The Sierra Madre mountains are no place for the weak. The landscape is some of the most unforgiving you’ll see. Terrain so rough that death from disaster and visitor unfamiliarity is commonplace. What looks like paradise from the lens of a camera, consists solely of sharp rocks, steep cliffs, and dangerous predators searching for easy prey.
The air is thinner in the Sierra Madre range. Yet despite menacing living conditions, a once lost and still savage tribe proves tough enough to coexist with it. Even thrive in it. The Rarámuri, “The Foot Runners”, the Tarahumara tribe, are perhaps some of the greatest survival experts in history, and daily put their sights on mother nature, showing her who the real apex predator is.
The Tarahumara are renowned for their supernatural-like endurance, competing in ultramarathon races, mostly using sandals that are woven from tire threads. Running 100 miles without rest seems like an impossible feat, adding in rugged and dangerous terrain gives a small glimpse into just how robust humans are. A fact that seldom gets tested by other cultures.
A vicious landscape is not the only threat the Tarahumara have learned to adapt to. Due to the remote nature of the Sierra Madre mountains, as well as being a hub geographically for drug smuggling, cartel encroachment is a common battle fought by the Raramuri. One they don’t intend on losing, regardless of the level of violence that entails.
One instance happened in the late 1990s, when the cartel pushed in hoping to establish smuggling routes, an operations base, and cultivation sites, directly in the heart of the Tarahumaras village.
While the Tarahumara are generally considered people of peace, like the badger, when their group is threatened, their physical anomalies are used to inflict destruction upon the enemy without wavering. It’s quite beautiful.
To protect their land, the Tarahumara organized a militia of mobilized warriors that would be used to neutralize any threat that came their way. Physical confrontations would undoubtedly occur, but it was the Tarahumara’s endurance, mental toughness, and understanding of the terrain that gave them the advantage.
Setting up defensive positions within the mountains, the Tarahumara conducted guerilla-warfare tactics, setting up ambushes and carrying out hit-and-run attacks to push back the cartel. Blinded by the unfamiliar terrain, the cartel was unable to defend themselves, much less go on the offensive.
These attacks lasted weeks, and the success was almost completely lopsided towards the Tarahumara. Outmatched and outworked, the cartel had no choice but to abandon their posts and completely withdraw from the operations in the Sierra Madre.
The Tarahumara should serve as a staple for what humans are capable of when pushed to their limits. The book, “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall dives into the “endurance running hypothesis”, which explains how humans have evolved to being the most effective hunters on the planet.
More effective than a lion, grizzly or even a cheetah. In fact, if necessary, humans could run after any prey, until that prey either gives up, or dies from exhaustion. Might not be the prettiest kill, but a win is a win.
Use the Tarahumara as a lesson that you are the real apex predator. Your ability to adapt to dangerous circumstances, your resilience, and your tenacity is what truly makes you human.
Take pride in that.