COPPER CANYON!

Barrancas del Cobre (copper canyon) is definitely a trip that every adventurer should take in their lifetime. The canyon is a system of 5 canyons that dwarfs the depth and square mileage of the Grand Canyon. On top of that the little towns, filled mostly with indigenous people, are almost stuck in time where life was simple. Jessi and I had friends visit from Minnesota which helped motivate us to check out the amazing wonder of the North American continent. Part of the adventure was just the journey to get there. We pick up my friends in Tucson on a Sunday, left for Mexico on Monday morning and drove all the way to El Fuerte where we had to catch a train. We caught the train Tuesday morning and road that for 4 hours through an intricate canyon system until we got to a high point of Bahuachivo where we then hopped on a bus. This bus ride is not for the faint of heart as it meanders down the canyon wall on a one lane road that descends 6500 feet into the base of the Urique Canyon, just one of the 5 canyons that make up the Copper Canyon. Absolutely stunning.

Empalme at the beach with kites!

We went to Empalme, a neighbor city, to go to the beach and fly some kites with our friends. Pavleta is the girl with Jessi and Vladimir and Tomas are standing with me and the kite. Pavleta and Vladimir are from Bulgaria and Tomas is from Mexico. We had a lot of fun that day!

Van stuck again

Don't really need to say anything more than that except that we are finally getting the four-wheel drive fixed very soon.

Nacapule

Jessi had mentioned that we found a spot to boulder so I thought I would put some pictures up. This is a really strange canyon for this climate region because there are a bunch of palm trees and even water falls in the deepest part of this canyon. It is Nacapule canyon, a real little paradise.

Good News!!

Jesse and I have been hiking a few times in Nacapule Canyon just outside of San Carlos. We found that the boulders are big enough to climb and traverse so we are getting in some real quality climbing time. Just to prepare ourselves for our Colorado visit in a few months. Jesse's office is doing really well and he is working pretty much daily. It's pretty exciting for him.

Also, we have been running a bit more in hopes of beating our previous years' BIX 7 times. We are not missing it again this year. So two Sunday's ago, we ran a 5k (3.1 miles) and had a blast. Neither of us won the race but I came in 2nd in my age and 3rd overall for the women. Sorry, we didn't have our camera so no photos, but I did get a 2nd place medal.

We have also moved out of Marcia and Paul's house and are now living with our friend Vladimir from Bulgaria. He is really fun to hang out with and has an extra room in his house so we decided to move in there. It's close to the beach and there is a big enough space for both of us to park our vans. Yup, he has a spacevan too!! It was meant to be. Two spacevan's reunited!! We are having a pretty good time these days and look forward to our summer travels.