Peñamiller
Encyclopedia
Peñamiller is a town and municipality in the Mexican
state of Querétaro
. It is part of the Sierra Gorda
region with about eighty percent of the territory belonging to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere of Querétaro. The municipality is on the southwest side of the Sierra Gorda, the highest mountains of which block most of the moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico
. For this reason, most of the territory is arid, part of what is called the Querétaro “semi-desert” filled with cactus. There is a small portion on the far east side which has temperate forests and bodies of water, mostly related to the Extoraz River
, in which fish are raised. The name of the town and municipality comes from a mountain called “El Picacho” but reminded town founder José de Escandón
of the Peña Mellera in Spain
. Over time, the name morphed into Peñamiller.
in the middle of the 18th century. He named it Peña Mellera as the mountain now known as Picacho just east of the town reminded him of a similar formation in the Peñamellera Bajo in Spain
. Inside and just outside the town there are many walnut trees. Just further out there are many tall cactus and buzzard
s can frequently be seen circling in the air riding on warm air currents. Many of the town’s roads are still dirt. The main church building dates from the 19th century and the municipal palace building is one of the oldest in the town. The municipal seat has one public library called the Biblioteca Pública Municipal Lic. Benito Juárez. It offers lending of books with home delivery, research help, guided tours, story hours for children and digital services.
The most important local religious event occurs on 15 August, when the Our Lady of the Assumption is venerated. This event lasts eight days and includes pilgrimages, masses, dances, novenas and fireworks. The next most important are the events associated with the Christmas season. The annual Passion Play
has been held since 1880 with the participation of at least fifty actors each year. It is held on the streets of the town, especially where there are shady walnut trees ending at the Cerro del Calvario were the crucifixion in enacted. The Feria de la Nuez, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, is held on the 29th of September. This event include sporting events, traditionals as jaripeo
s, a coronation of a queen and popular dance.
Handcrafts produced in the town include a tool called a guingaro, used to accomplish much of the work in the fields. They also made embroidered belts (called pitiados) as well as reed baskets and brooms and a type of overcoat.
, Tolimán
and Cadereyta de Montes
on the south and east sides and with the municipalities of Xichú, Atarjea, and Catarina
of the state of Guanajuato
on the north and west sides. The municipality’s government has one municipal president, and nine officials called regidors.
Aside from the municipal seat, important communities include San Miguel Palmas, Camargo, Río Blanco, Agua Fría, Villa Emiliano Zapata, La Plazuela and El Portugués. San Miguel Palmas is 25 km from the municipal seat and has about 640 inhabitants. It is distinguished by the making of huarache
sandals which are sold in Oaxaca
and other states. La Misión Dominica de San Miguel Palmas was founded in 1691 by Friar Felipe Galindo. It is a small oasis surrounded by rough terrain on which large cactus (up to ten meters tall) grow. In the town, there are large walnut trees, some of which are over 200 years old. Its church is from the 18th century, as is its old aqueduct
. The town hosts a Feria de la Nuez (Nut Fair) each year on 29 September. San Miguel Palmas has a student housing unit called the General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Albergue. It is a facility to house indigenous students from primary to technical school education who cannot commute each day to school because their homes are too far away. The facility houses about 50 children and youths and is partially funded by the federal government. The facility has a kitchen, library, patio space, multipurpose room, sports facilities and computer center as well as dormitories for boys and girls. The center also offers help with schoolwork.
Río Blanco is 56 km from the municipal seat and 26 km from Camargo by dirt road. It is one of the oldest communities in the municipality, founded near the end of the 17th century because of its mineral deposits and abundance of water, as it is located next to the fresh water spring. Today, the area raises rainbow trout in tanks and has forests and significant wildlife. It has a population of about 650 people. It has a church from the 19th century and remains of gold, silver and mercury mines from its heyday, and there are still deposits of gold, silver, lead
and zinc
. There nearly twenty abandoned mercury
mines alone as well as caves and waterfalls. The village church is from the 19th century and dedicated to the Archangel Michael and contains a “Black Christ” image. There is also an old windmill built by Gregorio Aguilar Vargas which was used to separate gold from silver. On the nearby Cerro del Sombrerete, there is a eco-tourism park with camping in the territory of white-tailed deer
.
Villa Emiliano Zapata is twelve km from the municipal seat. In the municipality, it was the center of agrarian revolt during the Mexican Revolution
, which resulted in the establishment of sixteen ejido
s in the municipality. La Plazuela has about 650 people and is 25 km from the municipal seat. It originally was an indigenous settlement, with evidence of human occupation since the 8th century. The area was abandoned in the 13th century, but repopulated in the 20th as a mining community, which produced up to 14 tons of mercury weekly at its height. Camargo is thirty km from the municipal seat and has a population of about 1350. Its development is mostly due to the fact that it lies on the highway that connects the state capital with places such as Atarjea, Cadereyta de Montes and the Sierra Gorda. El Portugués is sixteen km from the municipal seat with a population of 525. It is a new community, having only been established in 1973.
Agua Fría is a small community founded in the 20th century. The architecture of its buildings is modern, and many are made of pink sandstone. Las Piedras Encimadas de Agua Fría (The Stacked Stones of Agua Fría) is named after enormous blocks of basalt
rock near the town. These stacks will emit a sound like a bell when struck. One of these formations is reminiscent of the head of an Indian. The community of Agua Fría also has a former gold mine at the Cerro del Huacancoro.
As of 2005, there were 3,597 dwellings, of which all but about forty were privately owned. Most are built with cinderblock or stone, with half having cement floors and just over half have asbestos
or metallic roofs.
There are about fifty preschools, fifty eight primary schools and eleven middle schools (ten are distance learning and one is technical in the municipal seat). Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Querétaro (CECyTEQ) is the technical high school, offering careers in nursing and electrical work. There is also a distance education site in Camargo which offers high school level studies. Education for adults is offered at the primary and middle school level for those over age 15.
Telephone service was spotty in the Sierra Gorda until the 1980s when a cell phone tower was placed in El Motoshí which allows service to more than 200 people. Most other phone service is still based on communal phone banks in various communities. Only the municipal seat and the community of San Juanico have inhome service. Mail service is limited to the municipal seat, Río Blanco and Misión de Palmas. Much of inter-governmental communication is done by radio.
There are two former haciendas, one in Boquillas and the other in Villa Emiliano Zapata. The municipality has seven other churches which include those in Agua Caliente, Boquillas, Río Blanco, two in San Miguel Palmas and two in Villa Emiliano Zapata.
in Querétaro
. Eighty percent of the municipality belongs to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve of Querétaro. The territory is very rugged with altitudes varying from between 1,280 and 3000 masl. The most important elevations include El Cerro del Piñon at 3000 masl, Mesa de Salinas at 2460masl, El Campanario at 2120 masl, La Tembladera at 2080 masl, El Piloncito at 1980 masl, El Cerro de Dios at 1900 masl and El Picacho at 1680masl. The municipality in the Extoráz River basin, which receives rainfall over a surface of 2,149 km2 and results in a river that moves 1,150,000m3 of water each year. This river is the main one in the municipality, and has carved out a large canyon called the Cañon del Paraíso (Paradise Canyon), located three km west of the town of Peñamiller. This canyon is barely ten meters wide, but it is 700 meters long with sides of black marble up to one hundred feet high. There are some caves and other capricious forms on the canyon walls, as well as petroglyphs and cave paintings done by ancient Chichimecas. The area has hiking trails with signs, mountain climbing, rappelling and camping. The cave paintings of Del Sol and De la Luna are also located along the Extoraz River, ten km off of Highway 120, next to the community of El Mirador. The sun image measures approximately one meter in diameter and the moon image about sixty cm. These paintings are found on the south side of a large hill which is situation over an even large one and has a natural opening similar to a window. During part of the year, the sun’s rays pass directly through the “window” onto the sun image.
