Mexico - Winter 23/24 : 2024-02-04 : El Redentor Opal Mine

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Tip
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
General Info Opal Mines Visit the Opal Mines of Tequisquiapan Queretaro $27.00 Get to know the mining past of Tequis. It is a place where you can become a miner for a day and pick stones like a pro. The Opal mine is located just 10 minutes from Tequisquiapan. In the community of La Trinidad, which has 2,149 inhabitants.In addition, the mine is better known as El Redentor, which began to work in approximately 1840. It is the only mine that has opals called lechosos. Because of its density, its salification is superior to those of Australia and other countries, so they give great importance because it is the way to generate income for the locals. Tours start at 10:00 am and last about two hours. It is one of the most entertaining and epic things to do in Tequisquiapan that you will remember for years to come. Being in the cave is something I like, going on an adventure and feeling as if you were in a labyrinth; it is pure adrenaline, and I think you will be thrilled
Travel
Type Name Service Provider Origin Destination Cost Notes Actions
Bus ATT bus to La Trinidad Autotransport Tequisquiapan Tequisquiapan La Trinidad $2.20
Vehicle Back to Tequisquiapan Taxi La Trinidad Tequisquiapan $7.90
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Bed and Breakfast Grandpa's House AirBnB Tequisquiapan $610.71 Pd $305.36 Mar 17 2023. $305.35 due Jan 17
Free cancelation until Jan 25
Check-in 15:00. Check out 12:00
Washer on-site. Wifi, kitchen, use nearby resort facilities, outdoor BBQ but no outdoor seating that I can see.


Trip Log

Notes Actions
Today we went out to La Trinidad to visit Mina Redento, the local opal mine.

Rome2Rio doesn’t seem to know about Autotransportes de Tequisquiapan (ATT) - it recommended a taxi. Brent remembered seeing a bus labeled for La Trinidad when we were here the other day though. Ruta 001 is the bus to La Trinidad and it leaves on approximately the half hour.

When we got to La Trinidad we walked straight over to Tour Minas Opalo. There are a number of tour resellers but these guys seem to be the only ones really running tours.

They don’t offer much in the way of English. They gave us a jeep driver (Oscar) who speaks some English but the guy who gave the processing demo (Hector Móntez) doesn’t speak English, and the guide at the mine, Fernando, speaks some English but did the whole presentation in Spanish. Oscar seems to have had the Muzungu collection of people. It was us, two parties of Japanese folks, and a young couple who were an American and a half French/half Mexican fellow. All the other jeeps were 100% Mexican.

Hector did a great presentation about how the opals are processed and then we took a long, steep drive up a really rough road to get to the mine itself.

Fernando, the guide at the mine, was great with the crowd, and with the children, and gave away many opals to whomever answered his pop quiz questions properly. He also recruited a young volunteer to set off a fire cracker in a crevice of the mine to demonstrate the explosive process.

After the presentation at the mine, which was very entertaining, even though we couldn’t understand most of it, Fernando took us up the hill where we were invited to smash rocks and look for opals. We could keep any opals that we found. Brent and I both came away with a small handful of rocks with little bits of opal in them. My glamour sunglasses seemed to be very well suited to spotting the sparkliness of the opals - I was able to spot several just by looking through rocks on the ground.

After we returned to town in our Muzungu jeep we took a brief walk in the town and then went to look for the bus back. I wanted to grab a taxi if we could find one but there don’t seem to be many, or any, taxis in town. Anyway, before a bus showed up, a taxi from San Juan del Rio came in to drop off some folks and Brent snagged him to drive us back to Tequis.


Photos

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