The Town of Dolls

During our weekend stay at the Hacienda Galindo Hotel, we took a drive to the town of Amealco located about 18 miles away.  The town has been designated as a "Pueblo Mágico" or "Magic Town", an honor given to small towns by the Secretariat of Tourism for their beauty and cultural or historical significance. We had visited the town a couple years ago on our previous stay at the hacienda, but we decided to return.  

The town's official name is Amealco de Bonfil, in honor of Alfredo Bonfil, an activist who fought for the rights of the peasants.  His mother's side of the family came from Amealco.  Bonfil often clashed with the government over agrarian reform, and in 1973 he died under suspicious circumstances in the crash of a small aircraft.  A newly erected statue by the town square honors him.

The center, as with most Mexican towns, has a pleasant plaza dominated by a church.

Amealco is in the center of a region populated by the Otomí tribe.  In the area surrounding the town 36% of the people are Otomí.  The native people come to town, especially on weekends, to sell their handicrafts, which include beautiful embroidery work and, most notably, their handmade rag dolls.  The area of Amealco claims to be the origin of these dolls which are sold throughout the country, and which have practically become an iconic symbol of Mexico.

On this visit to Amealco we found even more stalls selling the famous dolls than on our previous trip.  In fact two streets near the town square were an outdoor handicraft market.

There were literally thousands of dolls for sale.

An Otomí woman in traditional attire

By the time we had left Amealco, Alejandro and I had a bag full of handicrafts which we had purchased, included a couple of dolls.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon in Amealco de Bonfil.