To visit Paricutin is to appreciate the collision of man and nature, of indigenous culture and the modern world. You can hike to the top of a cinder cone volcano and scramble over the ruins of a city buried in lava. To come here is not only to admire the force of nature but to see the best of what humanity can rise to in the face of a challenge.
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History of Paricutin
Nuevo San Juan Paragaricutiro Mexico is a small village in the state of Michoacan near the Paricutin volcano. Founded by Purepecha indigenous community, it is now just 30 minutes drive from Uruapan and just over 260 miles from Mexico City.
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The people sustained themselves through forest and fieldwork until 1943 when a cinder cone volcano rose in a cornfield of a local farmer. Over the next nine years, lava and ash devastated the land. Two towns completely evacuated, buried in part by lava. Now dormant the area is a remarkable window into the past. Included in CNN’s list of Seven Natural Wonders of the World, this volcano is part of the same volcanic belt that includes the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It receives global attention as one of the youngest volcanoes in the world.
Forced to migrate to survive, the indigenous try to make something new from the ruined landscape. They learned how to make a living from the forest again creating income from forest management and avocado orchards. The tourism industry helps as well. Guides taking visitors to climb over all that remains of the town’s church has become another source of income for the community.
Getting There
A visit to the volcano and ruins is an easy drive from Morelia. You could arrange for private transportation through your hotel. If you don’t have your own vehicle then a bus will probably require a transfer at Uruapan. If you’re already staying in Uruapan, a 30-minute bus ride will get you to Angahuan, the small village where you can see the volcano in the distance.
By the town entrance peppered with whitewashed buildings with deep red trim, guides wait to lead you on a hike or horseback ride. Having someone in your party who knows Spanish is helpful as that empowers you to barter for a better price. Don’t feel uncomfortable with bartering as it is expected and not disrespectful at all to demand less than the first price quoted.
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Once you have your guide choose whether you are headed all the way to the volcano or the ruins. You also choose to hike the 13-mile loop trail or ride horses. All Trails has a map and description of the route here. Tip – be sure you’ve packed enough water, snacks, and good hiking shoes. This will be approximately two hours in, bet on the longer time if you choose to go to the volcano first. Based on our time and water limitations we chose to ride horses to the ruins.
Horseback Riding to Paricutin
At the stables, the guides help you choose horses based on each person’s size and comfort with riding. There are ponies for the smaller kiddos in the group. Poles with tires stacked two or three high serve as steps to help climb up on your horse. Though they all have a comfort level with horses as we might with our dogs and cats at home, they aren’t expecting any tourists to be true cowboys and have accommodations in mind.
Just as the top of a church tower shows up in the distance you arrive at an open area with craft and food stalls. We stopped at a tarped stall where a small group of women flattened handmade blue corn tortillas for quesadillas. Cooking on makeshift stoves made from old oil barrels, the smoke drifting up to us as we got off our horses. They brought us plates of corundas made with a mixture of masa and bean, nopales with onion, cilantro, and tomato, and a small piece of steak. We ordered Cokes for everyone. My husband swears it was one of the best meals he had during our entire trip. It reminded him of how his grandmother used to cook for him when he was younger.
Hiking the Ruins of Paricutin
After the meal, you can walk it off following your guide to the ruins. You’re going to be grateful for those good hiking shoes I mentioned earlier as now you’re climbing over the sharp, hardened lava flow. Remnants jut out from the oddly shaped rock, frozen in time. The church tower still stands and you can scramble up the black rock to see where locals leave offerings at the altar.
There are quite a few places to get good photographs. So take your time wandering around to appreciate that this church somehow survived eight years of active lava flow which enveloped the rest of the town and completely buried another. It serves as a holy shrine now, a miracle symbol, echoed by its people, of survival through adversity.
If you plan to continue your deep dive into the culture and history of Mexico then consider the city of Guanajuato. Use our guide to help you get the best out of this beautiful area.