Travel Tips

We left for El Paso, Texas on a Wednesday after classes were out. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 1 pm. And it did, but without us, much to our chagrin, and with much banging of our heads against many walls. We managed to catch the next bus, at around 6 pm that evening.
There are some things to note when traveling into Mexico. The first, and seemingly most important, is the tourist card. Do yourself a big favor and get one ahead of time. Contact the nearest Mexican Consulate in the US, and ask them to send you the card. If you are unable to acquire one in advance, they are available at the border, in line with the tool-booth-like structures. Go in through the glass doors and tell the person behind the desk to the right that you need tourist cards, then pay the $22 USD fee at any of the nearby banks. The bus will probably wait for you. Once you get past the border area of Mexico, into Ciudad Juarez, you are free. It might be beneficial to note that the tourist cards are only needed if you are going beyond fifteen to twenty miles of the border for three or more days. If you have a car, you are now on your own.
Just as a side note here, as mistakes are doomed to repetition if not disclosed. We didn’t know where to get the tourist cards when we got to Cd. Juarez, so we rode all the way to the bus station. Then, finding that no one there really knew anything about them, then finally finding that we had to go back to the border, we hopped another bus, for $5 USD apiece, back towards El Paso. At the US Customs checkpoint, we had to get off the bus, and there decided to catch a cab to the Mexican consulate in El Paso. The taxi driver told us that it was closed, but that he’d take us to another place to get the tourist cards. And take us he did, $30 to go less than one mile. But, we needed to get there as we didn’t want to spend a full day in Cd. Juarez. He took us to the bank to change some money, then he managed to take us to the wrong place, where we were shown the correct place. We went to the correct place to get tourist cards, but the wrong door, then through the right door, but for the fact that it was not the correct place. They pointed us to another place, which was the wrong place (the original bank), and they told us where to go, which finally was the right place. Pant, pant, pant. Moving on.
If you took the bus, follow us now to the Cd. Juarez bus station. We walked off the school-type bus, bags in hand, and into the Cd. Juarez bus station where we walked around for a while trying to decide where to go and what to do. We had no idea when the train left for Creel from Chihuahua, and no one at the station seemed to know either. In the end we decided just to get on a bus for Chihuahua. As the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, lighting the broad expanse of the Mexican desert with a dim, yellow-red glow, we sank down in our seats, finally on our way. The events earlier in the day had taken their toll, to an extent, tiring us, and, in the back of our minds, making us wonder whether or not this trip was such a good idea. But now we were on the clean, comfortable bus to Chihuahua, leg two of our journey, and we were able to relax to the bus’s showing of Edward Scissorhands. So we watched, then we slept, until we arrived in Chihuahua, around 11:30 at night. With no buses leaving for Creel that night, we figured, as we wandered around, that we’d have to stay the night either in the bus station or in the train station. For 70 pesos, we took a cab to the train station. Probably a rip off, but we got to the station, where we learned, after a while, that they closed at 1am, forcing us to take yet another taxi back to the bus station, who, by the way, stays open all night. We stayed there until about 4:45am, when, after talking to another traveler for a long time, and not sleeping at all, we took another taxi back to the train station to await the train that was to take us to Creel. At least the bus station offers 24-hour food.

As the stars disappeared, and the sun came up, we waited, yet again, for another form of transport. The ticket window opened, but only for those who happen to be traveling on the first class train. A while later the window opened again, this time for us. We bought our 228 peso tickets to Creel, and soon boarded the train (el tren) to Creel. Once we were on our way, I got a few pictures then fell asleep for the rest of the scenic ride, as my body offered me no other choice. At least we were back on schedule when we arrived in Creel, to the merry cries of school kids, and some other kids trying to get you to go to their hotel. We followed one such youngen to Casa Margarita, where we found the prices to be higher than we wanted. So, down the street A. Lopez Mateos we walked for the first, but definitely not the last time, looking for hotels that would fit our relatively non-existent budget. We walked into each hotel, trying to find any available figures for rooms, as well as trying to find one that fit our budget. Finally, we came to the Tarahumara Hotel. We had passed it once, not really knowing it was there, even though the sign said it was. We stood outside the door for a few seconds deciding whether or not to open it. It opened on its own, and in the door way stood a stocky man who welcomed us in, and in broken English (duh) asked if we needed a room. He showed us through the livingroom back down a dark and musty hallway to a few rooms in back, opening the door to one of them to reveal a sickly two-room "suite" if I dare call it that. We looked in, trying to conceal our looks of "dang, would hate to be the poor soul who stays at this place." The room was dank, dimly lit, and sported ugly mint walls and a bed whose covers looked like they were worn with centuries of use. We thanked the man and walked out. Once outside, we spoke not a word about the decor, and decided to just go, get a room there, and simply enjoy the "beauty" and above all, the uniqueness of whatever room we got. We walked back in and told him that we wanted a single room, one bed, as it was cheaper. He showed us to a room in the dark hallway where we dropped all our stuff on the bed. He came back with a roll of thin toilet paper and some soap, and we paid him then.
After we spent a few minutes getting situated in the room, we went back outside to explore the town. After a few trips up and down Lopez Mateos, we were getting bored of the street. We went to the bank (Serfin- "El banco que quieres!") (located on Parroquia and Avenue Mateos to try to change money. HA! There was a long line in which we stood until eventually some employee told us that they didn't exchange money after 3pm, Monday through Friday. Nice. We went back outside. The temperature was nice and cool in Creel that first day. The style of dress made me think of a mixture between Mayan and HaMong (Vietnam).