This is Guanajuato. A UNESCO site located in central Mexico. Without a
doubt one of the most beautiful cities in the country. It’s rich in food, culture, and history.
And Mexico’s movement toward Independence from Spain began right here.
But to find out what made this city so prosperous to begin with, we had to head to the hills.
These are the mines of Guanajuato. Empecemos.
So, even before the Spanish arrived here in Mexico, some indigenous groups of people were
already mining. That’s right, and then this guy, Juan de
Tolosa, a conquistador from Spain, showed up and he saw that the natives had some shiny
rocks. So that’s when he started looking for mines in the area in Zacatecas. This set
off a chain reaction ‘cause he found some, became really rich, and inspired a bunch of
other conquistadores to go searching for more. And that’s when they found way more here
in Guanajuato. This would make Guanajuato one of the leading producers of metals, like silver, in the world.
So we went there to see the mines for ourselves, and to learn about how Guanajuato became one
of the most prosperous regions of New Spain, almost three centuries before Mexico’s Independence.
We’re on our way to see the first mine that was discovered here in Guanajuato,
which was discovered in 1548. That’s right, and it’s called Mina de Rayas,
and it’s named after the person who found it, who was Juan de Rayas. Let’s go check it out!
¡Vámonos!
We’re here in Mina de Rayas, which back in the 16th century was the deepest mine in the world.
That’s right, not only did they find silver in this mine.
They also found gold, copper, and some precious stones.
This site has an incredible lookout of the city. A lot of the locals like to come here
to hang out with friends and take in the view.
After checking out Mina de Rayas, we made our way to the nearby La Valenciana district.
Even though these mines were discovered long after Juan the conquistador
and his team explored the area, these mines contained everything they were searching for.
La Valenciana mine is still in operation to this day. Here, you can only access two Bocaminas
that are open to the public for tourism: San Ramon, and San Cayetano.
In Spanish, Bocamina literally translates to “mine mouth” - basically the entrance to the mine.
So we’re here in Bocamina San Ramon. This is one of the mines in the Valenciana mine district,
here in Guanajuato. It’s said that this is where the “veta madre” was
first found in 1548. Now we’re gonna decend 60 meters into the bocamina. ¡Vámos!
We’re going in the mine. It’s gonna be awesome!
This mine originally had workers descend over 1,700 feet, but today you can only go
down about 200 feet for safety. Any deeper is considered too dangerous for tourists.
At this depth, it gets warm fast.
So we just got out of the bocamina, and it was hot down there.
It was! I was sweating! (laughs) Yeah, you could feel the heat from the…
the geothermal energy coming out of the ground. Yeah, and it was very interesting, we got
to see the “veta madre” which is the black rock we’re gonna show you right now.
And that’s the rock where all the minerals are… Where they accumulate, I guess.
Yeah! That’s where they ARE. (Laughs) So, you can find silver in that, and…
Gold… Mmhmm, but mainly silver here in this area.
Right. Yeah, but they have to dig it out, and then process it,
and then the guide was saying that the silver and gold, they don’t shine.
Like, when you see... when you see the “veta madre” you don’t see like sparkly things and say
“Oh that’s gold!” or “That’s silver!” They have to process it first and clean it,
and then they know how much silver or gold there is. Pretty cool.
After visiting Bocamina San Ramon, we left with an idea of what the crude rocks that
were mined looked like, and we didn’t have to walk very far to see how some of the processed
material was used. Right next door is El Templo de San Cayetano (The Saint Cajetan Temple)
where the founder of La Valenciana mine fulfilled his promise to his patron saint Cayetano.
Antonio de Ordóñez y Alcocer prayed to the saint to help him find what eventually became
one of the most productive silver mines in history. And to show his thanks, he built this.
A lavishly ornate temple filled with gold plated altars in the saint’s honor.
The building is made from cantera rosa, or pink quarried stone. Inside, the carved wooden
altars are covered with gold leaf. The pulpit is made up of ivory and precious hardwoods.
And impressive paintings depicting scenes from the Bible adorn the walls.
After learning about the cathedral, it was time to hear about the lives of the mine workers
as we headed over to Bocamina San Cayetano.
Here we got an in-depth look at what miner workers had to endure to barely make ends meet.
Often carrying 150 pounds of rocks on their backs using baskets made out of cowhide.
We’re about to start the tour on the mina La Valenciana.
"On the way out you'll see the "bocamina" which was the original entrance to the Valenciana mine."
Ok, so we just got done with the tour of the La Valenciana mine. What did you think?
Very informative. At its peak, this mine right here produced ⅔ of the world’s silver.
That’s just incomprehensible. So much silver was extracted from just this area.
I’ve learned more during our trip here in Guanajuato about the history of Mexico than I ever had
all together in my time in Mexico and from what you’ve told me even. It’s really
incredible to learn about what happened at the start of this country.
Yeah, we just learned that most of who worked this land were indigenous people, working
for the Spaniards. Yeah, who were only making like a peso a day. Which wasn’t enough to
cover their basic needs. Right, and they would often have to use a
“tienda de raya” where they’d go into debt to pay for their basic needs.
And since they started working very young, at about 10 or 15 years of age, they also
died pretty young from a lung condition related to mining.
So, if one of them died, and he was in debt, the owner of the land would take a son to
pay for his father’s debt. And, think about it, who was making the money
when miners were getting paid one peso a day?... The Spanish.
Yeah, and that’s how the movement towards independence started here, they were just tired.
As you can see, mining played an important role in the history of Guanajuato and all
of Mexico, affecting the lives of those who worked them, and giving rise to the circumstances
that sparked a revolution for Independence from Spain.
We hope that you’ve enjoyed learning about the mines. And if you really, really liked
this video, don’t forget to like and subscribe for more travel and Spanish tips. And remember,
el camino es el destino. The journey is the destination. So, nos vemos pronto. ¡Adios!