We woke up to a beautiful day in the Sierra’s the next day and couldn’t wait to get going and see the marvelous Copper Canyon! This environment was like a dream for the kids! As long as they didn’t forget to avoid piles of cow manure in the grass, they could climb on rocks and have their little adventures. It was so much fun for them to be free in the “wild.” 🙂
After breakfast and coffee at the cabin we set off for the hour drive through winding roads in the mountains that would bring us to the amazing Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon). Our first glimpses of the vast canyon were simply amazing. A lot of the driving to get to the places we wanted to go was interesting for our minivan. 😀 This trip was one of the times we wished we had a truck as we attempted to carefully maneuver our van over rocks and deep mud puddles. Nevertheless, our Honda took it all like a champ and we finally pulled up between some pine trees to park near the place we would begin to walk to observe the canyon.
One of the first things we did at the canyon was to walk across a thick piece of glass flooring in a restaurant there that gave us the impression that we were walking on air over the canyon. That and the distinct possibility that you could fall and die. 😛 We all made it through that part alive naturally and enjoyed our tossing tummy’s as we looked straight down through the glass. Sheesh!
The big topic of discussion right about then in our group was who was brave enough to go on the zip line over the canyon. The Copper Canyon is home to the World’s longest zip line running for 8,35o feet and getting you up to 65 mph over a vertical drop of 1,450 feet! Yikes! Tom really wanted to do it but when we looked at the price it was just not an option! Thankfully there was another zip line that cost half the price! After some nervous talks, four brave souls from our group decided they would take the plunge (literally-haha). Tom, Gaby, Amy & Adriana would go on the zip line the while the rest of us watched the 6 kids. There was NO WAY I was gonna go on the zip line. Maybe another time..or maybe not. 😀
Then began the process of long lines and signing their lives away.
I won’t bore you with the gory details of the long wait, standing in the sun, more lines etc but suffice to say it wasn’t a short 10 minute wait to get them on the zip line! Finally they were geared up and ready to stand in their final line and DO THIS THING!
Unfortunately, as they stood in line right at the ledge we could see lighting across the canyon and some rain was heading our way accompanied my darkish clouds. All of a sudden the park guys just canceled everything! 🙁 We were all SO disappointed! *ugh* All of the effort and then we were standing in more lines to get our refund! Asi es la vida! Such is life!
After the refunds were gotten and we had regrouped we decided we would all go on the sky car together to cross the canyon. That was a beautiful ride! Iris was so nervous before we started off, she was clinging to me terrified! Ha! But as soon as we got going she really loved the ride.
Interestingly there are Tarahumara Indians actually living in the base of the canyon… well actually all over in the canyon! We could see their cabins, fields and heard of goats, horses and donkeys. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before! Amazing! I was really thankful for a 14x zoom on my camera so we could capture just a bit of it!
As we got off the sky car on other side of the canyon we were greeted by two men singing a lively song about the beauty of Chihuahua. I loved the song and they really belted it out! 🙂
We enjoyed walking around, observing the amazing hand crafted Tarahumarah items being sold and taking in even more of God’s incredible creation around us! It was just SO, SO beautiful!
On our way out of the canyon area Gaby decided we all needed to see one last thing so he led us to a very intimidating cliff area that you could could walk right out to the edge of. If we had been in the USA there would no doubt have been high fences and barricades preventing you from going out there but thankfully this is Mexico and they trust people more than we Americans do I guess. 🙂
I couldn’t even back my camera lens out enough to actually see ALL THE WAY DOWN to the bottom but you get the idea… I gladly stayed with the kids while Crystal, Gaby, Adriana, Amy & Tom walked out onto the ledge.
It was very nerve wracking watching them go but someone had to be the photographer! ;P
They had a grand time out there. After that thrilling stop we were all starving because we hadn’t eaten all day so we went to eat dinner by the rail road tracks at a fantastic gorditas place! They were so delicious! Since coming here to Mexico my tolerance for spicy food has increased a lot and I really enjoy being able to be a bit braver each time with the fillings! I really enjoyed some of the gordita fillings, even with some of that salsa that was like a kick to the face! Yum! Pow! 🙂
It had been a long and eventful day and we had big plans for the next day too. We happily went back to the cabin to get our rest so we could be fresh for our hike the next day.
This blog will be continued in Part 3. Stay tuned!
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