Cerro los Gachupines

The Cerro los Gachupines is sometimes called the Cerro Santa Isabel, named for Santa Isabel Tola to the immediate east. It’s among the most overlooked of those few “cerros” of the Sierra de Guadalupe entirely within Mexico City, though it shares a similar geological history with the rest of the range. It’s actually frequently confused with the Cerro de Tepeyac, to its immediate south. Together, with that peak and the Cerro de Guerrero, the three comprise the Tepeyac National Park.

The Mexican term “Gachupín,” derives from an early peninsular term meaning arrogant nobleman. There, however, the term likely died out by the 17th century. In the Americas, though, it was revived in the independence slogan, “Mueran los gachupines.” Quite literally, it meant “death to the noble Spanish.”

Today, the modestly proportioned monogenetic volcano stands in, frequently, for the more seriously degraded Cerro de Tepeyac. Home to the Basilica Cemetary and the Tepeyac Garden, that small peak could be confused with almost any other hill in the area. Not so the Cerro los Gachupines.