Mexico - Real de Catorce I

Real de Catorce - 2008

A former bustling silver-mining town in the colonial days, Real's distance from everything has kept it out of reach of most forms of exploitation (besides all the ores being sucked out of its mountains). Vanessa and I took an overnight bus from Austin, deep into Mexico and up 9,000 feet into the Catorce mountains to wander the reviving streets of Real de Catorce, in the state of San Luis Potosi.

Though the adventure was but 5 days, it was worth the effort, which was rewarded with beautiful landscapes, charming people and a rich history.

We went during one of the busiest weekends of the year, Semana Santa, and were lucky to have a hotel reservation as the normally sleepy town of several hundred swelled into several thousand.

Since the mines were abandoned in the early 1900's, the town has depended much on the fame of the St. Francis statue in the church to draw pilgrims to pray and give thanks, which many do around Easter. Also, the Huichol Indians make a pilgrimage from a couple-weeks-hike southwest and to make their offerings and talk with Don Juan while hallucinating on peyote, a sacred ceremonial tradition. More recently, this as become a destination for many "hip" youths who think they need eat the peyote and run around the desert chasing jackelopes. This has frustrated the Huichol community, as the fear their sacred cactus will be consumed faster than it can grow.

Rituals aside, Real definitely has a unique aesthetic charm. Trapped in time and suspended in air, it is very accommodating to the tourist, so long as you withdraw money and make phone calls before you get here! Much of this "welcome" is due to several foreign residents (mostly Swiss and Austrian) who have established solid businesses, and a relatively conscious township that appears to be curbing development in the name of preservation. Or maybe it's just difficult to get water there. Either way, I highly recommend it.