Travel guide to Real de Catorce and Wadley
Real de Catorce is very famous, but also very small and in the middle of nowhere. There are 2500 residents and to get there you drive 25km along unpaved road then through a tunnel two and a half kilometers long. The town is up in the hills, and gets extremely cold in winter. From the top of these hills you can see for miles across the surrounding desert. The place is "magical" - very peaceful, friendly people, you can see the milky way, old ruined haciendas, open fires, and of course peyote.
To get there by car (about 8 hours from DF) you head to Matehuala then get on the free road and follow signs. After passing Cedral there is a left turn and 25km along a cobbled road. They charge 20 pesos to go through the tunnel, and as there is only room for one lane, you may have to wait for some people to come out before you can go through. Driving into town is hilly and narrow, turn left half way through the market, stay on that road until the one way system takes you to the right onto the square. Getting to Matehuala is easy by bus, from there i'm not sure
The hotel San Juan at the top left corner of the square is cheap and cold and bare. There are also some beautiful rustic hotels with open fires and a lot more comfort. The one with the guys in armor (next to cafe azul) has books about the town they can lend you and the food is european and pretty good. Cafe azul is on the same street as the market, owned by a Swiss lady, and a good place to meet the local foreigners. (There are mexicans that live here too! but the influx of gringos and some europeans is the reason the town is growing). I didn't eat around that much, but there are several places for either cafe style food or dinner.
Because it is not hot hiking in the hills is a great way to spend the day. If you head out of town on the path up and to the left of the tunnel you will reach viewpoints looking over the town, and further on a "ghost town". There are several ruined buildings, look out for the unfenced mine shaft. You can get here easily enough by foot (45 mins), or there are plenty of guides to take you on horseback. Don't pay more than 100 apparently. There are other hills, La Quemada sounded good, and another ghost town outside the tunnel. Climbing is popular near La Quemada too.
Getting out into the desert can be done by foot (about five hours) by jeep (you can find a ride in town) by horse i suppose, or by car - except to get there by car you have to drive around. You go out of the tunnel back to the main road, turn left. You turn left through a town just after the railway and follow the long straight road next to the tracks across the desert, eventually arriving in Wadley.
Watching a sunset in the desert was one of my high points, as well as seeing the trains passing by. You can go for a walk around, camp in the summer (bloody cold in the winter) and find peyote in certain places.
Wadley (named after a British miner) is a tiny town in the desert (about 600 people) where there are some extreme hippies living. You can get there by bus easily and if you ask for Don Tomas when you get there he has rooms available. From Wadley you can look up to the hills of real de catorce, and you are nearer the peyote. The people are amazingly friendly and you can find them at the "cantina" which consists of a shop with a bench outside (opposite "restaurant central"). The temperature is warmer down in Wadley.
After a few days wandering the hills and the desert you might want a bit of life and I would recommend the drive to Zacatecas (turn left at the end of the cobbled road, then left after about an hour at the t-junction). It is only about 3 hours through great desert scenery and the city has colonial architecture, an art scene and Villa Colonial (near the cathedral) is a hostel with a sociable roof terrace.