“We all must live a starry night in the Canyon. Is unparalleled”

Interview with Rosalba Delagado, tourism manager of Chepe

Why Chepe?

We believe that the Chepe is the backbone of the Copper Canyon. The Barrancas are nothing without the Chepe and the Chepe is nothing without the Barrancas.

You must do the journey by train!

We are the only passenger train in Mexico, a train ride that leaves you much longer than the nostalgia gives you the beauty and tranquility to enjoy.

To take a route that is listed as one of the 10 most impressive rides in the world is always worth it.

It is considered a man-made wonder with its 86 tunnels and 37 bridges.

Look, at the Canyon you can see four different cultures: the Tarahumara, the Mennonite, the Mayos and the Chabochis as Tarahumaras usually call Mexicans.

The gastronomy of the area is incomparably rich.

We have different vegetations as we go 1400 meters above sea level in Chihuahua, climbed to 2400 in the area of Divisadero Barrancas and down to sea level in Los Mochis. Imagine the amount of vegetation that included in 643 miles of track.

It is a work of engineering that took 100 years the building; it began in 1861 and ended in 1961 proudly by Mexican engineers.

There is an area where the station Temoris handle three levels of track there is a part where you almost at the river that are 20 to 40 meters, a climb that are like 80 meters and then upload to a third level are about 200 meters in a span of five minutes.

There you enter the Tunel de la Pera, which goes inside the right side of the mountain and salts from the left side. It is impressive as a work of engineering.

We administered a traditional train teams for 1950 cars used here since its opening in 1961, with privatization we found the task of remodeling: carpets, draperies, installing air conditioning and heating.

First Express Train operates bar and dining area. The area makes the trip very nice being such a long tour.

What type of passenger traveling aboard Chepe?

From September to April usually people from abroad, but lately we have positioned the brand in the domestic market s it has grown considerably. I can say that the national market peak weeks are Easter, July and December.

We offer different options depending on age and economic level, we offer a trip for social service, tourism and the first express.

We provide the service in economy class travel where the local people, indigenous and poor people of my area.

The first express the economic and tourism is where half the people driving class and what is foreign tourism.

Predominantly we handle families and lately a lot of grown up boys that come seeking adventure, but at the end of the day our main market is the elderly.

Is the Chepe attractive for Backpackers?

Clearly. The American and Mexican and European backpackers prefer to travel in the economy to coexist with people of the region.

To travel in either class is a perfect experience for adventure tourism because it is a mountain area. There are stone cliffs for climbing, camping areas, hostals in the middle of the forest with beautiful hiking spaces. It is a destination that offers a wide variety and offers all the amenities.

For example, in Creel you can get mountain bikes and motorcycles, horses. You can do guided walks or you can do them by yourself.

Creel is the point that most people enjoy because it is the meeting point to go to the cliffs, the waterfall Cuzarare to go to Batopilas or Sinforosa. The road from Creel to Guachochi is a beauty.

We invite people of all ages to come to know:

Children enjoy the train a lot because  the nostalgia, I believe that all children have a toy train. To young people to come and live the real adventure tourism and the elderly to come and experience the culture.