A great way to ruin a pair of shoes

What? It just popped out of a farmer's field?

Although it was a few years ago, I'd like to share the story of a great little volcano hike/scramble I did with a buddy of mine.

Having lived in Mexico for almost a year for a University Exchange, my stay in Mazatlan on the Pacific Coast was coming to an end in the Spring of 2003. I had about a month to go before returning to Canada, and my buddy Jesse was leaving in a week, from Mexico City. Rather than head out straight away, we decided to take a quick road trip, ending in D.F. (Mexico City), at which point Jesse would head home to Canada, and I would "reluctantly" head back to my seaside home for a few more weeks.

There were a few places we wanted to see on the way, and one night while working through a bout of insomnia, I came across an article about Paricutin. It was perfect. Who wouldn't want to visit a young volcano that just popped up in the middle of a farmer's field 50 years ago? Everything I read said it was an easy scramble since the surrounding countryside is already well over 2000m, so we decided to make it the first stop on our road trip, to be followed by Queretaro, and then D.F.

"Staging", Hiking, "Climbing"

From Mazatlan (which is up on the Pacific Coast, on the mainland across from the Baja Peninsula), we hopped a bus down through central Mexico, passing through Tepic and Guadalajara, down to the beautiful state of Michoacan. If you Canucks and Americans ever wonder where all the butterflies go in the winter, they go to Michoacan.

Your "Staging" area in Michoacan is Uruapan, a small town about 25mins away from Angahuan, where you begin your hike. Uruapan had a nice city centre, with a nice museum, and of course real Mexican bars with live music, the kind you can't find at the beach resorts. It's worth a stay-over, but if you do hit a bar, and you're male, don't order a bucket of Coronitas, the other gentlemen in the bar may try to fight you (semi-kidding).

After a good night's sleep, we headed out to the bus station with a piece of paper that said "Paricutin-Angahuan?" that I had scrawled the week before. Other than that, we each had a backpack with 2L of water, and some food. We enquired at the counter and they put us on the first bus in the direction of Angahuan. We were told to just ask the driver when to get off.

Once in Angahuan, we were immediately swamped by people, young and old, looking to guide us to the volcano. Now, we had decided on the bus ride to tough it out, and hike from the village to the volcano, a 12 mile (19 clicks) round trip. We managed to convince the guys on horseback that we weren't interested, and were taken by a boy to a house where we were introduced to our guide, Francisco. Francisco, as you will see below, was 70 if he was a day. He said goodbye to his wife, grabbed a coke and 2 empanadas, and we were off.

It was a long, beautiful hike. at times it was lush, at times it was desert, and at times it was like walking on the moon. Once you start onto the lava fields, you really get a feel for the destruction that an erupting volcano can cause. We passed by sulphur-reeking vents that still carried significant heat. Francisco informed us that some guides stop to reheat their lunches at the vents. I decided to keep my trail mix to myself.



Eventually you pass by ruins of the old village church, which is partially entombed by the lava. Nothing quite like it. Very surreal.



I was in pretty good shape, but still feeling the heat of the day. Jesse was doing well, and Francisco was the Energizer Bunny. After several hours, the cinder cone was in sight. Although at times it seemed to be getting further and further away, we eventually came to the Cone. After a mildly frustrating scramble (1 step up, 2 steps back), we made it to the crater ridge.



The inside of the crater is so-so, but the view of the surrounding valley and the lonely cross on top of the summit is very humbling. According to our guide, the cross was placed there by a priest following the last eruption, who then begged God to spare the countryside another eruption. It hasn't erupted since. Now, according to what I've read, it can't erupt again due to the type of volcano it is, but come on, science versus a semi-divine cross?



Unfortunately, being the neophyte I was, we went down the popular down-chute, which causes significant erosion to 'ol Paricutin. While fun, it does negatively impact the cinder cone. If you do the trip, try to do the right thing and down-climb your original route. You will also be picking ash out of your shoes for weeks...

I'll spare you the details of the return trip, yadda yadda yadda, my shoes turned black, the soles got ripped on the lava fields, Mexican trail mix hurt my tummy, I slept like a baby. We went on to Queretaro, and then Mexico City. Jesse left, and I took half a day to check out the pyramids at Teotihuacan.

If you're in central Mexico (or anywhere in Mexico if you don't mind an overnight bus) and don't quite have the guts/skills/equipment to tackle Orizaba or Ixta (yet...I will be going back), give Paricutin a try. It's a fantastic day trip, a good hike, quick climb and well worth a pair of ruined shoes.

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