En México, Me Llaman Ana

  I did not expect to love Chihuahua City. I expected it to be an ugly, boring town that was just a stopover before the plane right home. I was wrong. The train station in Creel was small and had very little information in any language. But it was an actual train station, unlike the others which were just wooden platforms. There were no employees there at all until the train got there, almost four hours late. None of the Mexicans seemed to care that the train was that late but everyone else was pretty annoyed. It was a long (6-hour) ride to Chihuahua City and we didn't get in until 1 am but the next day we were out exploring and WOW is there a lot to explore! I'd love to go back (of course) From February 22, 2020     I absolutely love being in places in Mexico that get very few Americans. People are generally so very welcoming and honestly excited that I visited their part of the country, and pepper me with questions about how I like it and if I’ll come back. The answers:...

Someday I'll finish writing about the Chepe train trip and move on. That day is not today.  This is from Creel, an adorable Pueblo Magico in the state of Chihuahua. It was COLD at night and it was definitely the off-season so things closed down early and we ended up having to go to a pizza place for dinner because there really wasn't anything else. But the pizza place specialized in queso menonita (Mennonite cheese) which is a cheese specifically made in the state of Chihuahua, and came from the Mennonite community there. From February 19, 2020 We took an amazing tour today, covering things outside Creel. We went to Valle de los Monjes (Valley of the monks; beautiful rock formations), a waterfall that I forgot the name of but that involved many many many stairs to get to the bottom of, Elephant Rock, and a Jesuit church in the area where the Tarahumara/Raramuri people live. They, of course, tried to convert the indigenous people, as the Spanish padres tended to do. (An aside; i...

This trip was epic and is turning out to need plenty of blog posts! This one is mostly just photos though, and photos which really don't do the place justice. I want to go back. February 18, 2020   We got on the train again today and I just stared at the view until it was time to go. I've seen a lot of beautiful nature in my life (it helps to live in California) but this is one that I feel like changed me, even though I can't explain how. It is maybe like when people see the ocean for the first time (I was a baby so don't have that experience) or Yosemite for the first time (too young to remember that one also). The train station was just a cute little wooden platform with an awning and many many women and girls selling baskets. This leg, from Divisadero to Creel, is not nearly as long as the others, Creel is a "Pueblo Magico," one of the cities or towns that the Mexican Tourism Department designates as having a special history or tradition or something like t...