So I was into my third month in Guanajuato back in very early July, and I had hoped to have already made a number of weekend or one-day trips to other locations around that latitudinal belt of the country, but that had not been happening, as, unfortunately, the rainy season arrived, and it seemed to be a rainy season that lived up to its name, including much flooding in areas I had hoped to visit or at least cross en route to others. As it turned out, I had only managed a trip to Zacatecas before all the rain began, and I was getting a bit tired of being cooped up on those weekend days I had originally envisioned as days of exploration. And so once a break in the weather came, I had to jump on the opportunity to go head out, especially since my time in Guanajuato was very shortly coming to an end as I was just a week away from moving down to Mexico City and then Oaxaca.
Real de Asientos is not a particularly famous tourist destination in Mexico; in fact, it is not really famous at all. It is, however, an officially designated pueblo magico in the state of Aguascalientes. It is among the many towns and cities that appeared in this central part of Mexico as a result for the quest for silver during the 1500s, but unlike many other mining centers from that time, which have long ago become ghost towns, some of the mines in Real de Asientos are still active today, though silver is no longer the main ore extracted.
At any rate, Real de Asientos had never really been on my radar until I stumbled across a somewhat amateurishly made travel vlog about it, which, if you are so inclined, you can watch right here. The video included reference to a link to a PDF listing all the details of getting there by car or public transportation and what you could see and do while there. It seemed to me like a ready-to-go package that was definitely doable. Better yet, it seemed that it would be doable as a day trip, which was an especially important point, as the weather indicated a sunny Saturday coming up, followed by days of more rain.
Well, as it turned out the trip was indeed doable, as it seemed, but it was a bit more tiresome than I had imagined, and the time I had in my schedule available to see the town turned out to be really more limited than I had originally accounted for. I left Guanajuato early in the morning by bus to Leon (1 hour), where I transferred to another bus that took me to Aguascalientes (1 hour wait and 2.5 hour ride - 30 minutes longer than usual). From the central bus station there I had to take a taxi to the colectivo station in the northern part of the city. I had imagined that trip would take about 10 minutes, but due to traffic, it took more than half an hour. Then I had to take the colectivo to Asientos, which took about 90 minutes. So each way I had underestimated my travel time by 50 minutes, and that meant that the three and a half hours I had allotted to visiting the town had been reduced by almost two hours. I would thus have only about 90 minutes to see the town and eat lunch, but more on that in a bit.
The trip out to Aguascalientes was for the most part comfortable. I had taken the same buses from Guanajuato and Leon on my previous two trips to Zacatecas, one this time during my Guanajuato stay and once a year earlier, thus the first class highway buses were comfortable and the scenery familiar. The colectivo trip between to Asientos, however, was new for me. The colectivo itself was a small van, a combi, that was packed. For 90 minutes my knees were jammed into the seat in front of me (a point you can't really tell in the in the photo below, as the seat in front of me had yet to be folded down and occupied), and one shoulder smashed up into the glass and the other giving the school girl to my left little room for breathing. The scenery was not particularly pretty along the way, but the adventure of it all made it bearable.
As up for adventure as I was, as soon as we made the turn onto the road into town, I (or maybe you might say it was my knees) decided to get off, even though the Centro area of the city was about 1km more up (as in uphill) the road. The good side of my early deboarding was that I got that the chance to see some of scattered tourist-oriented items along the road, such as the town letters, some mining equipment, and from afar the small chapel up on the top of the hill that I was going to walk up to in my original plan. That little hike had to be nixed, however, due to the new limited time realities I was facing.
Although I had a true sense of being in the absolute middle of nowhere as I walked up that road, it also seemed welcoming since it was there in its good state of repair and decor specifically for tourists, of which I seemed to be the only one. As I entered the town, I felt a bit happier since it seemed sort of quaint - almost cute. I wandered around a bit to see the main church, the town square, the portico (much smaller than those I've seen in other tiny towns), and some of the back streets.
Knowing I was pressed for time, I had to come up with a quick game plan as to what I'd be able and would want to see. I decided to go to the cemetery, the House of Geodes, the aqueduct, lunch, and then, time permitting, a tour of the tunnel under the main church. I started out for the cemetery, passing through some pleasant streets and arrived at the other church in town and the famous bell outside (though I forgot exactly why the bell was famous). Unfortunately, it was there that I learned that the cemetery had just closed and would reopen at 5 PM, after the time I needed to leave town. Well, there were still other spots on my list, so off I went before I ended up missing them too.
I headed out for the Casa de Geodas, and on the way I passed by the town mining museum, so I went in and had a look. That was a lucky move because the docent/director, after showing me how to shoot an arrow, asked me where I was heading in town, was surprised to hear that I was heading to the Casa de Geodas. "That is my house," she said in Spanish. I can drive you there, and she did. I had read that you could only go into the house when someone was home, so this accidental run in seemed a stroke of good fortune, and being driven there was a welcome relief as it was getting quite sunny and a bit hot.
