Huasca de Ocampo

About

Between the 1760s the 1780s, Count Pedro Romero de Terreros had established the town of Huasca de Ocampo as the centre of the region’s mining operations. He built four major haciendas (large economic estates) which, coupled with other operations in Pachuca and Real del Monte, made him the richest man in the world. Romero’s death in 1781 saw operations fall into poor management; by 1810 the lands were mostly used for agriculture. Little has changed in Huasca de Ocampo in the centuries since, so it was ripe to become one of Mexico’s “Pueblos Mágicos”, or Magic Towns. Cobbled streets run between the pretty colonial-era houses, and the pace of life is extremely sedate. The old haciendas have become beautiful complexes of architecture and nature, so much so film crews flock there (such as Mask of Zoro).