After traveling through the desert for hours on the way north we decided to stop at my favorite "ghost town" and spend the night. When you leave the highway you immediately sense you are going to somewhere special as this amazing 15 MILE hand laid stone road leads you to Real de Catorce.
After passing through a couple of mining towns
and climbing to over 9000 feet you arrive to a narrow one way tunnel that is a mile and half long....you pay your 20 pesos and wait until the last vehicle coming the other way is out and then you can enter.
Inside the tunnel there are some shrines, mine shafts and dripping water.
What lies on the other side is magical! Real de Catorce was a booming silver mining town in the 1700's and fell into ruins when the silver ran out. The little village is being renovated and is becoming a bit of a tourist trap but the essence is still there. The steep narrow streets are amazing! I knew where I was going so we made our way to the hotel on the outskirts of town across from the cemetery. We arrived a few minutes before the sun went down so we walked through town, which had pretty much shut down except for the municipal building, a couple of restaurants and a little grocery store.
This is one of the vehicles that will take you down the treacherous road going down the other side of the mountain passing by the mines, to the desert floor. I have done that trip before and its amazing!!
We settled on an Italian restaurant (the Italians were some of the first foreigners to start "renovating" the town) and had a great pizza! Laura Beth was happy.
The next morning we got up early and walked to the church and the cemetery.
The church was built by the Franciscans in 1775.
The wrought iron gates were adorned with Peyote buttons...the Spaniards attempt to convert the local peyote worshipping indigenous people.
This is the inside of the church in town, notice the wooden floors, we were told that they were coffin tops and people buried below but that may have just been a story.
After traveling through the desert for hours on the way north we decided to stop at my favorite "ghost town" and spend the night. When you leave the highway you immediately sense you are going to somewhere special as this amazing 15 MILE hand laid stone road leads you to Real de Catorce.
After passing through a couple of mining towns 
and climbing to over 9000 feet you arrive to a narrow one way tunnel that is a mile and half long....you pay your 20 pesos and wait until the last vehicle coming the other way is out and then you can enter. 
Inside the tunnel there are some shrines, mine shafts and dripping water.
What lies on the other side is magical! Real de Catorce was a booming silver mining town in the 1700's and fell into ruins when the silver ran out. The little village is being renovated and is becoming a bit of a tourist trap but the essence is still there. The steep narrow streets are amazing! I knew where I was going so we made our way to the hotel on the outskirts of town across from the cemetery. We arrived a few minutes before the sun went down so we walked through town, which had pretty much shut down except for the municipal building, a couple of restaurants and a little grocery store. 
This is one of the vehicles that will take you down the treacherous road going down the other side of the mountain passing by the mines, to the desert floor. I have done that trip before and its amazing!!
We settled on an Italian restaurant (the Italians were some of the first foreigners to start "renovating" the town) and had a great pizza! Laura Beth was happy. 
The next morning we got up early and walked to the church and the cemetery.
The church was built by the Franciscans in 1775. 
The wrought iron gates were adorned with Peyote buttons...the Spaniards attempt to convert the local peyote worshipping indigenous people.
This is the inside of the church in town, notice the wooden floors, we were told that they were coffin tops and people buried below but that may have just been a story.
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