Recuerdos: El Chepe (Parte Cinco)






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; in California history in fourth grade, kids are actually learning the problematic parts of this, and not just "build a mission with sugar cubes," so that's progress).

The five-hour private tour for about $35 each plus tip.The only issue was that the guide was billed as English-speaking by our hotel, and he then said, "Oh no, I never claimed to speak English!" So I translated some for my friend, who can understand quite a lot of Spanish but the guide spoke really quickly.He also said my Spanish was “perfect” which was very nice if totally not at all true.

I didn’t take any photos of the indigenous people because mostly they were being treated like a tourist sight by the few tourists we saw here and that bothered me. So I took pictures of the murals instead. The men now dress like modern Mexicans: usually jeans and cowboy boots. The women still wear the very traditional dress including a scarf on their head. They sometimes wear zip-up hoodies on top though and sometimes sneakers instead of the traditional sandals.

The Raramuri or Tarahumara women are the ones who made those amazing baskets and they are also known for marathoning, usually with the long skirt and sandals. They walk or run miles and miles every day to get to where they sell the baskets. The guide (not Raramuri so grain of salt but has been guiding people in their area for decades) said that the men don’t have much work these days and alcoholism is a big problem, while the women do most of the work.
 
Everything in Creel is train-themed. Everything. Even the stairs and the sink.
 
The passenger train only comes through once a day. The tracks are used by fright trains too though, and those come through at ALL hours. With their horn blowing loudly.
 
In the picture of the red hotel and the train tracks, that middle window was to our room. I slept with earplugs.
 
 

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