hidden among the lonely hills of the Sierra Occidental about two-thirds of the way from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta three million people go out of their way to visit tiny Talpa every year and a great many of them do it on foot Most of these visitors are peregrinos (pilgrims) many who hope to receive a blessing or perhaps even a miracle from a statue about 30 centimeters tall known as the Virgen del Rosario (the virgin of the rosary) This statue was brought to Talpa in 1585 by the indigenous Tarasco people broken and disfigured,” it was about to be buried as is the custom for disposing of these religious statues when their useful life has come to an end “a resplendent light burst forth from the image,” knocking out the “undertaker.” When calm was restored had been restored to her former beauty in the twinkling of an eye and the flash of a heavenly light Many who walk all or part of the pilgrims’ route are devoted to the virgencita but many others are there simply for the camaraderie that inevitably develops among Mexicans away from home — or they simply would like to say The most popular path by far to Talpa is the 117-kilometer trail that starts in the town of Ameca flat stretches running through oak forests pastures and scrublands but also includes two particularly steep mountains: El Cerro del Obispo (The bishop’s hill) and the aptly named Espinazo del Diablo (the devil’s backbone) gave me an idea of what these hills are like “The Cerro del Obispo is really rough and rocky you reach a little community where for 50 pesos you can sleep on a petate (traditional reed mat) under a little roof and cover yourself with a blanket several Mexican architects got together and decided to create a variety of monumental constructions along the way most of them in very remote spots where you would hardly expect to stumble upon works of art Perhaps the most striking of these is the Open Chapel of Gratitude by Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao and Dellekamp Architects It is said that this route has been the favorite of pilgrims for over 200 years the peregrinos had a rough time of it: eating little and sleeping on rocky ground were very much in keeping with the spirit of the pilgrimage: enduring pain and doing penance in the hopes of thereby gaining a spiritual reward the Jalisco government stepped in to alleviate some of the problems that inevitably occur when crowds of people show up at the same spot out in the countryside portable toilets now await the pilgrims at these waypoints as well as garafones (20-liter bottles) of water they can get a good night’s sleep and nurse their blisters in one of hundreds of hotels offering accommodations for every imaginable price range What to do once you have visited the Virgin and rested up from the long Here it should be noted that Talpa was recently added to the list of Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos Some of that magic can be appreciated simply by strolling down just about any street in town very nice murals full of imagination and color you may end up calling this town Mural City you will also find plenty of shops and stands selling curious little knick-knacks made of — would you believe it made from the white sap that oozes out of diagonal cuts in the bark of a “bush” that can grow 10 meters tall The sap is mixed with water and cooked a long time it is kneaded and pounded again and again until it reaches the right consistency to be used for artistic purposes unflavored and designed for pleasing the eye rather than the palate there are several outdoor sites well worth a visit: This Maple Forest which you’d expect to find in Canada have been living side-by-side with giant ferns happily surviving together since Pleistocene times A one-kilometer trail takes you on a hike well worth your while through this cloud forest shaded by lichen-covered maples where you will cross moss-covered logs over little bubbling brooks This particular species of maple (Acer binzayedii) is unique and found nowhere else in the world This is a mini mountain 23 kilometers east of Talpa immediately alongside the highway to Guadalajara but you may have the sensation that you’ve just stepped onto another planet You will see bizarre wave-like rock formations you’d swear were created by Salvador Dali or Antonio Gaudí You will find this delightful waterfall 10 kilometers west of Talpa and on a weekday you will probably be the only person enjoying it The cascade is about 30 meters high and is named after a nearby silver mine At the waterfall’s foot is a picturesque pool where you can swim to your heart’s content in cold ask Google Maps to take you to Cascada de Aranjuez The drive to Talpa takes about three and a half hours from Guadalajara and four hours from Lake Chapala. For a more complete idea of what Talpa has to offer, you may want to watch Luigi Medina’s lively and colorful YouTube videos, which are in Spanish: Talpa 1 and Talpa 2 The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC A fan of docuseries and a food lover who is always in search of coexisting with Mother Nature. unique destinations ideal for day trips during the rainy season The Vallarta Lifestyles editorial team presents some of their peculiarities to help you make the most of your next visit El Tuito