Re: High Adventure Venture
golden cliff (c60clg1@CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU)
Sun, 31 Aug 1997 02:33:29 -0500
On Sat, 30 Aug 1997, Jay Thal wrote:
> Please tell more about the Batopilas Canyon/Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico
> trip. Our Troop has been contemplating a Mexican adventure for 1998 or 1999.
> Under consideration has been as far flung places as Copper Canyon or the
> Yucatan.
We flew from Chicago to El Paso, Texas on Southwest Airlines, cost
$203.00. We stayed overnight at Ft Bliss. We did the remainder of the trip
for $197.00. Total cost: $400.00.
That cost included..
- southwest airllines to El Paso, TX from Chicago
- overnight at Ft Bliss (free) meals (nominal cost)
- bus from El Paso to Chihuahua City.
- 1 night hotel in Chihuahua,
- train to Creel, Mexico (went 2nd class) on people's train,
- hotel in Creel (Margarita's Casa Huespede),
- bus ride to Batopilas, 100 miles-10 hours
- camping & backpacking in the canyon
- hotel in Batopilas (Casa Bustillos)
- bus ride back to Creel
- hired driver to take us to Cusarare Falls, then Laguna Arareco
- camping & backpacking in the Sierra Tarahumara
- 2 nights hotel in Creel (Margarita's again)
- day tour to Tararacua Canyon and Recohuate hot springs
- First Class express train to El Divisadero (Copper Canyon)
- 2nd Class peoples train to Chihuahua City
- 2 nights hotel in Chihuahua City
- sightseeing hosted by Troop 7, Chihuahua
- train back to El Paso
- Southwest Airlines back to Chicago
The $400 price was in 1988 and included all meals, transportation, programs,
overnight lodging/camping, etc. The only cost to the boys was souvineers.
Theoretically, they could have left DeKalb with $1 and returned with $1.
BTW: We even had a soda budget. Keep them hydrated. Bottled soda is
safe to drink. Treat all tap water, double treat any river water. No
one in our group got sick on the trip. But we were very cautious.
We went before it was a tourist destination. It was still a frontier.
The road to Batopilas was only opened in 1984,(4 years before) prior to
that it was a 10 day trip by horse or burro.
For instance, in Batopilas we stayed one night at the Casa Bustillos
owned and operated by Monse Bustillos. One nights loding, including
meals, was $5/person. The meals BTW were fabulous!
Some interesting things happened to us...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We attended the Holy Thursday Mass at the cathedral in Chihuahua. Not
everyone was Catholic, but it didn't matter, it was a great experience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
While visiting a Tarahumara Good Friday Festival, we were welcomed by the
elders and our faces were painted with white clay just as they wore. We
were admitted into their circle around a giant bonfire where they
celebrated. One of our Scouts was even permitted to beat their drum. The
recently paved road from Chihuahua brought the first tour bus ever to the
tiny village. Tourists poured out of the bus taking flash photos of
anything that moved, severely disrupting a very serious religious activity
for the Tarahumara. The indians through rocks at them. The bus was gone
in seconds.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the bus to Batopilas, an armed gunman stopped our bus. It turned out
he was a mexican soldier holding the bus for the rest of his squad. They
were out on drug patrol. They rode into town with us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
While camping along the Batopilas river, a lone Tarahunara indian came
into our camp while we were in town at the fiesta. Returning to find him
and his large machete, we sent back to the village for help. A missionary
came out who spoke the Tarahumara language. The indian could speak
neither english nor spanish. He was friendly and on a religious
pilgrimage. His name was Meteu! We quickly made friends.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
While hiking the canyon we were caught in darkness. We stopped and waited
for the moon to rise, completing the hike in moonlight. We arrived in a
small village and stopped at their church. We were confronted by the men
of the village armed with guns. They had come to protect their village
from the "gringo drug runners" (us). It's good I am a calm person. I
persuaded them we were friendly and only wanted to camp by their river.
One of them guided us to a river campsite. We camped there two nights and
made many friends among the villagers before we left.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We camped one night in a paradise. We were under the shade of a gigantic
fig tree along a river. A large swimming hole and sandy bank gave us
respite from the heat. (the water was cold!) The canyon rose high above
us. High cliffs on either side of the river supported a hanging bridge.
