Last Wednesday I had to return to Queretaro for a group reconnect meeting (basically to make sure things are ok alter the first 4-6 months). It was nice to be back in Queretaro and amazing to see how clean it is compared to Puebla. Plus I can never pass up a stop at my favorite food stall in the market, which might have the cheapest beer in all of Mexico (25 pesos for a liter of indio) and the best alambres (chorizo, bistek, onions, cheese, and peppers all mixed on a grill and served with tortillas and salsa).
So for this past weekend’s travel I was pretty much in the state of Guanajuato. From Queretaro I went north to San Jose Iturida and then to a small town called Mineral los Pozos. This is a tiny town that back in the 1850’s was well populated due to its prosperous mines. However, when the mining creased, so did the town’s population. In recent years there has been a small push to begin developing the town as a tourist attraction (addition of 2 upscale hotels), but for now it remains relatively small and a little isolated (last bus to anywhere leaves at 7). You walk down the main streets and they are abandoned, decaying stone buildings all over. We no problems just wandering into them. There are also some old churches that have been overtaken by cactus and dust. On the main plaza in town we wandered into what might have been the only bar in town, complete with swinging doors, walls adorned with black and white photos of the Mexican Revolution, and a bartender with a long white beard, cowboy hat, and a vest make out of snake skin and leather.
From Pozos we caught the bus to San Luis de la Paz, a cute little town with a nice colonial center, and surprise surprise a couple pretty churches. The next morning we back tracked south towards Queretaro and then headed west towards Celaya and finally Valle de Santiago. After a little too much time on a 3rd class bus (think dirt road and no suspension for 1hr 45 min), we finally arrived in Valle, home of the 7 luminarias, or 7 volcanic craters. One of the craters is just on the edge of town and has houses built up the side of it. After a quick stop at the craters it was time to head back on the 1.45 hr bus trip to Celaya followed by an hour to Queretaro followed by 3 hours to Mexico City and then 2 hours back to Puebla.
