Encarnación de Díaz is a market town in Los Altos de Jalisco, the high, dry plateau between Guadalajara and Aguascalientes, and its cemetery is a surprising piece of world heritage. It is one of the stops listed as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that once ran from Mexico City to Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico, along which silver went south and settlers, missionaries and goods went north for almost three centuries. The cemetery, built in the nineteenth century, is enclosed by a wall with arched galleries and filled with ornate tombs and chapels, carved in local stone, which reflect the prosperity and piety of the town's families. On the Day of the Dead, at the beginning of November, it fills with flowers, candles and families sitting by their graves.
Los Altos is a region with a strong identity. Its people are known for their fair skin and Spanish ancestry, for horsemanship and the charreada, the Mexican rodeo, and for a deep Catholic faith. During the Cristero War of the 1920s, when the government clashed with the Church, Los Altos was one of the centres of armed resistance, and the memory of that conflict is still present in churches and local stories. The land is red earth, cattle pasture, agave fields and scattered oak trees, and the sky is huge.
The riding is high-plateau riding: the Highway 45 between Lagos de Moreno and Aguascalientes passes right by the town, a fast four-lane road with heavy truck traffic, and it is mainly a way of getting from A to B. The smaller roads that branch off towards villages like Teocaltiche or San Juan de los Lagos, home of one of Mexico's most visited pilgrimage shrines, are quieter, with long, sweeping bends over the hills, though you will have to watch for topes, the speed bumps that appear without warning at the entrance to every village, and for livestock on the road.
Encarnación has fuel, banks, restaurants and simple hotels, so it is a sensible stop. Try birria, slow-cooked goat or beef in a spicy broth, a Jalisco speciality, and the local cajeta and dairy sweets. At this altitude, the sun is strong, and the nights are cool, so pack accordingly.