Real de Catorce

Letty and I spent the last two days in the old mining town of Real de Catorce, about 120km south of San Luis Potosi, Mexico (basically in the middle of nowhere). Once a town where silver was abundant (in the 17 and early 1800´s), it is now largely abandoned with only 1200 residents. The movie ¨The Mexican¨was filmed here (The Bandidas too), so the locals are familiar with the names Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, even though they probably never saw the films.

The indigenous people here, called Huicholes, make beaded jewelry and art, and sell it to tourists who come here for a spiritual retreat or to explore the ruins (young Huichole child pictured).

The landscape is steep and hard to travel. The best way to see the town is by horseback, so Letty and I rented horses and rode to the highest point in town for a sunset view of the city below. The desert is beautifully landscaped with cacti and yucca and at an altitude of 2700 m the town offers a beautiful view of the central highlands below. The starry night sky is spectacular.

Following a morning hike to visit the home of a local woman we met yesterday at our hotel, we stopped to observe a fiesta at the local school. The children were celebrating the start of Posada (literally translated "a stopping place"), a 9 day celebration commemorating the travel of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. They reinact the quest for shelter in a litany of songs at designated homes. Singing...

Cantemos con alegríatodos al considerarque Jesús, José y Maríanos vinieron a honrar.

Let us sing with joy, all bearing in mind that Jesus, Joseph and Maryhonor us by having come.