El Chepe Train, Northern México, Acapulco -- February-March 2014

Map shows the route of El Chepe. The train is officially known as "Chihuahua al Pacifico",
although I rode it in the other direction -- Pacifico [Los Mochis] a Chihuahua.
It is most likely called "Chihuahua al Pacifico" because the original route began in Wichita,
Kansas (yes, that Kansas), built by the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Co.,
or KCM&O, which was incorporated in 1900.
The original intention was for the line to extend to the Pacific Ocean,
at Topolobampo Bay, Sinaloa, just to the West of Los Mochis.
The final connection through to Los Mochis was opened in 1961.

Los Mochis, Sinaloa - 20-22 February

Los Mochis is a relatively small, typical Mexican town, with some charm and even surprises. The concept of a "vegetarian cannibal" wouldn't have occurred to me as the name for an eatery, and the logo (enlarged here for your viewing convenience) would probably never be used in the hyper-sensitive United States of America. The fact that the store is right next to a restaurant advertising "birria de cabrito" ("kid stew" -- i.e., young goats) is all the more remarkable.

This magnificent, and quite sizable, bronze statue called "Alegoria Infantil" is the work of Pedro Jiménez Corona, installed in 1992 in a relatively plain, small park called Plaza Solidaridad.

Posada Barrancas, Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon),
Chihuahua - 22-23 February

All of a sudden (8 hours after leaving Los Mochis!), you're at the highest point of the mountains along the route, a village -- really just three or four upscale hotels -- called Posada Barrancas. (I realize there are no pictures from the train ride itself -- photographs through reflective windows from a moving train just don't cut it. You'll have to make the trip yourself to see the stunning scenery -- or do a Web search for second-best views.) This is the hotel where I stayed, the Posada Barrancas Mirador.

This hotel is literally on the edge of the canyon, and all the rooms have balconies that offer quite unbelievable vistas. My regular readers (you three know who you are!) will remember that I often include photos of what can be seen from the room(s) I've booked. This, as you will see, is one of the best ever. The overused word "awesome" applies, once again.

Moving slightly to the right, still inside the room, we begin to see what we paid for.

PANORAMA -- scroll right (or enlarge your browser) to see the entire picture.

If you go out on the balcony, the canyon opens up. This view only cost about US$160, and that included three meals! Well worth it.

On a small ledge in the canyon wall in front of the hotel is this small home, complete with dogs, kids and chickens.

Around the hotel are some pretty beautiful small trees, which I believe are manzanita.

They look like the manzanita in Southern California, but they seem bigger, browner, and shinier.

Any snapshot photographer cannot resist the sunset shot. (There's another one below, much further South in Acapulco, from later in the trip.)

Chihuahua, Chihuahua - 23-25 February

Chihuahua -- the town so nice, they named it twice! Of course, Chihuahua (the city) is the capital of Chihuahua (the state). This place so thoroughly surprised me that I can't even remember what I was expecting to see. It's a very pleasant town, chock-loaded with Mexican history.
This picture proves, I suppose, how hard it is to completely destroy nature. Just after I took this picture, a man walking by made a comment I didn't quite hear, but I'm pretty sure he was asking me why I didn't take a picture of the puddle (just to the left, behind the car), too, as it was a very nice puddle. Smart ass.

First, the silly stuff. This picture of cheese was not color-altered with PhotoShop or anything else. Maybe it's a chunk of the moon . . .?

OK, I get the recycling opening on the left -- papel (paper). But the one on the right - Pet? Seems a little brutal.

There's not a lot of art deco in Chihuahua -- seems like most of the construction is from either earlier or later eras -- but the style of this market, especially the sign, is unmistakable deco.

This is an interesting modern building, built in 2006 according to the plaque near the bottom. It's known as the "Torre Mirador" -- roughly translated, that's "Observation Tower". One of the interesting things is that it's closed, apparently permanently. I guess any "observation" needs to be done from the outside, not the top.

