Part 5
Article And Photos By: Kiwi Mike Thomas
Originally Published In The June 2015 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
Sun Nov 2. Batopilas to Creel We eventually got to the top of Copper Canyon after 50 miles of grinding away in mostly 1st gear but with a few 2nd gear stints which was a good test for my transmission components. As we came over the brow of a hill to an intersection we were suddenly met by about 75 Federal Policia who meant business. These guys had full automatic rifles and machine guns drawn and pointed at us. Holy shit a friggin brick! Most of these guys had their faces covered so as to not be identified. It’s a whole different gig when you are on the receiving end of 75 barrels and you can’t read facial expressions. These guys are in a constant war zone and make American cops look like pansies. I’ve never been in a warzone but this was as close as I want to ever be. Communication had been an issue on this trip and right then was not the time to have communication problems. Greg communicated as best as he could with the head guy, they went back and forth many times while I hoped that they were understanding what he was trying to say, the stakes were pretty high. I had plenty of thinking time, none of it was pleasant. The number 2 guy was getting agitated with S Article and Photos by: Kiwi Mike Tomas the cell phone on my handlebars. I just use it for photographs and usually when I see Policia I put it in my pocket however this time we were caught by surprise. Once they knew we were Americans and had come from Batopilas things settled down a bit and they eventually signaled us to bugger off. This incident justified why I like flip lid helmets. Every time we came upon any Policia, flipping up the front of the helmet to make sure they could see us was certainly a good thing. That coupled with the fact that neither of us wear leathers, we ride with modern safety riding gear that doesn’t look intimidating. Mine is made by Olympia while Greg’s is made by Motosport.
About 10 miles down the road we encountered a burned out SUV. Oh well I thought, there’s no way to put out a vehicle fire in these remote parts so it’s going to melt down to a bare body. We rounded the next corner and came across a BMW 7 series that was burnt to a crisp. Hmm hang on here, two accidental vehicle fires, not likely. We rounded another corner only to find three more charred vehicles. Our brains went into overdrive, you start to process what you just saw, and wonder when it happened and where the guys that did this are… are they close by? They sure as hell could identify us two Gringos on Indian motorcycles. Without much choice we continued to ride by the crispy vehicles and then we come across two bodies that had been shot to death and left sprawled on the road. Oh boy this is everything we thought it was, a drug cartel ambush which had to involve a high ranking guy in a BMW… It was all just so friggin unbelievable. At least we have the photos to prove it. We rode on for another 10 miles or so before we were stopped by another army of fully armed Policia. They saw our cameras and said no photos. No problemo we replied. We were instructed to turn off our motors, as it was going to be a while. No problemo. We could only see a few police vehicles due to the mountainous, narrow, very twisty, and hardly traveled roads.
The guy in charge went back to his post but the second in command came down, with his weapon at the ready, to check out our bikes and said hmmm Indians. This guy spoke fluent English! I replied, yes indeed, you know a good motorcycle when you see one. He replied, good motorcycles. All the while I’m wondering if he was eyeing up our bikes so they became his at some point. We dared not ask too many questions for fear of knowing too much but since the ice was broken and it was clear that we were American, I just had to. Mate (well that’s pretty American…isn’t it?), we aren’t used to this sort of stuff in America, what’s going on? He said it’s an inter cartel war and involves no Federali’s. Oh shit. He stepped back to his post and the guy in charge made his way back to us and asked if his partner had just spoke English. When I answered that yes he did a big smile appeared on his face and said, I never knew he could speak English. We all had a good laugh. After about 30 minutes we were cleared to go through. As we rounded the first corner, holy shit, our lane was lined with Policia vehicles and Federal Policia with masks over their faces. The trees and undergrowth to our right were still smoldering. Many of them were still combing the woods, while others were standing fully armed and at the ready with every available eye on us. I looked straight ahead and did not make any eye contact with even one of them. To say we were scared shitless would be a serious understatement.