is located approximately 40 kilometers south of Puerto Vallarta is a perfect place to start your exploration the plaza invites you to relax and enjoy the tranquil atmosphere You can also visit the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe a beautiful historic building dating back to the 18th century El Tuito is also famous for its production of raicilla approximately two and a half hours from the Puerto Vallarta International Airport Its Main Plaza is a place where spirituality and daily life blend The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary is a focal point and the Talpa Basílica is an impressive religious building you can explore the cobblestone streets and enjoy authentic local food at nearby restaurants Just 100 kilometers northeast of Puerto Vallarta Mascota is a town surrounded by mountains and forests Its Main Plaza is a charming place to enjoy a morning coffee by the kiosko you can explore the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Mascota Historical Museum This small town is also famous for its production of candies about an hour’s drive from the Puerto Vallarta International Airport is a place that transports you back in time Its cobblestone streets and colonial architecture make you feel as if you were in the 19th century is a meeting point for residents and visitors you can explore the San Sebastián Mártir Temple a photogenic spot with a small waterfall among typical houses A fan of docuseries and a food lover who is always in search of coexisting with Mother Nature Four flat pillars shoot towards the Mexican heavens a small but majestic flash in their hazy valley the little town of Lagunillas reclines in the sun they evoke the Biblical story of Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt as she looked back at Sodom the pillars form the outline of a giant crucifix the chapel was designed by Mexico City architects Derek Dellekamp and Tatiana Bilbao a small piece of iron represents the wound in Jesus’ side This is the first stop on the Ruta del Peregrino project – one of the most thoughtful architectural schemes in Mexico for decades it will provide a series of nine contemporary structures chapels and lookout points along the 117km route from the town of Ameca to the church in Talpa de Allende which has been attracting pilgrims for the 366 years since it played host to a miraculous apparition attributed to the Virgin Mary orchestrated a group of young international architects to come together for the project each picking a site and creating their own vision The 3 million pilgrims that make the annual three-day hike to Talpa will have a look at modern architecture the like of which most of them will never have seen “These are really abstract pieces of architecture It’s more land art than architecture – and there isn’t anything else like it in Mexico.” The architecture may not be internationally ground-breaking – but in Mexico The Ruta del Peregrino achieves the rarely attempted: to make Mexican Catholicism cool The facade of one church along the way is a collage of china plates Another has at the top of its steeple a neon red cross But this is what the pilgrims are used to and until the government’s publicity campaign takes off they will be the main audience for the new structures The project’s immediate challenge is to connect with these walkers – Catholics of all ages and mostly arriving in Holy Week – and provide something relevant to them While it does not attempt to replace established chapels and shelters or use architectural muscle to detract attention from the route neither does it defer entirely to pilgrims’ expectations It goes for the middle ground: challenging “To make a spot where nature and the pilgrim understand the territory through the building,” is architect Luis Aldrete’s take on it Though every architect has created something abstract and personal religion and nature are also integral to the project the practice featuring Chilean architects Alejandro Aravena and Diego Torres What looks like a periscope peeps out from the top of the Devil’s Spine A rectangular concrete box – missing two sides – appears to have crashed from the sky like Dorothy’s house arriving in Oz looks over the hill just climbed and deep down into the valley below The other looks towards a patch of pine trees and white crosses traditionally planted on behalf of would-be pilgrims who are too old or sick to make it It is a passage from one landscape into another lit only by a small skylight with tracery that projects the Virgin Mary’s image on to the floor it is an invitation to the most daredevil of skateboarders – so much so that it is the only structure coated with greenish-grey anti-graffiti paint with salt stalactites forming on the ceiling and a large agave plant growing peacefully underneath The Devil’s Spine looks down on the most showy work the Swiss firm HHF Architects’ Guava Tree lookout point walls peeling off from each other at curves and large viewing platform come together surreally the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei – best known as co-designer of the Beijing Olympic Stadium – fittingly contributes a giant diving board to the Jaliscan sierra His practice Fake Design’s walkway of an open chapel cuts into a hill on its northern side and plunges out into