LAS PIEDROTAS

Not-to-be-missed is Las Piedrotas (The Big Rocks), easily reached by car or on foot, about three miles (five kilometers) west of town. Along the way (at mile 1.2, km 1.9) you pass the ruins of the 1840 La Constancia paper mill on the right, and a quarter mile farther a private trout farm, stocked and ready for fishing.

Las Piedrotas, however, are the main attraction. As you approach from a distance they resemble a family of giant mushrooms in the process of sprouting from the ground. On the top of a mountain, where such rocks would be a dime a dozen, Las Piedrotas wouldn’t be worth a mention, but bulging where they are, they present an extraordinary contrast to their bucolic cow pasture surroundings.

Las Piedrotas are a favorite with families, especially with preteens and teenagers who delight in climbing their friendly slopes and exploring their many mysterious niches, overhangs, and passageways. After gazing for a spell at their rounded, tan forms it’s not hard to begin imagining animal forms—especially seals, whales, and walruses—among the giant, rounded boulders. Bring a picnic and spend the day; add camping gear and stay on overnight.

Get there by car, taxi, or on foot via the rough but passable road to Chiquilistán that forks left, Guadalajara direction, from the southern extension of Hidalgo, six blocks west from the Allende steps, just before the gas station.