Peñamiller

Peñamiller is a town in Peñamiller Municipality in the Mexican state of Querétaro. It is part of the Sierra Gorda region with about eighty percent of the territory belonging to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere of Querétaro. The municipality is on the southwest side of the Sierra Gorda, the highest mountains of which block most of the moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. For this reason, most of the territory is arid, part of what is called the Querétaro “semi desert” filled with cactus. There is a small portion on the far east side which has temperate forests and bodies of water, mostly related to the Extoraz River, in which fish are raised. The name of the town and municipality comes from a mountain called “El Picacho” but reminded town founder José de Escandón of the Peña Mellera in Spain. Over time, the name morphed into Peñamiller.

The town of Peñamiller is a small community of less than 1,100 as of 2005, located in the west of the municipality at an altitude of 1330 meters. The town is wedged between mountains and the banks of the Extoraz River. It was founded and named by José de Escandón in the middle of the 18th century. He named it Peña Mellera as the mountain now known as Picacho just east of the town reminded him of a similar formation in the Peñamellera Bajo in Spain. Inside and just outside the town there are many walnut trees. Just further out there are many tall cactus and buzzards can frequently be seen circling in the air riding on warm air currents. Many of the town's roads are still dirt. The main church building dates from the 19th century and the municipal palace building is one of the oldest in the town. The municipal seat has one public library called the Biblioteca Pública Municipal Lic. Benito Juárez. It offers lending of books with home delivery, research help, guided tours, story hours for children and digital services. The most important local religious event occurs on 15 August, when the Our Lady of the Assumption is venerated. This event lasts eight days and includes pilgrimages, masses, dances, novenas and fireworks. The next most important are the events associated with the Christmas season. The annual Passion Play has been held since 1880 with the participation of at least fifty actors each year. It is held on the streets of the town, especially where there are shady walnut trees ending at the Cerro del Calvario were the crucifixion in enacted. Handcrafts produced in the town include a tool called a guingaro, used to accomplish much of the work in the fields. They also made embroidered belts (called pitiados) as well as reed baskets and brooms and a type of overcoat. The cave paintings of Del Sol and De la Luna are also located along the Extoraz River, ten km off of Highway 120, next to the community of El Mirador. The sun image measures approximately one meter in diameter and the moon image about sixty cm. These paintings are found on the south side of a large hill which is situation over an even large one and has a natural opening similar to a window. During part of the year, the sun's rays pass directly through the “window” onto the sun image. The population in 2000 was 16,557 distributed in 136 small communities, with about 95 percent considered to be rural. There were 17,007 in 2005. Ninety eight percent of the municipality is Catholic divided into four parishes, Santa Maria Peñamiller, San Miguel Palmas, San José Pinal de Amoles and Atargea in Guanajuato. The municipality has the highest rate of maternal mortality with an average of 20.6 deaths per 10,000 live births. The state average is 4.1. Because of the lack of employment, there is mass emigration from the area. Most rural people migrate to larger cities in Mexico or to the United States and many never return. During the last decades of the 20th and the first years of the 21st, the municipality has had about 3,500 people leave to find work and about 130 on average never return. As of January 2011, over fifty small quakes have been reported in Peñamiller alone, but the cause of the quakes is not known. However, none of the recorded events have been over 3 on the Richter scale so far. The Instituto de Geociencias of UNAM and the state of Querétaro have been investigating the seismic activity. As Peñamiller has a mining past, there have been problems with pollution associated with the mines, many of which are abandoned. In 2007, residents of the municipality protested to authorities about the quality of water coming from two wells on which depend about 3,000 people. The water has tested positive for lead and magnesium for at least twenty years and the problem is worse during the rainy season. On occasion the contamination during this season is such that the water comes out brown due to sediment. The mineral contamination is due to abandoned mercury mines in the area. Then municipal president Juan Manuel García Leal admitted that at least 5,000 people in eight communities drink and otherwise use water contaminated with magnesium and other minerals. Another source of contamination are the pipes used to transport the water, however the municipality does not have the resources to replace the system. Peñamiller is one of the municipalities in the Sierra Gorda with high rates of migration to the United States, due to economic marginalization. This has led to a significant loss of students in the public schools, who generally accompany their parents when they move out.

About 21% of the total population is economically active. About thirty four percent of the working population is dedicated to agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and hunting. 1,045 hectares of land are dedicated to irrigated farming, with 916 farmed only during the rainy season. The rest, about 70,000 is left wild due to its dryness.