Magical Town
Pinos
Follow the Ex Hacienda Route or head for the trail of the giant barrel cactuses; savor a delicious queso de tuna (“prickly pear cheese”); and enjoy the music and the steps of their traditional dances.
Highlights
Things to do
Festivities
Services in Pinos
What Makes It Magical
To the southwest of Zacatecas, surrounded by red mountains, Pinos slips through time, its gaze fixed on its old mines. Everywhere you look are the long silhouettes of chimneys, yearning for the smoke they once emitted, and beneath them the old haciendas that once functioned as smelters. People spend their days amongst ruins: they go into the church to pray to “Papá Jesús”, or they watch the sunset from a bench in the Jardín de las Flores, whilst the only baker who continues to bake bread, sells a bolillo de leche (milk bun) to a child; someone drinks mescal in the Puerto Arturo tavern, others take part in a handicrafts workshop in the patio of the old Franciscan convent; a woman peers down at the street from a balcony, she looks forward to December and the night when all the streets are lit by the multi-colored lanterns.
Why You Should Go
Its Old Mines
- In the middle of the town there are numerous old smelters, now in ruins.
- There is La Purísima, San José, La Candelaria, San Ramón, Tiro General and Cinco Estrellas.
- Their silent presence gives the town a peculiar appearance.
- The last mining bonanza took place between the 1930s and the 1940s.
At the Very Least
At the end of the Hacienda Grande’s old shell, you will find Los Arquitos, a small aqueduct that is well worth a visit.
Don’t Miss
- Go inside the town’s oldest cantina, Puerto Arturo,and drink mescal.
- Visit the underground passage, adorned with a black Christ, beneath the hotel El Mesón del Conde.
- Visit the Templo de San Francisco and the Municipal Institute of Culture in the convent next door.