Divisadero

 I love breakfast here. Scrambled eggs, chips covered with a sauce that is so yummy and frijoles.  We shopped a little in some adorable little stores. The bright colored shops and houses make me feel so happy.   I was delighted to buy a pair of handmade leather sandals. Then to Divisadero-Copper Canyon. Words cannot describe the beauty here. Beautiful blue sky, green tree covered canyons and mountains. It makes you feel so small beside something so amazing. It is bigger and deeper than the Grand Canyon they say.

We took the cable car across to the next mountain. We did a bit of hiking and bought some baskets from the women who were weaving them.  There is a little store up there that was about 12’ by12’ that has just a few necessities for the people who live at the bottom of the canyon.  Far below we could see a few tiny farms and houses. It would be an all day trek to come to that store and back for them. And a whole day one way to climb out of the canyon. The perseverance of these people and their simple way of living is incredible. A little boy and I had a good laugh together. He had his arms full of baskets but he kept dropping them all. And we just had a funny moment laughing there even though we couldn’t understand each other.

We took the tram back and went to the little train station where we had lunch and shopped the little market. We ate cheese and steak filled gorditas and chili rellenos as we sat 3 feet from the tracks. The scrawny dogs were hanging around hoping to get a little food.

We attempted to find a hotel that we had seen from the cable car. The road was closed so we took a detour but eventually after a lot of bumps and rocks we came to a place where the van could not go... a Jeep would have been nice.  So we headed back and found an old but very neat hotel with balconies.

6 feet from our balcony was the cliff. The view. Incredible. A little tour came with our stay at the hotel so we hiked up to the cave houses. I cannot imagine the conditions these people live in. They kinda build wooden shelters with the caves for their houses. No running water and just a few feet from the cliffs. Little children were walking around and peaking at us from their houses.

Sonya and I quick ran back to the little market to grab gorditas before the ladies left. We should have had someone come translate because when we paid we couldn’t understand how much it was and so we just handed them some money. She acted like it wasn’t enough and took some more. We found out later she had take about 4 times as much as what they usually cost. We sat out on our balcony a bit... video called my family so they could see the canyon too. Little swirls of smoke coming from the canyon and as it got dark we could see the flickering fires of the natives far down in the valley. So peaceful and still. I want to live here.