Emerged from the sea bed 60 million years ago, the Sierra Gorda today scarps the clouds of the sky of Queretaro. The hills still show tattoos from their marine past: shell fossils and other primitive beasts. But the fauna and flora have proliferated on its mountains, rivers and valleys with an exceptional fecundity. The abrupt of its topography gives him the presence of the main ecosystems of the country, from the desert to the foggy forest.
Cabins in the middle of the jungle, showers under waterfalls, descending in jeeps through alarming slopes or four-wheeler races on the edge of a precipice; are some of the activities that the Ecotouristic Camps of the Sierra Gorda offer. Aventura Park, Escanela River, San Juan de los Durán, are some of the names of these places where enjoying, learning and taking care of this ecosystem is possible. Click here to go to the Ecotouristic Camps.
There is a hole over the Sierra Gorda hills to look into the heart of the planet. When looking to its bottom, one faces fascination and astonishment. With 500 meters of diameter and 450 of free fall, this really is one of the deepest abysses of the Earth. It is too, home of a great fauna diversity, like the green macaws, which is in danger of extinction, and here, the flocks go out each morning creating one of the most amazing shows of the nature. The journey to get here is quite intrepid: 26 km of dirt track from the Puerto de Ayutla community and two hours through a dense forest.
Bucareli´s route is the proof of how ambitious the Mexican evangelization project was. After crossing rhythmic hills, foggy parts and isolated towns, you get to the Mission that brights from the road like the ruins of a Medieval castle in the middle of sour mountains. Built in 1797, this was the last of the built Missions in Queretaro during the Viceroyalty. The Mission was abandoned in 1926 after the Mexican Revolution. The secret that the unfinished project keeps is the grace and seduction this sudden abandonment gives to Bucareli´s beauty.
As all living beings, the Sierra Gorda has veins. Throughout them travels the life that fecundates the State, and that descends by ravines, forests, jungles and towns, tattooing the surface of the hills with the water whisper. The Escanela River, in the municipality is an ecologic nucleus where going back to its origins is possible: getting into the Escanela River, a wide stream of 50 meters long, swimming in the El Chuveje waterfall with a stream of 30 meters of diameter, or getting through Puente de Dios, a cave with stalactites.
After traveling one of the highways with the best view offered by Queretaro, you get to the miner town of San Joaquín. Over 2,400 m, this town is always fresh and humid. The population is recognized for being the capital of the “huapango huasteco”, which is a folkloric regional dance that in the month of April, has its national competition. San Joaquín is touristically recognized due to its huapango, Los Herrera Cave, the archeological zone of Ranas and the touristic camps in the surroundings.
The North section of the Sierra Gorda is incorporated to the Huasteca, one of the zones with the biggest cultural and ecologic diversity of the world that connects five states of the country: Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas and Veracruz. The North boundaries of the State are connected to the Huasteca´s fringe of San Luis Potosí, a region we highly recommend travelling to. In Xilitla you will be amazed with the surrealism of the Sculptural Garden of Sir Edward James; in Ciudad Valles you will not stop being amazed by the 100 M of free fall of the Tamul waterfall or put yourself into the adrenaline in the rapids of the Santa María Canyon. Anyway, the Huasteca Potosina is also another incredible trip that you will have to experience.
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