Real de Catorce, Mexico / November 2014 –

An unbelievable town! Population of about 1,000 to 1,5000 depending on how many tourists are present. It was once a thriving silver mine settlement and one of Mexico’s richest silver mines. It’s located in one of the highest plateaus in Mexico and the town is at approximately 9,000 feet altitude. To get there my American amigo John and I had to travel 17 miles on a cobble stone highway that got us to a 1.5 mile long one way tunnel. That’s how we arrived at Catorce. In its glory days it had a population of almost 15,000 and it had its own silver mint, bull ring and parish church, as noted in the photo.

John and I were driving down to San Miguel, Mexico from Boulder, Colorado via New Mexico and Texas. We had crossed the border at Laredo, Texas and headed south, diverting east off the highway to get to Real de Catorce before dark. We stayed at a very cool boutique hotel that felt like it was well over a hundred years old. The next day we went for a horseback ride up into the mountains to a sacred place where the Huichol shamanists perform their peyote rituals. The Sierra desert below, known as the Wirikuta, is where the Huichol indigenous peoples gather their ceremonial peyote. We saw evidence of their religious gatherings and ritual circles. We were up so very high that the constant clouds and rising mist hampered our views of the town below. We did see this church, but not the town, through the clouds.

Later that day we went for a car ride to the spot where I took this photo. It was incredible to see the three distinct mountainous sections of the greyish mined area, the green church graveyard confines and the natural brownish mountainside. The iconic lone parish church was so alien as viewed from the mountain tops but naturally positioned from where I stood for this photo. It and the town of Real de Catorce has had several famous movies filmed there, notably “The Mexican” staring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts; “Bandidas” staring Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz; and some scenes from “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” staring Humphrey Bogart.

I’ll be sharing some of those mountainous views and town shots another day. For those non-speaking Spanish types, Catorce is the number 14 and Real can mean ‘royal’. Rumor has it that it’s named after 14 Spanish soldiers who were killed here in an ambush by the Chichimeca warriors. The town was officially founded in 1779.