Day 4

Now would be the time to get that cup of coffee or tea and put your feet up because this is a novel!!!!!! Today I headed up into the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains to a small town called Real de Catorce. A quick history of this town; situated at almost 9000 feet above sea level, once a very prosperous and thriving gold and silver mining town and at the turn of this century there was almost 45,000 inhabitants, but for reasons unknown for sure but local theories are at the revolution in 1910 the town was over run by banditos or at the same time the price of silver plummeted, anyway today less than 900 people live here, most of the buildings are in ruins, the streets are so narrow and this is like going back into history. Two significant events happen in town one is in May when over 40,000 Huicholes Indians pilgrimage here from their home over 400 miles away, to pay homage to their Gods at the sacred mountain called Cerro del Quemado. They perform rituals and ingest the hallucinogenic cactus peyote. The other is when over 200,000 people flock to the town late September and early October to pay homage to a figure of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is thought to have the power to cure illness and solve problems, the figure is located in the church in the main plaza. So to get to this most isolated town there is a turn off a secondary highway, then over 30 kms of cobble stone road leading to the tunnel. The only entrance to town it was built by hand in 1910 and is 2.3kms long, narrow and low and only one-way traffic is allowed. After going through the tunnel you turn into a small lot where young boys flock to guide you into town, my boy was Renaldo and he took me through the most amazing labyrinth of small cobble roads to a little Casa de huespedes I had written down from a guide book. He was a great guide and took me to the doorstep and helped carry some stuff in me. My room is small, clean with hot water and power and for this I paid the princely sum of 100 pesos, 10 dollars. Next door I saw a small shop advertising tours, outside were two lovely small girls and their Dad offered me a walking tour for 200 pesos, 20 dollars, I thought about the altitude and how I would be for walking as the guide, Phillip, said it would be high and three hours, never a challenge a Pearson boy doesn’t take, so I grabbed a snack, water, and a jacket (yes a jacket my first in over 3 months!!!!) and off we go. It was incredible, Phillip and I spoke Spanglish and he showed me everything in the town and we climbed quite high in the mountains to an old gold mine. He knew so much having lived here all his life, what a time I was having. Some facts he imparted to me: He knew I was Canadian and he also knew the flag and he showed me the only two maple leaf trees in this State. In the centre of the bullring and also in the centre of the cock ring and only in the very centre you could shout and the echo was fantastic. The cock ring was what I would imagine from Roman and Greek times. The mines were only 30 feet deep, big difference to the mine yesterday, and they were worked and produced millions of tons of gold and silver. When the tour was finished we were back at his little store and during the tour he told me the names of his daughters the oldest one is called AMERICA and the youngest is called AFRICA, what a delight they were. There is nothing happening in town at night, so I am doing blogs, photos and planning my route tomorrow, it will be a long day and hopefully I shall be in USA by nightfall. I haven’t got the art of posting the photos in order but I have tried and if it works below is a description of each in order, if not you will have to figure it out for yourself…

In the entrance to town miles from anywhere a baseball game being played in the clouds
Over view of another small town in the valley
In the clouds
Native Indian selling her wares, yes she lives in the stone hut!!!
Welcome sign to town
Tunnel entrance
Typical house in ruins
Ronaldo outside my Casita
Walls full of testimonials about the healing power of St.Francis
Me in front of the most famous figure St. Francis
Ariel view soccer field at top, cemetery and bullring to left
Local transportation
At the entrance to one of the deserted mines
Bull ring and old cemetery gate
Old cemetery and sign
The famous Maple leaf tree!!!!!
Cockfight ring sign
Phillip in cockpit
And me
Courtyard entrance to my casita
America and Africa
Over view of town
Thanks for your patience and hope you enjoyed this as much as I did; it was another magical day that I am sure 95% of tourists don’t see…