the southern air so that when you enter you can choose to go right – north – with your surroundings blocked out by the high walls leaving only views of the sky and the hill ahead of you Or you can go south and sit on the ridge that goes all the way around the edge the lack of much to look at does leave one’s attention free for reflection they blend in well enough not to be noticed until they are pointed out with a wide section of brick jali to let the wind and a faint light in hundreds of pilgrims are wedged in here side by side like cigarettes in a box though most will only rest a few hours before getting up to walk in the early morning cool and you just see lots of beautiful landscape But you see a church or a tower and it gives meaning to the landscape That’s what I’m trying to do – inject meaning into the territory,” says Aldrete wrote a short story in which a sick man is dragged along this route by his wife and brother The guilty lovers know that the journey will kill him and indeed he dies of exhaustion when he gets to the church in Talpa designed by Dellekamp with Rozana Montiel’s practice Periférica “I am really passionate about symbols I thought universal symbols were the way to go and circles are certainly a universal symbol,” says Dellekamp “We looked at a lot of photos of circles – Stonehenge African children sitting down making a circle with their feet.” A ring of white concrete balances among trees in a wood A free-standing 3m high gap under one side lets you out and shows what a challenge it was not to alter the landscape has managed to take place at all is a big step in Mexico To come this far – with only two structures by Tatiana Bilbao and Christ & Gantenbein still to be built – has required the agreement of all the local municipalities the Church and the donation of most of the land on which the structures stand is built on an old maize field that used to belong to Lagunillas a group of over 70 representatives of the community decided to donate their farmland – despite the chapel’s deeply unfamiliar style some people didn’t come to the meeting about the sculpture so they couldn’t vote,” he smiles And now everyone comes and stops and looks at it.” Don José has a particular interest as he sells walking-sticks to the pilgrims that pass by the chapel from the government’s point of view the project’s sights are set far higher than just making the pilgrims’ passage a little easier This is about tourism on many levels: religious tourism Santiago de Compostela is the success story on everyone’s minds – to the extent that the government of Talpa is trying to initiate the twinning of the two towns But don’t let the sordid money issues dampen the excitement This project sets quite a few national precedents in Mexico You see a church or a tower and it gives meaning to the landscape Sign In Subscribe Now Real-life besties Marta Méndez Cross (Maria) and Virginia Novello (Sofia) pooled their mighty talents to write and star in Las Tres Sisters - an ambitious indie road picture that exemplifies the notion that the miracle you pray for isn’t always the one you get.  Lucia and Sofia spent many an hour together listening as their abuela (grandmother) regaled them with a fabulous retelling of the six-day 135-mile annual pilgrimage to the Talpa de Allende and the shrine of the miracle-working Virgin of the Rosary.  the estranged sisters reunite to complete their beloved grandmother’s pilgrimage through rural Mexico their journey on the Talpa de Allende trail is filled with hilarious and all-too-relatable sibling moments From heart-wrenching confrontation to slapstick comic relief and the unexpected ways miracles appear in our lives Las Tres Sisters plays at the Salmar Classic Theatre this week on Saturday  Tickets are available at the door for $8 (cash only).  Dialogue and debate are integral to a free society and we welcome and encourage you to share your views on the issues of the day. We ask that you be respectful of others and their points of view, refrain from personal attacks and stay on topic. To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines Un recorrido de Guadalajara a Vallarta con vehículos todoterreno acabó con un secuestro Se desconoce si ya fueron liberados todos los plagiados: Crédito: Especial En esta imagen aparece el mismo grupo de amigos en un viaje anterior al de la semana pasada cuando fueron secuestrados al llegar a Puerto Vallarta a bordo de sus vehículos tipo RZR Talpa de Allende has a high level of seismic activity Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900 there are about 117 quakes on average per year in or near Talpa de Allende Talpa de Allende has had at least 2 quakes above magnitude 7 since 1900 which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently probably on average approximately every 60 to 65 years The quake had a very shallow depth of 4.6 km (2.9 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so) There have been 33 quakes of magnitude 3.0+ in or near Talpa de Allende in the past 30 days 2025 at around 12.13 am local time (America/Mexico City GMT -6) Details of the quake (if it is one) are so far preliminary until confirmed by a seismic agency but the event was reported by the Raspberry Shake Citizen Seismic network and is likely to be confirmed by other agencies soon.