Where locals go

Where residents actually go

Real de Catorce is so small that locals and visitors share the same few streets, but there is still a difference between the tourist-facing terraces on Lanzagorta and where people who live here spend their own money.

The morning market and food stalls. Residents eat where the pilgrims eat: simple fondas and stalls near the church and the plaza serving gorditas, tamales, atole and enchiladas potosinas for a handful of pesos. This is the real daily food, not the pricier tourist menus.

The plaza in the evening. Once the day-trippers filter out through the tunnel, the plaza belongs to families, kids and the people who run the guesthouses. Sitting with a coffee or a bread from a local bakery as the town goes quiet is the most local thing you can do.

Nearby ranch villages. Many who work in Real live in smaller settlements below the mountain, like La Luz and the villages around the desert floor. If you take a jeep or horse tour, your guide almost certainly comes from one of them; ask, and you will learn more about the place than any plaque tells you.

What a friend who lives here would tell you: skip the fanciest terrace, buy your gorditas from the stall the guides queue at, and stay a night so you see the town after the crowds leave.