Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of punch!
By John Pint
On my last outing, I failed to reach the famous waterfalls of Huaxtla, but I
think I have made up for it on this visit to a little-known river in the
mountains of Mazamitla, boasting a total of eight lovely falls, all easy to
reach during a short walk through some of the most beautiful scenery in all of
Jalisco.
I drove up to Manzanilla de la Paz with Pedro Fernández Somellera, both of us prepared to search long and hard for the “Cascadas de Concepción de Buenos Aires,” which I had heard about years before but had never been able to find. Ah, but today most of these mountain villages are touted as “Pueblos Mágicos” and, indeed, we found that Manzanilla’s tourism department has been working overtime...
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have so many attractions to brag about that only a sign the size of a barn
door is big enough to list them all. So, nothing more was required but to
follow these monster signs.
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| ...Along
the way, we spotted a string of bald cypresses (called ahuehuetes
here) and followed a roadrunner for several hundred meters along the route.
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| ...Unfortunately
the last leg to our destination was blocked by a long stretch of the
thickest mud in Jalisco. Apparently the municipio’s budget was spent
on gargantuan signs with no money left for road maintenance!
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No problem. We parked and walked only 500 meters to a rustic, two-storey building overlooking the trail to the eight waterfalls. The ground floor is a restaurant-bar, open all day and every day; the upper floor houses two rooms furnished with two double beds each. These rent for only 100 pesos per person but have very little light...
| Señora Espinoza in the restaurant. She is showing us her unique "Eight Falls Cooler" -- a pool inside the building, where ice-cold river water circulates.
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| ...There
is also a wide, covered balcony that overlooks the river and on which you
can pitch your tent for practically nothing....
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From these bungalows you follow a trail downstream where you can enjoy the beauty of the waterfalls. At the foot of one of them, a large swimming pool has been built, which looks like it is part of the river itself. If you arrive without a swimsuit, don’t fret. The enterprising Espinoza family, who built all this, will be happy to rent you one.
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The trail along the river bank
features rustic railings and takes you past some very nice falls.
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At last you come to the final and tallest fall, which, however, can only be appreciated from a parallel trail further up the hillside and also accessible from the bungalows. This spot offers a magnificent view of the majestic valley below.
 
Yes, there really are eight falls! Here you can see a few more of them. |
After your hike, you may want to try a glass of excellent ponche de capulín, one of Señora Espinoza’s specialties. Don’t get too carried away though, because this punch really does pack a punch and you may find yourself waking up on the balcony the following morning.
How to get There
From Guadalajara, take highway 54 toward Colima for 12 kilometers and turn off onto highway 15, signposted “Morelia.” After 20 kilometers, follow the Jiquilpan sign and keep going another 33 kilometers to the Mazamitla turnoff, just past Tuxcueca. Set your trip odometer at zero here. Now drive 20.6 kms to Manzanilla de la Paz. Head south through the town and exit Manzanilla on Calle Francisco Madero. At 22.4 km, turn right onto a country road leading to Concepción de Buenos Aires. At 27.8 km, turn left onto a road leading to the ranch of Don Rafael Moreles at 13Q 688608 2208961, near which you can park if you see mud ahead. Now walk 500 meters southeast to the restaurant-hotel. Driving time from Guadalajara: about an hour and a half.
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