Travel Review: Cervantino Festival 2003

Named a Pueblo Magico in 2001, Real de Catorce is a small Mexican town whose principal business is tourism despite once being a popular silver mining town at the turn of the 20th century with a population of 40,000 - the last census numbered its full time residents at around a thousand now.

Malinalco is one those enchanted little Mexican towns that sounds like a tried and tested cliche but actually is closer to fact than fiction. Lying in the State of Mexico, near the industrial city of Toluca, Malinalco is surrounded by mountains, forests and breathtaking scenery.

Lured by it's exceptional natural beauty and breathtaking views, the idyllic town of Villa de Santiago has been for decades a traditional getaway for residents of nearby Monterrey - Mexico's third-largest city. Situated on the southern tip of Monterrey's National Park and in the state of Nuevo Leon, Santiago is enveloped by lakes, mountains and lush vegetation. It boasts a cool climate year-round and its street are lined with the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture. It also is a shoppers Mecca for weekend deal seekers from Monterrey and boasts some outstanding traditional restaurants.

The fertile plains of Parras owes its existence to its fortuitous location within a valley with a large water supply. This has led to it being called an oasis in Coahuila - which is one of the dryest states in Mexico largely made up of arid or semi-arid land.

Originally discovered in 1683 by European conquistadores, Alamos resides in the state of Sonora close to the border with Sinaloa. The town grew as a silver mining colony - much like Taxco in Guerrero - and by the 18th Century it was one of the most important industrial centers in North East Mexico. However, once it rich silver and gold deposits started to wane, the town saw many residents flock to other cities with stronger economies and by the end of the 19th Century Alamos was virtually abandoned. It's only been in the last fifty to sixty years that it's rebuilt its population to any semblance of its former glory days.

The Zapotecs named this place Lyobaa; the Mixtecs called it Nuu Ndiyo and the Mexicas came closest to its present-day name with Mictlan. In all cases their names meant the same thing: "A place of rest". Now, San Pablo Villa de Mitla, is one of the nation's most important, and visited, archaelogical sites boasting a history that goes back to 800 B.C.