We left Chihuahua last Tuesday on an overnight bus to Zacatecas (see a pattern here?). A beautiful colonial town about 12 hours south of Chihuahua, Zacatecas was the silver mining capital of the world until the 1960s. Zacatecas is in a valley between two mountains and still sits about 3000m. The biggest mountain, La Bufa, has a church at the top as well as some monuments to Mexican Revolutionaries. At that altitude, nothing is an easy climb, especially the four flights of stairs to our room on the top floor of the hostel!
Almost as soon as we arrived in Zacatecas we headed to Eden Mines, the old silver mines of Zacatecas. Although the entire …

We made it to Chihuahua after a short bus ride from Creel. Although the largest city we’ve been to so far in Mexico, Chihuahua felt immediately comfortable for us as upon our arrival at our host’s home we were told; “bueno, es tu casa.” We immediately got to touring the city with our hosts, Martha and her family, before going out for fantastic Mexican food, ensuring that we had the special dishes of Chihuahua – beef and tortilla soup. After dinner they gave us a walking tour of downtown Chihuahua where we met the the “Jedi Angel”, a statue of an angel in the town square that has a green laser sword…the first of many star …

After having a great time in Baja California Sur we took the ferry to the mainland to begin the next phase of our journey, The Copper Canyon Railway. The train is a marvel unto itself as it passes through an area similar to our grand canyon, but through more tunnels and bridges than any other railroad in the world. Overall, the train was very slow but as we got deeper and deeper into the canyon the scenery changed from the Mexican desert to alpine forest, complete with crisp air scented with pine.
The hostel in Creel was a nice enough hostel filled with backpackers and other interesting travelers. I mention it though not for this reason but for …

Despite its status as merely a train, the Copper Canyon Railway or Chepe as it’s often called in Spanish, is a destination all by itself. Initially planned in the 1800’s to link Kansas City to Mexico’s pacific coast, it was finally finished in 1961 and only goes as far north as Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. The railroad has 37 bridges and 86 tunnels and because it never exceeds a 2.5% grade actually completes a 360º loop over itself as it makes its way down from The Sierra Madres and into Creel.[ad#final-review-ad]
The train ride, while comfortable, is long and slow. Much of the scenery at the beginning is of the desert and is consequently similar to many other parts …