Roads are not well marked in Mexico (some don’t even show on maps!). Heading south we took a few (more than two!) wrong turns … requiring backtracking. One such detour brought us to a military check-point. Roadblocks with armed military soldiers looking for drugs/guns etc. After passing through and realizing we had taken the wrong road it was back through the same check-point. Finally finding the right road, we continued south (through Sahauaripa and San Nicholas) and into another check-point. At this point we began heading west, instead of south, on Hwy 16. This day was spent mostly mountain roads with lots of “twisties“ (curves and switchbacks). You have to watch for oncoming traffic, as cars/trucks/busses are often occupying much of our lane. We found this small well maintained town-square along the way. It was the cleanest and most colorful encountered.

With both daylight and temperature dropping, we decided to find shelter in Maycoba, a small village with only one hotel (called the San Francisco Hotel with no heat or hot water!). We walked through town that night for dinner finding a small restaurant… not very good food and cold to boot. It wasn’t hard to make another early departure after finding toast and coffee in a small cantina. Leaving town, an “hombre” is spotted coming out of an old camper carrying an automatic rifle! Needless to say, we moved on.

Continuing west on Hwy 16 (many more twisties this day!) we finally drop into a large valley and some warmer temperatures. Along the way we see a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted in its bed. The person manning the gun waves as we pass…. We wave and smile… and move on! Just west of Cuauhtemoc we again turn south and begin to make our way to Creel our jumping off point for the Copper Canyon. We are in high country. Even the valley was at 7,000 feet and the route to Creel rises above 8,000 feet.

We find a Best Western Hotel in Creel that has both heat and hot water (fabulous!) We enjoy a great meal of Mexican “rib eye” steak that evening.