My trip to Santa Teresa

Sunrise at Gabino Santillán (Free Photo)

We begin with, a wonderful sunrise, passing the town of Gabino Santillán and travel to our destination, the municipality of Mezquital, we arrived with the chronicler of the municipality, he told us to prepare, as we will departing for Santa Teresa, a town where they live , the natives Mexicaneros and the road was long.

We reached up to 3000 m, to descend to the village of Temoaya, inhabited by indigenous Tepehuanos on one side and Mexicaneros the other side of town, we were able to perceive clearly that the Mezcal is the drink of choice here, therefore be seen as passing the bottle, as we observed here distilleries.

Here is the church of San Miguel, the interesting thing about this church is to see the figure of San Miguel, which has some bullet fragments in his back, that figure was stolen from the altar of the church and a group went in search of the image after finding it they were attacked by bandits and a rider took the figure put it on his back and rode to the town, the bandits shot at the horseman, the image received the shots; the rider came to town put the figure at the altar, and do not died, he took a shot of Mezcal.

Finally then, we continue our journey to Santa Teresa, a road with too many curves, ascents and descents, it was a pleasant trip, as the chronicler, told us anecdotes that had happened in his life with the different ethnic groups inhabiting the Mezquital.

Approaching to the village, caught my attention to see a woman working the land, while the man was resting in the shade of a loft watching her work, told the chronicle that it is common that a man has several wives, one for cooking, one to till the land, one for the caring of children and a real wife.

Woman working the land

We reached to the village, seemed ghost town, the Chronicler urged caution in the use of the camera, people are suspicious and did not want to bother, he was talking to the chief of the village and then we were led into the church there, very sacred, because we could not take photos, a very simple church, decorated with bright colors typical of Mexicaneros, opens very few times a year this church, one of which is at Easter, where men and women dance in circles until exhausted, who fails to take the 3 days needed to purify their soul, is considered a persona non grata in the village.

Cemetery at Santa Teresa

We went to the cemetery, here we take photos, but not to walk among the graves, considered sacred this space for the dead, we found ancient coins, some less so, in the tombs, in case of doubt, ask, What are they doing these coins here?, as are coins, which people leave to the deceased, if the dead cannot enter heaven, for a debt they have, they return to the earth takes the coins, and come back and enter heaven. Interesting.

It was 3pm and we had to return, the natives cannot be trusted after nightfall, including alcohol, peyote, and why not, the jealousy for their women becomes dangerous.

A good trip up to 3000m and down almost to the 800 meters twice in less than 12 hours, we just get tired.

Woman and Son

Bon Voyage