A Cold Morning in Creel & Divisadero

After arriving in Creel we elected to stay in the Parador de la Montana a nice little motel with off-street secure parking, however we had no water pressure and kept making the mistake of locking ourselves out of the room.  The former was an inconvenience, and the latter not a big deal in the early evening, however, when I did it at 0600 the next morning in sub-freezing temperatures, and when Curtis was only wearing his long-johns it can be a very big deal.  Luckily the night attendant was able to secure a master key (after 2 tries) and save our asses.  There were a group of German students also visiting Creel and staying at the Parador at the same time -- probably for the hiking.  Here's a picture of the interior parking area early the next morning:

 And when I say it was cold, it was freezing (for those who cannot tell otherwise, that's frost on the fairing):

The hotel also had a great fireplace (which was most welcome when we got in the night before) that had a fantastic painting of the nearby Basaseachic Falls, the second highest waterfall in Mexico:

Before heading to Batopilas and into the Copper Canyon we elected to go to Divisadero at the top of the canyon.  It was a beautiful ride up there, and the views were stunning:

When we got up there the indigenous people were just setting up their goods for the tourists.  What was most interesting was seeing these people that, relative to us, really have nothing, but here were their children, in particular a little boy wearing bright blue pants and a jacket (likely made by hand by his mother) running around playing with the rocks and birds that were dancing around, as happy as can be.  It just goes to show, if you have the simple things in life: shelter, clothing, food, the love of your family, you have everything you need for true happiness.

Luckily for Curtis and I, Hotel Divisadero was up there (you can see it off to the right in the second panoramic shot), and they were still serving breakfast.  It had this huge stunning hand carved front door (the first picture is the unpainted inside, the second, the colored outside), and it has no locks because this hotel is always open:

We decided to video the ride back from Divisadero to Creel and if you look closely you can see some of the indigenous people by the roadside and tracks waiting for the trains and buses, and you get an idea of how beautiful of a day it truly was (or at least began):