The Plan:
I love train travel so I was totally looking forward to this part of the trip. On the way up the canyon (sea level to 7,000 + feet), we were going 1st class. No really, we planned to take the Premier train. It was more expensive, but fit into our time line better and would get us to our 1st stop faster. Did I also mention, it has a bar car & dinning car in it? After all, we were traveling on Fat Tuesday! Not knowing what we would encounter and not having a hotel reservation, we felt this school of thought would boded well for us.
After review of the guide book and advice from others, we decided we would first stop in Posada Barrancas. The next day we would hike down to the bottom of the canyon and back up in time to catch the economical train. This train, which all the locals take, lags at least 2 hours behind the 1st class train and makes more stops. This would put us at our 2nd & final stop, Creel, around 6pm or so we thought. We would stay there for 2 nights and return on Friday. To return we would take the economical train all the way back to El Fuerte. As we would later find out, it was half the price of the 1st class train and not that much different. Well, no bar car! So that was the plan.
The Reality:
The train was amazing, not only because of the scenic beauty but also the engineering feat of how/where they laid the track. It had to maintain a 2.5% grade and go through 89 or so tunnels and 30 or so bridges. The train track even makes a 360 degree turn, crazy, I know!
So the 1st class train was much more expensive (50%) than we thought it was going to be, and boy was it slow. I guess it was that way to let all the people take in the scenery. We could walk anywhere on the train and even stand outside between cars for some great photos. Oh, did I mention the train is always notoriously late? No worries, at 9:10am we were on our way!
At 10am we were sitting in the bar car drinking our 2$, Fat Tuesday, or how I like to say it "Feliz Gordo Martis", Margaritas. As we started climbing up the canyon, the black oak trees started disappearing, replaced by pines. We even saw some aspens. The weather was great and instead of cooling down substantially, like we thought it would, it was very warm.
Around 2pm, we arrive at our first destination, Posada Barrancas. We exit the train, with what must of been 3 or 4 tour groups . It was a bit chaotic so Brian & I just push through the crowd and walk past the buses before we questioned, where the heck are we, and where are we suppose to be going? And the adventure continues.......
Pictures can be found: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157615388815190/
I love train travel so I was totally looking forward to this part of the trip. On the way up the canyon (sea level to 7,000 + feet), we were going 1st class. No really, we planned to take the Premier train. It was more expensive, but fit into our time line better and would get us to our 1st stop faster. Did I also mention, it has a bar car & dinning car in it? After all, we were traveling on Fat Tuesday! Not knowing what we would encounter and not having a hotel reservation, we felt this school of thought would boded well for us.
After review of the guide book and advice from others, we decided we would first stop in Posada Barrancas. The next day we would hike down to the bottom of the canyon and back up in time to catch the economical train. This train, which all the locals take, lags at least 2 hours behind the 1st class train and makes more stops. This would put us at our 2nd & final stop, Creel, around 6pm or so we thought. We would stay there for 2 nights and return on Friday. To return we would take the economical train all the way back to El Fuerte. As we would later find out, it was half the price of the 1st class train and not that much different. Well, no bar car! So that was the plan.
The Reality:
The train was amazing, not only because of the scenic beauty but also the engineering feat of how/where they laid the track. It had to maintain a 2.5% grade and go through 89 or so tunnels and 30 or so bridges. The train track even makes a 360 degree turn, crazy, I know!
So the 1st class train was much more expensive (50%) than we thought it was going to be, and boy was it slow. I guess it was that way to let all the people take in the scenery. We could walk anywhere on the train and even stand outside between cars for some great photos. Oh, did I mention the train is always notoriously late? No worries, at 9:10am we were on our way!
At 10am we were sitting in the bar car drinking our 2$, Fat Tuesday, or how I like to say it "Feliz Gordo Martis", Margaritas. As we started climbing up the canyon, the black oak trees started disappearing, replaced by pines. We even saw some aspens. The weather was great and instead of cooling down substantially, like we thought it would, it was very warm.
Around 2pm, we arrive at our first destination, Posada Barrancas. We exit the train, with what must of been 3 or 4 tour groups . It was a bit chaotic so Brian & I just push through the crowd and walk past the buses before we questioned, where the heck are we, and where are we suppose to be going? And the adventure continues.......
Pictures can be found: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157615388815190/
