Having already spent seven wonderful months in Mexico, and with the privilege of having five more to explore, we decided to say goodbye to hot and humid Yucatán, turn around, and drive up north again. And where on the map should our hearts so desire? But no other than the state of San Luis Potosí.
Northeast of Guanajuato, and famous for its diverse landscapes, huge modern capital, very many silver mining towns, and breathtaking waterfalls in their plenty, we put Silverskin into the fast lane and made a beeline to go visit the Potosinos.
The first stop though, had to be the Cascades de Roberto Barrios in Palenque! Yes, we can’t get enough of Mexico’s natural water! We’d heard so much about this landmark and our friends @Expedition.all.Bambinos were also heading in the same direction. They were returning from Guatemala. So, with a reunion planned, it was time to cook up some meat…and we’re talking engine bay cooking! Well, it was a long drive after all, and the heat outside was still on!! Could our four and half kilos of pork shoulder be transformed into pulled pork sandwiches by the end of the day? You bet we pulled it off…we’re Meataroundtheworld of course! And you can learn exactly how it’s done here!
It really was a fun time pigging out on those tender pulled pork sandwiches, and sharing them with such wonderful friends. Those waterfalls made quite an attraction too. With so many rocks to climb on, and different sized pools to dive into, the visit to the cascades was like going to a natural aquatic park! We all loved it!
But with everything in life, all good things have to come to an end. The Expedition.all.Bambinos needed to pick up family from Cancun airport, and we were going to reach San Louis Potosí via the state of Vera Cruz. And this unfortunately was a state with many challenges, mainly those revolving around police! It appears the police of Vera Cruz (and Tabasco) are very corrupt and hungry for your money. Like lions on the prowl they seemed to be ready and waiting at every corner we turned. We were pulled over for having tinted windows around the city of Villahermosa, fined for not having a paper copy of our car insurance in Acayucán, and were at the mercy of a cop on a motorbike in the state’s capital Xalapa for simply driving through the city at the ‘wrong’ time. This one was a meenie, if Richie hadn’t had bargained down the price to “all we have in our wallets” we would have had to spend the night in a hotel while our camper spent the night at a towing company. Or so he made us believe! We thought it was all a scam set up to catch those driving with foreign number plates. Once again, the real criminals at work!
Vera Cruz wasn’t as welcoming with their camp spots either. Finding anywhere to sleep in our truck camper was just plain hard. After a long drive, we settled for a parking lot outside a hotel…but the managers working there couldn’t fathom why we wouldn’t take a room and charged us 500 pesos ($25)…our most expensive night yet! I guess we should have just pulled over at the local Pemex gas station.
As you can imagine, we couldn’t wait to get out of this state, and our beeline to San Louis Potosí ended up looking more like a squiggle. In a desperate attempt to escape Vera Cruz, we ended up taking a huge detour through Puebla, zigzagging over very bad mountain roads. But who cares, we were back in the state of Puebla and could breathe again.
It took almost a week and our final stretch led us through the beautiful state of Hidalgo and into San Louis Potosí. It got prettier and prettier by the minute. We had made it, although the heat and humidity hadn’t left us yet.
San Luis Potosí is divided into two terrains – the lower being jungle-like with lots of waterfalls, and the upper with high elevated areas almost desert-like; rich in cacti. It sure was a diverse region and there was much to see and do. We started by staying at a lychee plantation, set directly on the river Axtla.
This very peaceful campground was just a short drive to Las Pozas in Xilitla. Las Pozas was once home to surrealist Edward James. An English eccentric, with almost too much money to burn moved to Xilitla in 1947 and a couple of decades later started creating a fantasy world full of random concrete sculptures in the middle of 20 acres of jungle. Picasso had supposedly once said that Edward James was “crazier than all the Surrealists put together”, and we can see why. His sculptures (most of which are left incomplete) are very random. Our guide took us past a spiraling staircase that winds up to nothing, buildings with titles such as a “House with three stories that might be five”, and gates with elephant ears for handles. It was definitely a different Mexican experience, but one that the Potosinos are very proud of.