The only other surface water is the Saucello, Los Encinos, Higuerillas and Del Buey arroyos, which generally do not flow during the dry season from March to June.
The climate is dry and semi hot with an average annual temperature of 22C. Winters are distinguishable and freezes occur on occasion. The hottest months are from May to August when temperatures can rise to up to 40C. The average temperature year round is 21.7C. Annual precipitation, mostly restricted to the rainy season in late summer and early fall is about 435mm. The lowest areas, between 1200 and 1400masl has the driest climate with an average rainfall of about 300 to 400 mm yearly. Temperatures range from 2 to 35C with an average temperature of 22C. Winters are well defined and freezes appear about once every ten years. Between 1500 and 1800 masl, the conditions begin to change from semi desert to temperate forest. Temperatures vary from -3 to 35C with an average of 20C. Between 2000 and 3000masl, temperatures vary from -5 to 25C and rainfall of between 500 and 600mm. The municipality experiences about sixty cloudy days each year.
Most of the vegetation consists of mesquite
(prosopis
spp) along with some pine-holm oak
forest in the east and desert scrub brush on the extreme south. Other plants that can be found in the municipality include palo bobo (Tessaria integrifolia), uña de gato, huisache (Vachellia farnesiana), granjeno, palo sishote as well as nopal
, wild oregano and barrel cactus. Wildlife is mostly limited to that which can live in arid conditions such as dove
s, turtledove
s, quail
, rabbits, squirrels, skunk
s, weasel
s, cacomistle
, raccoon
s, badger
s, coyote
s, foxes, armadillo
s and various types of snakes including the coral snake
and the rattlesnake
. In the La Higuera and Río Blanco rivers there are various types of fish such as trout
, tilapia
, catfish
and carp
. In the forested areas, there are white-tailed deer
, temazate (Mazama temama), wild boar, and pumas.
The Tembladera Lookout Point is situated on the side of Highway 120. The site allows for views of “biznaga” cactus which grow to up to 2.3 meters in height as well as views of mountains such as the Cerro de Media Luna, Cerro de la Virgen, El Picacho, Cerro el Capanario as well as the Del Paraiso Canyon, and the Extoráz River.
s except for some small communities. Otomi
families were brought into the area into settlements such as El Paraíso, Adjuntas de Higueras, La Higuera, El Puerto de la Guitarra, Agua del Ángel, El Pilón La Tinaja, El Carrizal and La Mesa del Troje. However, at their peak they only numbered about 550 inhabitants. Since that time, most of these small groups assimilated into the mainstream culture, losing the Otomi language
and many emigrated out of the area, especially in the 20th century. As of the 2005 census, only fifty people who spoke an indigenous language at all lived in the municipality. About 6% of the municipality’s population was Otomi in 1900, but near zero now.
The population in 2000 was 16,557 distributed in 136 small communities, with about 95 percent considered to be rural. There were 17,007 in 2005. Ninety eight percent of the municipality is Catholic divided into four parishes, Santa Maria Peñamiller, San Miguel Palmas, San José Pinal de Amoles and Atargea in Guanajuato. In the past, families were large with up to twelve children but in the 20th century, family planning campaigns have brought that average down to 5.6. Peñamiller has one of the highest rates of single mothers in the state. The municipality has the highest rate of maternal mortality with an average of 20.6 deaths per 10,000 live births. The state average is 4.1.
Because of the lack of employment, there is mass emigration from the area. Most rural people migrate to larger cities in Mexico or to the United States and many never return. During the last decades of the 20th and the first years of the 21st, the municipality has had about 3,500 people leave to find work and about 130 on average never return.
Popular traditional musical styles include corridor
s and Huapango
, with a number of locally notable bands such as those led by Catarino Albarrán, Gerardo Hernández and Lidio Albarrán. Locally popular corridos include those dedicated to Taurino López and Genaro Hernández. Huapango is most often placed for traditional festivities.
The cuisine of the area is traditional Mexican cuisine adapted to the food products of the Querétaro semi-desert area. A number of cactus and succulent species are eaten including agave Americana, the flowers of the yucca plant, garambullo (Myrtillocactus geometrizans
), nopal and sotol (Dasylirion texanum
). Insects such as escamoles
, tantarrias (an insect that lives in mesquite
trees) and maguey larvae are also eaten. Escamoles and maguey larvae are often eaten mixed together. Goat meat is popular as it is relatively easy to raise in the harsh climate. The most representative dish of the area is “chivo tapiado”, which is goat meat accompany by wild vegetables in season, especially various types of cactus. In the river areas, a number of fish species and caught and grown including trout, tilapia, catfish and carp.
, as the mountain formation east of town reminded him of a similar formation in Asturias
, Spain in the Peñamellera Baja. It was officially named Santa María de Peñamillera when the area became a sub prefecture of Tolimán
. Eventually, the name morphed to what it is today. The municipality’s coat of arms represents the history and traditions of the area, especially those related to the founding of the Spanish town in 1748 and after. Since it was the 18th century, the sun figure has eighteen rays. Another motif is that of a colonizer subjugating an indigenous person to represent the conquest of the Chichimecas. As thirty seven families moved in to found the town, there are thirty seven marked tombs, and a tree represents the distribution of lands. Eight palms in a walnut tree branch represent the most important annual celebration, that of the Virgin of the Assumption on August 15. The parish church is represented, and the mass of foundation is represented by a cross at the top of the coat of arms.
The area which is now Peñamiller has been inhabited for more than 2000 years, which is shown in part by the petroglyph
s where have been found along the Extoraz River. More artwork painted or chiseled in rock formations are found in de Río Blanco, El Soyatal, El Mirador, El Puerto del Cobre, La Mesa de los Chilitos, La Cueva del Caballo, and La Cruz del Milagro. In the pre Classic period, the area was dominated by the Serrana Culture, the same culture that built the sites of Las Ranas and Toluquillo. From this culture there are remains such as ceramic figures found in La Plazuela, Camargo and Alto Bonito, which date from the 7th century. These objects show Toltec influence. There also have been pre Hispanic tools likely related to mining found in the area, especially around Soyatal. Mining mostly focused on the extraction of mercury and cinnabar, with the latter extensively commercialized from 800 to 900 CE. The Pames arrived in the 13th century and mostly settled in the area around San Miguel Palmas. The Chichimeca Jonaz arrived in the 14th century and mainly settled in Tembladera, El Portugués and the areas around the Extoraz River and the Cerro de Media Luna, in the east where the land is less arid.
The first Spanish in the region were led by Nicolás de San Luis Montañez in the mid 16th century. Because of their battles with the Chichimecas, San Luis Montañez was named “Capitan of the Chichimecas.” The Pame
s did not offer much resistance to Spanish incursion but the Chichimeca Jonaz
did. In Pame lands, the San Miguel Palmas mission was founded relatively early, in 1691, when the indigenous peoples there requested that a priest be sent to them for evangelization purposes. It was abandoned briefly for unknown reasons in 1684. The mission church was completed in 1723. Río Blanco was founded as a mining camp in 1691 when deposits of mercury
, silver, gold and water for processing were found by the Spanish. However, Peñamiller and the rest of the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro were not subdued and settled until the expedition of José de Escandón
in the mid 18th century, culminating in the defeat of the Chichimeca Jonaz and allies at the Battle of Media Luna (in neighboring Pinal de Amoles
) in 1748.
