Looking out my Backdoor: A road less traveled

Jim phoned, “Would you like to go to El Amparo? John and Carol are coming. Be ready in half an hour.”

I’ve been wanting to go see the ghost town of El Amparo for three years. Beginning in the early 1500s, the mines were a rich source of gold and silver. From boom town Etzatlan, miners trudged over the mountains to work and brought back refined minerals through our town to Guadalajara to Spain.

In the heyday of El Amparo, historians and local stories confirm that the mining town was quite the cultural center with symphonies, theater, schools, sports and medical care, all supported b...