The old mining town of Mineral de Pozos, located in the state of Guanajuato, is a five-and-a-half hour drive from Guadalajara but works well as a delightful day trip from nearby, ever-charming, San Miguel de Allende.
Our friend Nathan Mayfield, who lives in San Miguel, had invited us to visit Mineral de Pozos, which, he said, had been as rich and trendy as Paris, France about 100 years ago, after which it turned into a ghost town.
After driving to Nathan’s house and dining, we wandered the cobblestone streets of San Miguel by night, soaking up the charm of its quaint fountains, its sidewalks the width of your shoulders and its steep, crooked calles with shadowy nooks at every bend.
I couldn’t resist remarking that if I were wandering the alleyways of New York City, I’d be terrified of what might be lurking in those deep shadows, whereas in San Miguel de Allende, the play of darkness and light was a joy to behold. “Around here, all the streets are safe, even the darkest,” said Nathan.
This, I thought, was ironic, since the number of foreigners visiting San Miguel has been steadily dropping ever since the U.S. government put Mexico on its list of “dangerous or unstable countries” right along with Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Although, in my opinion, most parts of Mexico are just as safe (and in some cases safer) than most parts of the United States, the black list is taking its toll, as we noticed when we tried to visit San Miguel’s leading English-language bookstores only to discover that both have recently been forced to close their doors.
The next day we drove to Mineral de Pozos, which is located 43 kilometers northeast of San Miguel, as the crow flies. It took us about fifty minutes to get to this quiet, clean little town, which we drove straight through, because the pozos (vertical mine shafts or pits) for which it is named, are out in the countryside just west of the town itself.
As we drove toward the most famous of the old mining sites, La Hacienda de Los Cinco Señores, we were taken aback by the surrealistic scene spread before our eyes: white ruins of past glory dotting the arid hills covered in acacias and cacti.For me there are two kinds of ruins: those that my wife Susy is ready to leave after a five-minute perusal and those that cause her to wax poetic and to lose track of time.
Well, Pozos definitely fell into the second category, and that is a high recommendation, indeed.
Mineral de Pozos was founded in 1576 and its golden age lasted some 350 years. It reached its peak of prosperity under Porfirio Diaz when, like so many boom towns, it attracted people from all over the world until, around 1900, it had a population of 80,000. Its wealthy citizens were inspired to build luxurious casonas (mansions) in the middle of stark stretches of bare rock, atop lonely peaks or balanced on the edge of deep ravines. By the late 1920s, however, the Mexican Revolution had left the country in shambles, the rebellion of the Cristeros had brought even more instability to Pozos (which was very Catholic) and the mines had lost their capital due to factors like the Great Depression in the United States. On top of that, a flood occurred, killing thousands of men.
The result of all these factors was a sudden, massive exodus from Mineral de Pozos and the population dropped to about 200 people.
Today the stately mansions have been reduced to nothing more than isolated free-standing walls or empty shells inhabited only by grumbling goats.
Soaking up the vestiges of past glory, we came to the Hacienda de Los Cinco Señores, less than three kilometers from town. This had formerly been a complex of deep-pit mines which produced gold, silver, copper, iron, mercury and zinc, all of which you can supposedly find in the ore samples for sale at the entrance. Its name refers to the five partners who opened the mines there, all of them foreigners (from Spain and France). Inside the grounds, at 2,320 meters altitude, you’ll find picturesque ruins of once-glorious buildings, plenty of Pirules (Pepper Trees) and several very impressive vertical mine shafts which the caretakers claim are up to 500 meters deep.
Whether they are really half-a-kilometers deep I don’t know, but they are deep enough to have become the tombs of several recent, unlucky visitors, including a 16-year-old American who had come to Mexico to care for orphans. This young man made the mistake of demonstrating his gymnastic skills by trying to leap over a pozo whose entrance was only a few meters wide. Unfortunately, his judgment was a little bit off. They managed to extract his body from that pit, but an elderly Mexican – who was trying to remove a pulley from another shaft – was even more unlucky and one of the pozos is now his tomb for all time. Of course, if you go back to the heyday of these mines, you’ll discover a far greater tragedy. Thirteen thousand men supposedly lost their lives deep underground when they accidentally broke into a huge aquifer. This disaster, some say, gave the real coups de grâce to Mineral de Pozos.
You could easily spend hours just wandering among these old buildings, going back in your mind to the days when Silver was King, but after you’ve had your fill of exercise, you’ll probably want to eat at one of several fine restaurants in the old city or browse numerous shops featuring very creative ceramics and pre-Hispanic musical instruments.
Today Pozos is officially considered a “National Historic Treasure,” but don’t imagine it’s anything like a well-organized historical monument. On the contrary, the old mines are as dangerous as old mines anywhere and there are no rangers around to make sure you stay on the paths. It’s not the sort of place you’d want to bring free-running children. Los Pozos is, however, a fascinating relic of a glorious and tragic past and quite likely the most charming ghost town you’ve ever seen.
How to get there
To get to San Miguel de Allende from Guadalajara, take toll road 80 towards Aguascalientes and switch to Highway 45, bypassing Leon. Get onto the toll road to Guanajuato and after 14.4 kilometers, you’ll see signs for San Miguel. To get from there to Mineral de Pozos, head for the town of Los Rodriguez, following Guanajuato Highway 1 northeast for 45 kilometers. Turn left onto highway 46 and drive 22 kilometers to Pozos. The old Hacienda de Los Cinco Señores, located at N21 13.659 W100 30.980, is a 2.8 kilometer drive west of town on a well-maintained dirt road. Driving time from Guadalajara is about five and a half hours. From San Miguel: about an hour.