Travel with Kevin and Ruth: The gate was closed, but we went in anyhow.

Friday, February 21, 2025

The gate was closed, but we went in anyhow.

Had a quiet sleep by the river. Got packed up around 10:00am and drove the short distance into the town of Talpa de Allende where we easily found a parking space for Igor.

Talpa de Allende is the end destination of a pilgrimage route that begins in Ameca. Pilgrims travel the challenging 117 km (73 mile) route to arrive at the church in Talpa to see the Virgen del Rosario de Talpa who apparently grants miracles.

We walked to the central plaza. On the way there, we passed by a small shop that was making a traditional treat in this area called rollo de guayaba. It's a type of fruit and sugar roll up made with guava fruit. There was an older man in the shop and he happily answered a few questions for us.

It's a pretty central plaza!

The church where the Virgen del Rosario de Talpa is located.

It's quite busy, even on a Thursday morning.

Many people enter the church, then proceed down the aisle on their knees towards the Virgen del Rosario de Talpa.

There she is!

Zoomed in.

The fountain in the plaza is even working.

Often they are not.

Another church.

Inside the other church.

This shop was selling a bunch of different rollo de guavabas.

Then we saw a factory where they were making them.

These big copper pots spin around. I should have taken a video.

We were going to buy one just to try it out, but I suggested we go back to the old man who was a much smaller operation. We got back there to find he was closed! Oh well.

We left town and headed north towards Ameca. We wanted to hike a tougher part of the pilgrim route that has a couple of viewpoints. I had found two different places that were possible parking options.

The first one didn't pan out. They actually had some heavy equipment that were doing some repairs to the gravel road leading to the parking area and it was pretty rough. So we continued on to the second option.

There, we found a gate and it was closed. But my map specifically said that it led to a parking area, so I got out and checked the gate. It wasn't locked, and I think it was closed simply because there are cattle roaming.

So we opened it and drove in anyhow. We drove almost 2 kms and had to go through a couple more gates. Eventually, I pulled off to the side to get out and walk the rest.

Maybe we will be camping with the cows tonight!

Scenery along the way.

We parked here, in the middle of nowhere!

Boondocking in Mexico!

This will make for a very quiet overnight spot!

We had some lunch, then walked up to the parking area. That's a pretty rough description. and I'm glad we stopped when we did.

Mooo!

Signs from the pilgrim route.

This is one of the major rest areas on the route, because from here the climb is more difficult. So there are bathrooms, and food stands and places to camp.

Today, we will hike up to the miradors advertised on the sign.

We always thought it was Chile con Carne!

This is the path we will be taking today.

Not many people around because the route won't be busy again until Easter. But we spoke to a very friendly woman running a food stand, and she said we would have no problem parking overnight where we did.