Day Four: Real de Catorce
Treasure Hunting in the Desert Light
Day 4: Real de Catorce
Today was a get-up-early day—5:15 a.m. to be exact. Time to explore a few of the multitude of ruins in this area. The payoff was beautiful desert light and awesome shadows. In every direction, there are ruins, all remnants of the silver-mining boom. It would take days to explore them all.
Given the limited good light of the day, I had to choose just one target out of many. I picked the ghost town of San José de los Álamos, an old mining complex and processing plant. This is the site locals and tour operators call El Pueblo Fantasma near Real de Catorce—the area’s real ghost town, separate from the inhabited main town.
The ruins of Ex-Hacienda San José de los Álamos are all that’s left of a full colonial mining complex. The mine was active during the silver boom in the late 1700s and 1800s, but after the bust, it was deserted. The whole place has been left to slowly fall apart like an unmaintained Harley.
The greater Catorce area is filled with treasures. There are seven in-town ruins, four mining ruins, and two sacred/archaeological sites. Pueblo Fantasma could be counted as dozens of individual collapsed structures rather than one place. And the mining category undercounts, since the Catorce range is full of abandoned mine shafts and processing facilities without formal names. The Wirikuta shrines are similarly a collective scattered across 140,000 hectares. An explorer’s dream.
Switching to my domestic world, on my last day at the Airbnb, I noticed a sign saying cats weren’t allowed inside and were supposed to stay outdoors. Somehow, I missed that before. Darn. Of course, the cats didn’t mind at all —they snuck in plenty of times while I was there. For animals that weren’t supposed to be inside, they sure knew where the cat food was kept, and each had their favorite rooms and beds. The orange-and-white kitty even slept with me.
Catorce Cats are much bigger than San Miguel cats and have much more fur. Compared to the San Miguel cats, Catorce Cats seem to be special High-Altitude Felines, built for the cold.
Today’s Expenses: Room 1,200 pesos, breakfast was 145 pesos, dinner totaled 385 pesos for an entree, a shot of Mezcal, and a glass of red wine. In San Francisco, order a super carne asada burrito and a soft drink, and you’ll pay $18-$22. I don’t need to compare the surroundings.
I am adding a new category in addition to daily expenses. Daily Gringo Spotting. So far, it is zero for four days. I just know that some day it’s going to spike.
Tomorrow, the road beckons.