The municipal seat was founded in 1748, at first with a military aim of a fortress against the scattered Chichimecas who had escaped the Battle of Media Luna. Soldiers and families were located strategically; both against the remaining Chichimecas and to make sure the indigenous among them did not rebel. This totaled thirty soldiers with their families along with one hundred others under the command of Captain Joseph Antonio Diaz Maldonado. A presidio was established as a sub prefecture of the district of Tolimán. The official foundation ceremony included a mass officiated by Friar Tomas Aquino Ramirez de Prado, and declared as the Villa de Peña Millera de la Santisima Virgen de la Asunción.
The new settlement was traced out with a plaza, a church, monastery cemetery and gardens on the north side with lands partitioned out on the other sides. In addition, four official pasturelands for cattle were marked off in each of the cardinal directions. In 1825, the presidio
became a Franciscan
mission under the direction of San Pedro and San Pablo of Michoacán
. By this time, the town has grown sufficiently that there were a number of large mansion homes, the most prominent belonging to Juan Sánchez, Luis Olvera, Lamberto Rodríguez, Aurora Requena and Alicia Sánchez.
With the declaration of the first state constitution, Peñamiller belonged to the district of Tolimán, under the name of Santa María Peña Millera. Sometime from then to the present the named changed permanently to the current form, with “Peñamiller” first showing up in records as early as 1833.
The last battle of the Rebellion of the Sierra Gorda was fought here in 1849. Eleuterio Quiroz, a principle leader of the movement, was captured by General Tomas Mejía
and made a prisoner, then executed by firing squad. The body was embalmed, taken to Pinar de San Agustín and hung by the government as an example.
During the government of Porfirio Díaz
, a number of men amassed large estates and fortunes. In Peñamiller, the largest landholder was Rafael Olvera, who was cacique of all the Sierra Gorda and the richest man in Querétaro at that time. He was also governor from 1883 to 1887. His two main properties in Peñamiller were the Boquillas and Extoraz Haciendas, the latter the largest in the state at 41,036 hectares.
During the Mexican Revolution
in 1916, Peñamiller was separated from the district of Tolimán and joined to the municipality of Colón
. Peñamiller was recognized as a town in 1917, under its modern name in 1917. In the same year, it was made part of the Colón municipality then back to Tolimán. The area was affected by a severe flu epidemic in 1918. From 1918 to 1920, the parish church of Santa María de la Asunción was remodeled and redecorated. In 1924, its status as a community in the municipality of Tolimán was reaffirmed.
Much of the land from the haciendas were broken up from 1915 to 1930 and made into communally held lands called ejido
s. While the initial declarations were made in 1915, their implementation was delayed until 1930. These ejidos include Extortas, Rio Blanco, Las Enramadas, Peña Blanco, San Lorenzo, La Plazuela, Maguey Verde, El Pilón, Los Encinos, Agua Fria, Molinitos de Orozco, El Portugues, Camargo, La Higuera, El Tequizquite and San Isidro Boquillas. In 1936, much of the Peñamiller area was reformed as the Villa Zapata delegation of the municipality of Tolimán. In 1936, a rebel group led by Taurino López burned the municipal archives of Peñamiller. However, this rebel leader was found the next day hanged. The main church of the town of Peñamiller became a parish in 1937, and then it was named as head of its own municipality in 1941.
The tower of the parish church was built in 1955. Highway 120 was built through the municipality in the 1960s, but it was not paved until 1980. Basic modern infrastructure such as running water, electricity and a health center were constructed in 1962, but only in the municipal seat. A dirt road connecting the municipal seat with Tolimán was built in 1972. From 1960 to 1970, mining was at its height in the municipality with 128 mines extracting mostly mercury. However, mercury prices crashed in the 1970s and the boom ended.
The municipal palace, an auditorium, a sports facility and a medical clinic were built in the mid 1980s. The parish church was remodeled again in the 1990s, with support from state and municipal authorities. At the same time, a “teatro del pueblo” or people’s theatre was constructed for social and religious events as well as sports.
In 1994, the Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Querétaro, Peñamiller Campus was established, starting with 58 students. Distance high school education was begun in the rural delegation of Camargo. A similar program was installed in the San Miguel Palmas delegation in 2002.
In 1998, Marcio Antonio Morales Sanchez was name the first “child municipal president” for Children’s day on 30 April, a tradition which has been repeated since.
During the first decade of the 21st century, there were a number of remodeling projects on the facades of the historic center of the municipal seat, including the Santa María de la Asunción Church.
During the latter 2000s, Peñamiller and the rest of the Sierra Gorda experienced a number of small earthquakes, in an area which is not prone to seismic activity. A large number of these small quakes were felt from the latter part of 2010 to the first months of 2011. A number of communities including Villa Emiliano Zapata, San Juanico, El Alamo and Peñamiller have reported smelling sulfur and other foul odors and seeing vapor in connection with the quakes. As of January 2011, over fifty small quakes have been reported in Peñamiller alone, but the cause of the quakes is not known. However, none of the recorded events have been over 3 on the Richter scale so far. The Instituto de Geociencias of UNAM
and the state of Querétaro have been investigating the seismic activity. Seismic activity monitors has been placed in various areas of the municipality by UNAM, and the state installed ten others at a cost of 170 million USD.
As Peñamiller has a mining past, there have been problems with pollution associated with the mines, many of which are abandoned. In 2007, residents of the municipality protested to authorities about the quality of water coming from two wells on which depend about 3,000 people. The water has tested positive for lead and magnesium
for at least twenty years and the problem is worse during the rainy season. On occasion the contamination during this season is such that the water comes out brown due to sediment. The mineral contamination is due to abandoned mercury mines in the area. Then municipal president Juan Manuel García Leal admitted that at least 5,000 people in eight communities drink and otherwise use water contaminated with magnesium and other minerals. Another source of contamination are the pipes used to transport the water, however the municipality does not have the resources to replace the system.
Peñamiller is one of the municipalities in the Sierra Gorda with high rates of migration to the United States, due to economic marginalization. This has led to a significant loss of students in the public schools, who generally accompany their parents when they move out.
s, guava
s, cherimoya
, peaches, pomegranate
s, fig
s, limes, lemons, mango
s, oranges, nuts, papaya
s and more. The most profitable crop is nuts, including pecans and pine nuts, although the amount produced each year can vary. However, there is a total of fifty three products grown with significant harvest. Pine nuts, avocado and Mexican plums are grown at the Maguey Verde, La Higuera, Camargo, Los Encinos, Río Blanco, Agua Fría and Molinitos ejidos.
There is relatively little livestock raised due to the harshness of the land, but most of the livestock is pigs followed by goats. There are 54,895 hectares used as natural pasture with 79 hectares are seeded.
There are about 20,000 hectares of forest which can be cut and include species such as pine, oyamel, juniper
, white and red cedar, oak, poplar
, strawberry tree
s, mesquite
and more. In areas without logging, there are a number of species of plants with medicinal properties, including wild oregano, cat´s claws and more, which produce a harvest of about 500 tons per year. Wild foodstuffs include maguey, nopal cactus, pitayo fruit, yuccas and more, which usually give a more abundant harvest once every four years. Wild herbs area generally harvested between August and November. Another product is the production of willow branches, which is supplied as raw material to communities such as Tequisquiapan
for crafts.
