There are lots of indigenous and mixed people in Mexico. This lady charged Marta 30 pesos for the picture – good for her!
Despite Mexico’s long and brutal history with the indigenous peoples, I get the sense that they are in a better place than our natives in Canada. They still have some agency, some ability to live their lives without handouts. Of course, their food source never changed – corn still grows. Buffalo – not so much.
We were on our way to Batopilas, when we picked up a young man hitchhiking. He was headed home to Guachochi. We changed our plans to spend a few days with his family.
The Mexicans we talked to said “go anywhere, just not Guachochi”. There has been an ugly turf war for three years between two gangs in the town and surrounding area.
Cristian, our hitchhiker told us about government programs to improve living standards in the rural areas. Provide some employment and cash for the Tarahumara. Paint houses, build greenhouses, garbage collection.Our new friends were great fun, and the beer kept showing up.
I get schooled on how to light a fire
Mexicans can dance without putting down their beer
That night, I had a hard time sleeping. We try to stay anonymous in Mexico. Here we are, likely the only foreigners in a city that many Mexicans avoid. I wonder where each Facebook post is ending up.
And yet… everyone is so friendly. And authentic. Cristian’s mother was so thankful we brought her son home. Turns out his truck was broken down – he’s never hitchhiked before.
Cristian takes us out to see three canyons – Jaguar, Sinforosa, and Kokoyome.Avocados do in fact grow on trees.
I’ll leave out the details, but during our drive we stood by our van as a well armed patrol by one of the local gangs rolled by. Intuitively I understood that these cartels exist – but to drive from town, where the army is out in full force, and in an hour we are on roads where the “bad guys” are comfortable showing their strength – that really made it real.
Everyone reassured us that no one would make trouble for tourists. I understand that it’s in no one’s long term interest to harm tourists who are bringing money to the area. But this is war – bad things happen.
The next morning, without telling anyone our change of plans, we head east, out of the canyons.
Apparently this is how people dry their corn – without even taking the cobs off the plant.
Nice light from sunset. Will be embarrassing when I fly the drone smack into the side of the vanSanta Barbara is where silver mining started in our corner of Mexico – 475 years ago. And there are still mines running everywhere.
See if you can spot the silver vein
These small mining operations always happy to let us wander around. How do you sell raw ore from a mine like this? Does the buyer eye up the rocks and make an offer, taking the risk on the actual metal content?
This is a BYOH mine – bring your own headlamp! This guy was sitting outside and when we stopped and told him we were going to the mine museum, he said why? We’ve got a mine right here!He gave us this stunning piece of Galena ore – lead silver zinc. The camera doesn’t do it justice. We gave him some oranges and beer. Which is perhaps all you need to know about Mexico’s economy.
Oranges are an interesting problem. They are the zucchinis of Mexico. Everyone has orange trees, and we are accumulating oranges faster than we can eat them.
Modifications while traveling are painful. We’ve been putting up with these drawers banging open for four months of travel – the solution was so simple. A $.40 conduit strap and a piece of sugar cane.
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 