Macuipa lies on the edge of Zacatecas, the silver capital of northern Mexico, and the name points to the sacred geography of the Wixárika, the Huichol people, whose pilgrimage route passes through this region on its way from their homeland in the Sierra Madre Occidental to Wirikuta, the sacred desert in San Luis Potosí. For centuries, Wixárika pilgrims have walked this route, hundreds of kilometres long, visiting springs, hills and rocks where their deities dwell, leaving offerings and performing ceremonies. The route has recently been recognised by UNESCO. Exactly what is to be seen at Macuipa is not easy to say from a distance; treat it as a place where two very different worlds, the Spanish silver city and the indigenous sacred landscape, meet.
Zacatecas itself is a stunning city, built in a narrow ravine between hills, with a historic centre of pink stone that is a UNESCO site. The cathedral, completed in the mid-eighteenth century, has one of the most elaborate baroque façades in Mexico, covered in carvings of saints, angels and plants. Above the city rises the Cerro de la Bufa, a rocky hill crowned with a chapel and a monument to the Battle of Zacatecas of 1914, when Pancho Villa's army took the city in one of the bloodiest battles of the Mexican Revolution. A cable car crosses the city to the hill, and the Edén mine, an old silver mine in the heart of the city, can be visited by small train.
The city's silver financed much of the Spanish empire, and its mansions, churches and convents reflect that wealth. Today it is a lively university town, with festivals, music in the streets in the evenings, and a famous tradition of callejoneadas, processions with musicians and a donkey carrying mezcal through the alleys.
The riding around Zacatecas is high and dry. The city sits at about two and a half thousand metres, and the roads out cross semi-desert plateaus with cacti, mesquite and distant mountains. The highways are generally good, but the city streets are steep, narrow and cobbled, which demands care.
Zacatecas and Guadalupe have fuel, mechanics and everything else. Try asado de boda, a pork stew in a rich red chilli sauce served at weddings. Check the current travel advice for Zacatecas state before you go, and ride in daylight.