Mining, construction, and industry employ about twenty three percent of the population. Industry is mostly limited to the production of clothes in small workshops in Camargo, Los Encinos, San Lorenzo, Las Enramadas, La Vega, Peñamiller and La Misión de Palmas, employing just over two hundred people. There is also a workshop in La Misión de Palmas that makes sandals with tire tread soles that employs twenty five people. Soccer balls stitched by hand are made by about 350 people working at home in about twenty communities, mostly by women and school-aged children to allow them to earn money without leaving home to supplement family income. Local handcrafts include belts decorated with a type of embroidery. Various articles are made with willow branches such as baskets and hats, mostly made in San Lorenzo and Villa Emiliano Zapata and sold in Tequisquiapan. Rope is made in Las Mesas, El Cobre, Agua de Pedro, Puerto de Ojo de Agua and Aposentos, with items such as baskets and brooms made from reeds in the municipal seat. There are various mineral deposits in the municipality with mercury having been the most extracted. There were 128 mines during the 1960s and early 1970s, but the demand for mercury steeply declined after the Vietnam War. There are still small deposits of gold, silver, copper, zinc antimony and bauxite. There are stone quarries which produce marble, onyx, and sandstone in various colors.
About sixteen percent of the population is dedicated to commerce and services. Commerce is mostly limited to basic needs for the local population, including tianguis held in seven communities during the week. There is no municipal market. There are also eight businesses dedicated to buying forest products.
The Sierra Gorda region has been promoted for tourism, especially ecotourism in recent decades. Peñamiller is promoted as the gateway to this region. There are some guest houses and other facilities for tourism. The Mesa del Sombrerete Ecotourism Center is located seven km from the Río Blanco River which is mostly dedicated to camping. It has cabins, restaurant, and hiking. El Oasis is a water park which obtains its water from a fresh water spring, which are propelled 200 meters into the main pool by the force of gravity. It is located in the Higueras Arroyo, surrounded by tall mountains. The tallest is the Cerro de la Virgen, which has a rock crag as a lookout point. The park offers camping and the park’s pools and other attractions are filled with water from clear waters from a spring 200 meters away. These waters are also bottled and sold with the brand name “Peña Miller.” The facility also has a restaurant, multi use sports field, tanks for fish and cabins. The Río Blanco River area marks the boundary between the forested and semi desert areas of the municipality. It is home to Ecoalbergue Río Blanco, which is an ecotourism facility. Activities include camping, cave exploring, canyon exploring, visiting fresh water springs and abandoned mines and hiking.
and Xilitla. The municipality has 61 km of paved highway, 276 km of dirt roads and 52 km of dirt paths. All communities except for La Tinaja are connected by one of these three types of roads. There is public bus service between the municipal seat and Querétaro, Mexico City
, Guadalajara, El Guamúchil, Atarjea, San Miguel Palmas Molinitos, Villa Emiliano Zapata, Peña Blanca, La Higuera, El Saucito and Las Mesas. For transportation to other communities in the municipality, there are about twenty pickup trucks which function as communal taxis.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
state of Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
. It is part of the Sierra Gorda
Sierra Gorda
The Sierra Gorda is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí...
region with about eighty percent of the territory belonging to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere of Querétaro. The municipality is on the southwest side of the Sierra Gorda, the highest mountains of which block most of the moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. For this reason, most of the territory is arid, part of what is called the Querétaro “semi-desert” filled with cactus. There is a small portion on the far east side which has temperate forests and bodies of water, mostly related to the Extoraz River
Extoraz River
-References:*Atlas of Mexico, 1975 .*The Prentice Hall American World Atlas, 1984.*Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993....
, in which fish are raised. The name of the town and municipality comes from a mountain called “El Picacho” but reminded town founder José de Escandón
José de Escandón
José de Escandón y Helguera, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda was a Spanish Indian-fighter in New Spain and the founder and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander, which extended from the Pánuco River in the modern-day Mexican state of Veracruz to the Guadalupe River in...
of the Peña Mellera in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Over time, the name morphed into Peñamiller.
The town
The town of Peñamiller is a small community of less than 1,100 as of 2005, located in the west of the municipality at an altitude of 1330 meters. The town is wedged between mountains and the banks of the Extoraz River. It was founded and named by José de EscandónJosé de Escandón
José de Escandón y Helguera, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda was a Spanish Indian-fighter in New Spain and the founder and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander, which extended from the Pánuco River in the modern-day Mexican state of Veracruz to the Guadalupe River in...
in the middle of the 18th century. He named it Peña Mellera as the mountain now known as Picacho just east of the town reminded him of a similar formation in the Peñamellera Bajo in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Inside and just outside the town there are many walnut trees. Just further out there are many tall cactus and buzzard
Buzzard
A buzzard is one of several large birds, but there are a number of meanings as detailed below.-Old World:In the Old World Buzzard can mean:* One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings....
s can frequently be seen circling in the air riding on warm air currents. Many of the town’s roads are still dirt. The main church building dates from the 19th century and the municipal palace building is one of the oldest in the town. The municipal seat has one public library called the Biblioteca Pública Municipal Lic. Benito Juárez. It offers lending of books with home delivery, research help, guided tours, story hours for children and digital services.
The most important local religious event occurs on 15 August, when the Our Lady of the Assumption is venerated. This event lasts eight days and includes pilgrimages, masses, dances, novenas and fireworks. The next most important are the events associated with the Christmas season. The annual Passion Play
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....
has been held since 1880 with the participation of at least fifty actors each year. It is held on the streets of the town, especially where there are shady walnut trees ending at the Cerro del Calvario were the crucifixion in enacted. The Feria de la Nuez, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, is held on the 29th of September. This event include sporting events, traditionals as jaripeo
Jaripeo
Jaripeo is a form of bull riding practiced in Mexico that developed in the 16th century. Originally it was a form of bull fighting where the rider rode the bull to death, but evolved into a form where the rider simply rode the animal until it stopped bucking...
s, a coronation of a queen and popular dance.
Handcrafts produced in the town include a tool called a guingaro, used to accomplish much of the work in the fields. They also made embroidered belts (called pitiados) as well as reed baskets and brooms and a type of overcoat.
The municipality
The town of Peñamiller is the local governing authority for over 160 communities, which together make up a territory of 694.902 km2. The municipality borders the municipalities of Pinal de AmolesPinal de Amoles
Pinal de Amoles is a town and municipality located in the north of the state of Querétaro in central Mexico. It is part of the Sierra Gorda region which stretches over northern Querétaro into Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí, with 88% of the municipality’s land part of the Sierra Gorda...
, Tolimán
Tolimán, Querétaro
Tolimán is the seat of Tolimán Municipality in the Mexican state of Querétaro. Its name comes from the Nahuatl word “tolimani”, meaning “place where the tule tree is picked up”. Its seat is the homonymous town.See also, Gudiños...
and Cadereyta de Montes
Cadereyta de Montes
Cadereyta de Montes is the largest municipality by area in the state of Querétaro, Mexico. Its seat was founded in 1640, and it received its current name in 1642 to honor Viceroy Don Lope Diez de Armendáriz, Marquis of Cadereyta...
on the south and east sides and with the municipalities of Xichú, Atarjea, and Catarina
Santa Catarina, Guanajuato
Santa Catarina is a Mexican city located in the Northeast region of the state of Guanajuato, within the Sierra Gorda range. The municipality has an area of 193.67 square kilometres and is bordered to the north by Victoria and Xichú, to the east by the state of Querétaro, to the south by Tierra...
of the state of Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
on the north and west sides. The municipality’s government has one municipal president, and nine officials called regidors.
