Mineral del Chico

We finally got to go on our first hike in the mountains outside of Mexico City. We had a three day weekend for the aniversary of the Mexican Revolution (November 20th, 1910—here’s a link for a brief summary of the key causes and events around the Revolution www.mexconnect.com/MEX/austin/revolution.html).

However, since we can’t drive on Mondays (Hoy No Circula program) we went out of town Saturday and Sunday, to the nearby El Chico National Park, north of DF about 2 hours—well, normally 2 hours, but since it took us about 2 hours to get out of the city, between traffic and a few wrong turns, it was actually about a 4-5 hour drive!!)

We stopped for lunch (more like dinner, since we didn’t get there until around 4:00) at Real del Monte – one of the “Pueblos Mágicos” (beautiful colonial towns around Mexico).

Real del Monte on a Sunday afternoon

Real del Monte has an interesting history of Cornish miners who came at the end of the 19th century. There is an interesting English Cemetery and the region is famous for it’s “Pastys” (meat-filled pastries) which have now incorporated Mexican ingredients of chile, mole, etc. The town’s architecture still shows this British settlement’s influence.

Another interesting fact about the area is that it was apparently the location of the first Soccer game in Mexico. A short history of soccer: the rules of soccer were determined in England in the mid to late 1800’s, to separate it from Rugby. The first Mexican soccer league was started in the early 1900’s, by the British who lived in different major cities at the time. I imagine that it started much the same way in other Latin American countries, but haven’t looked into it.
When we arrived at Real del Monte, it was quite a bit colder than Mexico City, and it was completely fogged in. We were glad we had thrown in the winter coats for the weekend. After eating and walking around in the fog/mist/rain for a bit we quickly got back in the car to continue on into the national park.

View of town Mineral del Chico from one of the crags.

We imagined the views would have been beautiful, had we been able to see. Fortunately the next day the fog/clouds lifted and we were able to enjoy the scenery. The park is known for it’s craggy rock formations, which reminded us a bit of the Pinnacles in Central California.

Mineral del Chico (the whole town)

We stayed at a small hotel in Mineral del Chico, a small mining town on the edge of the park with a population of 300, that is about 2 blocks long. We asked when a good time to visit is (weatherwise) and were told April & May (it is warmer, and the summer rains haven’t started yet). We got to go on a nice hike and enjoyed being in the forest, but may have to go back in the Spring to hike and/or camp. The drive back to the city was happily uneventful!!