Every year, Wixárika pilgrims, the people often called Huichol, walk or travel hundreds of kilometres from their homeland in the Sierra Madre Occidental to Wirikuta, a sacred desert in San Luis Potosí, where they gather peyote and make offerings at sacred places along the way. Huahuatsari is one of the sacred sites on this route, in the high desert near Villa de Ramos. The pilgrimage route has been placed on Mexico's tentative list for World Heritage, and the sites along it are places of prayer, not tourist attractions.
The landscape is the altiplano, the high plateau of northern Mexico, at around two thousand metres: a vast plain of desert scrub, cactus, yucca and creosote bush, with mountains on the horizon and huge skies. The light is fierce at midday and soft at dawn and dusk, and the nights are cold and full of stars. Wind sweeps across the plain, and dust storms are possible.
Riding here is about distance and space. The roads across the altiplano are long, straight and empty, with few towns and fewer services. Highway 49 from Zacatecas to San Luis Potosí is the main route, and smaller roads lead to villages like Villa de Ramos. Surfaces vary, livestock wander, and fuel stations are far apart. Carry water and plan fuel carefully.
The Wixárika tradition sees Wirikuta as the place where the sun was born, and the pilgrimage retraces the path of the ancestors, with fasting, confession and ritual at each stage. In recent years, mining concessions in the Wirikuta area have caused bitter conflicts, as the Wixárika and their supporters have fought to protect the sacred land, and the issue remains sensitive.
Villa de Ramos is a small town with basic services; Los Zacatones, twenty five kilometres away, and the larger towns on the main highways have fuel. Real de Catorce, a former silver mining town in the mountains to the north, reached through a long tunnel, is a magical place to visit. Respect the Wixárika sacred sites: do not disturb offerings, and do not collect peyote, which is protected and sacred.