Adios, Mexico

The 400 mile drive from Zacatecas through Durango and then across the "Devil's Backbone" to Mazatlan made for a long day, but the views were spectacular. On Easter morning we woke once again to the sound of the ocean and to the girls cries of delight when they found that the Easter bunny had not forgotten them. In Mexico, apparently, he doesn't leave chocolate (too hot) but lollipops instead!!

As we headed North for the border, we made a last-minute decision to visit the Copper Canyon and detoured up to El Fuerte, a pleasant little town which also has a station on the famed Copper Canyon Railway. On Monday we took the train up to Creel in Chihuahua, a six hour journey through stunning mountain scenery, and an engineering marvel – the route turns a complete circle inside a canyon and we travelled up the side of one valley three times as it climbed ever higher. We spent the night in a hostel in Creel – much to Francesca’s delight as she HAD to sleep on the top bunk.

On Tuesday we jumped on a local bus for some of the journey back, which enabled us to spend some time in Divisadero enjoying the views and the Raramuri market food stalls.

One final night by the sea near Guaymas allowed us to spend our last pesos on coconut prawns and Mexican beer, before pushing on to Nogales for our nightmare, four and a half hour, border crossing, where we encountered the most objectionable US public official yet – he even shouted at us in Spanish! Now that we have been allowed in - just - we are sorting ourselves out in Phoenix (ie fixing the van) before a grand tour of the West. Phoenix is a great urban sprawl filled with retirees, but luckily we managed to spend the weekend at the lovely Picacho State Park, where we got the girls’ training started by marching them 4 miles up the Peak. It was a somewhat challenging climb requiring steel ropeways in places, but nonetheless half of Arizona seemed to be at the top - the view even included a ‘Dairy Queen’ – the childrens’ real objective for the day!