Aside from the municipal seat, important communities include San Miguel Palmas, Camargo, Río Blanco, Agua Fría, Villa Emiliano Zapata, La Plazuela and El Portugués. San Miguel Palmas is 25 km from the municipal seat and has about 640 inhabitants. It is distinguished by the making of huarache
Huarache (shoe)
Huaraches are a type of Mexican sandal.Huaraches are pre-Columbian in origin, and are made from woven leather. The leather is traditionally hand-woven. The name "Huarache" is derived from the P'urhépecha language term kwarachi...
sandals which are sold in Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
and other states. La Misión Dominica de San Miguel Palmas was founded in 1691 by Friar Felipe Galindo. It is a small oasis surrounded by rough terrain on which large cactus (up to ten meters tall) grow. In the town, there are large walnut trees, some of which are over 200 years old. Its church is from the 18th century, as is its old aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
. The town hosts a Feria de la Nuez (Nut Fair) each year on 29 September. San Miguel Palmas has a student housing unit called the General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Albergue. It is a facility to house indigenous students from primary to technical school education who cannot commute each day to school because their homes are too far away. The facility houses about 50 children and youths and is partially funded by the federal government. The facility has a kitchen, library, patio space, multipurpose room, sports facilities and computer center as well as dormitories for boys and girls. The center also offers help with schoolwork.
Río Blanco is 56 km from the municipal seat and 26 km from Camargo by dirt road. It is one of the oldest communities in the municipality, founded near the end of the 17th century because of its mineral deposits and abundance of water, as it is located next to the fresh water spring. Today, the area raises rainbow trout in tanks and has forests and significant wildlife. It has a population of about 650 people. It has a church from the 19th century and remains of gold, silver and mercury mines from its heyday, and there are still deposits of gold, silver, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
. There nearly twenty abandoned mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
mines alone as well as caves and waterfalls. The village church is from the 19th century and dedicated to the Archangel Michael and contains a “Black Christ” image. There is also an old windmill built by Gregorio Aguilar Vargas which was used to separate gold from silver. On the nearby Cerro del Sombrerete, there is a eco-tourism park with camping in the territory of white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
.
Villa Emiliano Zapata is twelve km from the municipal seat. In the municipality, it was the center of agrarian revolt during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, which resulted in the establishment of sixteen ejido
Ejido
The ejido system is a process whereby the government promotes the use of communal land shared by the people of the community. This use of community land was a common practice during the time of Aztec rule in Mexico...
s in the municipality. La Plazuela has about 650 people and is 25 km from the municipal seat. It originally was an indigenous settlement, with evidence of human occupation since the 8th century. The area was abandoned in the 13th century, but repopulated in the 20th as a mining community, which produced up to 14 tons of mercury weekly at its height. Camargo is thirty km from the municipal seat and has a population of about 1350. Its development is mostly due to the fact that it lies on the highway that connects the state capital with places such as Atarjea, Cadereyta de Montes and the Sierra Gorda. El Portugués is sixteen km from the municipal seat with a population of 525. It is a new community, having only been established in 1973.
Agua Fría is a small community founded in the 20th century. The architecture of its buildings is modern, and many are made of pink sandstone. Las Piedras Encimadas de Agua Fría (The Stacked Stones of Agua Fría) is named after enormous blocks of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
rock near the town. These stacks will emit a sound like a bell when struck. One of these formations is reminiscent of the head of an Indian. The community of Agua Fría also has a former gold mine at the Cerro del Huacancoro.
As of 2005, there were 3,597 dwellings, of which all but about forty were privately owned. Most are built with cinderblock or stone, with half having cement floors and just over half have asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
or metallic roofs.
There are about fifty preschools, fifty eight primary schools and eleven middle schools (ten are distance learning and one is technical in the municipal seat). Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Querétaro (CECyTEQ) is the technical high school, offering careers in nursing and electrical work. There is also a distance education site in Camargo which offers high school level studies. Education for adults is offered at the primary and middle school level for those over age 15.
Telephone service was spotty in the Sierra Gorda until the 1980s when a cell phone tower was placed in El Motoshí which allows service to more than 200 people. Most other phone service is still based on communal phone banks in various communities. Only the municipal seat and the community of San Juanico have inhome service. Mail service is limited to the municipal seat, Río Blanco and Misión de Palmas. Much of inter-governmental communication is done by radio.
There are two former haciendas, one in Boquillas and the other in Villa Emiliano Zapata. The municipality has seven other churches which include those in Agua Caliente, Boquillas, Río Blanco, two in San Miguel Palmas and two in Villa Emiliano Zapata.
Environment
The municipality is located in the north of the state, in the Querétaro semi desert area. It is considered to be the gateway to the Sierra GordaSierra Gorda
The Sierra Gorda is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí...
in Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
. Eighty percent of the municipality belongs to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve of Querétaro. The territory is very rugged with altitudes varying from between 1,280 and 3000 masl. The most important elevations include El Cerro del Piñon at 3000 masl, Mesa de Salinas at 2460masl, El Campanario at 2120 masl, La Tembladera at 2080 masl, El Piloncito at 1980 masl, El Cerro de Dios at 1900 masl and El Picacho at 1680masl. The municipality in the Extoráz River basin, which receives rainfall over a surface of 2,149 km2 and results in a river that moves 1,150,000m3 of water each year. This river is the main one in the municipality, and has carved out a large canyon called the Cañon del Paraíso (Paradise Canyon), located three km west of the town of Peñamiller. This canyon is barely ten meters wide, but it is 700 meters long with sides of black marble up to one hundred feet high. There are some caves and other capricious forms on the canyon walls, as well as petroglyphs and cave paintings done by ancient Chichimecas. The area has hiking trails with signs, mountain climbing, rappelling and camping. The cave paintings of Del Sol and De la Luna are also located along the Extoraz River, ten km off of Highway 120, next to the community of El Mirador. The sun image measures approximately one meter in diameter and the moon image about sixty cm. These paintings are found on the south side of a large hill which is situation over an even large one and has a natural opening similar to a window. During part of the year, the sun’s rays pass directly through the “window” onto the sun image.
The only other surface water is the Saucello, Los Encinos, Higuerillas and Del Buey arroyos, which generally do not flow during the dry season from March to June.
The climate is dry and semi hot with an average annual temperature of 22C. Winters are distinguishable and freezes occur on occasion. The hottest months are from May to August when temperatures can rise to up to 40C. The average temperature year round is 21.7C. Annual precipitation, mostly restricted to the rainy season in late summer and early fall is about 435mm. The lowest areas, between 1200 and 1400masl has the driest climate with an average rainfall of about 300 to 400 mm yearly. Temperatures range from 2 to 35C with an average temperature of 22C. Winters are well defined and freezes appear about once every ten years. Between 1500 and 1800 masl, the conditions begin to change from semi desert to temperate forest. Temperatures vary from -3 to 35C with an average of 20C. Between 2000 and 3000masl, temperatures vary from -5 to 25C and rainfall of between 500 and 600mm. The municipality experiences about sixty cloudy days each year.
