In previous posts, we’ve explored Guanajuato’s historic waterworks, sampled unique street food offerings, and visited many of this UNESCO city’s top attractions.
Today, it’s time to dive head-first into Guanajuato’s compelling mining past—from the opulent former mining magnate’s residence of Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera, to braving the Valenciana mines, themselves (some of which were still in use until recently).
But first, some highlights from the past few days back at Bugamville RV Park.
We’ve been here a week already and we’re still the only RV at the park. The family that owns the place lives onsite, so we’re not totally alone. But being the only ones here and so far out of town has definitely been a bit of an adjustment from Patzcuaro.
As a result, we’ve found ourselves making the long trip into town more often that we thought we would. When we’re not doing day trips into Guanajuato, it’s school time as usual.
And play time, of course.
Guanajuato is littered with historic structures like Torre de Noria Alta, above. I heard that you can climb up for a nice view, but with so many other sights to explore, we never found time for it.
Today, we’re actually headed to the major attraction across the street, which isn’t exactly easy to get to on foot, as its just beyond a major interchange of highways and avenues.
But we managed to figure it out and arrived just after opening.
Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera
Old haciendas in Guanajuato are a dime a dozen, many of which are open to the public. Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera might be the city’s most recognizable.
These haciendas harken back to a time when Guanajuato was riding high off its mineral wealth, making quite a few barons of industry filthy rich. These properties are a reflection of that immense wealth.
Constructed in the late 17th-century, this hacienda was home to Captain Gabriel de Barrera (hence the name, though he, himself, wasn’t a saint), a descendent of the first overseers of the La Valenciana mines (which we’ll visit later).
The grounds are huge and each little nook and cranny has historically served various purposes. Today, large portions are used for events such as weddings, while others offer a garden setting for quiet contemplation.
Today’s a “fun day”, but the boys also have a mission: to record in their journals observations and things they learn along the way—standard practice for some of the more major sights we visit these days.
At one time, the hacienda even had a large swimming pool, though it looks like it’s been out of use for some time.
The main museum for the estate is housed in the large and opulent mansion at the heart of the property. It’s meticulously decorated with period furnishings (some original, but most not), which gives you a sense of what daily life might have been like for its inhabitants some 300 years ago.
Next, we hop an Uber and head into the city center via Guanajuato’s underground traffic tunnels for some lunch.
When we saw there was a legit-looking falafel house in Guanajuato, we couldn’t help ourselves, and Habiti Falafel definitely did not disappoint. Riley was a bit skeptical at first, but quickly came around.
Lori’s been wanting to try one of Guanajuato’s famous Hungarian bread ice cream cones at Kurtosh, but we can never seem to catch it open. Maybe next time.
So…we settled on a Churro Relleno (stuffed churro) instead.
Valenciana Mines: Bocamina San Ramón
It wasn’t the exactly easy finding the bus to the mines, but with a bit of asking around and a lot of waiting, we finally managed.
To get to Bocamina San Ramón and surrounding mines, you want a Valenciana-bound bus. Buses pick up in central Guanajuato here:
After getting off the bus at the Templo de San Cayetano Confesor, we beelined it straight to Bocamina San Ramón, the most popular of the Valenciana mines.
Bocamina San Ramón is pretty darn touristy, they really pack ’em in, and it’s a fairly quick ‘n’ dirty affair. Not a lot of time for chitchat.
A Spanish-speaking tour guide is included with the price of admission (about US$16 total for us). I’m not sure if they had English-speaking guides onsite. The guide spent about ten minutes in the museum giving us a bit of background before we descended the stairs into the mine.
It bears mentioning here that they call it Bocamina San Ramón for a reason. The tour only scratches the surface of the very extensive underground network of shafts. So, the tour is truly just viewing the mouth of the mine and not much more. It’s still pretty interesting, though, and the kids loved it.
Silver was discovered in this area in 1548, just shy of 30 years after the Spanish arrived in Mexico. Their quick find shouldn’t be that surprising given that the promise of gold and silver is what lured the Spanish to the New World in the first place.
The public is only allowed to descend about 200 feet below the surface, but the shafts extend much, much farther than that. It’s tight in some places, and the air is stale and thin—we would not recommend this activity if you are claustrophobic.
Templo de San Cayetano Confesor
The nearby church at the heart of the Valenciana complex is worth a look, and there’s a small market there selling food and souvenirs.
Bocamina San Cayetano
Since we were already out here, we figured we’d also visit neighboring Bocamina San Cayetano. We’re glad we did. This one ended up being our favorite out of the two.
Visitors are permitted to go a bit farther into the depths of Bocamina San Cayetano, it was better lit, and there was more to see. This particular mine was also still in use until fairly recently.
We attempted to visit one more mine, but failed. It was a bit of a walk from the others and happened to be closed today. Regardless, we got some nice views out of it.
After a fairly packed day of Guanajuato sightseeing, it’s time for a treat. Lori finally got what she’s been craving for the past week, her Kurtosh.
This thing is mammoth and much tastier than I thought it would be. Wish the Hungarians would expand to more locations throughout the New World.
And I finally got the treat I’d been waiting for, a very generous flight of Dos Aves beers at the aptly-(yet somewhat strangely)-named, The Beer Company.
