An enterprising family has transformed Amatitán’s impressive Ruinas de Chimulco into a restaurant which is not only charming and picturesque, but, I’ll venture to say, unique, because its table-side pool is fed by a qanat, a kind of underground aqueduct which was invented in Persia 3,000 years ago.
Amatitán is located 33 kilometers northwest of Guadalajara and is worth visiting if only to see its church – reconstructed by Luis Barragán, Mexico’s most famous architect – which houses four “forgotten” paintings by iconic muralist José Clemente Orozco. On top of that, Amatitán claims to be the true birthplace of tequila and has an impressive museum which purports to prove just that.
In 2010, Amatitán officials asked my caving club to map the qanat which has supplied water to a pool alongside the plaza for centuries. During this task we discovered four passages totaling 113 meters in length, with an air temperature of 18 degrees and 83 percent humidity. No sooner had we handed our map over to the municipality than a local tourist guide told us about another qanat called El Chimulco, located at the southeastern end of town.
“Let’s have a look,” I told Ezequiel García, and several days later I found myself with caver Luis Rojas and bat expert Leonel Ayalla, peering through a doorway at an ancient swimming pool enclosed by four walls and an arched ceiling.
The water was coming from the town’s second qanat, which turned out to be nearly 50 meters long, reaching deep into the nearby hillside to a spot where water had been found ages ago.
We surveyed the tunnels, handed local officials our map and heard nothing more about the place until a few days ago when I learned that El Chimulco was now a restaurant. “Let’s check it out,” I told my wife Susy and friend Rodrigo Orozco.
We found the place with some difficulty, since El Chimulco has neither a sign nor a street number. It’s on Calle Aurelio López, 100 meters south of the plaza, right where number 37 would be if anyone paid attention to numbers in a small town. “That can’t be it,” said Rodrigo Orozco. “It’s a convent.”
Some enticing smells were coming from the doorway of that “convent,” and once we were inside, we discovered we had indeed entered Restaurante Ruinas de Chimulco, but there was no one there to receive us. That’s because you still have to walk some 85 meters from the entrance to the ruins. Don’t be afraid, just continue walking forward and you will soon come to a beautiful grassy area, dominated by the gorgeous old ruins. As you approach closer, you’ll come to a narrow stream of fast-moving water. There’s a bridge over this little river, but, of course, no gringo-style sign showing where that bridge is. Just wander about until you find it on your own and you will soon arrive at the principal ruin enclosing the qanat-fed pool.
No sooner had we sat down at our table than we were visited by Mayra Rosales, one of the owners. “These ruins are almost 300 years old,” she told us. “They go back to 1729. As you can see, the style here is Arabian. You can find pools like this, enclosed by four walls, in Morocco. The roof above us is vaulted and no beams were used to support it.”
Rosales told us this “casco de hacienda” (mini-hacienda?) had been built by the leading families of Amatitán for swimming, dining and relaxing.
“I am 58,” she continued, “and I came to this place when I was eight years old with my mother, who would bring a tubful of clothes here to wash. All along the river that flows out of here were rustic ‘lavaderos de piedra,’ flat rocks set up for washing clothes with a brush and soap and I helped my mother do this chore with a little bucket I would fill up and pour out.”
She pointed to two tall pitayos growing on the wall above the pool. “I remember looking up at those pitayos as a little girl ... and they are still here! When my family bought this land, my husband said we have to remove those pitayos because they could fall on top of somebody. But I replied, ‘look, if they haven’t fallen down during 50 years, they’re never going to fall down.’ So they are still here.”
People told the Rosales family they should make a balneario (water park) among these ruins, but Mayra didn’t listen to them. “That would result in radically changing this place and we want to conserve it as it is,” she said. “Even though, I must admit, everyone in Amatitán learned to swim right here in this pool.”
During our meal we got to try several of El Chimulco’s specialty dishes, including pineapple stuffed with shrimp, which I found delicious. Unfortunately, along with our food, plenty of flies arrived as well. Be prepared! This, perhaps, will not be a problem after dark, when most of the restaurant’s clients show up and the place really looks spectacular.
After eating, we strolled into the qanat, where a boardwalk has been installed and lights strung. The fact that water is still flowing through these tunnels after 300 years is testimony to the reliability of a technology which spread from Persia to China, to Rome, and – via Arabia – to Spain, from which it was carried to the new world. Indeed, Guadalajara might not be situated where it is today if a vast system of qanat tunnels had not been dug in the hills above La Venta del Astillero (all the way to Nextipac), providing this important waypoint along the Camino Real with water during the dry season.
After drinking a local tequila or dining at El Chimulco, I suggest you stretch your legs by walking south from the restaurant 100 meters to a huge, spectacular arch. Only 170 meters beyond the arch you will find the ruins of the Taberna Ardillera, one of many distilleries located in or near Amatitán. To really appreciate this and many other historical sites around this town, you might want to check out Aventuratemx.com which organizes tours of Amatitán’s attractions, including ancient tabernas, modern-day distilleries and, of course, El Chimulco ruins and restaurant. Call Omar Ceja at Whatsapp 331-944-6728.
How to get there
Drive out of Guadalajara toward Nogales, following libre Highway 15 west 38 kilometers to Amatitán. As you descend to the town, you’ll notice a cemetery on your right. On your left is Calle Niños Heroes. It’s the very first street of Amatitán. Turn left onto this street and go south, 643 meters, directly to Amatitán’s main plaza.
The driving time is about 35 minutes.