Bolaños

Bolaños is the seat of the municipality of the same name in northern Jalisco, at about 893 metres above sea level and roughly 300 km from Guadalajara. The 2020 census counted 1,086 people, a long way from the 17,000 that some accounts give for its mining peak. Its old full name was Villa del Real de Bolaños, after Toribio de Bolaños, an early encomendero and mine owner in the region.

The area was conquered in 1530 by Pedro Almíndez Chirinos, sent by Nuño de Guzmán, and was then home to Tepecano and Wixárika (Huichol) people. The boom came in 1748, when José Barranco opened the mine that bore his name; between 1740 and 1780 the district ranked among the three most important in the economy of New Spain, credited with about 20% of its silver. Output dropped sharply around 1830. The town was given the title of mining city in 1833, became a department seat in 1846, and was made a municipality on 18 September 1875.

What remains of that wealth is a scatter of decaying mansions and 18th- and 19th-century buildings: the Real Caja, the Casas Consistoriales, the Parroquia Vieja, the Santuario de Guadalupe and the church of La Playa. Around the town lies the Bolaños canyon, with its river along the bottom and near-vertical walls, plus sights such as the English dam and aqueduct and several old mines. The town is also a crossing point for Wixárika culture: beadwork, embroidered bags, yarn "eyes of God" and yarn paintings are sold here. The climate is semi-warm, with about 629 mm of rain a year, almost all between June and September, and mean temperatures reaching 29 °C in May and June.