San Sebastián del Oeste

Drive east into the mountains from the high-tourist areas of Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta and you will discover a rural Mexico moored to centuries of traditions, culture and architecture. At 4,600 ft in the Sierra Madre, San Sebastián del Oeste is only 40 miles northeast of Puerto Vallarta, but it is centuries removed in time.

Sierra Madre from Puente Progreso

Welcome to San Sebastián del Oeste

Gold, silver, lead and zinc were discovered in the Sierra Madre in the 1540s. Founded in 1605, “...San Sebastián del Oeste was one the main mining centres in the New Spain during the Colonial period” (link).

Cobblestone street into San Sebastián

By 1785, 30 mines were operating and 10 haciendas were processing silver. San Sebastián became a city in 1812 and mine production peaked in 1830 (link). More than 20,000 people lived in the area by 1900 (link).

Statue of a miner pays tribute to mining traditions

Mining needed salt to process silver and gold. The salt was produced on the coast in Las Peñas near the mouth of the Río Cuale. This was the beginning of Puerto Vallarta. Salt was transported by mules to the mines and gold and silver were transported by mules to Guadalajara and Mexico City (link).

Cobblestone street with traditionally-painted red and white houses

House near the plaza

Beautiful house

Mining production stopped during the military revolution of 1910 and the foreign companies operating the mines moved away. The silver and gold played out and the last mine was abandoned in 1921 (link).

Stonewalled pathways connect mining haciendas and houses on hillsides and along rivers

In the 2010 census, there were 5,755 people in the municipality (link). Today the main economic activities are agriculture, stock breeding, forestry and, increasingly, tourism (link).

Traditional wrought-iron bandstand influenced by European architecture of the late 19th Century at the center of the main plaza

Comparing mules outside a bar on the main plaza

The church is dedicated to San Sebastián the Martyr. It was founded in 1608 and was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1868 (link).

San Sebastián church interior

Hotel El Pabellón on the plaza was once a fort that stored silver until it was shipped. To thwart bandits, a tunnel was dug from a mine to the fort to transport silver (link).

Wall of the fort

Wall details

The fort had turrets on all corners; the one surviving turret is part of a bar.  

Turret

Some of the old haciendas are in ruins, others have been restored like La Quinta, which produces organic coffee.

Hacienda La Quinta patio

Hacienda work area

Drying coffee beans behind the hacienda

We left Puerto Vallarta early on a weekday morning and when we arrived in San Sebastián there was one 10-passenger tourist van and the town was peaceful and quiet.  By mid-afternoon, there were more than a dozen white tourist vans parked around the main plaza and groups of tourists everywhere. Later we learned that tourist services, major hotels and cruise ships in Puerto Vallarta advertise San Sebastián as a day trip (link, link).

Cobblestone stone streets become walkways...

...and then stairs as you move away from the plaza

A paved road from Puerto Vallarta and construction of Puente Progreso in 2007 cut the travel time to San Sebastián from several hours over rutted roads to about 90 minutes (link). This is a comment on the bridge from the Highest Bridges website: "Lost in the mountains of Mexico’s Jalisco state, the Puente Progreso is one of the most beautiful concrete arch bridges in North America" (link shows pictures during construction). 

Puente Progreso (472 ft across and 390 ft high)

Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR) recognized San Sebastián as one of the Pueblos Mágicos (Magic Towns) in 2012. The program recognizes places that have preserved their historical and cultural richness and brings them to the attention of domestic and foreign tourists to encourage tourism and stimulate the local and regional economies (link). 

House entryway

Old door

To avoid the tourist groups, and to get some exercise, we hiked into the mountains to visit the mines. Beyond the village, a wooden, hand-painted sign has a map of the trail up the ravine to six mines (about 2 miles round trip). The smaller shafts and pits are from the 17th Century, while the larger shafts are from the 19th Century.

Abandoned adobe brick house on the way to the mines

According to the hand-lettered sign at the entrance, Mina Sta. Gertrudis (St. Gertrude's Mine) dates from 1880 and runs 80 m (262 ft) straight into the mountain. It was registered as a silver mine for the Hacienda Jalisco and worked by 12 men and 3 boys. [St. Gertrude was a Benedictine mystic and theologian born in the 13th century. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Gertrude on November 16th (link)].

Mina Sta.Gertrudis entrance

Interior of Mina Sta.Gertrudis

In 2001, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) nominated San Sebastián to the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites for its “cultural landscape.” According to INAH’s description:

“Building materials and structural solutions inherited from traditional Spanish architecture resulted in the use of large walls and baseboards to protect buildings from moisture. Features such as public squares, like the Main Plaza and the Consistorial or Bone Plaza, winding alleyways, original stone pavements, plastered mud-brick walls, archways, attics and wooden and tile roofs are part of an integrated typology and constitute the town's distinctive traits” (link).

Side street

Old porch

“Ravines, hills, trees, etc., along with the town's layout and architecture are part of one harmonic whole. San Sebastian del Oeste is a clear example of the important role played by the environment in shaping the urban image of rural settlements” (link).

Boy returning to school after lunch from a house in the mountains

We enjoyed our day in San Sebastián. We chose to discover the town on our own, not with an organized tour. We picked up a map and some information at the tourism office (one desk) and wandered around. We undoubtedly missed some important historical facts that the tour groups learned, but we're not good at being herded about on someone else's schedule. Our flexibility often turns up something that tour groups miss. For example, for all the talk of mining history, none of the many Puerto Vallarta tourism websites advertising trips to San Sebastián mention that you can hike to several of the mines.

The largest Agave we've ever seen (along the trail to the mines)

Increasing tourism is good for the local economy and, hopefully, it will help San Sebastián preserve its World Heritage-class values and not loose its welcoming nature.The mule can have the last word.