Exploring Missions in the Sierra Gorda, Queretaro, MX

We took off to do a road trip southwest of here for a couple of days.  The driving time was about three hours (and 100 miles) through Xilitla (e-leet-la) to Jalpan.  We climbed from our valley (elevation 300 feet) up and over rugged mountains (5600 feet) and partway down again.

As you can imagine, we went through lush semi-tropical land in our valley before climbing to a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees, then back down to dry, brushy country, much like parts of Arizona.  In the valley we passed an orange juice processing plant and a tiny town which was a series of roadside stands selling flowers and gardening plants.  Lovely.

Xilitla is the site where Edward James, a surrealist sculptor, worked in the media of concrete and paint.  The curious story of this eccentric is that he was an Englishman who moved here and began raising orchids.  After a freeze in 1962, he became totally obsessed with getting orchids that wouldn’t freeze -- he and workers began making them out of concrete! 

From that developed several acres of fascinating works in this lovely jungle setting until his death in 1984.  He left no money to maintain his creations which began quietly returning to the jungle.  We have been there about three times and find new and fascinating areas to explore every time. (Photos in next blog.)

Rugged country in the Sierra Gorda

West of Xilitla, we merely explored small Mexican towns of the Sierra Gorda region, discovering three churchs/missions that had been mentioned in an article on the Sierra Gorda.  One in Landa de Matamoras, another is Jalpan and the third; Tilaco.  All had extremely ornate stucco work plastered over rubble, rocks mortared together to form the walls. Although the exteriors were similar, the interiors were very different, one more lovely than the last!

Landa de Matamoro



We spent the night in Jalpan, in a hotel, Santa Maria, learning too late that the rooms had no heat.  Ice cold tile floors and an air temperature of about 60 in the room, necessitated two very heavy wool blankets and all the warm long sleeves and underwear we happened to have with us! 

Jalpan

The exteriors are similar, but the
interiors were decorated very differently.

Unfortunately, under those blankets we somehow left our very necessary Guia Roji Mexican atlas.  Fortunately Mike found another in Valles — a real surprise.

In the hotel gift shop of Hotel Mision’ Jalpan, we did find two wonderful travel guide books on “Sierra Gorda de Queretaro" and “83 Pueblos Magicos", small colorful towns all over Mexico, the latter, quite surprisingly, in English.

The interior of the mission is Talaco, the last one, was the one I like best.  And the story of the truck on display, under cover, is an curious one: 

Not sure of the year, but the locals paved their road to this very remote village, quite a feat back then.  This was their dump truck, used in that construction.This display is the tribute to their success.

We had a good time exploring the countryside, something we seem to do quite well.

 

The interior of the church at Talaco.

The cute little 1942 Ford dump truck used in paving the town, way back when.