Another guest post from the intrepid Mireia and Alex. They crossed the US border two weeks ago towards Mexico, a country that has surprised them with fabulous new experiences:
The crossing through Nogales was easier than expected, with no problems we were able to cross the border in 2 hours. Our first stop was the village called Hermosillo. The village has few things to offer so we decided to find a camping area somewhere else to the south. The next village was Guaymas. The location we found was near the sea, by a very nice hotel with an RV park. In that moment we realized we would be the only ones camping there as the season for American and Canadian tourists hadn’t started yet. We also soon realized that the camping would not be the same in Mexico…
We visited Guaymas and San Carlos (a village very nearby), and afterwards decided to go to Copper canyon (Barrancas del Cobre). We heard so much about it, and were very much looking forward to it. We took a road of 600 Km that we did in two days. The views along the way were very nice, and even more impressive was the canyon itself:
We stayed there for 4 days. We were a bit spoiled from our time in the US, where you get a wealth of information when entering a National Park, and there is always a visitor center to stop at. Finding our way here was not so easy. We had to talk with locals or the few tourists we found to know what we should do and visit, and also what we should avoid.
Copper canyon is an amazing place and we really enjoyed everything about it! We started by visiting el Valle de los Monjes (Valley of the Monks), de las Ranas (Frogs), de las Setas (Mushrooms) and the lake Areko. Afterwards we made our way down to the lowest point of Copper Canyon.
The next day we visited el Divisadero, where there is an ‘attraction park’ with lots of different activities: via ferrata (a protected rock climbing course), a large skiresort-like gondola which provides excellent views, tirolesas (zip lines) and… mountain bike trails! After traveling everywhere by car, we couldn’t wait to take our Montague foldable bikes out on the trails. Finally we could enjoy a day of exercise! We did the panoramic trail, which is for intermediate riders. It takes between 2 and 3 hours by bike to a lookout point, and from there you can come back on the gondola. The trip was well worth it. The views were amazing and the path was very good; exciting and technical enough to keep us on our toes! Along the way we could also see how the Tarahumara (indigenous people) are living.
After enjoying the Barrancas del cobre for 4 days, we decided to go back to the coast. We were advised of a very good road to follow, but it was not the case! There are dirt roads and there are dirt roads… but this was a 4×4 road (hardly a road at all), with elevation changes of 1200 meters! But we did it, and we arrived to Alamos, our next village. Alamos is a colonial village, very beautiful and well preserved. We went to the island Mexcaltitlán, also called the ‘Mexican Venice’, because when it rains a lot, you can actually go by boat through the streets. After spending one hour there (as it is a very small island) our next stop was San Blas (The music group Maná wrote one of their most famous songs about this city: “En el Muelle de San Blas“). We found a very nice camping area there and decided to stay for 2 nights, but after the first night the number of mosquitoes drove us away! Although we did eat some very tasty burritos while we were there! Next, we went to Puerto Vallarta, which was a bit disappointing, as it has become a big resort for tourists. However, we were able to take a boat ride to the Islas Marietas, uninhabited islands with beautiful wildlife and beaches.
After staying there we decided to continue South. On the way we came across a Sea Turtle sanctuary on a virgin beach near Puerto Vallarta. Convinced by the boss, we decided to stay here and help the turtles for one week, so here we are right now! We will keep you posted on our adventures! Hopefully, the next steps will be less driving and more outside activities with our Montague bikes!
Talk to you soon and thanks for reading!
Mireia and Alex