This is an admirable project on the part of Kiwanis, the sponsor of the sign. I wonder why they didn't make the sign in Spanish? Seems like they'd be a bit more successful getting their message across. Oh well.

The best I can do at translating the name of this food stand is, "He who raises the dead" (or perhaps "The dish that raises the dead"). One heck of a shrimp recipe.

The Chihuahua Cathedral, which dates from 1725, is one of the oldest structures I saw in the city, not unusual, of course; but what I did find unusual was that there was filament (or wire?) netting around the fronts of these open bell-towers, but not the back. This means that if the birds are flying in from the NorthEast, they're blocked, but if they enter from the other side, no problem.

On a more meaningful note, this Cathedral is unusual, in that most such churches face West, with the altar at the East end. Typically, the church is placed wherever the builders want it, then the rest of the city grows around it. This one is, well, nearly backwards, with the front facing NorthEast, and the altar at the SouthWest end.

For some reason I couldn't determine, there are images of Marilyn Monroe all over Chihuahua.

By the time I became aware of this "theme", I had missed many photo opportunities, but I was able to get a few shots.

This is interesting, as it is what I have called, in previous vacation-photo commentaries on this Web site, "stencil-graffiti". (Previous images have been mostly from Argentina trips.)

The 1960s-themed Desayunador -- which can be approximated by the English "Breakfast Maker" -- is a trove of Marilyn memorabilia, along with lots of other stars, big and little (so to speak).

Here at the entrance we see Marilyn guarding the menu. I chose the "Popeye" omelet (bottom of the Desayunos list), stuffed with -- what else? -- mucha espinaca.

More Marilyn, along with Elvis.

Several images of Marilyn, along with a few other celebs.

Marilyn and the Beatles. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that Marilyn Monroe shouldn't really fit squarely in a 1960s-themed décor, as most of her career was 1950s, and she was gone by 1962. And as for Popeye (see the espinaca reference above), his heydey was long before even Marilyn's, being most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. But I quibble.

Of all the entertainers that did not typify the 1960s, Lawrence Welk would seem to be one of the most obvious. Oh well. (No, this breakfast place didn't serve Champagne!)

Now to the historical side of Chihuahua. Apparently, much of the revolutionary history of México was centered here, in 1810-11, and again in the early decades of the XXth century. The plaque, enlarged here for ease of reading, says, "Here is buried the decapitated body of the Father of the Nation [no need to remind Mexicans that it was Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, born 1753] 30 July 1811 . . ." They don't mince words here.

Even without the word "Libertad", the expression on this iconic eagle's head tells the story of determination that won independence from Spain. No comment on the pigeon.

Actually, Hidalgo's body was buried in this church, the Templo de San Francisco, which is across the street from the monument shown above.

This plaque, again without needing to mention Hidalgo's name, is found on the front of the church: "In this temple is deposited the decapitated body of the Father of the Nation."

A few blocks away, on one of the city's government buildings, another part of the story is (literally) set in stone: "Here was the dungeon of the Father of the Nation, Miguel Hidalgo . . . he left here 30 July 1811 to seal with his generous blood the holy cause of Mexican independence." Intense.

Just SouthWest of Hidalgo's resting place is the Plaza Mayor, with its imposing Ángel de la Libertad. The church is seen in the background.

Another view of the Ángel, around the side of a government building.

This Ángel is aggressive, to say the least: forward into battle.

Many readers may notice a resemblance between this Ángel and one featured in a previous vacation photo collection, namely the Ángel de la Independencia (aka Ángel de Oro) in the Paseo de la Reforma in México, D.F. They are shown here side-by-side, so you can see the similarity. (The photo on the left is not mine, it's from Wikipedia.) But do you see the difference? No, not the real gold on the left and the yellowish paint on the right. One is female, the other male.

Next to the Plaza del Ángel is another part of the Plaza Mayor, called Plaza de la Grandeza, an open square dominated by this truly remarkable bronze tribute to another Chihuahua hero, José Doroteo Arango Armbula, better known by his pseudonym, General Francisco Villa, and even better known by his nickname, "Pancho" Villa.

