(photo of Rosalia Touchon as a child, Department of Photographic Records)

'Travel Notes from Mexico'

by Cecil Touchon copyright 1994

In early June [1994]Rosalia and I headed down to Wichita Falls, Texas to attend the lovely outdoor wedding of District Director Lanny Quarles and his wife, Kara. Held under a large tent in the side yard of Kara's parents' home, the Universal Worship wedding ceremony, well designed alter and live, classical guitar music were just beautiful and quite touching. I was also impressed by the gracious hospitality of Lanny and Kara's families who were all very kind and accommodating.

From Wichita Falls Rosalia and I drove to San Antonio, spent the night and the next day after a visit to the Mexican Embassy headed to the border at Nuevo Loredo on our cross country trip to visit her brother on the Pacific Coast at Los Mochis, Sinaloa. On our drive to Monterrey we came across the first of many toll roads which cost more that twenty dollars! While this was the most expensive of the tolls that we paid others ranged in price between $1.75 to $15.00 with some of the toll roads being no more that fifty miles long.

While these roads are divided four lane highways and in good condition, in fact, many of them fairly new and sparsely populated (as most Mexicans refuse to use them from what I could see), I opted to use the free roads which were older, undivided, two lane highways not unlike the highways here in most of Colorado.

Other than not costing a small fortune, I liked the fact that these roads took you through all of the little towns and villages so that you can stop and eat or buy trinkets. The toll roads have very little access to these towns if any and bi-pass everything which does save time and is comfortable driving yet, overall, is not worth the expense in my opinion.

Skirting around Monterrey, we drove to Saltillo and on to Torreón where we spent the night. The next day we made our way to Durango where one of Rosalia's aunts and grandfather live. while there Rosalia inquired about her grandfather's violin that he played all his life as it is a Stradivaris with the original case no less. He said that he sent it with someone to L.A. to find a buyer for it. I am sure that this will cause some stir since I am sure that the violin is an unknown one. (If I hear anything else about it I'll keep you informed.)

After a nice late lunch and Rosalia catching up on family news, we headed out for Mazatlán. By looking at the mileage on the map, I estimated that the drive would take about five hours but Rosalia's cousin said that the drive was actually an eight hour drive because it is 'curvy'. The 'curvy' was a complete understatement of the drive to Mazatlán! This was the most incredible drive that I have ever been on and will be etched on my mind forever! I later found out that this stretch of road, completed in 1961, is regarded as the most dangerous road in all of Mexico. Among the truckers it is known as 'La Espalda del Diablo'; The Spine of the Devil. Personally, I felt that the road was very well constructed and a marvel of road construction. The road, after some distance from Durango, starts climbing until about 6,000 ft. or so which, being from Colorado, is not in itself all that impressive, but due to the extremely steep and deep, canyon-like drop into the lush valleys far below, gave a visual effect of awesome expanse. At first we could see to the bottom of the valleys but at it was approaching the end of the day, a huge thunderhead gathered below us for a late afternoon shower. The geology of the mountains there is such that, above the road was a sheer cliff in excess, I would say, of a hundred feet, then there was a natural 'shelf' just wide enough in most places for the road to fit (without shoulders mind you) and then a very steep, unrelenting 4,000 ft. or better drop from there. which appeared, owing to it's roughed terrain to be almost completely unpopulated with an occasional, very small village far below. As the thunderhead rose we could see nothing but clouds and the tips of distant ridges giving the sense of flying in a car and as the road ribboned around the ridge of the mountains we could occasionally see the road that we would soon be on over on the next ridge across the valley. Every once in a while the road would switch to the other side of the mountain opening a view of a different valley and, where the mountains dipped low enough, wisps of clouds that looked like Chinese fire would pour over the ridge and across the road from one valley to the next. Shamefully, I had not charged the battery on my video camera and got none of it on tape.

Soon the sun was setting and there we were still driving at speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour partly due to the road but just as much due to staring out the window at the spectacular panorama and trying to keep from driving off the road into the cliff wall which we were hugging, hitting an on coming truck or worse, driving off into the abyss below.

