The light in Cerro de San Pedro is magical, be it bright, pearly or austere, it is perceived in every corner, by its old houses, by its veined hills, by its cobbled streets, those arranged without trace or plan, as many are of our old mining towns.
Light is undoubtedly one of the main protagonists in this site considered the "cradle of being from Potosí", since it was precisely in this town that the first capital of the state was founded, on March 4, 1592, after discovering that in The region had important veins of gold and silver. However, it was not for a long time, since although it had great mineral wealth, it lacked an even greater treasure, water. Due to the lack of this liquid to refine the mineral, the capital had to be refounded in the valley shortly after.
Wandering around with your camera and capturing images of the crumbling facades of certain abandoned houses and realizing that inside the rooms were built by carving out the rock, it can be a truly pleasant discovery. It will also be visiting its two small churches - one dedicated to San Nicolás Tolentino and the other to San Pedro, dating from the 17th century - and its small museum organized by the community, which bears the curious name of the Templete Museum.
Resisting oblivion
The inhabitants of Cerro de San Pedro - just over 130 people - today fight for the persistence of that once fabulous town that had, in general terms, two great economic bonanzas: one, the one that gave rise to the place and ended with the collapse of the mines in 1621; and another that began around 1700.
Today, it is moving to see that the native who has had to emigrate to the capital of Potosí (and to other perhaps more distant places), does not forget his place of birth; Thus, if you travel here, you may be lucky enough to see a wedding, a baptism or some fifteen years of someone who decided to return to celebrate an important personal event there.
But there are also those who refuse to leave, like Don Memo, a mischievous and cheerful man from Potosí, in whose dining room you can enjoy a tasty menudo and some delicious gorditas de queso with pork rinds, beans or slices. You can also meet María Guadalupe Manrique, who kindly attends the Guachichil handicraft shop - the name of one of the nomadic tribes that inhabited the region in colonial times. There, he will surely come out with a typical hat brought from Tierra Nueva or with some quartz from the region.
By the way, in Don Memo's dining room we stayed for a long time chatting with María Susana Gutiérrez, who is part of the Cerro de San Pedro Town Improvement Board, a non-governmental organization that seeks to protect historical monuments, and among other things, organizes guided visits to a mine adapted to receive tourists and where you can learn a little about the history of the place and mining. About the beautiful temple of San Nicolás, María Susana told us to be especially proud, since it was restored because it was about to collapse.
This is how we realize that a people is alive when it is loved by its people.
Cerro de San Pedro refuses to die, that's what he has his own for.
Source: Unknown Mexico No. 365 / July 2007