Most of the vegetation consists of mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
(prosopis
Prosopis
Prosopis is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains around 45 species of spiny trees and shrubs found in subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, Africa, Western Asia, and South Asia. They often thrive in arid soil and are resistant to drought, on occasion...
spp) along with some pine-holm oak
Holm Oak
Quercus ilex, the Holm Oak or Holly Oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It takes its name from holm, an ancient name for holly...
forest in the east and desert scrub brush on the extreme south. Other plants that can be found in the municipality include palo bobo (Tessaria integrifolia), uña de gato, huisache (Vachellia farnesiana), granjeno, palo sishote as well as nopal
Nopal
Nopales are a vegetable made from the young cladode segments of prickly pear, carefully peeled to remove the spines. These fleshy pads are flat and about hand-sized. They can be purple or green...
, wild oregano and barrel cactus. Wildlife is mostly limited to that which can live in arid conditions such as dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
s, turtledove
Turtledove
Turtledove may refer to:* Doves of the genus Streptopelia, in particular the European Turtle Dove * Harry Turtledove, a historian and author who writes historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy novels...
s, quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
, rabbits, squirrels, skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
s, weasel
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
s, cacomistle
Cacomistle
The cacomistle is a nocturnal, arboreal and omnivorous member of the carnivoran family Procyonidae. Its preferred habitats are wet, tropical, evergreen woodlands and mountain forests, though seasonally it will range into drier deciduous forests.Nowhere in its range is B. sumichrasti common...
, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
s, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, foxes, armadillo
Armadillo
Armadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
s and various types of snakes including the coral snake
Coral snake
The coral snakes are a large group of elapid snakes that can be subdivided into two distinct groups, Old World coral snakes and New World coral snakes...
and the rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...
. In the La Higuera and Río Blanco rivers there are various types of fish such as trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
, tilapia
Tilapia
Tilapia , is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia inhabit a variety of fresh water habitats, including shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. Historically, they have been of major importance in artisan fishing in Africa and the...
, catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
and carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
. In the forested areas, there are white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, temazate (Mazama temama), wild boar, and pumas.
The Tembladera Lookout Point is situated on the side of Highway 120. The site allows for views of “biznaga” cactus which grow to up to 2.3 meters in height as well as views of mountains such as the Cerro de Media Luna, Cerro de la Virgen, El Picacho, Cerro el Capanario as well as the Del Paraiso Canyon, and the Extoráz River.
Demographics and culture
The military campaigns of the mid 18th century wiped out most of the ChichimecaChichimeca
Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day Mexico and southwestern United States, and carried the same sense as the European term "barbarian"...
s except for some small communities. Otomi
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
families were brought into the area into settlements such as El Paraíso, Adjuntas de Higueras, La Higuera, El Puerto de la Guitarra, Agua del Ángel, El Pilón La Tinaja, El Carrizal and La Mesa del Troje. However, at their peak they only numbered about 550 inhabitants. Since that time, most of these small groups assimilated into the mainstream culture, losing the Otomi language
Otomi language
Otomi is an Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico. The language is spoken in many different dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible, therefore it is in...
and many emigrated out of the area, especially in the 20th century. As of the 2005 census, only fifty people who spoke an indigenous language at all lived in the municipality. About 6% of the municipality’s population was Otomi in 1900, but near zero now.
The population in 2000 was 16,557 distributed in 136 small communities, with about 95 percent considered to be rural. There were 17,007 in 2005. Ninety eight percent of the municipality is Catholic divided into four parishes, Santa Maria Peñamiller, San Miguel Palmas, San José Pinal de Amoles and Atargea in Guanajuato. In the past, families were large with up to twelve children but in the 20th century, family planning campaigns have brought that average down to 5.6. Peñamiller has one of the highest rates of single mothers in the state. The municipality has the highest rate of maternal mortality with an average of 20.6 deaths per 10,000 live births. The state average is 4.1.
Because of the lack of employment, there is mass emigration from the area. Most rural people migrate to larger cities in Mexico or to the United States and many never return. During the last decades of the 20th and the first years of the 21st, the municipality has had about 3,500 people leave to find work and about 130 on average never return.
Popular traditional musical styles include corridor
Corridor
- Entertainment :* Corridor * Corridor , the first Indian graphic novel, written by Sarnath Banerjee* Corridor , a short story collection by Alfian Sa'at published in 1999* Corridor of uncertainty in the game of cricket...
s and Huapango
Huapango
Huapango is a corruption of the Nahuatl word huapanco that textually means on top of the wood platform according to the dictionary of the Real Academia Española . Today huapango refers to a musical style that originated in and is played throughout the La Huasteca region in Mexico...
, with a number of locally notable bands such as those led by Catarino Albarrán, Gerardo Hernández and Lidio Albarrán. Locally popular corridos include those dedicated to Taurino López and Genaro Hernández. Huapango is most often placed for traditional festivities.
The cuisine of the area is traditional Mexican cuisine adapted to the food products of the Querétaro semi-desert area. A number of cactus and succulent species are eaten including agave Americana, the flowers of the yucca plant, garambullo (Myrtillocactus geometrizans
Myrtillocactus geometrizans
Myrtillocactus geometrizans is a species of cactus in the genus Myrtillocactus, native to central and northern Mexico.-Description:...
), nopal and sotol (Dasylirion texanum
Dasylirion texanum
Dasylirion texanum, the Texan Sotol and Sotol, is a monocot flowering plant native to central and southwestern Texas and in Coahuila state of northeastern Mexico, including the Chihuahuan Desert.-Description:...
). Insects such as escamoles
Escamoles
Escamoles are the larvae of ants of the genus Liometopum, harvested from the roots of the agave or maguey plant in Mexico. In some forms of Mexican cuisine, escamoles are considered a delicacy and are sometimes referred to as "insect caviar"...
, tantarrias (an insect that lives in mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
trees) and maguey larvae are also eaten. Escamoles and maguey larvae are often eaten mixed together. Goat meat is popular as it is relatively easy to raise in the harsh climate. The most representative dish of the area is “chivo tapiado”, which is goat meat accompany by wild vegetables in season, especially various types of cactus. In the river areas, a number of fish species and caught and grown including trout, tilapia, catfish and carp.
History
The name was originally Peñamellera, given by José de EscandónJosé de Escandón
José de Escandón y Helguera, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda was a Spanish Indian-fighter in New Spain and the founder and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander, which extended from the Pánuco River in the modern-day Mexican state of Veracruz to the Guadalupe River in...
, as the mountain formation east of town reminded him of a similar formation in Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, Spain in the Peñamellera Baja. It was officially named Santa María de Peñamillera when the area became a sub prefecture of Tolimán
Tolimán, Querétaro
Tolimán is the seat of Tolimán Municipality in the Mexican state of Querétaro. Its name comes from the Nahuatl word “tolimani”, meaning “place where the tule tree is picked up”. Its seat is the homonymous town.See also, Gudiños...
. Eventually, the name morphed to what it is today. The municipality’s coat of arms represents the history and traditions of the area, especially those related to the founding of the Spanish town in 1748 and after. Since it was the 18th century, the sun figure has eighteen rays. Another motif is that of a colonizer subjugating an indigenous person to represent the conquest of the Chichimecas. As thirty seven families moved in to found the town, there are thirty seven marked tombs, and a tree represents the distribution of lands. Eight palms in a walnut tree branch represent the most important annual celebration, that of the Virgin of the Assumption on August 15. The parish church is represented, and the mass of foundation is represented by a cross at the top of the coat of arms.
