Day 10

Sunrise this morning was crisp and clear with a promise of warmer temperatures and sunny skies.

Today is a free day so the majority of our group chose to go on a chartered tour to the 30 meter high Cascada Cusarare waterfall that’s 22 kilometres south of our hotel in Creel, near the Tarahumara Indian village of Cusarare (Place of Eagles).  Others in our group enjoyed the amenities of our hotel or explored the town of Creel. Rumour has it that some of our group were looking for a donut shop.

Waterfall

We traveled along a paved road with Ponderosa Pine trees on each side and mountains in the distance. We left the highway and traveled down a very rough gravel and rock trail with large boulders on both sides. We crossed a small stream where some of the group walked the rest of the way to the trail head for the waterfall. We walked a total of 800 meters to the top of the falls. The group had a spectacular view of the falls and the surrounding area from this point. To really appreciate this site it is suggested that you  walk down the 246 steps to the bottom of the falls where you get the best view of the falls and the ice formations on the cliffs. Everyone that went to the bottom agreed that it was worth every step of the way. There were several Tarahumara women selling their crafts along the trail. Eileen found her special heart shaped rock in this area. 

Our tour guide suggested that we stop off at the village of Cuararare to visit the museum and church. The church was built in 1741. We returned to our hotel and thanked our tour guide (Denisse) and driver (Martin).

Creel in the state of Chihuahu

It was still early in the afternoon, so some of our group decided to hike up to the shrine that is on the top of to the hill overlooking the town. It was a easy hike to the top of the hill (Thanks to our local guide, 10 year old Fernando) where we enjoyed a panoramic view of the town below us.

 
Some good news is that our Caravan group contributed $2,200 pesos toward the purchase of food and household supplies that we will take with us to Batopilas to donate to the Tarahumara families that live in the bottom of the canyon. This area has experienced drought conditions for several years and their food supplies are running low, so we hope that our contribution will be useful to them.

Bob & Ann