I was not too wild about driving this road at night not only because of the danger but for the loss of the view as well. But, as luck would have it,we soon happened onto a small village where we found a restaurant and it so happened that the owner had a couple of small Mexican style cabins out back one of which was for rent at a cost of $20.00 per night.

The next day we continued our drive to Mazatlán winding our way down out of the mountains to the coast then up the coast to Culiacan and then to Los Mochis where Caesar, Rosalia's brother, is currently assigned. Upon arriving at Cearsar's house our car went completely dead and the battery wouldn't hold a charge and all along the car had been running hot but once the mechanic looked at it and put in a new battery and alternator cable which was shorting out the battery as well as a fuse for the air conditioner and flushed the radiator we were back on the road but this took most of our stay in Los Mochis to resolve however, we were very happy with the service.

The climate was very hot and humid and the city of Los Mochis is not particularity memorable except that it has the distinction along with Culiacan of being real hot spots for drugs being a major growing zone for marijuana and distribution center and is regarded as dangerous due to a great number of drug related murders. Businesses are required to close at midnight so there is a very minimal night life there. However, Caesar took us out to a transvestite show at a big hotel that was very funny and entertaining the cover was 40 new pesos or about $13.00 or so dollars and bottles alcohol were available ranging in price from $75.00 to $110.00 each! Of course, this came with the first two mixers such as coke for free but additional bottles were extra.

The next morning we went to Topolobampo about ten miles away which is on the coast. Along the beach are a great many outdoor restaurant specializing in seafood dishes which were good. Some mariachis who wander the beach sang and played as we sat eating and enjoying the sea breeze. We took a ride on a small boat that Caesar hired to take us around the harbor of Topolobampo where a school of dolphins hang out and play. While riding around the bay looking we finally found the dolphins coming up for air in several small groups. On the return ride we were moving against the wind and all of us were completely soaked by the time we got back.

Over the previous few weeks Rosalia had been noticing that certain parts of her anatomy were becoming bloated which she assumed was from the meat rich diet we were eating on our trip. The next day while we were out walking to the local open market we noticed a gynecologist's office and I suggested that Rosalia let the doctor test her for being pregnant. It so happened that this doctor also did sonograms which he suggested for Rosalia He didn't seem to think that she was pregnant from her shapely figure and description of her symptoms and that what ever Rosalia's problem if any would show up. The cost was only $60.00 so I said, "Sure, why not".

The doctor hooked up the machine and prepped Rosalia's stomach over her uterus. He put the scanner on her gel covered skin and we all looked at the screen, to the doctor's surprise not to mention mine and Rosalia's there was the image of a fully developed, nearly four month old fetus! As I gazed on in wonder I clearly saw the little one's head and spine even the fingers could be seen when the baby moved about. It was really incredible! All of the sudden all kinds of things started falling into place such as Rosalia's nearly month long depression in March and her volatile emotions in April and May that started making a separation look like a good idea. But now with this new revelation in the doctors office things were starting to sink in and make sense.

And there I was once again without my video camera! But the doctor gave us several photo-copy type pictures to take with us which are currently with Rosalia in Mexico so regrettably I won't be able to share them with you in this issue. We have tentatively decided to name the baby Rene or maybe Renee if it is a girl as the doctor suspects but states that it is too early to tell. At any rate the doctor says that everything looks good and that the touchiest part of the pregnancy is over! Wew!

Later, Caesar sent us on an over night trip to the Barancas or Canyons east of Los Mochis. The train leaves Topolobampo at 6:00am every morning and goes, during the twelve hour ride to Chihuahua, through the canyon country and is a tourist train through the scenic mountains. Our destination was to a place called Baranca de Cobre or Copper Canyon which is deeper than the Grand Canyon and very spectacular and home to the Tarahumara Indians.

However, the train cars were extremely dirty and badly maintained and the windows so dirty that we couldn't hardly see out of them which defeated the purpose of a scenic tourist train. Is addition, the train was populated by a large number is federal and state police with pistols in their belts and several of them with machine guns. During the trip we found out that the train had been robbed on four different occasions during Holy Week with as many as fifteen train robbers working together stealing money, jewelry and whatever other valuables that passengers were carrying. This explained the various bullet holes in some of the windows and the excessive number of officers and weapons on board. There was no diner car on the train as one will find on Amtrack in the USA. Breakfast, lunch and dinner consisted of ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread with mayo, a piece of fruit and a small piece of cake in either the top or bottom half of a Styrofoam 'to-go' box. Beverages consisted of either a soda pop or instant coffee ( black or with sugar) in a Styrofoam cup.

