In the Wild Wild North

When I was planning my trip to the North of Mexico I was told to be prepared for extreme heat and make sure that I would have a sunscreen with me. This part of the country is very dry and it hardly ever rains there. A friend of mine who is from there always says that he lives in a desert.

When I arrived in Monterrey it turned out that a hurricane is passing by the area, a rare phenomenon in this part of the country. Instead of sun, I had to struggle with torrential rain and cold.

From Monterrey together with a friend of mine we headed to Real de Catorce, an abandoned silver mine in the high and dry expenses of San Luis Potosi. At the beginning of our route we were driving in the fog. It was so dense that we could hardly move. I could not tell if we were driving in the mountains, if we were crossing a city or if we were in the middle of a cactus field.

After one or two hours of driving, the fog was gone and the desert began. From this point the only landscape was a plain terrain sometimes varied with some cactus plants .

Here is a slideshow so you can see yourself:

To get to Real de Catorce, you have no option but to drive 30km on a cobblestone road and the you enter the city driving through a long and a dark tunnel. At the end, an old city where time stopped a century or two ago. And you feel as if you traveled back in time.

The city has its ‘center’ which is well taken care of, there are some good restaurants and nice hotels. Everything what is outside the main area, is run down and neglected. But most probably the outskirts are the places to be - you can see there the real life of the locals, go to places where they eat and where they spend their free time. And also you will be able to get some rest from street vendors and tour guides following you wherever you go.

Real de Catorce used to be a thriving and rich silver mine, the most famous in the whole country. Today, most of it is ruined and it became a ghost town. We happened to be there during holidays, on the Mexican Independence Day, and it was crowded with visitants and full of life during the day. But in the off-season, without the tourists, it must be quite abandoned and cut off from the rest of the modern world.
After the dusk, it feels spooky. The streets get empty very fast and everything is so quiet. There are very few street lamps, but in the narrow alleys you do not find even one. On the other hand, it also feels mysterious and dreamy, a little bit like in a Tim Burton movie.

*Fun fact - first night we spent at a local hotel, but for the second we decided to sleep in a tent; strangely enough, the campsite was right next to an old cemetery. That should explain the Tim Burton feeling.

The north of Mexico gives you this feel of being in a western movie. Desert, vaqueros (cowboys), sombreros and the wild wild west. Well, north in this case.

The best way to see the city and the surrounding areas is to go on a horse ride. We rented horses and a guide who asked "have you ever ridden a horse?" I answered – "couple of times, maybe four or something around". He said "Excellent. Now, you go up [I mounted a horse]. If you want the horse go to the left you pull the reins to the left, if you want to go to the right you pull the reins to the right and if you want to stop you pull them towards yourself." And that is it. That was all the instruction that I received and my horse moved before I was even able to say that actually I do not know how to deal with this animal. Too late, there was no time for explanation as we departed for a 5 hour tour around Real de Catorce during which I was supposed to handle the horse as if I were a professional. In the first 15 minutes if the trip when the horse started galloping without my permission, I was more than sure that I would fell down and I already could see the heading of the newspapers “a tourist kills herself after falling from horse”. Do not worry, since I write this story you know that it did not happen. And actually, after initial confusion I was doing pretty well.

First we headed to "Cerro Quemado" - a sanctuary on the top of a mountain. From the top you could see a stunning view of the mountains and the desert. Since it was raining when we were there, the desert looked greener and fresher than it usually does. Still, you could see a vast, plain, stretching for miles and empty terrain where nothing but cactus grow and that heat and sun makes it harsh and inhabitable.

The guide told us that indigenous people from the whole region and nearby states travel thousands of miles every spring to leave there religious offerings. Apart from that, they also go to a desert below the city to gather a supply of peyote, the magical cactus for 'guiding their path and consciousness'. The silver is gone, but peyote seems to be the new gold an the biggest business in the city. On the streets there are plenty of locals busy with selling peyote liquors, creams, drops and other 'magical potions' that are supposed to help you with all your problems and make your dreams come true. Side effects unknown, you try that at your own risk.

After two days of no internet and mobile service, burning heat during the day and freezing cold in the night, horse-riding, walking in the desert and ruins of the abandoned mine we decided to go back. There was not much more to see or to do there anymore, but somehow it felt strange to go back to 'civilization' where everything moves with the speed of light comparing it to the life in Real de Catorce. Maybe in ten years I will return, and the town will be exactly the same as I saw it last time.


Cheers,


Marcela