Information

General

When one talks about Catorce probably one of the most important things to understand is that we are talking of a region more or less clearly defined and in which one can distinguish two main different areas: the Catorce's lowlands and the sierra of Catorce. The lowlands are at about 1,800 m. high and the sierra has peaks above 3,000 m. Catorce is also a county -municipio- and its seat is at the main town, called Real de Catorce and it is precisely the so famous ghost old minning town. It is located at 2,750 m. altitude and it perches on a step mountain side, with an incredible view of the lowlands toward where the sun sets. The town has never been completely empty and today is in kind of a growing boom. A slow and harmonic growing if you see how other places have done its growing. Thanks to this you may come and find a nice room to sleep, good food to eat, people to talk at, a hot shower and still feel at an empty town, specially out of the peak seasons -xtsmas, easter and summer week-ends- and that is so because the town once hosted at least 15,000 people and now there are hardly 1000 people living here permanently. But it needs to be said that if the town is really pleasant, it is its surrounding country side who must take the mayor credit of doing this area so beautifull, so particular and so sacred for so many people. The openess of the land due to the fact of being one of the highest sierras in dozens of miles around makes you feel above everything. At some point and toward the west you may have the horizon line more than a hundred miles afar.

The land, nevertheless is very rough, dry and the vegetal covering very thinny. There are beautifull woods, but you need to be in good shape as the walk -no road- will take you throu ups and downs at an average of 2,900 m. altitude and the air is thin. The woods are mainly oaks -short and sturdy- and some cypress. To reach the first wooden heights you must walk toward the mountain above the tunel de Ogarrio and keep walking for about 4 to 5 hours. Camping is certainly allowed, safe and free. Have blankets handy.

The lowlands is what you see in coming through the cobbled stone road and also and mainly going down toward the west to the estación Catorce -Catorce's train station- Is there where the sacred land of Wirikuta gives the huichol people their sacred peyote cactus. It is all that impressive llano you see from the road to the Cemetery in Real de Catorce.

The people here is honest, friendly on its own way and spicy as in most of Mexico. The way they are is rather what we call norteño -northern people- being its franklyness its main feature of character. There are a good number of people living here whose origins are other towns or states and even a small community of people of diferent countries lives here (Argentinian, Italian, Swiss, Germans, Spanish, and some US). Most people lives from trading goods and services to tourism, goats -excellent milk and cheesse, arts and crafts and some agriculture.

The town hostes a few artists of outstanding quality, specially at jewllery, carving, sculpting and painting. Some of them sell out of town, some shops in town sell their works of art and some of the artisst go out to the street to sell their goods. In this case you shouldn't assume that something sold in the bare sidewalk here must be of lower quality than what is displayed on shops. Fine silver, true amber and rocks are to be found in shops and in the street.

[get there][where to eat][where to sleep][what to do]