Having activated the reconnaissance mode, we left the domain of the Hacienda de Los Santos hotel, in search of the trail that led to the main viewpoint over the city, located on top of a hill with a 360º view.
Given this mission, we crossed a stream that must have been dry for so long that it was named stream Hidden Water. The opposite bank confronts us with the foot of the hill and the long staircase that served it.
We climbed the last steps, panting.
We should have predicted it or, at the very least, suspected it.
The top reveals another of the large multicolored signs that have taken over Mexico, as well as much of the Americas.
It appears almost against a low wall.
Identify Álamos, facing the patch of houses spread across southwestern Sonora, the desert that gives its name to the Mexican state we were exploring, there, overlooking a few mountains in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range.
We catch our breath. Two children use theirs to create waves of soap bubbles that the capricious wind circulates before disappearing into the vastness.
The viewpoint is a favorite stop for lovers and families in the region. Javier and his wife, the children's parents, had arrived there in time for the exuberant sunset unfolding to the west, which colored the sky in almost as many tones as the Álamos sign.
Curious about what we were doing there, in lands of cartels, trafficking and scary stories, Javier asked us. The answer surprises you:
"From Portugal? And did you come here, Álamos? I didn’t expect that one.” Well, in these parts, so patrolled by the army, they are relatively safe, but you already know how our Mexico is…. look where you are!”
The Wealth that Hides in the Álamos Walls
We agree. We reciprocate their interest. “We are from Navajoa. It's not far from here. A friend of ours from Álamos got it into his head that there could be treasures hidden in the walls of the house.
We went there with our metal detector. In his case, there was nothing.” Javier immediately worries about defending his friend's mental health.
“I know a man who became very rich. He found three boxes full of gold coins in a bathroom! Álamos always had an abundance of wealth, especially silver.
One way or another, many people remain hopeful about finding something that will change their lives.”
Twilight ends. Below, little by little, the artificial lighting turns the city golden. We went back down the stairs, stumbling more than we expected.
We pass the refuge of the Hacienda de Todos os Santos and the colonial heart of the town, arranged around the Plaza de Álamos.
La Alameda, the City's Gastronomic Square
Upon arrival, we had discovered that the local vein of popular cuisine It was located around a secondary square, elongated and equipped with large trees, so that people knew it as “La Alameda”.
Now, they filled the interior of this Plaza, stalls and trailers. They offered the usual national Mexican specialties, with a few variations that made it difficult for us to choose. Finally, we settled at Doña Conchita’s establishment.
We ordered tacos, quesadillas e chubby, some in wheat flour, others in corn.
We enrich them at the table with garnishes and sauces. We did it again, with the excuse of how much we had walked and, above all, how hard we had reached the viewpoint.
This time, like others, we exaggerate and hope that the next walk will help us.
It's past eight at night.
Álamos surrenders to the peace at the end of the day.
It is because of this tranquility, along the streets, which are soon deserted, that we return to the picturesque room of the Hacienda de Los Santos.
To get there, once again, we crossed the various courtyards, porticos and halls of the three mansions and a sugar cane mill that make up the immense property, like Álamos, dating back to the 17th century.
From the Passage of the Spanish Conquerors, to the Discovery of Silver
If, like several others, the farm is, today, owned by wealthy foreigners, the colonial origin of the village is confirmed as Hispanic, nor could it be otherwise.
The first non-indigenous person to make reference to these remote parts of Mexico was the Salamancan conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, responsible for exploring and, later governing, a vast section of North America, southwestern Mexico and the United States.
It is believed that he was, for example, the first European to see the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.
During his pioneering expedition, Coronado camped with his men between the two main watercourses in the area, the Aduana and the Escondido.
He mentioned these streams and two nearby rock formations that, due to a presumed similarity, he named Los Frailes.
Álamos' initial name was, therefore, Real de Los Frailes.
He founded the village in 1565, Domingos Terán de Los Rios, a Spanish soldier, obsessed with discovering abundant silver around him.
After just one year, De Los Rios became governor of the current states of Sinaloa and Sonora.
Ensured the end of indigenous attacks.
At the same time, his Real de Los Frailes supplied many of the men for the expedition, financed by the region's newly enriched mine owners, to discover Alta California.
The northernmost of the fruitful Mexican Silver Cities, Real de Los Frailes became the capital of the Mexican state of Occidental.
A Faust and Recovering Silver City
The wealth extracted from its veins also financed the magnificent buildings of current Álamos.
They form an Andalusian-colonial architectural ensemble that is shared by the various Silver Cities Mexican: Real de Fourteen, Taxco, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, to mention just a few
And due to the hot and dry climate, full of portals that we have become accustomed to appreciating.
There are wide, rounded balconies and arcades, perfected to allow residents to walk in the shade, instead of on sidewalks exposed to the Sun and abrasive.
The wealthy silver owners built their mansions around the Plaza de Armas.
And from the bandstand always disputed by quinceñeras handed over to photo shoots, and the church Purisima Concepción Parish which continues to bless the city.
Silver lasted as long as it lasted. At the turn of the 20th century, the veins were exhausted.
Little by little, the millionaires left and generated a more comprehensive migration.
The grandiose buildings quickly fell into ruin.
Until William Alcorn, an American farmer, acquired one of them, transformed it into a hotel and turned Álamos into a fashionable town, eager for tourists. Gringos connoisseurs of Mexican exoticism and eager for escape.
Alcorn's entrepreneurship set an example for many other investors.
Soon, almost all the mansions had been restored and belonged to North Americans, whether from the USA or Canada, and a substantial part of the city's 185 buildings, in the meantime, were declared historic monuments and UNESCO World Heritage.
The relative isolation in the western confines of Mexico prevented Álamos from falling victim to the tourist torrents that overwhelmed, for example, San Miguel de Allende and Taxco.
Alámos, it remains, calm, elegant and sophisticated.
In a peculiar retreat of pastel tones, adorned by a profusion of bougainvillea.
La Aduana, one of the Several Mines that Enriched the City
We take a “fiftieth” turn around your class central, when we notice an advertisement that promotes a visit to La Aduana, one of the four largest silver mines in the genesis of Alámos.
We called the guide to ask if it was still possible. “Well…I was sleeping for a while nap but if you really want to go, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
No sooner said than done. Ligo – that's what he was called – appears in his tour van. Along the way, he shows us a set of horns with different functions.
La Aduana is located between slopes.
When we arrive, the sun almost stops shining.
A few last rays gild the local church, the chimney and some slag deposits left by mining, next to banyan trees with large roots.
We enjoyed everything a little with the curiosity that the place deserved.
I call, adds an unexpected point of interest: “Before we go back, let’s just buy something next door. cram local!" We enter. We come face to face with Ismael Valenzuela and the inexhaustible source of the Portuguese term “a abaratar”.
Ligo and Ismael still draw our attention to the counter of the store, a large counter that Ismael says is more than 400 years old.
We only had eyes for the immensity of products displayed on it and hanging on the wall behind, forming a group so dense that it seemed to us that the grocer could sink into them.
The sun did it, behind the slopes that hid the mines.
We return to Álamos with the city illuminated by its twinned Parisian-style lamps.
The city is only apparently silent.
Committed to its past of opulence that History and a few Americans have praised it.
