Gem- and jewelry-themed tours and excursions mix treasure hunting with adventure and cultural experiences.
Last year, when Roberto Ruiz visited the Carbonera mine in Querétaro, Mexico, he cracked open a grapefruit-size piece of rhyolite with a hammer. When he looked inside, “it was like finding a fire fossil,” he said during a recent phone interview from his home in San Antonio. Inside was an orangey-red fire opal that he likened to a flame, forever preserved in the sphere of igneous rock.
Mr. Ruiz and his wife, Erika Rodriguez, are among the few people who have traveled to the mine, a desolate spot located in Carbonera in central Mexico, a destination that’s well off the beaten tourist track, some 20 miles from the nearest city.
Their journey was especially unusual as neither is in the gem trade: Mr. Ruiz is a corporate attorney and Ms. Rodriguez works in digital marketing. But they are among a growing number of travel enthusiasts seeking unusual, hyper-specific vacation experiences that offer an insider’s view of the gem and fine jewelry industries, and a number of businesses are responding to the demand accordingly.
Mr. Ruiz said the idea of visiting an opal mine was appealing for a few reasons, starting with his lifelong fascination with gemstones and minerals.
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