San Luis Potosi State, Mexico

High desert

The varied state of San Luis Potosí, covering an area of 62,848 square kilometers, has an altitude ranging from 100 meters in the low-lying areas to the east to an average of 2,000 meters in the high western desert lands. San Luis Potosí is bordered to the north by Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, to the west by Zacatecas, to the south by Guanajuato, Queretaro and Hidalgo, and to the east by a stretch of Veracruz border.

San Luis Potosí comprises 58 municipal districts, with the capital seated in the city of the same name situated in the high desert.

To the east of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies what is known as the Huasteca Potosina – one of the jewels of Mexico, rich in water resources, fertile lands and semi-tropical forests – truly the other side of San Luis’s coin.

Traveling in San Luis Potosí

In San Luis, particularly on routes in the western desert regions such as Highway 57 that runs from Mexico City through the city of San Luis Potosí and on to Matehuala and Monterrey in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, there is heavy large truck traffic;  nevertheless, these roads through the desert areas are fairly straight and are constantly being upgraded and improved in order to accommodate the movement of goods and vehicles to and from the border. The Ministry of Transportation has also posted useful maps along many of Mexico’s major routes, illustrating the condition of the roads. These maps appear to be kept fairly well updated.

The smaller roads of the Huasteca area and those that are off the beaten path in the rest of the state can be deceptive when just viewed on the map. The distances may not add up to much on paper, but once you’re on those out-of-the-way routes you may often find them pitted, curvy, dusty and full of topes (traffic bumps), making your road time seem to have nothing at all to do with what those little mileage numbers were telling you.

Donkey cart

San Luis Potosí is definitely a state with adventuresome side-trips that are well worth your time and effort, but while you’re planning your travels, do take into consideration that you may just have to content yourself with getting to your next goal, well…mañana.

Agrarian Warlord: Saturnino Cedillo and the Mexican Revolution in San Luis Potosi, 1890-1940…

Places of interest to visit in San Luis Potosi

The City of San Luis Potosi

(altitude 1,850 meters or 6,070 ft)

As the state capital, the city of San Luis Potosi, located in the high central plains of the state, is today a thriving commercial and industrial center. It is the largest city in the state of San Luis Potosi, with a population of over one million inhabitants.

Hotels in the city of San Luis Potosi

The city was founded in 1592, less than a decade after the initial establishment of a Franciscan mission at the site, and the town built up rapidly even on this unforgiving and dry central plateau thanks to the abundance of silver and gold in the surrounding hills.

San Luis Potosi boasts of some fine colonial and post-colonial architecture. Its most notable structures include:

• La Catedral: Of neoclassic decor, its construction was started in 1701.
• El Palacio Municipal: Its imposing arched facade is located on the Plaza de Armas in the historical center of town.
• Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen: dating from the mid-1700′s, this baroque-styled structure is the pride of San Luis Potosi
• La Caja del Agua: a beautiful water collection and distribution cistern built in the neoclassic style between 1827 and 1833
• El Santuario de Guadalupe: Dating from 1656, the main altar of this church holds the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint, done by Jesus Corral in 1838.
• Palacio de Gobierno: Constructed of pink cantera stone, its neoclassic facade now features a clock that was placed over the central balcony of the building in 1910 in commemoration of the first centenary of the Mexican independence.

Real de Catorce

Real de Catorce is a fascinating ghost of a mining town located in the dry, central, highland desert near Matehuala

The Huasteca Potosina

The Huasteca Potosina is that portion of San Luis Potosí that lies to the east of the Sierra Madre Oriental. Crossing the Sierra Madre from the dry, desert-like expanses of western San Luis Potosí into the rich, green, water-blessed hillsides of the Huasteca can seem like moving from a harsh nightmare into a comforting and peaceful dream.

The Huasteca is full of resources that make it an ideal place for mountain biking, hiking, river rafting, camping, exploring archeological sites, enjoying its healing, thermal hot-springs and its bubbling, crisp, clean streams, and admiring the beauty of spectacular waterfalls, deep sinkholes and majestic caverns.

The farmlands are lush and plentiful. Roadside stands give offerings of preserved chiles and salsas, nutmeats, fruits and honey. Here Mother Nature exudes abundance and peace in what is yet a humble and unpretentious setting.

• Xilitla and the Enchanted Garden of Edward James – a journey into a wonderland, built by a British supporter of Surrealism, in the lush, tropical, coffee-growing slopes of San Luis Potosi
• Taninul Resort and hot springs just outside of the city of Ciudad Valles
• Tamuin or El Consuelo archaeological site, located just off Highway 70 near the city of Tamuin
• El Sótano de las Golondrinas: an enormous, natural pit cave measuring approximately 160 x 205 ft (49 x 62 m) at its mouth, with a free-fall drop from the lip to the base of between 1,094 ft and 1,220 (333 to 372 meters. It is enjoyed by base jumpers using parachutes or wing suits or cavers who rappel down into its depths. It is populated by flocks of birds, principally white-collared swifts and and green parakeets.

Originally posted 2009-08-06 13:54:51.