Bondojito

Bondojito lies at 1,961 metres above sea level, on low hills of the Mezquital Valley, inside the municipality of Huichapan. The 2020 census counted 1,866 people, 965 women and 901 men, almost 4% of the municipality. The climate is semi-dry and temperate, and runoff drains to the Tecozautla river sub-basin, part of the Moctezuma basin. It is a place of everyday life, and what you will mostly see here is open Mezquital countryside.

What gives the visit meaning lies a few kilometres off, in the municipal seat. The parish church of San Mateo was built between 1753 and 1763, with two Churrigueresque pink-stone façades and an octagonal dome; in front stands a monolithic stone cross that INAFED calls unique on the continent. The municipal palace, also pink stone, went up between 1887 and 1889. Huichapan was also the site of the first Grito de Independencia commemorated in the country, on 16 September 1812.

Other possible stops are the Guadalupe chapel, from 1692, the Quince Arcos stone arches, 60 metres high, and the Barranca del Gallo, which carries water between rock walls in the rains. The Pueblo Mágico of Huichapan is about 9 km away in a straight line.