Once again we board El Chepe for the last leg of our train adventure as the end of the line is in Creel, a Pueblo Magico lined with touristy shops where the entire town seems to go joy riding up and down the Main Street and around the park on Saturday nights. Here is also where we will find the cliff dwellers.
Some of Talahumara or the Ruramari as they self call themselves are cave dwellers, which to me is a bit of a misnomer to me as they have built stone walls under large overhanging rock formations to form a cave like structure. These dwellings are sprinkled through out the landscape and are the least modern and most secluded of their people. A few will open their homes and sell you their craft wares to supplement their existence of corn and beans.
We visited one such home and found it blindingly dark inside when you enter from the bright sunshine out side. But as your eyes adjust to the light you see a kitchen area with a wood burning stove, a bedroom alcove, all quite primitive but functional. The inhabitants seem quite happy and willing to converse with us and answer questions with the help of our guide. they have their own language but also speak some Spanish. Here again the women are dressed in beautiful hand stitched colorful garments with intricate designs appliquéd on.
From here we traveled on through their lands to visit another mission style church
This church serves the indigenous population with a mix of Catholicism and native beliefs.
The landscape became more and more interesting as we entered this rocky area full of tall pillar rock forms and lovely pine trees. Much of it reminded me of the Sierra Nevada’s in California although these mountains are called the Sierra Madre Occidental’s. We visited friends of our guide home, who not only fed us a great native lunch but also showed us how to make blue corn tortilla’s and some even tried their hand at it.
Next chapter Chihuahua and Poncho Villa, signing off KO
Zihuatanejo 