Wednesday. Barrancas
de Cobre
We didn’t get
going very early on Wednesday. We stopped in Creel, got some good
American coffee. We got back on the road for the Canyon about 11 or
so. Driving this little winding road, Dad suddenly spots a dirt road
heading up the mountain with a sign advertising a look out. Well,
let’s go, of course! It doesn’t matter how terribly little and
bumpy this footpath of a road seems. Then suddenly theres a block in
the middle of the road. No room to go around it. Straight up the
mountain on one side and straight down on the other side. So the
yellow livered of us bailed out and Dad began to back up down the
mountain. And no, it wasn’t another vehicle we saw coming around
the corner. So he backed up a ways into a little dip in the mountain,
let the electrical vehicle pass. The man told us he would open the
block and we could come the rest of the way up. So we piled back in
and up we went. Winding and twisting until we came to the outlook on
the top. Several Tarahumara houses living up there. Crumbling stone
houses. One did not even have a roof. But the view. The view. The
view was Incredible! Up here in the middle of nowhere. Completely
untouristed except for a railing along the edge, and two Tarahumara
stands set up. This canyon is not a crevice type of canyon that you
just happen upon. You are surrounded by it. There’s canyon country
all around you for miles before you reach any of the tourist parks.
Craggy mountains and rivers running through the bottoms, have been
cutting into the rock for years. White sandstone cliffs, shrubby
pines covering these mountains. From the outlook, we finished the
drive to the park. We walked into a cool overlook building with an
overhang over the canyon. I mean, these canyons are deep. Deep! You
stand on a glass floor and quake a little. Then we signed our lives
away on paper. All of us but Mom and Nico. We bought the 9 step
zipline. 7 ziplines, 2 swinging bridges. Got all harnessed up and
over with our guides to the first zip. The longest zip was over a
kilometer long with two others coming just under a kilo. The other
four ziplines were maybe half that long? Any way, we flew along deep
into places in the canyon we’d never have gotten to see otherwise.
Looking down from the dizzying height, you see the tiny winding
footpaths, little houses with their tin roofs glinting in the sun, a
herd of goats grazing on the side of the canyon. Tiptoeing over the
abyss on a swinging bridge followed by a bouncing father, a recipe
for sweaty palms. The last zipline, she said was the prettiest, but
we couldn’t tell why until we let go and went flying down the zip,
it was like part of the canyon fell away underneath you and you could
see for miles and miles of beautiful green canyon, getting misty and
light blue in the distance, dark crevices in the bottom, dappled with
sun. I just had to let it out. I screamed out a very loud “Wowwww!”
Grandpa would have taken his hat off. We ended up at the trolley,
where we took it back, passing Mom and Nico on the way. Goofed off
until folks and Nico got back on the tram and we headed back to Creel
to do some tourist shopping in Tarahumara shops and ate some yummy
wood fired pizza. Headed back to San Juan for night. Would I do it
again? Yes! Tomorrow! Was it safe? Yes, completely. Double harnessed
and skilled guides, I didn’t doubt it for one minute. You see a
whole new dimension of canyon life from this angle. A whole new
appreciation of God’s handiwork.
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