Located in the Central Mountain Range, not far from Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jóse, the town of Sarchí is the center of Costa Rica’s painted oxcart industry.

Decorated oxcart in Costa RicaAccording to legend, around 1910 a farmer was suddenly inspired to spruce up the appearance of his oxcart. He painted the wheels with multi-colored designs. Others copied his designs and oxcart painting became a uniquely Costa Rican art form. At one time each district in the country had its own special design, and people could tell by looking at an oxcart what region it came from.

Until about thirty years ago, oxcarts were the principal means of transporting coffee beans and other agricultural products to market. Today some farmers still rely on this traditional method of transporting their goods. The father of former president Oscar Arias Sánchez made his fortune hauling coffee in oxcarts to the port of Puntarenas.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Long ago, about a hundred million years, a huge plateau arose in an area that is now part of northern Mexico. Seventy million years passed before volcanoes erupted and flooded the plateau with molten rock. Rivers then sliced this lava-covered plateau into deep twisting canyons—the largest area of canyons in North America.
View of Copper Canyon's Balancing Rock
At the interface between the volcanic layers and the old plateau are rich mineral deposits. The depth of the canyons exposes this interface, making the gold, silver, and copper accessible for mining. It is from the abundant copper ore, previously mined here, that the area derives its name—Copper Canyon.

The first people to mine the ore were the Spaniards, in 1632. Over the centuries, hundreds of mines were worked, peaking at the end of the 19th century when 20 million ounces of silver were extracted from the mines at Batopilas, making Copper Canyon one of the richest silver mining areas in the world.

The longest term residents of the canyon are the Tarahumara Indians. No one knows how long they have lived here, but archaeologists have found artifacts of people living in the area around 3000 years ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

As our California Native group saunters up to the door of the Paraiso del Oso Lodge, we are greeted by three dogs, a cat, and a large white goose known as “Pancho.” The lodge is located in a secluded valley in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains, surrounded by large, volcanically formed spires, one of which resembles Yogi Bear wearing his hat—hence the name Paraiso del Oso, Spanish for “Bear’s Paradise.”

Rock formations above Paraiso del Oso Lodge
We are met by Doug Rhodes, a smiling cowboy who boldly exclaims, “I’m glad y’all made it. Welcome to the Paraiso Del Oso.”

Doug is the owner and founder of the lodge, located halfway between the town of Bahuichivo and the farming village of Cerocahui. Established in 1679, Cerocahui now has around 600 inhabitants, mostly Tarahumara Indians and mestizos.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Need a clue? It is also related to the horse and rhinoceros. Give up? It’s a tapir.

Tapir in Costa RicaTapirs are rather strange, primitive creatures. They are big animals—measuring about six to eight feet between their short little trunk and their stubby little tail, and weighing up to 700 pounds. Unlike elephants, who pick up food with their trunks, the tapirs move their trunks aside and browse like horses. Tapirs are the only animals native to the Americas which have four toes on their front feet and three toes on their hind feet.

In ancient times, tapirs were found throughout North America and tropical Eurasia. When the weather cooled down the European tapirs became extinct. The North American tapirs migrated south across the isthmus of Panama. Today tapirs are found only in Central and South America, and Southeast Asia.

There are only four species of tapirs—the Malayan tapir in Asia, the Brazilian tapir in the rain forests of South America, the mountain tapir in the high northern Andes, and the Baird’s tapir in Mexico and Central America.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

“Close your eyes and point in any direction,” our Burmese guide challenged, “When you open them, you will be pointing at a spire.” Sure enough, no matter which way we pointed there were hundreds of spires on the stupas and temples that spread across the almost treeless plain.

In Myanmar (Burma), the ancient city of Bagan has hundreds of templesLocated on forty square miles on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River, 300 miles north of Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar’s Bagan stands as one of the two most preeminent ancient religious sites in Southeast Asia along with Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

It was in Bagan that the Buddhist religion took hold in Myanmar, influencing the society, its art and architecture.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Please, let me tell you of our marvelous adventure to the Copper Canyon in Mexico. It began in El Fuerte in the state of Sinaloa at Hotel Torres Del Fuerte and ended at Hotel Torres Del Fuerte. The hotel is a delightful restored hacienda that is artistically decorated and each room is, individually unique. We stayed two nights in the hotel in the beginning of the trip and two nights at the end of the trip. The owners, Jesus and his wife and their son, Francisco, enhanced our trip with their graciousness, friendliness, and personal attentiveness to the point that we felt that we were personal guests at the hacienda.

The Chepe train ride into the Barrancas del Cobre was a beautiful exposure into the vistas of canyons and mountain ranges, which gave us an appreciation of the wonder and majesty of the many canyons of the area known as Copper Canyon. This is a natural wonder of the world and the man-made wonder of bridges and tunnels carved out of the rock from the canyons is a spectacular engineering accomplishment.