We looked straight ahead, that’s it. Shit a brick. Up ahead there were more burnt vehicles, still smoldering and more bodies in the road. Holy shit, this is the real shit and had happened not long before we got there. This stuff doesn’t get reported in newspapers and we were right in the middle of it. One vehicle had come to stop across the roadway blocking most of it. We had to pass through a 4 foot gap between the front of it and whatever was to the right of it, maybe a tree???? I can’t remember, you don’t even see this shit on TV. This ain’t Hollywood Toto. It was a real ambush shootout war zone. From what we could figure, this happened maybe ½ hr before we got there which was way too close for comfort. From everything we were told about Mexico, this stuff usually happens at night but these 2 ambushes were done in broad daylight. We hadn’t figured in to our travels is that we would be traveling during the height of drug cultivating season. The drugs were heading north while the American greenbacks (cash) was flowing south. A prime target to strike in either direction. The cartels control much of Mexico. We were told they know every vehicle coming and leaving from Creel. Glad we were on the “friendly” list I reckon. To be honest everywhere we traveled we have felt very safe. So much so we that we never locked up our bikes at night, including that night. It’s a beautiful country and those two experiences shouldn’t reflect negatively on all of the great times that we had. We had dinner with our good friend Ivan who owns 3 Amigos tours in Creel, he helped us a lot with our travel arrangement and accommodations. If you ever decide to do a ride to Mexico, we highly recommend him, he understands motorcycles and their needs extremely well. Top notch guy.
Nov 3, Creel to El Divisadero Our original plan was to ride to a viewpoint at the rim of the canyon but the weather turned crappy and it rained all night and all day. It was a dirt road that had now turned into mud, so our friends at 3 Amigo’s Travel advised us to ride to El Divisadero which overlooks another part of Copper Canyon. Ivan and his wife Yolanda made a phone call to the Lodge and hooked us up big time. It’s nice to have friends like this as they know the lay of the land and put our minds at ease, especially after the previous happenings. It is a completely different world down there. We realized how lucky we were to get out of Copper Canyon while it was dry as it would be one hellava mud bog and probably impossible for us to get out. Greg and I have good rain gear so we saddled up and hit the road. As we approached El Divisadero (which just consists of one big building for accommodations and a little train station) it became extremely foggy and we could hardly see a thing. We got into the warm toasty lodge and sat our asses down in front of a huge plate glass window that overlooks the canyon. There were only four others there at the time. All I could think of is that we paid 100 bucks US for this experience only to be fogged in. We hung out and enjoyed the comfy setting and our camaraderie. Eventually the fog lifted to reveal an amazing, stunning, breath taking view. Holy smokes.
The check in guy gave us the lay of the land and mentioned a cable car ride that was ¾ mile further along the canyon rim. Rather than ride up the road I decided to walk along the rim path to get some exercise while Greg kicked back at the Lodge. It sounded like a good plan but I should’ve known better. As I walked along the rim the path got narrower and narrower till it ran out altogether. Oh boy, this ¾ mile walk turned into a 1-1/2 mile walk in pissing down rain with the sunlight disappearing on me in bush like setting. With the path now gone, I kept the canyon to my left as I figured I eventually had to run into the cable car. Anything could happen out here and who the hell would find me? Eventually the cable car appeared but it wasn’t a moment too soon. I took the lonely ride down about 2 miles into the canyon, I was the only one on it. Darkness was setting in but there were things that I could see that were not visible from the top. In one of the valleys was an indigenous Indian settlement of about 200 people that was all self-sufficient with water, corn, animals, etc. There was no need for these folks to ever come out of their surroundings to visit the world above nor did they care too. Simply amazing as they enjoyed what they had right there.
The cable car stopped at a rock ledge and from there I could get out and experience the solitude. During the return ride, the guide explained that the holes in the cliffs were ancient burial grounds that were thousands of years old. Bloody hell mate, amazing. I asked how why no tourists were here. Here you have a world class facility and no people. He said about 6 years ago the cartels moved in and started fighting and it scared people away. No shit mate, we experienced that 1st hand, twice!!!! Back at the top darkness had set in and I decided to follow the road (more like wagon trail) back but even this wasn’t clear cut as it wound around trees and doubled back. A lonely car pulled up and a lady driver asked where I was going, she and her three passengers offered to drop me off. Slightly skeptical, I wasn’t sure what the hell I was jumping into but I figured that I didn’t have a lot of choices as I probably was going to get lost out here and this was probably the only offer that was going to come along. Luckily I did go with them, it was a maze of trails trying to negotiate the way out. When they dropped me off at the lodge I was very thankful and very relieved. Greg and I sat by the big window in front of us and the fire to our left, it was so wonderful to kick back and enjoy something that could not be experienced any place else I’ve been. Where can you have a room that’s right on the ledge of a massive canyon with such stunning views and no people around? Another day without lunch.
