We live in the twenty-first century with modern conveniences and telecommunications. However, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians in Mexico are a tribe that has chosen to live apart from modern western culture.

The Tarahumara live primitively in the Copper Canyon area in northwestern Mexico and subsist on corn, beans, and their livestock. In the winter, many live in mud huts, cliff dwellings, and natural caves, moving into small log cabins in the summer.

The Copper Canyon area is where my siblings and I decided to visit this winter. Taking a train ride up the Sierra Madre Mountains to a height of 7,500 feet, we observed villages and farms of the Tarahumara. At the height of the mountains were Tarahumara who practiced the lifestyle of their ancestors by living in mud huts in the side of the mountains.

It’s common to see them selling their crafts by the train stations along the way. They are excellent weavers, produce fine wool blankets, and make pottery and jewelry much as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years.

Originally, they inhabited much of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. They retreated to the Copper Canyon area in the Sierra Madre Mountains on the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. Many were enslaved by the early Spanish explorers in order to help them mine for copper and gold in the mountains.

The Tarahumara are a shy people. They rarely look white people in the eye. It is said that they refer to white people as “sons of the devil” because of their peoples’ former enslavement by the Spanish.

Among the Tarahumara Indians, everything belongs to everyone in their tribe. Private property does not exist, so they share food and housing. The Tarahumara, or Rarámuri as they call themselves, elect a governor who appoints priests, shamans, and sages. These individuals preach the pride of being Rarámuri, their customs and morals to uphold; function as judges in problems and are in charge of prayers.

Mexico—whether in the remote mountain of the Sierra Madre or quaint villages established by the Spanish hundreds of years ago—is a strange, fascinating, and in many ways backwards place. We couldn’t drink the water, tacos and enchiladas were the main staples during meals, and everyone spoke Spanish.

When we got back to the conveniences of the modern world in the U.S., we were happy that we could access the Internet and that our cell phones worked. Hallelujah for the modern conveniences of safe water from the faucet, television in English, and our fast food!

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