Zacatecas was built on silver, and the town next to it, Guadalupe, was built on faith. In the middle of the eighteenth century a Franciscan college was founded here to train missionaries who would go north into the unconquered country, and its big church, cloisters and long galleries still stand on the edge of the city, now serving as a museum of colonial art with paintings, carved altarpieces and religious objects. The college once sent friars as far as Texas and California.
The silver strike at Zacatecas in 1546 started a rush that shaped this part of Mexico. A road, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, was beaten out to carry the metal south to Mexico City and supplies north, and it ran for more than two thousand kilometres to Santa Fe in New Mexico, in use for almost three centuries. UNESCO listed parts of the road in 2010, and the Guadalupe college is part of that story as one of the places where people on the route stopped to pray, rest and equip themselves.
For a rider, the high plateau around Zacatecas is dry and cold, with big skies and long straight roads, and the town sits at around 2,400 metres, so the air is thin and the nights can be chilly even in summer. Highway 45 between Zacatecas and Aguascalientes is fast, with trucks, and the toll roads are in better condition than the free ones. The old centre of Zacatecas is a tangle of steep, cobbled and sometimes one-way streets, and the cable car up to the Cerro de la Bufa gives a fine view. Rain falls mainly between June and September, in sharp afternoon storms.
Guadalupe is effectively a suburb of Zacatecas, so fuel, food and cafes are all easy. Try local dishes such as asado de boda, a spicy pork stew traditionally served at weddings, and look for the sweets made of fruit and nuts sold in the markets. Opening hours of the museum vary and it tends to close on Mondays, so check ahead.