This town is crap!
The Lonely Planet:Mexico guide said that Real De Catorce was a town with a touch of magic. Set high atop the fringes of the sierra madre oriental, blah, blah, blah.
I was looking for a place to move to, to practice my Spanish and relax and enjoy Mexico. So, the only way to get to Real De Catorce was through Matehuala, a small city at a lower elevation. Real De Catorce used to be a prosperous silver mining town back in the 1920's, but then became a ghost town because the price of silver collapsed.
This town really taught me some lessons. In more ways than one. First, of all, in tourist cities and tourist areas, they really overcharge and try to take advantage of the tourist and that thieves learn English to make their living robbing from tourists. It helps them gain the trust of unsuspecting foreigners.
Real De Catorce receives between 100,000 and 200,000 tourists. Not per year. That is within a two-month timespan around christmas time. This is in a town of about 1,000 permanent residents. That is a really disproportionate ratio of visitors to locals. That is a lot of new faces for the police to keep track of if any crimes are committed.
So, IŽll start my story. I arrive in the town and I am looking for a place to live. A young English speaking man introduces himself and offers to help me. I ask if there are rooms for rent. He says "sure," and introduces me to the horse dealer in town. He tells me that the horse dealer has a room for rent, but there is no bathroom. He shows me the room. Concrete Floors, Concrete ceiling and walls. But, only $60 per month. I take it, because it is cheap and I want to trust the guidebook, but I have some inner doubts about this town.
Later, I am buying a gallon jug of water for my "cell-block style" cottage. A young mexican man who looks poor, but speaks English with perfect pronounciation offers to help me carry the jug. I am a nice guy and trusting, so I offer to let him sleep there. In the morning the lock breaks and the landlord has to go into town to get a new one.
When, I return to my room my CD Player, headphones and most of my CD's are mysteriously gone, but my houseguest is nowhere in sight. I go to the police and report the crime, but with the lock broken it is difficult to be certain if he took my things or not.
I tell the horse dealer that I have had enough and I want to leave the town. I ask him for a refund and he says "no." I ask for half and he agrees. He takes my luggage on his horse for $3 more because there are no taxis in this town. Just cobble stone streets with horse shit on a lot of the stones.
This is a town of hustlers, selling stupid religious trinkets, useless handmade crafts by thieves posing as "artists." But, everyone else I talked to thought it was a beautiful, wonderful place. Most, their favorite place in Mexico. You will probably think so, too, if you ever visit there.
This doesn't discolor my view of mexicans in general. I think they are good people in general. It just re-inforces my feeling that it is important to stay away from tourist towns or towns that everyone says are heaven on earth. If you expect too much, you will get nothing.
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