September 1990.  One of the days we spent at Paraiso del Oso Hotel, Doug took us on a trip to the rim of the Copper Canyon.  It is known as the "Grand Canyon" of Mexico, and it does bear some resemblance to its famous cousin to the north.  We weren't quite prepared for the stunning views and Doug had to remind us that we had other places to go.  Doug gave us another great day and showed us some special sites both at the rim and on the road to and from his hotel.  What a great opportunity that just fell in our lap, all because of a chance meeting on a train.  While at the rim, Lori, needing to use the "facilities," lost her balance, fell backwards, and landed in a cactus patch.  Carl spent days tweezing cactus spines out of her backside. 

Sept 1990.  Enroute, we decided to interrupt our trip to Creel with a two-day stay in the small pueblo of Ceracahui.  We left the train at the Bahuichivo train station with hotel-owner Doug and bounced for over an hour to get to his hotel, the Paraiso del Oso (Paradise of the Bear).  From his hotel, we were able to visit the rim of the Copper Canyon, hike all over the country side, and visit a Tarahumara Indian cave.  The Tarahumara are an indigenous people who have a large presence in the Copper Canyon area.  They are noted for their running skills and the competition among the men of kicking a small ball along the mountain trails.  We saw evidence of this as we hiked the area with Doug and his partner.  We had made the right choice and taking a chance did pay off for us this time.   ​

​September 1990.  Crossing the Sea of Cortez for the second time in nine months, we had a familiar hitchhiker for many of those miles.  On the crossing, we stopped at Isla Smith to catch up with cruising friends Jerry and Diona on Galadriel, for one last time.  We stayed one night and then sailed on to Guaymas.  We bypassed the Midriff Islands mainly because we wanted to take advantage of the good weather.  We decided that we could not see it all and we had things we wanted to do out of Guaymas, so sailed on.  We did pass by Isla Raza, a part of the Midriff Islands, but didn't stop.  It's a bird sanctuary and used to be mined for Guano (bird poop).  Rocks on the island were arranged in rows, walls, and mounds.  Very strange.  The seas were rough, so we couldn't get too close, but we were glad we got to swing by.  It took us two days to sail from Isla Smith to Guaymas.  

September 1990.  After arriving in Guaymas, we settled in for a while.  Quite a few cruisers we knew were there.  We thought Refugio had been hot and humid, Guaymas was worse.  Everything was wet, all of the time.  Taking a shower in the evening was bliss, but only lasted a short time.  We did quite a bit of socializing in Guaymas and actually took two trips.  One to Tucson, Arizona to pick up boat parts and supplies, the other to the Copper Canyon, a mountain town that everyone was raving about.  The trip to Tucson was helpful, but it was a nightmare.  Sort of a necessary trial that we needed to go through.  Our diary pages are filled with mishaps, but in the end, we got some of what we needed and got there and back safely.  Just to start things off, we got there at about dawn and didn't get a car or get anywhere really until after 1 PM.  It was a long, boring, and frustrating beginning. It continued to be frustrating like that until we boarded the bus to go back to Guaymas.  

Our second trip was to Creel, a mountain town that everyone was talking about.  From Guaymas, we took a bus to Los Mochis the starting point for the train that would take us to Creel.  On the train, we met Doug, an American who had just opened a small hotel not far from Bahuichivo station, one station on the rail line.  We took a chance and booked with him right there for two nights.  We got off the train with him and hoped we had made a good decision.  Although it was a bumpy, rough hour trip to the hotel from the train, it turned out we did!!!