We were driving between Dolores Hidalgo and Pinal de Amoles, but it's a four hour drive on some twisty curvy roads, so I would rather break that into two days.
While perusing the map of our route, I spotted the Arroyo Seco Archeological site. Reviews said it was interesting, so we stopped in and paid the 65 pesos ($4.60 CAD, $3.25 USD) per person entrance fee for the guided tour.
We left Dolores Hidalgo at 9:45am.
There is an impressive statue at a traffic circle exiting Dolores Hidalgo.
Scenery along the way.
We made one stop to top up Igor's fuel tank when I saw gasoline at 22.98 pesos ($1.63 CAD) pesos per liter, which is about the cheapest we've seen it this winter. That's about $4.30 USD per gallon.
Arrived at Arroyo Seco just after 12:00 noon, and a friendly lady came out to try to get us to do the tour right away, however we wanted to have some lunch first. Unfortunately we missed a dancing exhibition, but we needed some food!
After we had some lunch, we went in and paid our admission, and our assigned guide Javier introduced us to the place.
In short, this area was inhabited as much as 7,000 years ago, but the most active period was by the Chichimeca people from 1100 AD to 1500 AD. There are two natural rock hills in the valley which were (and still are) revered by the locals. And there are a lot of ancient rock paintings that are the highlight of the tour.
It's a really scenic area.
Rock paintings.
It's about an hour and twenty minute tour.
Scenery at the Arroyo Seco valley.
An eagle.
Our guide Javier, explaining something to Ruth.
The tour was totally in Spanish, but Javier was very patient with us. I think we did quite well, although I'm sure we missed bits and pieces.
Scenery along the way.
Ruth and a big cactus.
Javiar said you can eat the little fruits on this cactus.
There are a lot of interesting rock formations.
Cool!
There is lots of interesting vegetation up there.
One of the "guardians".
Even today, the locals believe in these natural rock guardians as protecting the area.
They also have a small botanical garden.
Ruith and Javier.
Really well done! We enjoyed our time, and Javier was great.
We would have loved to stay overnight, but unfortunately the parking area is gated and locked up when they close. Javier referred us to a local event center, but we walked the road and there were quite a few low branches and the road was rough too.
We decided to carry on towards Pinal de Amole and see if we could find something along the way. The route between the archeological site and the main highway to Pinal de Amole isn't one frequented by tourists, and we didn't have much luck!
At some point, someone went way up the side of this mountain and did some writing!
It says Santa Catarina GTO 1580 - 1980
400 years.
We ended up in the town of Penamillar. Driving through, we stopped and asked a municipal police officer if there was somewhere suitable to park overnight and he referred us to the parking at the municipal offices. It wasn't ideal, but I was done with driving for the day!
Definitely not a tourist town, and we sure attracted some attention. Everybody who drove or walked by was looking our way!
But, no problems. Today we drive up the mountain to Pinal de Amoles.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record low deal on the original Philipps Sonicare Toothrush with 4 Brush Heads.
And in Canada...
I just added that to our list!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear, it was definitely worth a visit, not just for the paintings but the views and scenery are gorgeous and they did such an amazing job with the landscaping all along the trail with lots of native cactus palants. Overall it was just really well done.
Delete