Tlalpujahua

Tlalpujahua (also known as Tlalpujah de Rayon) is a small town of about 3,600 residents (2023) in Michoacan. It is a historic gold mining town and an important site in the Mexican War of Independence against Spain. The town is now famous for its handmade Christmas ornaments. Tlalpujahua is a designated Pueblo Magico.

Understand
Like a phoenix, Tlalpujahua is rising from the ashes. It had become a veritable ghost town in the early 1960s, with just 600 residents remaining after the government shut down the gold mines in 1959. The mines had operated since the 1890s, but suffered a setback in 1937 when a landslide destroyed parts of the mine and wiped out about 1/3 of the town, killing more than 400 residents. That's when the government stepped in and began operating the mines, though they did not invest in equipment or update facilities and by the late 1950s, had been run into the ground.

Around that time, a young local man named Joaquín Muñoz Orta went to Chicago where he found work as a factory laborer making Christmas tree ornaments. He learned quick and realized he could make a good business for himself doing similar work in Mexico. He moved to Mexico City and set up his own workshop. His business grew, and he eventually moved back to Tlalpujahua, his home town, where he established Adornos Navideños SA de CV. Today, his company employs more than 1,000 workers producing millions of hand-blown glass Christmas tree ornaments each year, mostly for export. Other local entrepreneurs have followed in his footsteps and today, more than 200 small workshops in Tlalpujahua produce a wide range of handcrafted Christmas ornaments.

By bus
Pegasso operates buses to Tlalpujahua departing from Mexico City's Observatorio bus terminal. If a direct bus to Tlalpujahua is not leaving soon, you can also take an El Caminante bus to Oro de Hidalgo. It is a 5- to 10-minute taxi ride from Oro to Tlalpujahua. The 2½ hour trip will cost about M$300.



Get around
The town is small, compact, and easily navigated on foot. Having a car can be useful most of the time, but can be a serious liability during the town's Christmas season weekends when parking becomes non-existent. A taxi stand is located near the zocalo.

Buy
Christmas decorations. Lots of them. Many stores in town sell nothing else. Many shops are open only on weekends and cash is always preferred.

Go next

 * Angangueo - see the world-famous Monarch butterfly reserve