After a day onboard the legendary “Chepe” train, let’s continue our trip in the heart of the Copper Canyon region, in the north of Mexico. Today we will hike by the canyon, and then leave beautiful Divisadero to continue our adventure to the city of Creel where we will stay two nights. This city, which could be used as the setting for a Western movie, is the perfect starting point for many excursions in the region.
WAKING UP TO A BREATHTAKING VIEW
We woke up after a good night of sleep with this amazing view on the canyon. We felt very small in front of this grandiose landscape! We thought that staying one night at this hotel was a good idea. After a generous breakfast, we were ready to start the free hike offered by the hotel.
ON OUR WAY TO THE “PARQUE AVENTURA”
The main attraction at Divisadero is the “parque Aventura” park, which offers to “cross” the canyon, either by cable car, or… by zip line! The biggest zip line in the world, so we learnt! 2500 m of descent into the canyon!
We were not that reckless, and only took the cable car which gave us a good dosis of adrenaline. If you have fear of hights, you might want to think about it twice before hopping onboard the cable car…
The hike from the hotel to the parque Aventura was free but we spent 175 pesos per person (8,50€) for the cable car ride. The zip line ride costs 1000 pesos (50€). The whole excurion lasted 3 hours.
Find out more info about the possible excursions at Divisadero here on the website of the hotel.
So the hike of the day consisted in walking from the hotel to the park, following a little path by the canyon. The hike was very pleasant and easy as we were walking in the shade of pine trees and the path was rather “flat”. The view on the canyon was breathtaking. It was already quite hot at 9:00 a.m. For once, I had not forgetten my sunblock (well actually I had, but I bought another one in Los Mochis…).
We arrived at the park within an hour and embarked on the cable car. They leave every 30 minutes and the last one leaves at around 4:00 p.m.
THE DESCENT TO THE HEART OF THE CANYON
This is when our 15-minute ride in the heart of the canyon started. The descent was quite spectacular. The first seconds were a bit strange… The cable car was quite stable, but we were trying to get used to the “void” around us. We imagined what it must be like on a windy day… And quickly we got used to this strange situtation and started enjoying the view.
And we went deeper and deeper into the canyon.
THE DESCENT IN VIDEO
Here is a short video of part of the descent. The favorite topic of conversation of everyone: the famous zip lines! The agent in charge of our security during the descent was answering all day long the same questions about the distance / speed / trajectory / sensations that come with the zip lines ride…
FEELING VERY SMALL AT THE HEART OF THE CANYON
We then reached our destination and we realized that we were in the middle of the canyon. The cable car ride was well worth it! We stayed about half an hour looking at the beauty of this landscape. There was absolutely nothing around us but the natural beauty of the canyon… We were fascinated by this arid landscape!
We noticed a tiny little river at the bottom of the canyon…
GOING TO CREEL
We then took the cable car back to the other side of the canyon and walked back to the hotel. We then left this amazing setting to take a bus to our next stop: the city of Creel. Here we go for a 40-minute ride on a very curvy road! But the landscapes on the way were really beautiful and the bus was very comfortable and air-conditioned.
How to go from Divisadero to Creel: there is a bus every two hours. It stops right in front of the hotel. It is a 40-min ride. Ask for the precise schedule at the hotel.
MEETING PEOPLE ON THE WAY
On our way we met two American ladies. They were 68 and 72 years old and were traveling alone in Northern-Mexico. “We put our husbands on a plane in Puerto Vallarta and we are traveling alone to Tucson in the USA”, they said proudly. Respect! That’s some 2000 km… Like us, they wanted to go on an excursion the next day to the Basaseachi waterfall.
DISCOVERING CREEL
We then discovered the lovely city of Creel. With its colorful buildings on the main street, the city seems to be coming straight from a Western movie. Men would not go out without their typicl “sombrero”. We were in the heart of Mexico!
The city was not very big but it was the perfect starting point to go and explore the region.
We went to the “Tres Amigos” travel agency with our American friends to negociate a better price for this excursion. The agent first offered an excursion for a total price of 300 US dollars, which of course was way higher than what our budget allowed us to spend. After negociating with him, he directed us towards another company that offered to take us there for 500 pesos per person (24€). We did save quite a lot of money!
NEXT…
We went to bed quite early again that night to regain energy for the excursion of the next day that will prove to be quite hard…
#2 Divisadero to Creel
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