Bernal

There are moments when San Sebastian Bernal looks more like a curated film set lifted from a Spaghetti Western than a bona fide Mexicana town. But it’s certainly the latter; it was founded way back in 1642 by Spanish settlers. It’s just that those pastel-painted saloons, the adobe casitas with their jutting ceiling joints, and dusty streets rimmed by shady arcades and ochre-tinged church spires are almost too good to be true. Meanwhile, the horizon is dominated by the twisted crag of Peña de Bernal: a Jurassic-age mountain that gnarls ominously on the skyline.