Shadow Shot Sunday 3 : Real de Catorce

More colours from Mexico this week!! This shot was taken at a remote village up in the desert on the fringes of the Sierra Madre Oriental. It was a two hour hike along a desert trail out from the former ghost town of Real de Catorce which itself is remote enough. Real de Catorce used to be a rich silver-mining town until early last century, and for many years since it has been deserted; its cobbled streets lined with dilapidated and abandoned buildings.

Recently, however, it has been undergoing a Renaissance with artists, craftspeople, photographers, and film-makers all moving in to take advantage of the strong desert light and inspiring environment. The surrounding desert is also the spiritual homeland of the Huichol people who make an annual pilgrimage here to carry out rituals using the hallucinogenic cactus called peyote.

Like all truly wonderful places, it is fairly inaccessible and takes an effort to get here - four buses from Mexico City - the last through a one-way 2km tunnel which is the only route into town. If you make it this far, and it is well worth a visit, be sure to stay at the renovated 19th century bank called "Meson de Abundancia" which was once the Treasury of the Town - a sign of our times, too, it seems.

For more shadow shots click here for hey harriet