Barranca del Cobre,

The chasing hurricane lets the ship, that is supposed to take me to the mainland of Mexico, roll from side to side. Sleeping on the deck, I fling out of "bed"3 times and it is good that something like a rail exists, otherwise I will have to swim breast-stroke to Topolobambo. The moon is missing and in the dead-calm air I look up to the seeming reality of the beautiful starry sky. In our starsystem Milky Way only, there are almost 200 milliard stars and spaceship earth can be found in the cosmic suburbs. Because of the enormous distances we are constantly cheated and nothing, really nothing is what it seems. When they would pull the string of the closest star, it would take 8 minutes for us to notice that the light had been switched off. A sort of pile-effect we all know. After that it starts to get quite chilly and we can put our skates on and go ice-skating. It is a crazy idea that everything, including every cell in our body, is made out of no more than 3 elementary parts. Those "simple"materials of Pacha Mama Grande form the basis for complex structures, from tiny little viruses till colossal super clusters, with measurements of many million light years. The overwhelming beauty and miracles of mother nature go beyond our comprehension. We will probably never understand it for 100%.

While the next days big parts of the coast of Baja de California are swept of the map by the tropic cyclone, I drive the 850 km to Creel, at the edge of Barrancas del Cobre. This group of 20 canyons with a depth till 1900 metres form, together with the 50.000 Tarahumara's , an area that puts the much better known and promoted Grand Canyon in the shade. The 2300 metres high position of Creel forms a barrier for mosquito's and other horrors. At night it is 0º so I sleep much better here than on the boiling hot peninsula. I stay here for 2½ weeks because a coming and going of an international travellers makes it hard for me to leave.

The Indians, spread in many communes, lead a retired, relatively happy life and have, in spite of the well-meant proselytes making missionaries and the diseases they brought with them, been able to preserve their culture and independence. But the destruction of fauna, alcohol and the discriminating "white' Mexicans form a threat and I wonder, with this in mind, how long they can make stand. I realize that with every step I take, I contribute to the destruction of it. It is the sad story I see everywhere and that we all know by now.

I bounce down an ample 1500 metres on the 75 km long way to Batoplilas. They are the deathblow for my computer that passes away definitely. I pretend to be ignorant and look innocently at my sponsors Kees Huitema and Otto van der Wal from Profcom Systems and TechnicAll, hoping for a quick solution…