Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Divisidero, Copper Canyon

(Pronounced: Dee-vee-see-DARE-oh)

Chihuahua, Mexico

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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We spent the night in Creel at a very clean hotel with great beds. After a good night's sleep we were up before sunrise and ready to take a bus to the town of Divisidero in the Copper Canyon.

El Chepe makes a stop there, but if you want to go on the cable car, have lunch - or for that matter - have more than the 20 minutes that El Chepe stops, it's best to make a day trip on the bus from Creel to Divisidero. You could also make arrangements to spend the night, picking up the train a few days later on its way to El Fuerte.

Our bus tickets on Noroeste to Divisidero

Now here's the scoop on the bus tickets to Divisidero.

We arrived at the bus station in Creel a little after 9 a.m. to purchase tickets. We had a choice of taking the 10:30 bus (which was a local transport bus, making stops along the way) or the 11 a.m. but which was a directo, meaning no stops.

The last bus coming back from Divisidero to Creel was at 3:30 p.m., and we had to get on THAT bus or stay the night in Divisidero. The bus ride itself took 45 minutes, so we would be arriving close to noon.

This all seemed a bit odd to me.

If you wanted to do anything at all, it would take a few hours to enjoy yourself. Riding a horse down the canyon, having lunch at the beautiful restaurant, or visiting the adventure park all would take several hours. So we either had to cram in our activities in order to make the 3:30 p.m. bus home, or pay $145USD to stay the night(s) in Divisidero, picking up the train again days later.

We decided to just get on the bus and figure it out later once we arrived.

Bus tickets for the local bus or for the directo were both 60Pesos a person, about $3USD.

Leaving Creel on the bus, with the train tracks below

We opted for the directo leaving at 11 a.m. and it's a good thing, as the 10:30 bus was jammed packed, with standing room only.

When the 11 o'clock blue bus arrived, we were the first to board. Even after all the passengers were seated, we still had only 1/2 a bus full.

MUCH more comfortable.

A panoramic view of the town of Divisidero

Arriving just before noon, we confirmed with the driver when the last bus was to arrive, taking us back to Creel.

We were told we could simply stand right there on the road where we were left off, and flag a bus down. The last one leaves at 3:30 p.m. just as we had read about in the tourist guide.

That gave us just about 3 hours to see and do anything and everything we wanted to do and see.

The deep canyon is beyond these red roofed buildings, which you will see more clearly in the following photos.

The glass enclosed upstairs restaurant

This is the upstairs restaurant with a beautiful view of the canyon below.

The restaurant didn't open until 2 p.m. and remember the last bus is at 3:30 p.m. So if you wanted to order a full meal, have a brew or two, and then go down to the center of town to catch the bus, you have an hour and a half to do this.

This made no sense to me, as tourism is the number one draw here, and there are no buses leaving back to Creel after 3:30 p.m. Why rush a great meal, with a great view just to grab the last bus at 3:30?

There was another glass enclosed restaurant jutting out into the Copper Canyon, and this beautiful restaurant was located in the adventure park some miles away.

To get to the adventure park one must take a shuttle or a taxi.

A beautiful view of the Copper Canyon from inside the bar

Mexico's Copper Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon of US fame, and covers 25,000 square miles. The canyons were formed by six rivers that drain the western side of the Sierra Tarahumara, merge into the Rio Fuerte and empty into the Gulf of California.

The bar was downstairs so we decided to grab something there while we waited for the restaurant to open.

I asked about a cappuccino, or even a cup of coffee, but the bar didn't serve this. There was no snack menu, and other than beers, mixed drinks, and maybe a coke, there was nothing to purchase.

Walking around inside, I found a refrigerator in a gift shop that sold cold bottles of frappuccinos, espressos and cappuccinos. I grabbed one and looked around for a place to pay.

I flagged someone down who went inside an office to have an employee come to take my money. She looked like I had most certainly disturbed her.

Ooops.

Hey look, this place was beautiful, but they seriously needed some training for servicing tourists. It's the only source of income for this town!

With our background in the service industry ourselves, I simply didn't "get" this lackadaisical attitude.

Another view of the Canyon from the observation deck

 The walls of the canyon are a copper/green color, which is the origin of the name, Copper Canyon.

Meanwhile, our traveling companion asked about the cable car that was to take us across these deep ravines. What a neat ride THAT would be, right?

The lady at the tourist deck said the cable car was not running today. "Oh, really?" our companion asked.

"Yes," the ticket seller deadpanned back. "It fell down."

WHAT!?!?

Ron, our friend, had a look of disbelief on his face, and was rather stunned into silence.

(You mean it fell down today? Yesterday? Were there people in the car when it fell? When would it be repaired? and do I really want to ride in this thing if it has fallen down?)

I take a look at Billy (who is afraid of heights) and he's pumping the air with his fist! We had to talk him into going on this ride to begin with, and now, there was NO way any of us were going...
 

The beauty of Copper Canyon

This is the view from the fenced-in patio, with the restaurant, bar and gift shops on the left, and the indigenous crafts on tables to the right.

This was the best view of the Canyon we were able to see here in Divisidero. We might have considered going to the adventure park for lunch, but with service here generally being iffy, the cable car having fallen down, and the last bus leaving at 3:30, we were hesitant to take our chances. What if we didn't get back in time to catch the last bus?

Then we would be stuck there for a few days waiting for the next train to come by, paying $145USD a night in the hotel!

Indigenous weavings and crafts spread out over tables and benches

The indigenous Rarámuri set up their tables of woven baskets, textiles, jewelry and other crafts hoping that tourists will purchase them on their visit to Divisidero. The massive canyon is behind them.

You can see here how similar to the Grand Canyon Mexico's Copper Canyon is.

What a feat of nature!

And truly, what a grand place to be!

A close up of these beautiful weavings

It gets a bit chilly up here at this altitude, so one of these hand woven blankets would be just the thing.

Hand made dolls

These dolls show the indigenous native wear, with headdresses for both men and women. Of course, each woman has a baby wrapped in close to her with one of the woven blankets or shawls.

These dolls are wearing bright colored wide dresses just as we saw them "for real" in town.

A view of the Raramuri sitting in the shade with craft tables in front

The deep canyon is to the left (notice the fenced in area to keep people from falling into the canyon) and the road is to the right. The restaurant, bar and gift shop is behind us at this shot.

Here you can see the jewelry, the woven baskets and the Raramuri women sitting in the shade to get out off the hot, direct sun.

The bus waits at the train crossing

Since the cable car had fallen down (OMG!) and the restaurant wouldn't be open until 2 p.m., we decided to call it an early day and take the next bus back to Creel.

We'd just have lunch at Lupita's and get ready for the train ride tomorrow, headed to El Fuerte.

El Fuerte, in case you didn't know, is the birthplace of the famous Mexican-style Robin Hood - ZORRO!

For more stories and photos on the El Chepe Train Ride, click here.

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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