ESSAY EXAM

“El Edén Mine” Zacatecas

OUTLINE:

INTRODUCTION (Paragraph 1):

Little description of the economic activity of Zacatecas citizens and the relationship with the mine.

Paragraph 2:

The waiting room of the mine
At the beginning of the tour

Paragraph 3:

The amazing characteristics of the rocks

Paragraph 4:

The big lake among the rocks of the mine.

CONCLUSION (Paragraph 5):

My opinion about the mine



Do you know why some places around the world are considerate human legacy? In Mexico for example we can explore a lot of cities with wonderful characteristics. One of these cities, is Zacatecas well knew as the city of “stone quarry face and silver heart”. In Zacatecas many families are economically supported by selling mineral rocks (quartz) are precious metals like gold and mainly silver. Nowadays, one of the main sources of these valuable mineral is an amazing and traditional attraction in the city named the mine “El Eden”, located in the station cable-car “El grillo”. A lot of tourists visit every weekend this amazing mine, which has inside an important part of history of Mexico.

After a little ride on the cable-car my boyfriend and I decided to visit the mine. We went to small ticket office attended by a girl, she indicated us the cost of the ticket and that the next tour would start in thirty minutes, we paid our tickets and e waited for the tour in an unusual waiting room. The waiting room is wide and rectangular kind of terrace. The roof is enormous and white stained-glass supported by some strong and well placed wooden bars. On the left side of the waiting room there is a colorful snack bar, in this snack bar you can buy candies, sodas, pop corn and all kind of junk food, inside this snack bar there is also a souvenir shop, with a lot of post cards, key ring, beautiful and colorful mineral rocks from many parts of the country and T-shirts decorated with nice images of the mine and the city. In back of these shops there is a big flat screen where we saw some funny videos about animals while we waited. On the right side of the waiting room and in front of to the shops there are four round tables with four comfortable chairs each one, all the round tables and chairs are silver and made of metal. The floor of the waiting room is very rustic, it color is orange and was placed in squares; all the squares form a big rhombus in the middle of the waiting room.

After the thirty minutes a tourist guide called to the whole group, our group was of fifteen persons, in the main door of the mine he gave us some instructions like: First we must use a white protecting cap made of fabric before using the yellow miner helmets. The use of the white protecting cap is a hygienic measure because everybody uses the same miner helmet in each tour. Another thing that there are in the main door of the mine, are two big and wooden containers, the shape of the containers is for the protecting caps and other for the miner helmets. After this tourist guide invited us to get relaxed and try to enjoy as much possible the long tour into the mine.

When we entered into the mine, I could notice immediately the big difference. The mine has an unusual but not unpleasant smell, the smell of the mine is like humidity and at the same time you can feel like if you are breathing in a fresh and clear field. At the beginning of the tour everything is dark and so cold, after some meters the illumination changes and also the temperature, obviously there are lamps in the entire mine that come from the floor. In the first part of the mine you can see the amazing walls of the mine, the rocks are so beautiful because, most of them have and special bright color and most of them keep the original form made by the miners, when they looked for minerals. The walls are closer at the top, because the walls are constantly changing according to the earth movements.

Some parts of the walls of the mine are very closer and are separated by the original and very old woods, which the natives placed for the same purpose to keeping the original form. All the walls form an immense and deep cave. In the middle of the tour you can find quartzes in all the wall of different shapes and colors predominating the purples and the orange quartzes, also there are walls with gold and silver, these metals look like brightly and fine veins on the rocks. Near these walls there is a huge and impressive wall that has a terrific story, the tourist guide told us that e focused our view on the top of the rock and is very visible and clear a man’ face shouting, he as a native miner and he died in this place. The rocks that form the face are perfect and all of them form the face with big and open eyes and very worried expression in this mouth. Obviously this face is product of the wonderful nature and the story was adapted only for the tour, something that I consider and amazing coincidence.

Another beautiful attraction that the mine has is the mineral water inside of them mine. The water emanates form some rocks that form part of the walls of the mine, for this reason the mine is very cold, around 9 or 10 centigrades The water has very special features like the color, temperature and consistency. The water that emanates from the rocks is transparent but very cold, with out smell and the consistency is similar if you mix water with fine sand. But not only the rocks emanate water, if you see the deep bottom of the mine there is a quiet and natural lake of colors, the effect of color is provided by mineral. In my tour the water looked like opaque and unclear turquoise, but the tourist guide told us that the water changes of color from turquoise to pink or purple. Some of us threw a small rock, there were several on the floor to the water and the impact of the rock in the water was mute. The impact of the rock in the after also formed in the water a wide and thick wave, but this wave was closed very fast as a result the density of the minerals. Is important to mention that this part is the coldest part of the tour and also the water lake is smell less.

As a conclusion I want to mention that my first contact with a mine was one of the most interesting experiences in my life. To increase my general culture about the natives’ work and their tragic death during the colonial period of Mexico and the opportunity of have a very close contact with the nature is something valuable for me. To enter in a mine not is easy because in many part of the mine, you can feel afraid as a result of the immense size of the mine, the characteristics of the rocks, the echo that there is in some parts and the temperature. But have the opportunity of know this kind of places in Mexico is something that makes I feel proud of our country, our culture and our natural resources.