After the big Immigration episode yesterday, we put Ron on a very nice looking Omnibus Americanos bus that runs direct from Chihuahua to Denver with no changes. Cost: $68 US. It was to arrive at 8am this morning. And Ron did get to Denver and is resting today. He's planning an Amtrack return to New York, so will be home with Carole in a week or so. It was a great adventure!

In the US, illegal immigrans are sometimes called wetbacks. In Mexico they call them "mojados", which means the same thing. That's what we were in Mexico. We entered the country without papers so were here illegally. When we came through the border at El Berrendo (opposite Antelope Wells, NM) there were customs officials, but no immigration officials, so we had to come in without the papers.

Well, yesterday we tried to fix that before Ron left on the bus from Chihuahua to Denver. We didn't want him having troubles at the border! So we found out where the Immigration office was in Chihuahua was, called them, and went in to get things fixed up.

We explained to them what had happened at the border, and they asked why we didn't go to El Paso to get our papers. (We're on bikes, guys!) I think they could see that we didn't do anything wrong, but a long conversation ensued, without resolution. Then there was an extended phone call to a superior.

We were finally told to go to the office supplies store 5 blocks away and get nine sheets of Form SAT-5, along with copies of our passports. We did.

Then they typed up the forms SAT-5, in triplicate, which explained how we had violated the laws of the country. Eventually, they gave us the forms and sent us to the bank, 5 blocks away in the other direction. We had to go to the bank, pay our fine of $20 ($40 for me because I'm staying longer) and then come back. We did.

Then there was another phone call and we were asked to sit down for a bit.  read more here... lee mas aquí... »

For Ron's grand finale, we decided to take the famous Copper Canyon train from Creel to Bahuichivo (with our bikes) then ride to Urique, which is at the bottom of the canyon.

The train ride was uneventful and interesting, except that the bikes and the BOB trailer were handled quite roughly (the BOB was broken, it turned out). We spent the night in a little place in Bahuichivo so we could set out in the morning for the ride to the bottom of the canyon of the Rio Urique. We *thought* that it was a mostly downhill ride of 32 miles or so. A fairly easy day to finish off with. Wow, were we confused!

It turned out to be the signature ride of the whole Great Divide trip. All dirt road, some parts fairly rough. The first 10 miles were as we expected. But after the little town of Cerocahui we started what must have been the biggest climb of the trip. We were just barely making the bike move up the hill at 2 mph or so, and climbed for 2-3 miles. It was enormous.

Of course, we thought then that we'd start descending. But no, until mile 23 or so, it was hard uphills and little downhills. We climbed far more than we had probably on any day of the trip. We started wondering if we were on the right road, and hadn't seen anyone for ages. But we did finally get to the descent at about mile 23.  read more here... lee mas aquí... »

Well, we made to to Creel (entry point to the Copper Canyon). We rode in today about 1pm after a final crossing of the Continental Divide. (We crossed it yesterday too.)

It was a really tough ride yesterday, and I didn´t have it in me to make the final push to Creel, so we stayed in San Juanito, just 20 miles away. But we had climbed probably 3000 feet and over the Continental Divide at a really significant pass, so it was good to rest for the night.

This afternoon we did get out and do some really pleasant mountain biking in a region of the local people, the Tarahumara. We ended up on doubletrack and then singletrack and then in a pasture, then bushwhacking a bit, but we made it back to Creel. Loads of fun.

We´re working on a plan to explore this fabulous Copper Canyon country in the coming days.

Tonight at 11:30 one amazing party is going to break out here in Creel and all over Mexico. It´s the 16th of September, Mexican Independence Day, and the whole country is celebrating. Shortly before midnight on the 15th of September, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest in the village of Dolores, ordered the arrest of the Spaniards in the town and then rang the church bells, which would normally announce Mass. When the people came, he issued the famous "El Grito", the Cry of independence. And tonight we´ll hear it re-enacted here in Creel.

You can read about more Mexican Independence Day at the PBS site.

Our ride in the Mexican state of Chihuahua has been amazing. We knew that we would start in desert, because we were familiar with the Chihuahua desert, and because we were already in the Chihuahua desert in southern New Mexico (after Silver City).

What we didn´t know was that we´d only be in the desert a couple of days. The day after Casas Grandes we ended up climbing over a huge pass (to Zaragosa) and since then the scenery has been completely different. Where we expected desert vistas and dry land we found piney mountains and green valleys. We followed beautiful green valleys all the way to the climb up toward Creel, when it turned completely to pine forest.

As we climbed up toward Creel, it started seeming more and more like the mountains of Colorado. Creel is at 7300 ft of elevation, so there´s a reason for the similarity, but even the building materials seemed more familiar. We started seeing houses of log cabin construction instead of the ever-present adobe. Seemed like home.

Most surprising are the fields of yellow flowers everywhere. We´re filling up our cameras with pictures of beautiful fields that we hope to share with you some day soon.

Since we got to Mexico Ron has pretty well sworn off camping - He had enough of it on the Great Divide route. So we´ve been looking for a room in each town we land in at the end of the day. Since we´re bicyclists, we can´t just make it to the next city. And many of these towns in Chihuahua don´t have hotels. So here´s our technique:

We get to town and look for the church. Every little town in Mexico has a church, and in front of every church is the plaza, a pleasant little park with some shade and some benches. We sit down and make ourselves comfortable, and before long some kind person comes along to chat and help us out. And they really help.

In Zaragosa, there were no hotels. But friendly, smiling Miguel made inquiries and found that a restaurant behind the church had rooms to rent. He came back, took us up there, and we ended up with a delightful little room just behind the chicken yard from the restaurant. And in the bathroom (across the chicken yard) was a hot shower.

In Babicora, there were not even rooms to rent, but those wonderful boys led us all over town until something worked out.

A Tribute to All the Little Boys of Mexico

In every town we stop in the plaza in front of the church and take a little break. And here come the little boys, on bike or with tops to play with.

They tell us what we need to know.
They take us where we need to go.

Yesterday, in the tiny town of Bavicora, we had an escort of a dozen boys, all on their bicycles. We were looking for a place to stay, and there was no hotel, no rooms for rent, nothing. But the huge cloud of boys took us from one end of the town to the other, until they found the Evangelical Free Church pastor Nehemias Ortega who ever so graciously put us up in the church bunkhouse. And the boys escorted us there...

Today, Ron needed to make a call in a town with no public phone. But the boys knew what to do, and took us to just the right place where an incredibly gracious woman opened up shop during siesta and let him make the call.

To all the boys of Mexico: Thank You!

We have been going so fast that we are just 1 or two days from Creel (Copper Canyon). We might arrive there tomorrow.