The Casa de Geodas, by the way, was a house that is covered in geodes found in the local mines, where the husband in the house has worked all his life. Not only is the exterior covered with geodes, but the interior rooms, as well. That includes the shower, toothpaste holder, and so on all covered in or made of geodes.
After the visit to the house, the museum woman and Casa de Geodas owner, drove me down the street to have a look at the local aqueduct, which unfortunately was not particularly easy to get close to. Still I was able to take a couple of photos from the street and thereby feel I had at least seen another one of the spots on my checklist. After we got back into the car and started driving back to the museum, I saw a fellow dressed in orange, tall boots, and wearing a hard hat with a light on it, and I asked the woman if he was a miner. "Yes, do you want to take a photo?" I told her I did, and so she asked the man if I he would pose for a photo, which he did, though I think he felt a bit awkward about it. Still in these small towns that are trying to attract tourists, everyone seems to feel they have a part to play, so I guess he was being a good villager.
The photo taken, the woman then drove me back into town, showing me where to catch the colectivos back to Aguascalientes and then dropping me off at the restaurant mentioned in the vlog I had watched, where I tried what is supposed to be the local specialty - canejo a la chichimeca (rabbit in the style of the indigenous tribes. It tasted like...yes, chicken, and the salsa and veggies tasted pretty much like what you might eat in any of the other cities in the region, but it was a good meal, and I enjoyed it. The restaurant itself was a pleasant spots in itself, albeit completely empty when I arrived, though some students started filing in a bit later, eating outside in the courtyard, but coming in to get their own drinks from the drink refrigerator (show in the photo below). The atmosphere was thus very homey.
By the time I was done with my meal, it was clear that I was not going to have time to do much more than take a brief stroll around. I didn't mind though since I am just as happy to enjoy the ambiance of a place as I am to see this and that sights. So, I just took a stroll over to the main church to have a look around. When I was leaving, I was greeted by a youth volunteer guide, which seems to be a common phenomenon in many of the smaller pueblos magicos, though this was my first encounter with one. He was probably 12 or 13 years old, spoke to me in English, wore an official guide's badge, and seemed trained. He chatted for a bit, and then he directed me to the colectivo station, and on the way I passed the entrance to the tour of the tunnels beneath the church, another sight I did not have time to visit, before arriving at the station, where I caught a colectivo that was, thankfully, bigger and more comfortable.
The rest of the trip back to Guanajuato went smoothly and without event, though I was pretty beat by the whole 5AM to Midnight adventure, but all in all it was worth it, both in the sense of enjoying the place and the total experience, and also in the sense of accomplishing something I had planned on doing without getting discouraged by the setbacks of weather and time. Yes, I missed a lot of things I would have liked to see, and I would have enjoyed some more vegging out time in the town, but I will go again someday, maybe renting a car and also visiting the relatively nearby Pueblo Magico of Pinos, Zacatecas. Nothing is really a one chance deal, after all.
Real de Asientos is not a particularly famous tourist destination in Mexico; in fact, it is not really famous at all. It is, however, an officially designated pueblo magico in the state of Aguascalientes. It is among the many towns and cities that appeared in this central part of Mexico as a result for the quest for silver during the 1500s, but unlike many other mining centers from that time, which have long ago become ghost towns, some of the mines in Real de Asientos are still active today, though silver is no longer the main ore extracted.
At any rate, Real de Asientos had never really been on my radar until I stumbled across a somewhat amateurishly made travel vlog about it, which, if you are so inclined, you can watch right here. The video included reference to a link to a PDF listing all the details of getting there by car or public transportation and what you could see and do while there. It seemed to me like a ready-to-go package that was definitely doable. Better yet, it seemed that it would be doable as a day trip, which was an especially important point, as the weather indicated a sunny Saturday coming up, followed by days of more rain.
Well, as it turned out the trip was indeed doable, as it seemed, but it was a bit more tiresome than I had imagined, and the time I had in my schedule available to see the town turned out to be really more limited than I had originally accounted for. I left Guanajuato early in the morning by bus to Leon (1 hour), where I transferred to another bus that took me to Aguascalientes (1 hour wait and 2.5 hour ride - 30 minutes longer than usual). From the central bus station there I had to take a taxi to the colectivo station in the northern part of the city. I had imagined that trip would take about 10 minutes, but due to traffic, it took more than half an hour. Then I had to take the colectivo to Asientos, which took about 90 minutes. So each way I had underestimated my travel time by 50 minutes, and that meant that the three and a half hours I had allotted to visiting the town had been reduced by almost two hours. I would thus have only about 90 minutes to see the town and eat lunch, but more on that in a bit.
The trip out to Aguascalientes was for the most part comfortable. I had taken the same buses from Guanajuato and Leon on my previous two trips to Zacatecas, one this time during my Guanajuato stay and once a year earlier, thus the first class highway buses were comfortable and the scenery familiar. The colectivo trip between to Asientos, however, was new for me. The colectivo itself was a small van, a combi, that was packed. For 90 minutes my knees were jammed into the seat in front of me (a point you can't really tell in the in the photo below, as the seat in front of me had yet to be folded down and occupied), and one shoulder smashed up into the glass and the other giving the school girl to my left little room for breathing. The scenery was not particularly pretty along the way, but the adventure of it all made it bearable.
