NORBERTO PADILLA RODRIGUEZ
Norberto was born 6 February, 1974, in Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, a beautiful region of Mexico known for its fruit orchards and cattle ranches. Cuauhtemoc is also the heart of the vast Mennonite communities of Chihuahua; and is located in a valley considered to be the open door to the Sierra Tarahumara.

As a child, he grew up on his family's ranch, dedicating his time and interests to his growing herd of horses, breeding, gentling them and riding them for pleasure. At age eighteen, Norberto enrolled in the Northern Regional University in Chihuahua to pursue a graduate degree in tourism.

At the same time, however, Norberto continued to participate in his favorite sport, rodeo bull-riding. Thanks to rodeo, he had the opportunity to visit many beautiful places in Mexico. (As a professional-status bull-rider, he also earned some of his college expenses as well as some handsome belt buckles.) Norberto also took time out from his studies to travel in the United States, first as a cowboy in Nebraska and Wyoming; later joining a construction company in Atlanta, Georgia. While in the southeastern U.S., he took advantage of opportunities to ride in rodeos in Alabama and South Carolina. Two years later, Norberto returned to Mexico with a head full of dreams, but felt that somehow, his adventures were now behind him.
So, Norberto completed his studies in 1996, and left the rodeo to dedicate himself to a career. It was while managing an important hotel in Creel he began to explore the many beautiful and extraordinary places surrounding this gateway town to Copper Canyon. The lovely Tarahumara people so impressed Norberto with their kindness and quiet lifestyle that, as much as he admired them and their environment, he wanted to share his experiences with other appreciative people. But Norberto also knew that to do so, he needed to create an opportunity for others to experience this part of Mexico with minimal impact on the Tarahumara and their environment. Thus, in 1997, Norberto enrolled in advanced studies to improve his English language skills and worked additional hours to save money to begin his present business, El Aventurero, in the Sierra Tarahumara. His operation now includes a GMC Suburban van, two horse-drawn wagons, a twelve-horse trailer, a one-ton 4X4 truck, and a herd of twelve horses, in order to provide different experiences for different travelers. You might say Norberto's world is his oyster, "enchilada-style".

When Norberto Padilla and Susan Shields met up, Susan knew immediately she had found a person who, with his wife Monica, shares her vision of what conditions and considerations contribute to a traveler's memorable experience. "Norberto loves his horses; has a strong ethical commitment to preserving the land and its people, and wants to expose others to the Sierra Tarahumara with as little impact as possible." Because Norberto also believes that small-group camaraderie makes any trip more enjoyable, the Mexican/American partners limit their rides to six riders, also limiting the impact on the trails, campsites and the Tarahumara who inhabit the region. Susan defers to Norberto's knowledge and skills, offering any assistance she can with packing the panniers, preparing meals along the trail, saddling horses, and assisting riders.

Offering many kinds of tours, by van, by horseback, and by carriage, Norberto knows that his adventures are not over; they are growing and expanding! Completing his sense of adventure and happiness in what he hopes to share with others who come to Creel is Norberto's recent life-long partnership with his beautiful wife, Monica, who, after a four-year courtship, agreed to marry him in September 2000. Monica shares Norberto's appreciation for this wonderful job, believing, as he does, that together, they can make it grow, using the best of their combined abilities.

But the most visible delights to shine in the eyes of this "vaquero verdad", more than the newborn foal, more than the rainbows over the surrounding canyon rimrocks, are the new members of the family. Monica and Norberto welcomed their first-born, Paloma Alexandra, into the Padilla world of horses and other animal species on 13 December, 2002.* (photos of the little cowgirl throughout). And on 13 September, 2007, the smallest of the tribe, Norberto (the second) smiled his greeting to the world.