Hostal Corazón de Xoconostle

I arrived in San Luis Potosi with high hopes of seeing both the city and state’s beauty and learning their history. My intentions were to hire a guide recommended by a travel book (L.P.) and travel the area for seven days. Upon arrival, I immediately headed to “the SLP based tour operator most used to working with foreign tourists and run by a friendly and knowledgeable English-speaking” agent. Well, that was a bust…the agent spoke no English and after obtaining an interpreter, I discovered that they offered only one tour and that was to Guanajuato, which is a nice city, but it is located in an adjacent state and I had already been there several times before. What I did glean from her was the name of another agency that may have tours within the state of San Luis Potosi…they did not! But he did dial and let me talk to a private guide, Miguel who did speak perfect English, but unfortunately he was tied up with a group for the next five days. Now, what do I do for the next seven days? I could rent a car, but I would not know what I was seeing! Finally, my week was saved when Miguel gave me the name of a colleague, Isaac Perez Vazquez. Isaac and his company, Corazon De Xoconostle came to my rescue. I could not begin to say enough good thinks about Isaac and his service. First off, having been a high school English teacher, he spoke fluent English…not broken English, but fluent English. After clearing his schedule for me, the first day we drove the three hour drive to Real de Catorce and toured the city, tunnels, the cultural center (which currently featured an exhibit on Peyote) and took a jeep ride through the mountains to the original silver mine. Day two took us through the scenic mountains to Tanchachin. Here we took a row boat upstream to view the Tomul Waterfall. We then drove to Aquismon to visit Sotano de las Golondrinas, where the swallows return each evening to the world’s sixth deepest cave. I believe the viewing is best in the morning, but the evening was still spectacular. We stayed overnight in Xilitla so we could tour Las Pozas & Edmond James’ Gardens early. Isaac hired a local guide to show us around and later we visited Museo Leonora Carrington and drove to Axtla de Terreza to tour Beto Ramon Para la Salud. We overnighted in Ciudad Valle and the next day we visited a game preserve to see Pumas and Jaguars. After the 3.5 hour return drive, Isaac and I parted as friends who will hopefully meet again. Thank you Isaac!