Most tourists spend two days in Divisadero before taking the train forward to other destinations. On the first day they do what we did yesterday, kind of getting acquainted with the area and its sights. On the second day they go and “have fun” at the Adventure Park that has been built at the edge of the barranca by the operators of the National Park. Most of the activities cater to the young and adventurous, enticing them with rappel and rock climbing, zip lines, quad moto rides, a canopy walk, and teleférico (a funicular).
Antonio, Toňo, who we had met yesterday is a recently retired surgeon, age 65, who following the aging rulebook is now intent on traveling, collecting death-defying experiences, and making up for a lifetime of dedication to work. Maria Eugenia, Maru, is more than willing to be the sensible travel companion, but is not so keen on the death-defying experiences. So Toňo had made up his mind that he was going to go down a series of seven ziplines to reach the bottom station of the teleférico. Raúl (aka El Pocoloco), who is a lot braver than I am also decided that he wanted to go down the ziplines. Me, I wasn’t so keen to go to the Adventure Park in the first place, and as sure as hell was not going to do a crazy thing like rappel or ziplines (I came to the Sierra to hike, and as I stared in fascination to the immense chasm that opens at my feet, longed for the time long gone when I would have started down the canyon without hesitation to go fly-fishing in the Rio Urique). Reluctantly I settled to accompany Maru in the teleférico, which would at least take me 2 kilometers inside the barranca to a point about 200 m below the rim.
The lower anchor point of the teleférico is the first of three large knobs of rock that protrude from the rib of the canyon that extends down to the axis of the canyon. A legend among the Tarahumaras says that these are the heads of three giants who in the time of the ancient ones used to live down in the canyon. These giants would come and help the Rarámuri remove the rocks from their corn fields, but were also fiendish and at night would crawl into the encampments and steal children for their fiendish rituals and stews. So one day a brave man asked his wife to cook a stew with the best corn and beans, to which he added chilicote to give the appearance of meat. Once ready he went and asked the giants to come share a meal with them. The giants came, gorged themselves with food, and fell in an eternal sleep right there, half way up the canyon. Since then Rarámuri children have not had to fear, and the savior and his wife and small child stand there forever, in the form of a small rock spire, to make sure that the giants never wake up.
How do I know all these things, you might as well ask? Because after I took the ride down in the teleférico (magnificent views all the way down), I said goodbye to Maru and went to ask in the office if there were any good hiking paths around there. Yes, there was the Path of the Giants, and for a very modest fee I was given a guide for the 3-hour circuit. It was perfect! Just what I had set myself to do in this trip, but taking advantage of the teleférico and the rib that cuts deep into the axis I saved myself much of the ups and downs. The walk was delightful, with a few ups and downs and a bit of rock climbing; my guide was very cool and knowledgeable and had no problem with me stopping every hundred paces to take stunning photos looking down the axis of the two barrancas that converge at this point, or the wild and scenic Rio Urique running 300 meters below my feet. Dennis, I had bought some line and small hooks at Creel, and have been waiting for the chance to use my walking stick as a rod, but I don’t think I have enough line to reach the river.
By the time I got back I was pretty tired. I had not put on knee braces and the tendons around my knees were throbbing, but I was delighted with my adventure and very glad the teleférico was there to take me up to the rim. Once there I slowly reached the area where ladies were offering gorditas for lunch, and feasted on gorditas de flor de maguey (a small fat tortilla that is split by the middle to form a pocket, stuffed with the flowers of the century agave), de quelites (a weed that grows in the corn fields), de chicharron prensado, and de rajas con crema. Super yummy.
By the time I had finished my lunch, at around 4 pm, it had started to rain. I though I could stand the light rain, but at some point had to seek refuge under a tree to let the hard rain pass, but I was not going to stay there forever, so I made my way back along the rim under the rain, and by 5 pm reached the hotel. As I was approaching the front door I saw a large puddle, where a boy and a girl, maybe 5 years old, were having the best time flailing the water with a thin branch, trying to get each other wet. She was a lot cooler and calculating than him, and got him every time, both emitting shrieks of delight. There is no question that kids are the same anywhere in this wild world.
I found Raúl in the bar, also very happy with his crazy adventure. Seems like they had to options: One was to take the mega zipline, which runs roughly parallel to the teleférico, and is thus 2 kilometers long. The teleférico moves at a stately speed of 24 km per hour, so it takes 10 minutes to cover the 2 km. The mega zipline, in contrast, runs between 100 and 150 km per hour depending on your weight, wind direction, or wind strength, so the whole experience is over in less than two minutes! It must be wild moving through space at that speed, however, hanging from nothing more than a harness. Toňo y Raúl chose the 7-ziplines circuit, however, in which you go down a zipline (anywhere from 400 to 800 m long), land, walk uphill a few hundred meters to the next launching platform (sometimes crossing pretty sizeable hanging bridges), and go at it all over again. Keep in mind, however, that Raúl is gimpy and couldn’t carry his cane with him, but he is very tough and much to the astonishment of the guide bringing the rear kept up with the group. Like myself he was glad to have the teleférico ride back, had a few gorditas, and walked all the way back. I’d say he fully deserved a cold whisky with soda!
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