Option 2: Guided Tour by Federal Guide Jesús Rodríguez
By car or by bike, to do this half day tour is to witness the syncretic religiosity of our Indians groups who left in these temples, calvaries and chapels along the shore of laja river testimony of their believes, lets discover together the mexican semi desert, the land of the coyote and mesquite and the pre-columbian territory of the chichimecas tribes.
First we'll drive to the “San Miguel Viejo” community where San Miguel was established in 1542 by the monk Friar Juan de San Miguel, then continue to the San Roque's hacienda located in the border of allende's dam from there we will drive to “La Cieneguita” community to continue to “Presita de Santa Rosa” which is an hydraulic engineering piece from XVIII Century used for irrigation of the former ranches and haciendas.
After that we will continue by the desert to visit “La Cruz del Palmar” with its complex of hacienda-plaza-capillas-centro, a little mexican town witness of occupancies and revolutions. From there I will take you to visit the chapels of the San Isidro, Banda, Bandita and Montecillo de la Milpa with its spring water and the abandoned church.
Before finish we´re going to walk in a little forest to visit an Indian XVIII century cemetery located in the hill side of a mountain, place of rest and never told stories.
Finally in going to explain you the incredible story of Padre Alfaro and the foundation of “Santuario de Atotonilco” in 1747, the place where padre Hidalgo took the banner of lady of Gadalupe during the insurgent revolution in 1810, a marvelous church declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008.
