Part 1
I set off from Batopilas, at the bottom of Copper Canyon in Mexico, intent on riding my mountain bike up the 40-or-so-mile gravel road to the intersection with the paved highway connecting Creel to the Batopilas area and Guachochi. My plan was to ride it as fast as possible and break the unofficial 4-hour record. Whether or not my quest was realistic will forever remain unknown.
Drums,
Beating slowly,
And filling the air
With distant
Thumps.
A sound that connects
One canyon
To another.
One village to
The next.
Like a heartbeat,
Faintly pounding,
Almost rumbling,
As the people
Move their feet.
Walking
Somewhere, always somewhere.
Down the arroyo,
Across the meadow
To the big rock,
Never talking.
Soft, but hardened,
Mostly happy,
Sometimes sad,
And often burdened.
By others,
Who want something more
Than….
Semana Santa,
Matachines,
Tesguinado,
Raramuri.
Many
Places to go,
People to see,
Things to do,
And a world to ponder.
Audio Version:
I was in Mexico’s Copper Canyon leading a group of “Chavochi” adventure travelers. “Chavochi” is basically the Tarahumara word for Gringo, non-indigenous, devil people. Various things happened while we were down there in Batopilas Canyon and the town of Batopilas, which may or may not be related. I think they are.
An interesting turn of events while mountain biking some Copper Canyon singletrack.
For the longest time, Batopilas, Mexico, was connected to the small town of Cerro Colorado by just a little bit of dirt road and seven or so miles of trail, just barely wide enough for local burro traffic. Then, a few years back, that same dirt road was bulldozed all the way into that little Copper Canyon town. At that point, most of the old trail had been “improved” for vehicle use, but the last mile remained untouched, where the road took a more direct route.
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