Barrancas del Cobre
Before leaving Mexico, we decided to pay a visit to the Barrancas del Cobre and its Raramuri inhabitant. So we left Plume on its trailer for a week in San Carlos, drove to El Fuerte (6 hours away), and from there took the Chepe train to Posada Barrancas first, and Creel next. We took the economic class to be with the locals and cut the price by 2.5. What a fabulous trip!
Too bad it was only a week, we could easily spend a full year there… The scenery is outstanding and quite diverse, with vast canyons, rivers, lakes, amazing rock formations, to mention just a few. The people are quite interesting as well, with Mexican villages next to Indian territory. From what we understand (mostly from our readings), the Raramuri are among the rare Indians in the Americas who have been able to preserve their traditional life style. They live a simple and self-reliant life, being able to take from their environment their most basic and essential foods and tools. They are not interested in accumulating material goods. Instead, they invest in family and friends upon whom they can rely for help and companionship. This type of value have helped them resist the temptations of our modern industrial society so far. We wish they will be able to continue living like their ancestors for many more years to come!