The area which is now Peñamiller has been inhabited for more than 2000 years, which is shown in part by the petroglyph
Petroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
s where have been found along the Extoraz River. More artwork painted or chiseled in rock formations are found in de Río Blanco, El Soyatal, El Mirador, El Puerto del Cobre, La Mesa de los Chilitos, La Cueva del Caballo, and La Cruz del Milagro. In the pre Classic period, the area was dominated by the Serrana Culture, the same culture that built the sites of Las Ranas and Toluquillo. From this culture there are remains such as ceramic figures found in La Plazuela, Camargo and Alto Bonito, which date from the 7th century. These objects show Toltec influence. There also have been pre Hispanic tools likely related to mining found in the area, especially around Soyatal. Mining mostly focused on the extraction of mercury and cinnabar, with the latter extensively commercialized from 800 to 900 CE. The Pames arrived in the 13th century and mostly settled in the area around San Miguel Palmas. The Chichimeca Jonaz arrived in the 14th century and mainly settled in Tembladera, El Portugués and the areas around the Extoraz River and the Cerro de Media Luna, in the east where the land is less arid.
The first Spanish in the region were led by Nicolás de San Luis Montañez in the mid 16th century. Because of their battles with the Chichimecas, San Luis Montañez was named “Capitan of the Chichimecas.” The Pame
Pame
The Pame are an indigenous people of central Mexico living in the state of San Luis Potosí. They call themselves Xi'úi. They speak the Pame language, which belongs to the Oto-Pamean group of the Oto-Manguean language family....
s did not offer much resistance to Spanish incursion but the Chichimeca Jonaz
Chichimeca Jonaz
The Chichimeca Jonaz are a group of indigenous people living in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí. In Guanajuato State the Chichimeca Jonaz people live in a community of San Luis de la Paz municipality. The settlement is 2,070 m above sea level...
did. In Pame lands, the San Miguel Palmas mission was founded relatively early, in 1691, when the indigenous peoples there requested that a priest be sent to them for evangelization purposes. It was abandoned briefly for unknown reasons in 1684. The mission church was completed in 1723. Río Blanco was founded as a mining camp in 1691 when deposits of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
, silver, gold and water for processing were found by the Spanish. However, Peñamiller and the rest of the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro were not subdued and settled until the expedition of José de Escandón
José de Escandón
José de Escandón y Helguera, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda was a Spanish Indian-fighter in New Spain and the founder and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander, which extended from the Pánuco River in the modern-day Mexican state of Veracruz to the Guadalupe River in...
in the mid 18th century, culminating in the defeat of the Chichimeca Jonaz and allies at the Battle of Media Luna (in neighboring Pinal de Amoles
Pinal de Amoles
Pinal de Amoles is a town and municipality located in the north of the state of Querétaro in central Mexico. It is part of the Sierra Gorda region which stretches over northern Querétaro into Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí, with 88% of the municipality’s land part of the Sierra Gorda...
) in 1748.
The municipal seat was founded in 1748, at first with a military aim of a fortress against the scattered Chichimecas who had escaped the Battle of Media Luna. Soldiers and families were located strategically; both against the remaining Chichimecas and to make sure the indigenous among them did not rebel. This totaled thirty soldiers with their families along with one hundred others under the command of Captain Joseph Antonio Diaz Maldonado. A presidio was established as a sub prefecture of the district of Tolimán. The official foundation ceremony included a mass officiated by Friar Tomas Aquino Ramirez de Prado, and declared as the Villa de Peña Millera de la Santisima Virgen de la Asunción.
The new settlement was traced out with a plaza, a church, monastery cemetery and gardens on the north side with lands partitioned out on the other sides. In addition, four official pasturelands for cattle were marked off in each of the cardinal directions. In 1825, the presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
became a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
mission under the direction of San Pedro and San Pablo of Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
. By this time, the town has grown sufficiently that there were a number of large mansion homes, the most prominent belonging to Juan Sánchez, Luis Olvera, Lamberto Rodríguez, Aurora Requena and Alicia Sánchez.
With the declaration of the first state constitution, Peñamiller belonged to the district of Tolimán, under the name of Santa María Peña Millera. Sometime from then to the present the named changed permanently to the current form, with “Peñamiller” first showing up in records as early as 1833.
The last battle of the Rebellion of the Sierra Gorda was fought here in 1849. Eleuterio Quiroz, a principle leader of the movement, was captured by General Tomas Mejía
Tomás Mejía
Tomás Mejía was a Mexican soldier, born in Pinal de Amoles, Sierra Gorda, Querétaro. He fought as a Cavalry General on the side of Maximilian I of Mexico during the war between Monarchists and Republicans following the French intervention in 1862 and rise of the Second Mexican Empire in...
and made a prisoner, then executed by firing squad. The body was embalmed, taken to Pinar de San Agustín and hung by the government as an example.
During the government of Porfirio Díaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
, a number of men amassed large estates and fortunes. In Peñamiller, the largest landholder was Rafael Olvera, who was cacique of all the Sierra Gorda and the richest man in Querétaro at that time. He was also governor from 1883 to 1887. His two main properties in Peñamiller were the Boquillas and Extoraz Haciendas, the latter the largest in the state at 41,036 hectares.
During the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
in 1916, Peñamiller was separated from the district of Tolimán and joined to the municipality of Colón
Colón, Querétaro
Colón is a town in Colón Municipality of the State of Querétaro, Mexico. It is the only one in the country named after Christopher Columbus . It's the state's third largest municipality, with 815 square kilometers. Its mean altitude is 1900 meters above sea level...
. Peñamiller was recognized as a town in 1917, under its modern name in 1917. In the same year, it was made part of the Colón municipality then back to Tolimán. The area was affected by a severe flu epidemic in 1918. From 1918 to 1920, the parish church of Santa María de la Asunción was remodeled and redecorated. In 1924, its status as a community in the municipality of Tolimán was reaffirmed.
Much of the land from the haciendas were broken up from 1915 to 1930 and made into communally held lands called ejido
Ejido
The ejido system is a process whereby the government promotes the use of communal land shared by the people of the community. This use of community land was a common practice during the time of Aztec rule in Mexico...
s. While the initial declarations were made in 1915, their implementation was delayed until 1930. These ejidos include Extortas, Rio Blanco, Las Enramadas, Peña Blanco, San Lorenzo, La Plazuela, Maguey Verde, El Pilón, Los Encinos, Agua Fria, Molinitos de Orozco, El Portugues, Camargo, La Higuera, El Tequizquite and San Isidro Boquillas. In 1936, much of the Peñamiller area was reformed as the Villa Zapata delegation of the municipality of Tolimán. In 1936, a rebel group led by Taurino López burned the municipal archives of Peñamiller. However, this rebel leader was found the next day hanged. The main church of the town of Peñamiller became a parish in 1937, and then it was named as head of its own municipality in 1941.
The tower of the parish church was built in 1955. Highway 120 was built through the municipality in the 1960s, but it was not paved until 1980. Basic modern infrastructure such as running water, electricity and a health center were constructed in 1962, but only in the municipal seat. A dirt road connecting the municipal seat with Tolimán was built in 1972. From 1960 to 1970, mining was at its height in the municipality with 128 mines extracting mostly mercury. However, mercury prices crashed in the 1970s and the boom ended.
The municipal palace, an auditorium, a sports facility and a medical clinic were built in the mid 1980s. The parish church was remodeled again in the 1990s, with support from state and municipal authorities. At the same time, a “teatro del pueblo” or people’s theatre was constructed for social and religious events as well as sports.
In 1994, the Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Querétaro, Peñamiller Campus was established, starting with 58 students. Distance high school education was begun in the rural delegation of Camargo. A similar program was installed in the San Miguel Palmas delegation in 2002.
In 1998, Marcio Antonio Morales Sanchez was name the first “child municipal president” for Children’s day on 30 April, a tradition which has been repeated since.
