Peñoles Before Dark

A range of distant mountains turned orange then red then purple as I took my shift driving Rodrigo Sanchez’s SUV across the desert. The sun set slowly in Chihuahua and I was grateful for the lingering light. Drug cartels are active in the northern reaches of Mexico, and I’d been told not to drive at night. “If anyone tries to stop you who isn’t police, don’t pull over,” Charo Castro said from the back seat. I shot a nervous glance at photographer Nina Riggio to my right and put a second hand on the steering wheel.

We turned off the highway and drove through the empty streets of Ciudad Jiménez, slowing to avoid unmarked speed bumps on the unlit road. “Don’t stop,” Charo said whenever I lingered at a turn. Following our GPS mapped to a pin in the desert, we sped down a dirt road lined with barbed-wire fences. Rodrigo and Charo had been to our climbing destination, Peñoles, and