http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157615746773278/This picture postcard little logging town was to be our final destination. It was located near the canyon but not on the rim like Divisdero. Doing the budget thing (did I mention the 1st class train was expensive?), we decided to take our new friend Stephanie's recommendation for a place to stay. We took several wrong turns trying to find the place named Luly's.
Luly's was a bit scary, our room was sort of a cave with no heat, the bunk bed dormrooms for singles I think were a bit nicer, but the price for the private room was in our wheelhouse - $200 pesos (like $14 bucks) and we had full run of the place. We found out later that the heater had been disconnected due to 2 German travelers having died just days before of carbon monoxide poisoning at a nearby hostel. Our host, Luly, was very sweet but the next day we took the guide books recommendation! For $350 pesos, we stayed at the cutest and oldest hotel in the town - Posada de Creel, and even got 2 free beer vouchers! Not only was this nicer, but it had a heater! Night was cold in Creel, but the daytime was beautiful. And the smell, oh, the smell of pine trees was fantastic!
After settling in, we decide to take in the sites via bicycles. Armed with a crude photocopied, hand drawn map, we head off on our self guided tour of the Valley of the Mushrooms, Frogs and Monjes (Penis in Spanish). Oh yeah, and some pretty lake. It wasn't that far out of town before we hit the first of 3 entrances to the park(s). We knew we had arrived at the correct spot, when the vendors had all their baskets and goods laid out in front of the Mushroom rocks, awaiting the tour buses. However, we were on super cool and very modern Trek mountain bikes, which definitely was the way to go.
After a couple of pictures, we were off to the next spot, the Valley of the Frogs. We didn't have to go far as they were practically in the same place, and yeah, they sort of looked like frogs, from the right angle. The Valley of the Monjes, our next site, was quite a bit further, and the crude map was something like a puzzle. we got there just about the same time our bums started to give out. Another park gate (this is Mexican for entrance fee, where someone materializes from nowhere to collect), and a short ride around the corner, and wow! We decide to stop and eat lunch.
Hoping back on our bikes, ouch, is really the thing that comes to mind. Wow, I haven't been on a bike, or shall I say bike seat that hard, in a long time. As we head towards the lake, the ride is becoming less fun on the bumpy trails. We are at least half way so no point in riding back the way we came, plus I'm not wussing out. We get to the lake, and it nice. You could rent a boat and fishing gear. What ended up being more fun was haggling with a bracelet vendor. She sent her tiny little girl over to sell us stuff so of course I had to buy something. So Cute!
On our way, and finally we hit pavement! We were both so glad to be on a smooth surface but we still had 6 km to go (out of the 21km total ride). Our bums were on fire and we rode the almost 5 miles in 20 minutes. We wanted off the bikes.
Friday was our day to leave. We had a little time so we decided to go to the museum in the morning. It was way cool. However, every sound sent us running out the door. As we stood on the train platform we were informed that the economical train doesn't run on Fridays anymore. It was suppose to run M, W, F and Wed it was broken (well, there was a freight train derailment) so no trains ran after that. No replacement train ran and the schedule changed the day before (Thurs.) to M, W, Sat. Back to the hotel we trekked. Well, it could have been worst, at least it wasn't expensive in Creel.