During the first decade of the 21st century, there were a number of remodeling projects on the facades of the historic center of the municipal seat, including the Santa María de la Asunción Church.
During the latter 2000s, Peñamiller and the rest of the Sierra Gorda experienced a number of small earthquakes, in an area which is not prone to seismic activity. A large number of these small quakes were felt from the latter part of 2010 to the first months of 2011. A number of communities including Villa Emiliano Zapata, San Juanico, El Alamo and Peñamiller have reported smelling sulfur and other foul odors and seeing vapor in connection with the quakes. As of January 2011, over fifty small quakes have been reported in Peñamiller alone, but the cause of the quakes is not known. However, none of the recorded events have been over 3 on the Richter scale so far. The Instituto de Geociencias of UNAM
Unam
UNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
and the state of Querétaro have been investigating the seismic activity. Seismic activity monitors has been placed in various areas of the municipality by UNAM, and the state installed ten others at a cost of 170 million USD.
As Peñamiller has a mining past, there have been problems with pollution associated with the mines, many of which are abandoned. In 2007, residents of the municipality protested to authorities about the quality of water coming from two wells on which depend about 3,000 people. The water has tested positive for lead and magnesium
Magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
for at least twenty years and the problem is worse during the rainy season. On occasion the contamination during this season is such that the water comes out brown due to sediment. The mineral contamination is due to abandoned mercury mines in the area. Then municipal president Juan Manuel García Leal admitted that at least 5,000 people in eight communities drink and otherwise use water contaminated with magnesium and other minerals. Another source of contamination are the pipes used to transport the water, however the municipality does not have the resources to replace the system.
Peñamiller is one of the municipalities in the Sierra Gorda with high rates of migration to the United States, due to economic marginalization. This has led to a significant loss of students in the public schools, who generally accompany their parents when they move out.
Economy
About 21% of the total population is economically active. About thirty four percent of the working population is dedicated to agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and hunting. 1,045 hectares of land are dedicated to irrigated farming, with 916 farmed only during the rainy season. The rest, about 70,000 is left wild due to its dryness. Irrigated land is limited to those closest to the Extoráz River and orchards that produce avocadoAvocado
The avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
s, guava
Guava
Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America...
s, cherimoya
Cherimoya
The Cherimoya is the fruit of the species Annona cherimola, which is native to the Andes. Today they are grown throughout South and Central America.-Description:...
, peaches, pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s, fig
Common fig
The Common fig is a deciduous tree growing to heights of up to 6 m in the genus Ficus from the family Moraceae known as Common fig tree. It is a temperate species native to the Middle East.-Description:...
s, limes, lemons, mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
s, oranges, nuts, papaya
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
s and more. The most profitable crop is nuts, including pecans and pine nuts, although the amount produced each year can vary. However, there is a total of fifty three products grown with significant harvest. Pine nuts, avocado and Mexican plums are grown at the Maguey Verde, La Higuera, Camargo, Los Encinos, Río Blanco, Agua Fría and Molinitos ejidos.
There is relatively little livestock raised due to the harshness of the land, but most of the livestock is pigs followed by goats. There are 54,895 hectares used as natural pasture with 79 hectares are seeded.
There are about 20,000 hectares of forest which can be cut and include species such as pine, oyamel, juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
, white and red cedar, oak, poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
, strawberry tree
Strawberry Tree
Arbutus unedo, commonly called Strawberry Tree, Apple of Cain, or Cane Apple, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe north to western France and Ireland...
s, mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
and more. In areas without logging, there are a number of species of plants with medicinal properties, including wild oregano, cat´s claws and more, which produce a harvest of about 500 tons per year. Wild foodstuffs include maguey, nopal cactus, pitayo fruit, yuccas and more, which usually give a more abundant harvest once every four years. Wild herbs area generally harvested between August and November. Another product is the production of willow branches, which is supplied as raw material to communities such as Tequisquiapan
Tequisquiapan
Tequisquiapan is a town and municipality located in the southeast of the state of Querétaro in central Mexico. The center of the town has cobblestone streets, traditional rustic houses with wrought iron fixtures, balconies, and wooden windowsills, which is the legacy of its 300 year heritage as a...
for crafts.
Mining, construction, and industry employ about twenty three percent of the population. Industry is mostly limited to the production of clothes in small workshops in Camargo, Los Encinos, San Lorenzo, Las Enramadas, La Vega, Peñamiller and La Misión de Palmas, employing just over two hundred people. There is also a workshop in La Misión de Palmas that makes sandals with tire tread soles that employs twenty five people. Soccer balls stitched by hand are made by about 350 people working at home in about twenty communities, mostly by women and school-aged children to allow them to earn money without leaving home to supplement family income. Local handcrafts include belts decorated with a type of embroidery. Various articles are made with willow branches such as baskets and hats, mostly made in San Lorenzo and Villa Emiliano Zapata and sold in Tequisquiapan. Rope is made in Las Mesas, El Cobre, Agua de Pedro, Puerto de Ojo de Agua and Aposentos, with items such as baskets and brooms made from reeds in the municipal seat. There are various mineral deposits in the municipality with mercury having been the most extracted. There were 128 mines during the 1960s and early 1970s, but the demand for mercury steeply declined after the Vietnam War. There are still small deposits of gold, silver, copper, zinc antimony and bauxite. There are stone quarries which produce marble, onyx, and sandstone in various colors.
About sixteen percent of the population is dedicated to commerce and services. Commerce is mostly limited to basic needs for the local population, including tianguis held in seven communities during the week. There is no municipal market. There are also eight businesses dedicated to buying forest products.
The Sierra Gorda region has been promoted for tourism, especially ecotourism in recent decades. Peñamiller is promoted as the gateway to this region. There are some guest houses and other facilities for tourism. The Mesa del Sombrerete Ecotourism Center is located seven km from the Río Blanco River which is mostly dedicated to camping. It has cabins, restaurant, and hiking. El Oasis is a water park which obtains its water from a fresh water spring, which are propelled 200 meters into the main pool by the force of gravity. It is located in the Higueras Arroyo, surrounded by tall mountains. The tallest is the Cerro de la Virgen, which has a rock crag as a lookout point. The park offers camping and the park’s pools and other attractions are filled with water from clear waters from a spring 200 meters away. These waters are also bottled and sold with the brand name “Peña Miller.” The facility also has a restaurant, multi use sports field, tanks for fish and cabins. The Río Blanco River area marks the boundary between the forested and semi desert areas of the municipality. It is home to Ecoalbergue Río Blanco, which is an ecotourism facility. Activities include camping, cave exploring, canyon exploring, visiting fresh water springs and abandoned mines and hiking.
Transportation
The town of Peñamiller is connected by highway to the state capital, San Juan del RíoSan Juan del Río
N20 23 23 W99 59 49San Juan del Río is a city and administrative seat of the surrounding San Juan del Río Municipality in the central Mexican state of Querétaro. The population in July, 2007 is calculated in 128,270 for the city and 217,980 for the municipality.The city and municipality both rank...
and Xilitla. The municipality has 61 km of paved highway, 276 km of dirt roads and 52 km of dirt paths. All communities except for La Tinaja are connected by one of these three types of roads. There is public bus service between the municipal seat and Querétaro, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Guadalajara, El Guamúchil, Atarjea, San Miguel Palmas Molinitos, Villa Emiliano Zapata, Peña Blanca, La Higuera, El Saucito and Las Mesas. For transportation to other communities in the municipality, there are about twenty pickup trucks which function as communal taxis.