The hotel, Posada Baranca, that we stayed at was, by contrast, perched on the rim of the canyon with the restaurant and all of the rooms overlooking this astounding spectacle. The restaurant itself was very nice and well managed and I commend the manager whoever that was. Every detail was well attended to and the staff was very friendly and accommodating. The food could have been better and seemed below the otherwise high standards of the hotel but wasn't bad.

We were there apparently, on the off season and were one of only three couples staying at the hotel that night. One pair were two sisters who were on vacation together one from Santa Fe and the other from California somewhere. The other couple were from Phoenix, Arizona. The man was a doctor and his wife was from Germany. He had been in the service during WWII as a medic in Europe and his wife a teenager in Germany during the war so it was interesting to hear their stories.

The next day after a tour of the area and lunch we packed our bag and waited for the train. We jokingly suggested that the manager of the hotel hire a couple of boys to clean the windows on the trains when they stopped to take on passengers noting that we would gladly be willing to pay a couple of dollars. Our doctor companion also thought a good business would be selling cheap plastic seat covers to passengers for a dollar or so so that they didn't ruin their clothes or get diseases from the disgustingly dirty seats on the train. We all laughed but when the west bound train arrived it was even more filthy that the one from the day before, the windows nearly solid with grime and the air conditioner out of order and the temperature oven like.

When Rosalia saw the seats that the attendant offered us which was covered with food debris over the top of the already filthy upholstery, she refused to sit in them till someone cleaned the seats. The attendant tried to find other seats but the car was full so he took us up to the car closest to the engine. As we stepped through the doors of the next car a cool, refreshing breeze of air conditioning caressed our faces. We were guided into the nearly empty car and given seats. The only other persons in this car were the federal and state police officers one of which was laying down in one of the forward seats so that all that was seen of him were his boots resting against the window. I pulled out a color advertisement from the hotel which I had taken to remember our trip and noticed that this car, clean (comparatively), new and modern in design was the same as that in the photo which showed a man in waiter's uniform serving drinks in long stem glassware to seemingly cool and contented and, I might add, white passengers.

Once we were seated, I asked the attendant of our friends could join us. At first he refused but after Rosalia explained to him in no uncertain words their and our great disappointment with the accommodations, he reluctantly agreed. I immediately went back to our new found friends and invited them to come forward. They grabbed their bags and came to the next car completely covered with sweat due to the extreme heat.

Apparently, some of the other passengers in the next car, noticing our exodus, began complaining and soon more than half of the nicer, forward car was filled with relieved passengers. Two Hispanic guys from L.A. then came into the car complaining bitterly that they were being discriminated against because they were Hispanic and had been trying to come forward since they got on board long before us and noting that we were the first to be put on that car and that three of us were white. Rosalia quickly pointed out to them that the next several people brought forward after us were Mexicans and that they should quit complaining and sit down which they did. Just after dark we arrived back in Los Mochis and made our way by taxi to Cearsar's house.

After another day or two in Los Mochis we started making our plans to get me back to work for my up coming shows (see notice on back page) and for Rosalia to spend some time in Mexico with her brother, mom and sister as has become her annual routine and will be back in the States in late August or early September.

Rosalia rode with me up to the border at Nogales, Arizona which is about a eight hour drive. Rosalia decided that she had better get some maternity clothes as she was already beginning to hit the discomfort level with what she had brought with her. We got to the border at about seven-thirty PM and were over the border before we knew what happened. Since it was Saturday night we had to rush around and find what she needed before all the stores closed so that she could head back the next morning. Luckily we found all that she needed just as the stores were closing.

The next day we drove back over the border, cancelled the auto visa, I dropped Rosalia off at the bus station for her ride back to Los Mochis and headed back to Colorado.