EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Cavalcades lasting two weeks. Marathons spanning 100 miles. Indigenous markets near a train station at the edge of the Western Sierra Madre. And a canyon four times the size the Grand Canyon.
Those are some of the attractions the Mexican border state of Chihuahua is pitching to foreign visitors who often only get to hear the negatives, such as the cartel crime in major cities.
“Visitors from the U.S. left a positive impact on our community in the past. Unfortunately, things happened in 2008 and 2009. Security became an issue, and that affected us,” said Casas Grandes Mayor Roberto Lucero. “But now we have an opportunity for people to fall in love with us again. Security is different and you will feel welcome.”
Lucero was part of a delegation that recently visited El Paso to promote five “magical towns” as tourist destinations in Chihuahua.
One of them is Casas Grandes. It boasts ancient Indigenous ruins in the nearby Paquime archaeological site, a golf course and an agricultural settlement called Colonia Juarez founded by Mormons 140 years ago.
Creel is another so-called magical town in Chihuahua. It sits 7,710 feet above sea level and is a regional hub for the Tarahumara tribe. Locals describe it as a place of natural beauty and cultural contrast.
It is a major stop for Mexico’s Chihuahua-Pacifico railroad, and as people get off the passenger train, they’re just as likely to run into Indigenous artisans selling their wares as they are to bikers or European adventure tourists.
“It is interesting to see a living culture. You see (the Tarahumaras) everywhere,” said Cesar Sosa, a certified tourist guide based in Creel. “It is important to be respectful of their culture, but it is alright to buy their handicrafts. They use pine needles and palm leaf for their work and make clay pottery. They have colorful dances during their religious ceremonies.”
The town has more than 3,500 hotel rooms, ranging from inexpensive to $400 a night, Sosa said. “We even have an RV park,” he added.
Fewer than 5,000 people live in Creel but the town is a gateway to Lake Arareco to the south, San Juanito to the north with even a higher concentration of Tarahumaras, and the enormous Copper Canyon – or Parque Nacional Barrancas del Cobre – to the southwest.
The canyon – a network of several interconnected canyons, actually — is 6,000 feet deep in places. Entrepreneurs have built a zipline and a tramway over one of its gorges.
The other three magical towns the state is promoting are Guachochi, Batopilas and Parral.
Guachochi last week hosted an ultramarathon featuring Mexican and foreign competitors.
Hundreds of horseback riders are expected in Parral next week as the 400-mile Villa Cavalcade arrives in the city after setting off south from Juarez.
Is it safe to visit?
Lucero, the Casas Grandes mayor, concedes cartels are present all over the state. But he makes an argument widely echoed by government officials all over Mexico: Criminals generally stick to killing other criminals.
“These are issues between criminal groups, not with (ordinary) citizens. We don’t hear they killed a citizen, or they killed a tourist,” the mayor said. “These are issues between them. […] the (mass) graves were people that worked (in criminal enterprises). But you don’t touch citizens, visitors, tourists. Not in Casas Grandes, not in the region, not in Chihuahua. Visit us and we will care for you.”
A series of mass graves were found in a ranch 40 miles south of Casas Grandes earlier this year.
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