Juan Aldama

Juan Aldama was founded in 1591 by Tlaxcalan families brought north under the mestizo captain Miguel Caldera, on land where Zacateco people already lived. It was called San Juan Bautista del Mezquital, then Villa Aréchiga, before taking the name of the independence fighter who rode with Hidalgo.

The parish of San Juan Bautista, with its clock tower, was completed by the Franciscans in 1757, and a sundial stands in the churchyard. The town hall was begun in 1880. During the Revolution, locals such as Librado Galaviz Rojas joined General Luis Moya, and the old village of Ciénega de San Francisco now bears the name of General Juan José Ríos, considered for the presidency in 1931 and remembered there in a community museum.

About 15,000 people live in this farm town at 2,023 metres, growing rain-fed corn and beans through hard frosty winters. What sets it apart is water: two springs in town, Ojo de Agua and La Pila, flow all year, with simple bathing pools beside them.

The calendar is busy. San Juan Bautista is celebrated June 16-24 with nine days of processions, fireworks and dancing; on the 24th families crowd the main plaza. In May the El Calvario neighbourhood honours the Holy Cross with a feather dance and a folk play, and the Matachines del Calvario dance in wooden-soled sandals. The regional fair, from late October into early November, overlaps with the Day of the Dead and the Día del Ausente, when emigrants come home. At Plaza Zaragoza look for atole de grano, oven-baked gorditas and semitas.