for two things... a silver mine that was discovered in 1630, and the famous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Guachochi to Parral

On Tuesday, we did another driving day. We originally had two nights penciled in for Guachochi, but we're trying to get back on schedule due to the rain we had in Creel last week. However, if we do this trip again, we need to schedule more time at both Copper Canyon and Guachochi. There is a lot to see there, including another section of the canyon at Guachochi that not many people visit.

We set off at 9:00am, once again under clear blue skies.

Mexico RV Caravan Travel Day - Creel to Guachochi

Ruth and I are kind of recreating a route that we did in January of 2015... but in reverse. So while it's all new for the group, it's kind of new for us as well because we're seeing it in the opposite direction!

Monday's route we knew would be special. Hardly anybody goes this way... for whatever reason. But especially not tourists from Canada and the United States. The odd thing is that the route includes amazing scenery. As one of the group said at a rest stop... "you have really outdone yourselves this time!"

Perfect day for a hike in the Copper Canyon

If we do another one of these Mexico trips, we will need to spend a week just at the Copper Canyon. Everyone totally enjoyed it, and of course it makes it all the better when there is perfect weather.

Sunday we took advantage of the perfect weather to do a 10 km (6 mile) hike into the canyon. But we also had to walk to the trail head, and back from the return gondola to the motorhomes. I think in total we probably did 15 kms (9.5 miles).

How many times can you say "Wow"!?

We used that word a lot yesterday. "Wow"! Not only did we use it, we heard it from the rest of the group too!

Five years ago, Ruth and I did the world's longest zipline here at the Copper Canyon. We've got a pretty adventurous group with us, so we figured some of them might want to try it too! Turns out that eight of our group of fourteen signed their life away and took the plunge!

The best boondocking spot in the world?

On Friday, the sun came out and along with it some strong winds. But that was okay because we wanted things to dry up from that big rainstorm that went through on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ruth planned a morning hike with whoever wanted to go at 9:30am. I was busy catching up on some computer work when Aron came over to say that there had been some kind of power surge overnight and his refrigerator wasn't working.

Thanksgiving in Mexico

Weather was a bit better yesterday, but it still showered on and off occasionally. Our original plan was to head down to Divisadero for a couple of nights, but because of the rain storm that went through on Wednesday we decided to stay put and let things dry out a bit.

Also, this way we could have our Thanksgiving potluck feast with the group indoors using the conference room here at the lodge.

Never say never!

We had a rain day yesterday. A huge storm front went through much of northwestern Mexico yesterday. We woke up to a heavy steady rainfall on Wednesday morning and it continued all day and into the evening. No idea when it stopped but we woke up at about 4:00am and noticed that it was windy, but no more rain.

It had been forecast though, so we knew it was coming. We've adjusted our schedule accordingly.

Copper Canyon Train - day 2

We were all up early because our ride to the train station in El Fuerte was picking us up at 7:30am so we would be there for the 8:15am departure for the return trip to Creel.

It had rained a fair bit overnight, and it was still spitting on and off. Not the best weather for a scenic train ride, but it turned out that the pictures were a little bit dramatic with the clouds as our altitude rose.

Copper Canyon Train... day 1

The Copper Canyon railway line is one of the world's most spectacular train rides. Ruth and I did it back in January of 2015 and so we knew that it was worth showing off to the group.

The train was scheduled to depart Creel Monday at 11:47am and so the group began walking over to the station at about 10:30am to give us lots of time. Better to be early than late!

Exploring Creel

A bunch of us set off around 10:00am for a hike in the hills that overlook Creel. Roger and Larry decided they wanted to go for a bike ride instead, and Sue, Roy and Garth stayed behind to watch the motorhomes.

Temperature was about 16C (61F) but it still gets a little chilly overnight down to about 2C (36F). We have 30 amp electric here though, so it's nice to be able to use our little electric heater through the night.