And something we believe should also be up there on ‘Things Potosínos should be proud of’ is the Cascades de Tamul. Now, these waterfalls may well just be the Niagara Falls of Mexico. They are truly breathtaking! And the fact that they can only be reached by rowing boat, makes them all the more special. Yes, the one-and-a-half-hour paddle upstream was worth every drop of sweat dispersed. Just check out these views…
Another gem to be found! The adventures that morning didn’t stop there either. Our boat excursion had us stopping off at a cave on the way back, taking a most rewarding plunge into a cenote. Refreshing deep waters in a magical cavern and all for ourselves. You have just got to love Mexico!
And as promised Mexico handed over that cool air we had been so desperately waiting for when approaching the capital of San Louis Potosí and its surrounding region. It had taken us 2000km but the landscape had changed dramatically with more farming ranches, dusty hills and prickly trees to be found.
We set up camp at “El Faro de Peter’ in Mexquitic de Carmona, a Pueblo located on a lake, 30 minutes north of the capital. An ideal campsite to take some time out and give both our truck and camper a good old service.
Our stay ended up being ten days long but it wasn’t all work, work, work. Our hosts Pedro and Susan were very hospitable, driving us to a local steakhouse and inviting us to join in on their Sunday family gathering. And Raoul, a German who was living in the complex, happened to have a hovercraft parked outside his cabaña, and of course, graciously took us out for a ride. What a fast and exhilarating way to explore the lake…which in itself has much to offer, take the Mexquitic zoo for example, and the statue of heroic soldier Damien Carmona.
The state’s capital, although full of colonial plazas, did have a modern feel to it…and some outstanding tacos were not difficult to find. One could order a platter of tortillas filled with a range of meats, ‘Borrego’(sheep) ‘Pastor’ (pork), and beefsteak, just to name a few, and they were truly delicious. No wonder the queues were meandering around the corner.
And talking of good meat, chicharron which we normally eat in its crispy and conventional form was prepared slightly differently in these neck of the woods. These snacks were laden with juicy meat and fried to perfection.
Our last stop in this wonderful, diverse state was Real de Catorce. This quaint town that sits on top of the mountain was once booming with silver and its miners. It was then left abandoned when the silver ran out but wasn’t a ghost town for long. Apparently, a bunch of hippies took residency in the 70s and since then people have been moving in. Cute restaurants now stand along the cobbled streets and pretty houses upon the hills. We love it! In fact, we were won over so much by Real de Catorce’s charm that we visited on two different occasions, and may we add, dedicated much time and effort in getting there.
It turns out that Real de Catorce can only really be accessed through its tunnel from the East. Unless you own a 4×4 jeep that is! Then the world is your oyster and you can ascend those rocky mountain dirt roads. We’re 4X4 right, nothing could be too difficult for our 5.9l Dodge Ram Cummins? Or so we thought. We may have been a little over-ambitious thinking we could join our off-roader jeep friends in taking on this adventure. The roads soon got steeper and narrower, and a cliff overlooking thousands and thousands of saguaro cacti and prickly pears was just outside our passenger door. It was the hardest drive Richie had ever made. And we were so close. With only a mile left until we reached the town, we knew we couldn’t go any further, we were too tall and there were only so many branches we could chop off. So we called it a day, set up camp outside a mine and turned around driving those scary roads again in the morning, downhill, taking the long way round, to that tunnel we’d heard so much about.
…Which wasn’t as hard as we thought. We parked in the bus parking lot and hitched a ride through the low tunnel. The town was in high spirits, with preparations in full swing for the ‘Dia del Muerto’ (day of the dead), one of Mexico’s biggest events of the year. The streets were being decorated with flowers and floor murals, butterflies and dressed up skulls, and as we were so taken in by Real de Catorce, we thought it would be the perfect location to witness this major festivity two days later.
So after a mini-break in neighbouring town Matehuala, eating famous ‘Cabrito’ (baby goat) and playing mini-golf, we returned, hitching a ride through the tunnel once again and observing families paying their respects to loved ones that have passed. The cemetery was ironically full of life, with families gathering around a tombstone, playing music, eating tacos and showering the graveyard with orange petals. Another slice of Mexico’s rich vibrant culture consumed.
Thanks for reading and we’ll ‘meat’ you guys around the world!