As up for adventure as I was, as soon as we made the turn onto the road into town, I (or maybe you might say it was my knees) decided to get off, even though the Centro area of the city was about 1km more up (as in uphill) the road. The good side of my early deboarding was that I got that the chance to see some of scattered tourist-oriented items along the road, such as the town letters, some mining equipment, and from afar the small chapel up on the top of the hill that I was going to walk up to in my original plan. That little hike had to be nixed, however, due to the new limited time realities I was facing.
Although I had a true sense of being in the absolute middle of nowhere as I walked up that road, it also seemed welcoming since it was there in its good state of repair and decor specifically for tourists, of which I seemed to be the only one. As I entered the town, I felt a bit happier since it seemed sort of quaint - almost cute. I wandered around a bit to see the main church, the town square, the portico (much smaller than those I've seen in other tiny towns), and some of the back streets.
Knowing I was pressed for time, I had to come up with a quick game plan as to what I'd be able and would want to see. I decided to go to the cemetery, the House of Geodes, the aqueduct, lunch, and then, time permitting, a tour of the tunnel under the main church. I started out for the cemetery, passing through some pleasant streets and arrived at the other church in town and the famous bell outside (though I forgot exactly why the bell was famous). Unfortunately, it was there that I learned that the cemetery had just closed and would reopen at 5 PM, after the time I needed to leave town. Well, there were still other spots on my list, so off I went before I ended up missing them too.
I headed out for the Casa de Geodas, and on the way I passed by the town mining museum, so I went in and had a look. That was a lucky move because the docent/director, after showing me how to shoot an arrow, asked me where I was heading in town, was surprised to hear that I was heading to the Casa de Geodas. "That is my house," she said in Spanish. I can drive you there, and she did. I had read that you could only go into the house when someone was home, so this accidental run in seemed a stroke of good fortune, and being driven there was a welcome relief as it was getting quite sunny and a bit hot.
The Casa de Geodas, by the way, was a house that is covered in geodes found in the local mines, where the husband in the house has worked all his life. Not only is the exterior covered with geodes, but the interior rooms, as well. That includes the shower, toothpaste holder, and so on all covered in or made of geodes.
After the visit to the house, the museum woman and Casa de Geodas owner, drove me down the street to have a look at the local aqueduct, which unfortunately was not particularly easy to get close to. Still I was able to take a couple of photos from the street and thereby feel I had at least seen another one of the spots on my checklist. After we got back into the car and started driving back to the museum, I saw a fellow dressed in orange, tall boots, and wearing a hard hat with a light on it, and I asked the woman if he was a miner. "Yes, do you want to take a photo?" I told her I did, and so she asked the man if I he would pose for a photo, which he did, though I think he felt a bit awkward about it. Still in these small towns that are trying to attract tourists, everyone seems to feel they have a part to play, so I guess he was being a good villager.
The photo taken, the woman then drove me back into town, showing me where to catch the colectivos back to Aguascalientes and then dropping me off at the restaurant mentioned in the vlog I had watched, where I tried what is supposed to be the local specialty - canejo a la chichimeca (rabbit in the style of the indigenous tribes. It tasted like...yes, chicken, and the salsa and veggies tasted pretty much like what you might eat in any of the other cities in the region, but it was a good meal, and I enjoyed it. The restaurant itself was a pleasant spots in itself, albeit completely empty when I arrived, though some students started filing in a bit later, eating outside in the courtyard, but coming in to get their own drinks from the drink refrigerator (show in the photo below). The atmosphere was thus very homey.
By the time I was done with my meal, it was clear that I was not going to have time to do much more than take a brief stroll around. I didn't mind though since I am just as happy to enjoy the ambiance of a place as I am to see this and that sights. So, I just took a stroll over to the main church to have a look around. When I was leaving, I was greeted by a youth volunteer guide, which seems to be a common phenomenon in many of the smaller pueblos magicos, though this was my first encounter with one. He was probably 12 or 13 years old, spoke to me in English, wore an official guide's badge, and seemed trained. He chatted for a bit, and then he directed me to the colectivo station, and on the way I passed the entrance to the tour of the tunnels beneath the church, another sight I did not have time to visit, before arriving at the station, where I caught a colectivo that was, thankfully, bigger and more comfortable.
The rest of the trip back to Guanajuato went smoothly and without event, though I was pretty beat by the whole 5AM to Midnight adventure, but all in all it was worth it, both in the sense of enjoying the place and the total experience, and also in the sense of accomplishing something I had planned on doing without getting discouraged by the setbacks of weather and time. Yes, I missed a lot of things I would have liked to see, and I would have enjoyed some more vegging out time in the town, but I will go again someday, maybe renting a car and also visiting the relatively nearby Pueblo Magico of Pinos, Zacatecas. Nothing is really a one chance deal, after all.
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