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Horse Trek, Tropical Storm Julio,

Cancelled Flights, Boat Bumping….

Doug and Glenda, our awesome boat-sitters, said farewell to us at the bus station where we began our trip deep in to the Copper Canyon via local bus – national bus – train – then van to the Paradiso del Oso (Paradise of the Bear). We met up with our host, Doug Rhodes who settled us into two lovely rooms. We spent a couple nights here and took our “orientation” ride. What a shocker that was! The horses were very gentle, smaller than what we are used to and steady as a rock! That was a good thing, since we travelled over terrain that we would never normally even consider on a horse (and many spots that we wouldn’t do on foot!). These horses and mules were like mountain goats and nothing fazed them.

Unfortunately, due to daily afternoon thunder and lightening storms, accompanied by massive rain, we were unable to do our original itinerary, which is rated as “the toughest ride in North America”. We could only go to one side of the river, since there was flooding and the river was too wild to cross. This meant that our trip was shortened to a 5-day trek, however, with the higher than normal rains and lots of adventures along the way, it was nothing less than FANTASTIC so we aren’t complaining.

Also, due to the rains and wet conditions Doug talked us out of tenting and instead we stayed with a local family in their “hut” each night. Peter, who has turned soft anyway, was all in favour of this change of plans. Again, it turned out to be great since we met and mingled with different families (both local Indian families and Mexicana families) and we were able to stay nice and dry while eating and sleeping.

We also had a very cushy (air conditioned) hotel stay in Urichi at the bottom of the canyon. This was a welcome stop as we were able to glimpse some of the Olympics and have a nice cold shower, which was handy in the high humidity. Peter also spent the afternoon in the pub mixing with the locals while Kylie and I caught up on journals and playing cards.

The biggest, scariest river crossing...

This is how Kylie crossed.....you go girl....

This is how Peter crossed....no problemo...

And this is how chicken Di crossed....keep in mind I'm scared of heights, so this ricketty suspension bridge with missing planks was an adventure in itself.

This is an earlier crossing that Di managed without too much drama...

Throughout the five days we experienced awe-inspiring vistas (many of which I had my eyes closed on), exciting ascending and descending paths that the horses somehow managed to stay on, many, many fast-moving river crossings and visits to remote villages and schools. We also had lots of time in the afternoons to play cards, to play with the kids and read. It was a definite 10 out of 10 holiday.

To add to the adventure, the trains were out for a few days due to landslides so we weren’t sure if we would get home or not. The last few days we stayed at the ranch again and rode and hiked each day. We came face to face with a very large rattlesnake,

explored caves with human remains

and met other guests from around the world. It was a real treat to get to know Doug, who is a passionate individual, who does so much for local students. He has “rescued” many – the stories about what happens to some of these local girls reminds me why I’m still a feminist – they are decades behind in the equal rights department. We were honoured to be able to sponsor a local Indian girl to go to a boarding school starting this fall.

We did make it back to the boat o.k. and we spent the next couple of days with Doug and Kylie. On August 25th they were planning on catching a flight back to Canada. Turned out that we had Tropical Storm Julio coming our way, so they returned from the airport after the flight was cancelled. At this point, there was a red alert warning, so I had to flag Peter down in the anchorage where he was going from boat to boat warning everyone to get ready. That evening we had wind up to 35 knots, but it was the rain that was relentless. We got over 6 inches of rain and it took Peter a half an hour in the middle of the night to bail out the dinghy. We thought we got off pretty easy and were listening to the Ham radio in the morning when we heard a thump on the boat. Turns out an unoccupied boat in the anchorage was dragging and hit us. Luckily it was only a small 22-foot boat and no damage was done. Peter and Doug then spent the better part of an hour towing it in to the marina.

For the rest of that day we stayed at the coffee shop as we were still being pelted with rain and we were awaiting Doug and Kylie’s flight. Bad news again…the flight was cancelled again, so they decided to take a bus to Guaymas (which was badly flooded – but not as badly as the town of Mulege which also lost a soldier who was trying to rescue people stranded in a river) – they then took a 9 hour bus to Phoenix which would get them there at 2:00 in the morning, and if all went well they are hopefully on a flight home to Canada as I write this. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them. Ironically we spent $278 to get Kylie home early and it turns out that she will be going home the day that was originally booked.

For our part we had a solid night sleep without rain or wind to keep us up on watch. We are getting ready, however, to assist and tow in a 40-foot sailboat who reported losing their motor and are enroute to San Carlos. Peter has arranged for them to have a slip at the marina while they make their repairs, but we’ll be bringing them in to the harbour when they get close enough to call us over the VHF. In the meantime, Peter is doing oil changes, complaining about the new alternator that is still not working properly and drying out the sails, sunshades, etc.

Our plan is to spend another day or two as we wait for the rollers to diminish in the aftermath of the storm…then we start heading north and will be in the remote, wilderness anchorages for the next 6 weeks. I will try to update the blog from time to time via Ham email as we will not be in internet range.

The big highlight is heading towards the 40 plus foot Whale Sharks, which have been sighted in the Bay of Los Angeles. We hope they stay long enough for us to swim with them.

Until next time….Wishing the love of my life a Happy 54th birthday tomorrow. We'll have to do something wild and crazy.....mmmm maybe sail around the world or something.

P.S. I’ve uploaded more of our Copper Canyon horse trek photos on Facebook.