This bronze frieze, installed and dedicated just last year (2013), is the work of Elisa Ponzanelli.

When someone at the unveiling asked Governor César Duarte how much the bronze work had cost, he said he "didn't remember"!

Here, once again, we see the Mexican tendency to remind everyone in very graphic terms just how much was sacrificed for their independence and freedom, as the aftermath of Villa's death is depicted.

This small chapel in the tranquil Parque Lerdo some distance from the central squares and government buildings is Villa's Mausoleum.

Acapulco, Guerrero - 25 February-4 March

Acapulco ain't what it used to be -- it's much, much more, and that's tragic. It might as well be Vegas, or any of the Club Meds along México's Gulf Coast. My trip tried (in vain) to recapture the "old days", though, by staying at the venerable Hotel El Mirador. Here, in the Plazoleta in front of the hotel (where the tourist buses park) is a monument placed in the 1930s, just after the hotel was built with its original 10 or 12 rooms.

That was then, this is now. The El Mirador covers most of the hillside above La Quebrada, the cliffs where Las Clavadistas (the Cliff-Divers) have risked their lives daily since 1933. The diving cliff is about in the middle of this picture, identifiable by the blue shrine to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. From there to the right of the picture, and all the way up the hill, everything is part of the present-day El Mirador Hotel.

The grounds of the El Mirador are immaculately maintained, all the way from the sea-level salt-water pool to the La Mira Alberca (Pool) at the top of the hill.

Until just five or six years ago (or so said one of the Hotel employees when I asked him about it), the Hotel ran three self-operated funiculars to take guests from one level to another. This one goes (or used to go) up towards the hilltop pool.

Room 130 was my home for a week. This is the sitting room with dining area just to the left. The bedroom, about twice this size, is to the right.

Almost every room at the El Mirador has a spectacular view. I mean, the name itself means "The Viewpoint" or "The Viewer". (Remember, a few days back for the overnight stopover on El Chepe, that hotel, also, was called "Mirador".) The entire West and North sides of this suite are windows. This is the view to the West, from the sitting/dining area.

This view looks out the bedroom window to the North, towards another part of the Hotel.

And this view is also from the bedroom window, looking down towards the Tortuga (Tortoise/Turtle) pool.

Back at the West side, I leaned out the window and took this view almost straight down to the sea-level salt-water pool and the funicular that used to run down there. (Now guests have to take the stairs.)

From the same (West) window, the irresistible sunset shot.

Morning again, here is a closer view of the diving cliffs at La Quebrada. Again, the blue shrine marks the location of the upper diving platform.

In the Plazoleta stands this tribute to Las Clavadistas. Somehow, this bronze just doesn't work for me. Something about the steel girder in the diver's chest destroys its gracefulness.

The Hotel's bar and restaurants are conveniently located for the best possible views of the diving cliffs. This is where breakfast was served, and this is the view from there. Talk about al fresco . . .

To the right of the restaurant is a view of yet another part of the Hotel. Notice the trees growing through the balcony (or, more likely, the balcony built around the trees that were already there!).

The restaurant area features several walls full of signatures, purportedly of famous guests who have visited. I say purportedly, because the signature just to the left of center of this picture is spelled, "Peter Seller". Unless there is some other celebrity with this exact name, it is doubtful that the Peter Sellers actually signed this one. (The cynic in me is always at work.)

Also in the restaurant area we find this Simplex 35mm Motion Picture Theatre Projector. Exactly why it is there is not explained anywhere that I could see, and is still a mystery to me. (It was, however, a source of great nostalgia to me, since I made my living for several years in the very early 1970s running carbon-arc projectors just like these in theatres in Los Angeles and New York.)

I mentioned previously the La Mira Alberca, the hilltop pool.

PANORAMA -- scroll right (or enlarge your browser) to see the entire picture.

The view from the vantage point of the La Mira pool is, well, pretty good.

