Mazamitla My Mountain Town Retreat

When I was living in San Jose, California, at least once a year I would travel 19 hours by bus to journey to coastal Bandon, Oregon. With its quaint downtown, harbor and lighthouse, delicious smoked fish, sandy almost deserted beaches that stretch for miles, wonderous tidepools, fantastic monolithic rock formations, amazing flora and fauna, and a wealth of agates, petrified wood, and fossilized sea shells for the taking, that town was my personal contemplative “retreat.” When I moved to Mexico I wondered if I would ever find a place in that country that I could also view thusly. Well, thankfully, I certainly did and it is Mazamitla, Jalisco!

Yearly, I venture to that small picturesque mountain town/municipality in the heart of the Sierra del Tigre, at an elevation of 2200 meters, about 124 kilometers south of Guadalajara and three hours by bus from Zamora. Accepted into Mexico’s Magic Town Program in 2005, Mazamitla is not only my individualized retreat it is also a very popular weekend, holiday, fiesta, and seasonal getaway for middle class (who mostly rent one of the many affordable and attractive cabanas set in the woods) and wealthy Mexicans, primarily from the nation’s second largest city, Guadalajara. Of course, when this frugal traveler stays there, my accommodations are very inexpensive as I stay in a rustic, “funky” in a positive and eclectic sort of way, and very representative wood lodging. Even without the characteristic snow covered mountains, this retreat town is called the “Mexican Switzerland” for its architecture, its forests, its landscapes, its pasture lands, and its dairy products; refreshingly, in that Alpine comparison there is much more substance than hyperbole.

Here is why I consider Mazamitla my own special place. First, how could I not be enchanted by the downtown with its charming combination “feel” of Swiss chalet intermixed with the traditional whitewashed-red trimmed Mexican adobe structures with their flower decorated balconies and wooden red-tiled roofs which always brings a smile to my face. Then there is that incongruously whimsical-looking church by the plaza that for some reason has a Chinese pagoda-like exterior. I also enjoy its numerous small stores stocked with locally produced fruit preserves, “burnt” cajeta/caramel in oblong wood containers, cheeses, and a wide variety of bottles of rompope/eggnog; not to mention the artisan shops that sell crafts like miniature log cabins, pinecone figurines, and religious-themed painted logs that imaginatively and resourcefully utilize the region’s forest products. Moreover, the restaurants in el centro serve some of the best antojitos/masa- based snacks that I have ever experienced in Mexico like stuffed gorditas, quesadillas, tacos de birria, sopes, and pizza-like huaraches.

While staying in Mazamitla I always venture off two kilometers to enjoy the subdivision of Los Cazos, a unique combination of upscale residential development and nature park. For a mere dollar or so entrance fee, one gets to view dozens of custom-designed grand villas located on intricately and creatively landscaped properties that belong primarily to Mexico’s urban elite. Yet, even more appealing to me than the manmade edifices and well-maintained acreage are the natural wonders there. A three kilometer walk from the entrance leads to the 167 steps that ultimately takes you to El Salto, a beautiful 30 meter high waterfall. Not to be missed also is the seemingly Japanese inspired “Enchanted Garden” which is surrounded by a series of small waterfalls and streams.

No matter how much I appreciate Mazamitla’s cobbled downtown area and Los Cazos, what really is the zenith of this consciousness clearing retreat-like environment for me is the long hike, with binoculars and camera on chest, that I invariably take. Not far after a hilly climb from the downtown area is the beginning of the ruta turistica/scenic tourist route. I trek mostly uphill, perhaps seeing only four or five vehicles, for about 10 kilometers on this rocky, pretty much non-maintained highway enjoying the cool mountain air and panoramic vistas of Mazamitla, fields, valleys, pine-oak forests, mountains, lakes, and the town of Valle de Juarez far off in the distance. Multiple times on this hike, I venture off into cleared forest areas and trails to do some birdwatching; the birding there is so good (and on the outskirts of the town, also) that I would come to Mazamitla for that alone! On the way back (mostly downhill thank goodness!), wanting even more of nature, I walk a short distance to enter a very nice ecological park that is on ejido property/community-owned indigenous land.

For me, I am thrilled that in Mexico I have found a Bandon-like personal retreat albeit without any ocean and all of the rewards that come with it- high praise, indeed, especially coming from a person who adores the ocean! Certainly mountainous, forested, cobblestoned, architecturally fascinating, culinary-wise delicious, and well-preserved Mazamitla has its own aura of soul-enriching “magic.” To think, instead of a 19 hour journey, I can be there in only 4 and a half hours!