San Clemente, San Luisito, Cata and Mellado are considered the most traditional mining and ceramics-making neighborhoods in Guanajuato. With the first gold and silver lodes discovered, these neighborhoods sprung up along the river beside the mineral processing haciendas. At the start, the only residents were mine workers from the Rayas, Cata and Mellado mines. Much later, when mine production began to decline in the post-independence (1820) period, these neighborhoods survived by becoming centers of handmade ceramics.

The neighborhood of San Clemente , known for its ceramics shops, borders the traffic circle at Dos Ríos and extends in the direction of Mineral de Cata. If we keep going along the Cata River past San Clemente, we come to the neighborhood of San Luisito. This neighborhood, where both sides of the main street are lined with small ceramics workshops, is known nationally for the quality of its wares. The neighborhood was named "San Luisito" for the mine-processing Hacienda de San Luisito located here, a majestic edifice today reconditioned as a vocational school.

This neighborhood ends at the intersection of its main street, Calzada de San Luisito, with the Panoramic Highway . If we veer to the right at this intersection, we come to the neighborhood of Mineral de Cata, one of the oldest in Guanajuato.

Further along the Panoramic Highway , we arrive at the neighborhood called Mineral de Mellado. This neighborhood is named for the mine established here in 1558, originally owned by the Marquis of San Clemente. During the second half of the 18th century, the mine produced great amounts of silver and gold, and it is said that this is the only mine that remained profitable throughout the entire colonial period, even through the torrential rains that occasionally flooded its shafts. The deepest mineshaft at Mellado extends down 500 meters . The mine includes other, secondary shafts, notably those of San José and San Telésforo, and it is connected to the Rayas Mine by a network of horizontal tunnels. Aboveground, the church and plaza of Mellado crown the elaborate tunnel system.

The neighborhood known as Tepetapa is among the oldest in Guanajuato. The name, from a local indigenous language, means "flat top on the hill." This hill was where four 16th century forts were built to protect the colonists from the native Mexicans, known as the Chichimecas. Back then, Tepetapa was home to miners and merchants. Located here is the bridge called Puente de Tepetapa, which dates back to the 1800s. It was built to connect the neighborhood of Tepetapa with the rest of the city across a deep gorge, completing the road to Marfil.

Although the bridge was originally designed with two arches, the final construction was built with only one, measuring 19 meters wide and about the same height. These dimensions place it among the largest bridges in the city. The top of the bridge is built of green cantera, and stone spheres resting on short, wide bases adorn its four corners.