Hola de Batopílas!

(Puerto Penasco, MX - Copper Canyon, MX)

We are at the deep end of Copper Canyon, a truly incredible range of mountains surrounds us with variations in colour you can hardly believe. Goats roam everywhere, also donkeys and vacas (cows) which have created an amazing geometrical maze across every hillside (most of which are so steep it's hard to imagine anything being able to walk there).
Tudor: I hate to say it, but I think you would literally cry to know what you are missing.
James H: You too.

We are taking a much needed day to rest up a bit, as the ride was (put lightly) grueling. We could barely get ourselves off of the bike when we stopped to rest, as the steep up and down rock and gravel roads require constant tensing and standing, gripping and jumping to avoid letting the motorcycle jump back up and getcha.

Batopilas is a lovely little town on the edge of a river. There is really only one street with all the houses on either side running about a mile or so. Many of them are home to cows, and some are easily 100 years old. The area was once a big silver mine.

We have so far made our way from the border towns of San Luis, to Puerto Penasco, Hermosillo, Yecora, and Creel. We've stayed just one night in each until now, as the roads were previously beautifully paved, new and smooth. I think we may have been taking it for granted, but sure appreciate it now!
I highly recommend at least one night in Yecora, which was just so friendly. We stayed at a little hotel with lacquered stone walls rather like a cave, and since Adam was sick (and is just today finally feeling better) we made it our little nest from about 6pm till about 10am the next morning. It was here that I had my favourite meal yet, Huevos con Chorizo! They had just made the chorizo (which is a meat and spices with a sort of ancho/smokey spice flavour) and mixed with scrambled eggs and rolled into a little corn tortilla: Really really delicious.
Nearly every place we've stayed has had satellite TV which is unexpected, until Creel where they had a TV but it didn't actually work. They did, however, have a cracking fireplace just outside our door at Hotel Korachi, which was wonderful considering it got pretty cold.
The wind last night kept knocking the whole town's power out, which meant no hot water and sometimes lights, sometimes no lights. Being the Americans that we are, we pulled out the ipod and watched The Darjeeling Limited. We were asleep by 9:30pm, and didn't budge till nearly 10am.
I can't begin to describe how tired my entire body was, except to say that when we arrived in town after about 5 hours of riding and Adam kept going and passed on to more dirt roads and another hill.. I literally cried. Just a little, but I have to admit it happened. He was just making sure we saw all the hotel possibilities but all I could think of was getting off the bike, getting something to eat, and not getting back onto the bike!
Poor guy. And we're only a week in!

So tomorrow we head back out of the Canyon, and then Southwest toward Durango and then the beaches again. So far we haven't had much access to Internet, but that should change over the next few days.

Buen Dia! Hope you are all well. Time for some more meat and beans, maybe a little cheese, and maybe even a cerveza...

Photos:
Our departure from the Carroll´s in Palm Springs
Arrival in Puerto Penasco
Grace was always excited for a stretch break
Narrow road just above Batopilas
Down into Copper Canyon
Taking a break when we reached the valley floor
Narrow streets in Batopilas
Meat, Beans, Cerveza, Again.
Looking down on the town today