Our first stop was in Cerocahui. We stayed at a ranchito that gave us the opportunity to hike and to ride horses into the rugged canyons. It was also our first opportunity to meet two Tarahumara children. After two nights in Cerocahui, we then traveled to Creel for two nights then back to Posada Barrancas to stay at the El Mirador Hotel.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

“AAARRGH! The yeti, “Abominable Snowman,” or mirgu, as it’s called in Bhutan, has been a legend throughout the Himalayas for centuries. They are even depicted in ancient Tibetan and Bhutanese manuscripts.

There is a sanctuary for the Yeti in BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan has set aside an area specifically for the yeti, the Sakten Wildlife Sanctuary—a sanctuary for a creature that local lore claims is invisible! While in Bhutan, I was told that not only is the yeti invisible, but his feet point backwards to avoid being tracked.

On their unsuccessful attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1923, a British expedition spotted a line of creatures moving along a cliff face. When they arrived at the location they found huge humanoid footprints in the snow. Twenty-six years later, Tenzing Norgay, who along with Sir Edmund Hillary, was the first to reach Everest’s summit, saw a Yeti playing in the snow.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

We’re coming to the end of another year, and we at California Native are looking forward to enjoying a great new year, with more fun, more adventures and more opportunities for everyone.

So, what’s new for 2010?

I recently traveled to Argentina where I made new contacts and researched new destinations to offer our fellow traveling enthusiasts. I will be returning there in a few months to continue this project.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Argentina Iguazu FallsAt California Native, we are always exploring new and exciting destinations to develop unique itineraries to offer our fellow travel enthusiasts.Lee Rappelling at Iguazu Falls

Last week I returned from a business trip to Argentina, where I was a guest of the Argentina Tourist Board. I interviewed many Argentinian tour operators and hotel owners and found several that appeared to meet the high standards that we set for California Native suppliers. I plan to return to Argentina in a few months to do an in-depth survey of this fascinating country. Then we will develop a new series of unique trips to Patagonia, Iguazu, and the many other wonderful destinations in this beautiful, friendly South American country.Lee on zipline at Iguazu Falls

While on last week’s trip I spent several days at Iguazu Falls, traveled under the falls in a high-speed Zodiac, rappelled down the face of cliffs, zip-lined through the jungle canopy, and hiked to the many beautiful spots where the views of the falls were breathtaking. At California Native, even our business trips are fun because, after all, fun is the business we’re in.

Bookmark and Share

The year 2009 is coming to a close. We are now at the end of November and the holidays are coming up fast, but it is not too late to make your plans for a wonderful holiday getaway. We do have some space left on our Christmas/New Years escorted tour to Mexico’s Copper Canyon where we will celebrate Christmas with the Tarahumara Indians and the owners of the Paraiso del Oso.

On December 23rd, we will be departing with a small group out of Los Angeles and Phoenix airports for an exciting tour into the canyon. The 11-day Ultimate tour spends nights in El Fuerte, Cerocahui, Divisadero, Creel, Batopilas, Chihuahua and a wooded area just outside San Juanito. As with all of our Copper Canyon tours, we ride the Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad for one of the most spectacular train rides in the Western Hemisphere. The train travels through the lowlands of Sinaloa State and up into the Sierra Madre Mountains, passing through 86 tunnels and crossing 37 bridges.

Some other highlights on this tour are the Cusarare and Basaseachic waterfalls, a day trip to the village of Urique, the “Lost Cathedral” just outside of the village of Batopilas located at the canyon bottom and the magnificent vista point which overlooks a whole series of intertwined “barrancas” (canyons).

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Have a thirst for a real native experience? While traveling in Peru, stop at a house displaying a red flag on a long pole. There you can join the locals in a glass of chicha, an ancient Andean drink made from fermented corn.

California Native founder, Lee Klein, chugging chicha with villagers in a Peruvian chicheriaThe strange-tasting drink, yellowish in color with a bubbly froth, is served warm for just a few coins, and is quite strong. It is not usually found in restaurants (a similar drink, chicha morada, made from blue corn, is sweet and sold everywhere like a soft-drink), but is sold by individuals, usually in the lower socioeconomic bracket, who have passed down the traditional recipes since pre-Inca times.

Recently, in the mountaintop city of Cerro Baul in southern Peru, archeologists from the University of Chicago unearthed remains of an ancient brewery dating back to the Wari Empire (AD 600-1000). It is believed that the brewery was used to produce massive amounts of chicha, which was used both for ritual purposes and festivities.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Thinking about a trip in the next few months? Soon we will be posting our new 2010 prices for our tours to Mexico’s Copper Canyon. Now is you chance to book travel for 2010 at guaranteed 2009 prices! The best time to go to Copper Canyon is between now and May. What a wonderful vacation for the beginning of next year, and what a great price! Compare trips here and call us with your questions, and book it now.

Bookmark and Share

« Older entries