April Fool's Day, appropriately: I checked out of Margarita's and wandered over to the RR station to catch the El Segundo to Bahuichivo. My plan was to hike/hitch-hike SW from Bahuichivo, but as I was to see, a Plan B unfolded that was wonderful. When we got to the famous El Divisidero ("The Divide") it was raining, as it did off and on the entire afternoon. El Chepe, the nickname for the "Chihuahua a Pacifico" train thundered across the mesas, through the tunnels, and pulled up in Bahuichivo late in the afternoon with the rain catching up.

Pretty soon only a small Mexican man and I were left on the platform. He tried to converse, I asked about a cheap hotel, he knew of one for $7. Twenty minutes later in the mud and the rain I found myself looking into a small windowless room - and there was no electricity working in B'town. I took the room, it was dry.

After cooking dinner in my room, I sat on the porch with Orracio and Jesus, all doing our best to do the Spanish-English thing in the medievally dark town. The tequilla was passed around and the people of two nations grew closer.

The next morning I made friends with a hotel mate, Jose. Eventually, along with the Tecates we bought, he asked me to return home with him Saturday night to the next town SW, Temeris. I decided, with his help, to take a van to Urique, which lies over 6000 feet down in Urique Canyon.