Today I took Gracie and one of her best friends, Gail on a short road trip here...
The area around Mineral de Pozos was originally populated mainly by indigenous Chichimecas and Huachichiles. The first Europeans to arrive in 1576 were the Jesuits. Gonzalo de Tapia, who arrived around 1589, is one of the most recognized and celebrated of the missionaries, as he documented the local languages and customs. He also negotiated a peace agreement to end the conflict between the Spanish and the local inhabitants. Tapia was murdered in Sinaloa in 1591.
The name Mineral de Pozos is a derivative of the older name "Mineral de San Pedro de los Pozos," and is actually its third name. "Pozos," as the locals call it, was one of the most important mining towns in Guanajuato from the end of the 19th century into the early 20th century when the town maxed out at about 80,000 inhabitants. Silver and gold as well as copper, zink and mercury were mined there before the decline which some believe was triggered by a flood that happened during the Mexican Revolution, others by an accidental rupture that killed approximately 13,000 workers, and others by the decrease in minerals coming out of the mine and the resultant lack of work that followed. After the main mine at Santa Brigida closed in 1965, the population diminished and Pozos became known as a ghost town.
The ruins of its ancient dwellings and mining centers currently represent some of its greatest assets. In the late 1990s artists from the surrounding areas began to settle in Pozos, likely drawn by the light and textures found in the landscape and the ruins. Many attribute the true beginnings of rebirth to the 1987 Toltequidad Festival of pre-hispanic music, art, medicine and ancestral wisdom festival which has taken place off and on since that year. A more focused Pre-Colombian Music Festival ("Mixcoacalli") had its inaugural event in 2001 as well.
The town is small, very clean with many ruins and also not many folks around.....enjoy the photos...
This is one of the nicest churches I have seen, quite simplistic but also very ornate!!!
An interesting and fun outing.....
Off to teach my last class of the year!!!
Yashi Kochi!!!
1 comment:
Dee..your e mail address wondered off into cyber space could you e mail me please...thanks les
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