Real de Catorce

The impressive ghost town Real de Catorce lies approximately 30km/19mi north-west of Matehuala and is reached along a mountain road and through a 2.5km/1.6mi-long tunnel. Supposedly named after fourteen soldiers who were murdered here by Indians in about 1700, this was an important mining town, especially at the end of the 19th c. when the population stood at about 45,000 (it is now approximately 800) and it boasted a theatre, a mint and an electric mining railway. A visit to the church of San Francisco, the destination every year on October 4th of thousands of pilgrims, is highly recommended. The pilgrims leave numerous votive tablets in thanks for their prayers for health, prosperity and protection against bad luck being answered.