Calvillo, Aguascalientes

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Calvillo (municipality), Ags.
Calvillo (municipality), Ags.

Calvillo is a town and its surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes. The town serves as municipal seat of the municipality. Calvillo is the second most populated city in the state, surpassed in importance only by the capital city. It is located to the western part of the state, at about 52 kilometers of the city of Aguascalientes. It stands at 21°51′N, 102°43′W in the southwestern corner of the state. It is bounded by Jalisco and Zacatecas. The municipality, which has an area of 931.26 km² (359.56 sq mi), reported a population of 50,183. The town of Ojocaliente is another significant community in the municipality. Calvillo is one of the richest, most prosperous municipalities in Aguascalientes.

During the French invasion of Mexico, the north part of the valley of Huajuacar in which Calvillo lays, was occupied by the French. At the time, they intermixed with the descendants of Spaniards which already inhabited the south part of the valley. This fact made Calvillo the municipality with most Caucasian-origin inhabitants in the state, compared with the other municipalities.

Calvillo has to offer several attractions and interesting places. One of them is the Main Square, dated from 1778 is famous for its orange trees In this square is Eagle Trail which indicates the Independence route. The temple of our Lord of the Salitre, built in 1772, in which interior the paintings are considered true jewels of religious art. The beautiful dome toppling the church has an exceptional size and diameter. Its rarest feature is that it is made as a single architectural piece; so, for domes like this one, there exist only five in the whole world. There are also exquisite frescoes depicting the life of St Joseph, the patron of the city. The Guadalupe Temple is another important church with majestic towers.

Another interesting place is the Malpaso Dam. The outskirts of Calvillo are a magnet for tourists. The Sierra del Laurel, south of the town, is a prolongation of Sierra Fría and highly sought-after by rock climbers because of its steep sides. Also nearby are the La Cordorniz Dam, and the ex-convent of the Tepozán, where, at the bottom of the gully, there is a rocky area with cave paintings. The prehistoric paintings of El Tepozan show diverse figures in different colors imprinted in various eras. Very close to these two attractions, in the town of La Panadera, it is still practiced the old craft of embroidery and unthreading or "deshilados", the state's craft by excellence.

Calvillo is the largest guava producer in Mexico and famous for its superb confectionery and liqueurs made from this fruit, which you can sample at the Guava Fair held during the first week of December.

The economy in Calvillo is centered on the guava, although there is other agriculture and a great deal of commerce. Calvillo is better known as the world capital of the guava.

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