Valle de Allende is a quiet town in the high desert of southern Chihuahua, set in a broad valley at about 1,500 metres, with green orchards and fields along the river and bare brown hills beyond. The population is around four thousand, and the place feels more like a country crossroads than a tourist stop. It is a base for a ride that heads south into the mountains toward Indé, across a landscape that has been shaped by mining and ranching for four centuries.
The region owes its existence to silver. Parral, a bigger city about twenty-seven kilometres away, grew rich from the mines in the seventeenth century and has the colonial streets to show for it. It is also the town where the revolutionary general Pancho Villa was shot in his car in 1923, and a museum in the town tells his story. Allende's valley fed that mining boom with grain and fruit, and its old haciendas and churches still stand, with adobe walls the colour of the hills.
The ride itself is a study in empty space. Roads in this part of Mexico run long and straight over high plains, then twist through rocky gaps and across dry creek beds, with few other vehicles. The surface varies from well-kept highway to patched tarmac with potholes, and stray cattle and goats are a hazard, especially at dusk. Topes, the speed bumps at village entrances, appear without warning, and you should slow down for each one. Weather is dry for most of the year, with rain from July to September, when afternoon storms can flood arroyos in minutes.
Fuel is the thing to plan. Valle de Allende has a Pemex station in all probability, but supplies in small towns can run out, so fill up in Parral, where services are better. Carry cash in pesos, since cards are rarely taken in the villages, and some water. Tortillas, cheese from the Chihuahuan Mennonite colonies, and roasted meat are a common lunch, and a small family restaurant is the best bet. Mornings are crisp, afternoons hot, and the stars at night are astonishing.