Villagers crossing the bridge with their burros would call out to us from
above. We would wave and call back to them. It was a great place to be.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Sierra Tarahumara mountains, we encountered several cliff
dwellings, still inhabited. It was difficult to find water, most rivers
were dry. Maps were absurdly inaccurate. Trails led nowhere, goat
pasture to pasture to farm. We mostly hiked cross country following land
forms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On one bus ride I was robbed of several large bills while I slept. I
confronted the thief and my money was returned. A few tense moments. By
the end of the trip we were friends, his wife gave me a beautiful boutique
scarf as a gift.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tarahumara indians wear sandals. It is difficult for the elderly to
walk in them. Shoes are badly needed. As a spontaneous service project,
all of our boys donated a pair of shoes for the elderly. Margarita in
Creel has a collection for them. Some of those shoes were expensive
sports shoes. One mother was upset that her son had not returned with his
Reebok, until she found out what he had done with them, then she was
proud. (There are some elderly Tarahumara indians who can now run faster
and jump higher.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We met a contingent of mexican Scouts on a train. Instant friends. Patch
trading. Uniform trading. Without Scouting, that contact wouldn't have
happened. Scouting gave us a common bond.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We met many many very warm and generous people along the way. The Mexican
people were very good to us. The quiet and gentle Tarahumara indians we
met held our respect and affection. The geography was among the most
beautiful I've seen. It was a tremendous adventure and one of my favorite
Scouting experiences.
The area is much more tourist friendly today. The drug problems are
basically gone. There is more commercial development. Keep your group
small. Have someone along who speaks spanish. When we were there phone and
electricity did not exist in the places we traveled past Creel. That was
1988.
> Your costs seem relatively low. Have you factored in transportation?
> Do you have a bus of your own? Food, etc. in transit? Like, '96 Seabase(?)
> and '97 Jambo seem like base costs. (I know that sightseeing in DC is free -
> what a deal for outsiders (we're from DC))
We rent cars or people drive their own. The charge for Washington D.C.
trip this past summer was $280. It only cost us $240. We will be taking
the remainder of the money and refunding it to the adult that donated the
van we drove, which is what it would have costed us to rent one. The trip
cost was not a base cost, it included everything. We are thrifty.
The costs include all travel, lodging/campsites, meals, and activities.
We make our trips totally inclusive of all costs.
'96 Seabase, was not a trip to the Florida Sea Base. We do our own program.
Sea base is too expensive, (they do have a great program though).
Most of our trips are ones we plan and operate ourselves. At Boundary
Waters we outfit ourselves. We own a fleet of canoes. That keeps
costs down considerably.
An example...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida Keys Adventure 1996
---------------------------
Day 1
Leave in the late afternoon. Overnight at Camp Belzer BSA, Indianapolis
Day 2
Caving at Mammoth Cave National Park, overnight at Ft. Knox
Day 3
Tour Ft Knox, tour National Corvette Museum, overnight at Fall River
Falls State Park, Tennessee
Day 4
Raft trip on the Ocoee River, Tennessee. Visit Olympic sights in Atlanta,
laser light show at Stone Mountain. Overnight at Ft. McPhearson.
Day 5
Mountain biking at Thunder Scout Reservation BSA. Overnight at Holiday
Inn, St Augustine, FL
Day 6
Tour Castel San Marcos National Monument. Drive to Patrick Air Force
Base for overnight camp. Swim at Cocoa Beach. Visit Ron Jon Surf shop.
Day 7
Tour Kennedy Space Center. Drive to Key West. Overnight at Key West
Naval Air Station.
Day 8
Enjoy sailing/snorkel trip off Key West. Swim at beach. Sunset celebration
at Mallory Pier, Key West. Overnight at Key West Naval Air Station.
Day 9
Tour Florida Sea Base. Snorkel trip and motorboating at John Pennekamp
Marine Park. Camp overnight in Everglades National Park.
Day 10
Drive to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. Tour Hurricane Hunter aircraft.
Overnight at MacDill Air Force Base recreation center.
Day 11
Tour U.S. Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Camp
overnight at Gulf State Park in Alabama. Evening beach swim. Seafood
buffet.
Day 12
Spelunking tour of Lem Rock Cave near Scottsburo, AL. Overnight at Camp
Jackson BSA.
Day 13
Tour U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL. Overnight Ft Campbell, KY
Day 14
Stop at National Scouting Museum, Murray, KY. Visit Superman Statue in
Metropolis, IL. Drive home.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Our Troop has done the last three CJs; Seabase; Alaska (twice); and
> Philmont four times in the last eight years.
> YIS
> Jay Thal
>
Sounds like you have quite an exciting program. How much did Alaska cost?
YIS, Cliff Golden
Scoutmaster Troop 33; DeKalb, Illinois
Three Fires Council BSA
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