If we zoom in to the town center from the La Mira viewpoint, we can see the blue dome of the city's Cathedral.

La Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, Acapulco's Cathedral, is nothing short of unique. It was only on this trip, and only by reading the Wikipedia page, that I learned that it was built in 1930, originally as a movie set. When the movie company finished filming and abandoned the building, it was converted to use as a church, and remains so to this day.

I learned something else on this trip that left me a bit embarrassed. In some previous vacation picture captions, taken at the Metropolitan Cathedral in México D.F., I claimed sarcastically that the broom propped up against the statue of San Martin de Porres there was not part of the Saint's imagery and iconography. As it turns out, a broom is nearly always associated with San Martin, a symbol of his attitude that any work, however humble, is important. I have sheepishly corrected that error in the March/April 2013 vacation pictures, and have apologized to the Saint, among others. I was so embarrassed that I hesitate now to mention that this is a plastic broom, probably not the type that San Martin would have used. No, I've said enough.

PANORAMA -- scroll right (or enlarge your browser) to see the entire picture.

Acapulco Bay truly is a geographic marvel. (See another view later, taken from the air.)

Most tourists probably don't get into Acapulco's streets and alleys. I do. Here is a third-floor hut, purpose unknown, but possibly a restaurant.

Even the best attempts at SpellCheck miss some details, even on signs. Or is a "Ligth Salad" just some new XXIst century thing that I haven't heard about? (Quite possible.)

This appears to be an abandoned, perhaps unfinished, hillside restaurant. In the middle of so much "civilization" (i.e., high-rise glitz and exhaustive traffic) it looks almost like a pre-historic cave dwelling.

This poor guy either lost his tray of food, or has some serious arthritis issues.

The Camiones (the word usually means "trucks", but seems to be what Acapulquenos/as call these very inexpensive buses) are often painted with great detail and no concern for copyright issues. A bus nicknamed "Hot Wheels" seems appropriate enough.

On the other hand, a bus nicknamed "Death Race" seems a bit risky, to say the least. (But each ride is only about US$0.40.)

Here we see the Futurama characters.

The painting of most of the buses looks very much like good street art as seen in cities like Los Angeles and elsewhere.

These artists are skillful.

Some of the buses are not brightly painted, but are simple yellow with the logo "MAXIRUTAS" written on the side and back.

Yes, you guessed it -- MAXIRUTAS is irresistible to cheeky vandals who only have to match a bit of yellow paint over one part of the letter "R" to create a truly rude -- and hysterical, in my opinion -- variation. (I swear this picture is not PhotoShopped.)

This time out, I decided to take some pictures from the air. Here you can see the near-circle of Acapulco Bay, and the spread of the city around it.

The flight from Acapulco -- like most, if not all, flights from this outpost playground -- must stop in México D.F. before going on. This gave me some more opportunities to take aerial shots. This city is staggering, I would say even magnificent, in its sheer length and breadth, as it would have to be if 25 million people live there. (I'm not making this up!)

The large green area at the bottom of the picture is the Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Park), and the tall buildings extending up and to the left mark the Paseo de la Reforma.

Another view of the Paseo de la Reforma shows the speck of gold in the center-right of the picture, the Ángel de Oro mentioned above when we were in Chihuahua.

Here we're flying North, looking East toward the Parque Alameda, seen here just above center-right.

Another view of the Centro (downtown) area, dominated by the Torre Latinoamericana, built in the mid-1950s as a slightly-less-than-1/2-size replica of the Empire State Building.

As testament to the city's unending variety, I saw a major landmark from the air that I have never seen nor heard of before, indicated here by the red arrow. It was literally outstanding, this huge building, obviously a church, with a colossal statue on top that looked a lot like the Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro.

It wasn't easy, but using the power of the Web (Google Satellite and search engines), I determined its location (SouthEast of the Bosque de Chapultepec) and name: Templo del Purisimo Corazon de Maria. This picture is from a Wikipedia page. I will definitely go there and take my own picture of this unusual building next time I visit D.F.