TOURISM
COMES TO COPALA
If you haven't yet been to Copala,
then go soon, since its quiet charm, with romantically meandering
streets of white walled houses with their characteristic red-tiled
roofs, cannot last for ever. An ancient mining settlement
with one of the oldest churches in the area, one of the few
examples of Baroque architecture anywhere in Sinaloa (though
not the only example as fond locals like to claim!), its plaza
has an untidy appeal about it with a small wrought-iron bandstand
in the centre and timber supported portales on several sides.
The village's unlikely mix of elegant and simple dwellings
reflects a growing influx of non-Mexicans seeking the quiet
life without telephones and, until relatively recently, without
electricity either.
The mines had been worked out, or so they said, and the people
mostly drifted away, in search of jobs, to Mazatlan or California.
But now the village has been rejuvenated, the mine reopened.
Two good restaurants, Daniel's and The Copala Butter Company,
and a cheap, unpretentious, and tastefully furnished hotel,
the Posada San Jose, cater to the tastes of the hundreds of
tourists who explore the village each year.
Most come from Mazatlan for the day only, brought by regular
tour companies from the large hotels, accompanied by guides
and pausing only to enjoy a Mexican 'comida' before viewing
an enterprisingly staged 'burro' race and returning to the
coast in time for supper. Some, those with more time, stay
overnight seeking a tranquility and serenity while surrounded
by beauty, hard to find and in increasingly short supply any
where in the modern world.
The next village along the highway, La Capilla del Taxtle,
also houses a good hotel, the Villa Blanca, which provides
a popular weekend respite from the coastal heat in summer.
This German-run establishment has a friendly and welcoming
atmosphere and serves excellent food including German specialities.
Their reasonable rates include three meals (all the food and
drink you can consume!). This hotel is one of those favoured
by bird-watching groups, situated, as it is, on the edge of
the pine forests which clad the higher slopes.
GLIMPSES
OF THE SIERRA
But visitors seeing the countryside around La Capilla del
Taxtle and Copala, hearing their guides tell of the wonders
of the Sierra Madre, must come away a little disappointed,
thinking only that their personal memories and images have
become somewhat distorted with time, somehow harsher than
the reality.
Can these innocuous-looking rolling hills, partially forested,
partially cultivated, really be the Sierra Madre? The answer
lies only a few short kilometres further along this same road,
just across the Tropic of Cancer.
SPECTACULAR
SCENERY
Along this next stretch of road, climbing and winding ever
upwards the true nature of the Sierra Madre suddenly reveals
itself. The slopes become precipitous, the views apparently
endless, the clouds ever closer. Indeed, it is not uncommon
to look to the side and realise with a start that the clouds
are actually for below!
This is the Sierra Madre, grand and imposing, and until the
completion of this road, a daunting and virtually uncrossable
barrier separating the coast from the rest of Mexico. Even
now, the meandering black strip of asphalt, cut deep into
the green hillside, and perched on the edge of the deep 'barranca',
is like an unwelcome intruder in the landscape.
Soon, the most awe-inspiring section of all is reached. Called
the Devil's Backbone, it is a nine kilometre gravity defying
section of road which unites two arms of the Sierra Madre,
seemingly over the top of the rest of the world. This stretch
affords views to both sides over a vast area of magnificent,
unimaginably wild, scenery. Then, after one or two delightful
picnic sites next to unusual rocky outliers are revealed,
the road reaches La Ciudad.
Despite its name, La Ciudad is hardly a city, but rather
a somewhat ugly timber town with corrugated iron roofs, the
first settlement of any size in Durango State, and the point
at which you must remember to put your watch forward one hour.
The next town, El Salto, is no prettier but is the entrance
to the Angel's Gateway State Park, a virgin area of wilderness
ideal for camping and hunting expeditions into the virtually
uninhabited Durango side of the Sierra Madre.
A little further down the road are various sites which have
rustic cabins for rent, the first decent accommodations for
almost two hundred kilometres. They include the Sierra Paradise,
about 80 kilometres from Durango City and the El Tecuan State
Park, slightly closer.
MOVIE
SETS
The scenery around here was used as the backdrop for several
movies but to get an even better idea of Durango's Movielands,
try driving the first few kilometres of Highway 45, north
from Durango City, the state capital (full range of tourist
services), towards Hidalgo de Parral. This road first passes
the tropically cowboy Villa del Oeste (Western Village) and
then Chupaderos where an entire village street movie set was
constructed around an existing, ancient chapel.
The Sierra Madre of Highway 40 with its villages, film sets,
scenery and mines, not only matches the images created by
'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' and countless other movies,
but surpasses them in every respect. For your next excursion
out from Mazatlan, head east but remember that, while Copala
may be the best place to stay, the real 'Treasure of the Sierra
Madre', still waiting to be discovered, lies beyond. |