The ranchero and tourist guide Norberto resting from the horseback ride and looking off a cliff down into Tararecua canyon, a part of the Copper canyon area in Chihuahua Mexico, on of the most famous tourist destinations in the area.

He is the Cowboy of Creel, a ranchero, assisting tourists in the small town as far away from any thing as it can seem, yet in the center of one of Mexico’s most famous and dangerous tourist area. Copper Canyon.

The canyon is filled with stories of danger and smuggling and harsh environment, at the same time it is the home to indigenous people named raramuri or Tarahumara indians. The runners that with unbelievable endurance can run for days it seams with out stopping and have created criss crossing paths in the canyon that seem to lead to nowhere and end as suddenly as they started. 

Norberto managed the unthinkable. He mounted me on a horse. Some thing I had promised my self never todo again after a stallion in Iceland decided to do his best to throw me of his back. This time it felt different and I just could not say no when my wife suggested that we would take a trip.

Norberto promised it would be a smooth ride and it was. A fantastic ride through a Mexican landscape along the canyon side with 100 meters fall down. Norberto took us to a site where his ancestors had carved out a a cave painting and told us all about the environment.

This was our scouting tour two days before we would head out on foot, alone, despite Norberto’s warning and his best efforts to get us some guides and donkeys for at least the first 3 days. We wanted to be independent  We wanted to do it our way and meet people with out a guide interrupting  This was as stupid as it was vise. We survived but se experienced al kinds og madness and danger as well as the deepest of kindness as we where invited to the kitchen of locals for stories and warnings that might have saved our lives. 

We had tied the horses a bit back from the edge of the canyon and Norberto walked out to the edge and stood still for a while looking out over his kingdom. For a moment he and nature became on in a silent that made him blend in with the environment like a pice of a puzzle. It was almost an intrusion into this moment to bring up the camera but I had to and there is some thing Zen-ic in this image that makes me like it a lot

On the way back home Norberto shouted with a big grin, :”And now for some fun. Hold on to your hat” and I think the bruises on my behind are still there as I walloped up and down on the harsh saddle trying to follow the speed of the horse and hang in the saddle as we galloped our way back home from this horse trip.