The name Potosi was a marketing decision. When silver turned up in the hills east of the new Spanish settlement in the 1590s, the founders hoped that this town would rival the fabulous silver mountain of Potosi in what is now Bolivia, and so they borrowed the name and added San Luis, after Saint Louis. The mines at Cerro de San Pedro did not match the original, but they were good enough to make the town rich, and the historic centre of San Luis Potosi is full of the buildings that money bought: a baroque cathedral with twin towers, a Carmelite church with a tiled dome, and the arcades of the plazas, all in warm pink and ochre stone.
The city lies at about 1,850 metres on the high central plateau, a dry country of scrub and cactus, with cold winter nights and warm, bright days. The Teatro de la Paz, a nineteenth-century theatre, and a number of old mansions and museums sit within a short walk of each other, and in the evening, people gather in the plazas, with vendors selling fruit and sweets. Local food is a strong point: enchiladas potosinas, made with a dough coloured by chile, are the city's signature dish, and the little cheese-filled pastries and the mineral-rich honey sweets are good, too. Cerro de San Pedro, the old mining town above the city, is now a quiet ghost-like village, with a small museum.
For a motorbike rider, the city is a base and a rest stop. Traffic in the centre is busy, and parking can be hard, so look for a hotel with a secure courtyard. Beyond the ring road, the ride heads south-west toward Ojuelos, passing across high plains of grass and scrub, with long, empty straights, distant ranges, and the occasional hacienda. The road surface is variable, and trucks use the highways heavily, so keep alert. The wind can be strong, and in winter the cold surprises people who expected a southern climate.
San Luis Potosi is a big city of more than seven hundred thousand people, so fuel stations, mechanics and shops are everywhere. The old centre has several pedestrian streets, making it a pleasant place to walk. October to April is the best time to ride, with clear skies, while summer afternoons bring storms. Take a jacket for the evening, because the high plateau cools quickly after sunset.