Not long ago I discovered that Mexico’s most famous modernizer (and most infamous dictator), Porfirio Díaz, used to enjoy soaking in his own personal hot-spring pool at the foot of Mazatepec Volcano, located 25 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara. “Yes,” a local old timer told me, “he actually deviated the Guadalajara-Manzanillo railroad track (which he inaugurated in 1908) so it would pass by here. He even had a train station built here just so he could go for a swim in this pool”
Well, that little station’s days of glory ended when Don Porfirio’s thirty years of automatic reelection provoked the Mexican Revolution and I wondered whether the old building would still be standing. So, a few days ago, I decided to go take a look.
It took only five minutes to drive from the Circuito Metropolitano Sur highway to the spot where people said we would find the station, which looked in relatively good shape considering it might be over 100 years old. All the old train stations I’ve seen in Jalisco look very similar (and charming, I might add) and I wonder who designed them. Back in Don Porfirio’s day, Mexico’s railroads were being constructed by foreign engineers, British and American, but I couldn’t find any information on exactly who built the Guadalajara-Manzanillo line.
According to Tony Burton, author of "Western Mexico, a Traveler’s Treasury," this train station was closed to the public in the early 1990s and all passenger service between Guadalajara and Manzanillo ended a few years later. This is too bad because, adds Burton, a 1899 guidebook to Mexico said the views from the train, near Mazatepec, were extraordinary, “and after leaving Valencia there is a splendid view of mountain, lake and plain, aqueducts here and there and different levels with long lines of graceful arches.” In particular he mentions that the picturesque view of the Hacienda of Bella Vista was “one of the most pleasing panoramas in all Mexico.”
Today, freight trains rumble along this railroad track approximately every four hours, day and night. As for the venerable old Mazatepec train station, it is now badly trashed and covered with graffiti, and has ended up becoming nothing more than a habitat for bats.
Across the tracks, we could see a house which must surely have been built by the railroad. We went over to take a look and a passerby told us this building had been abandoned for years and there would be no problem if we went inside for a tour of the place, which might once have been the home of the station master. The stone wall surrounding it looked quite different from the typical Mexican cerca and to our surprise we discovered that this house had a real basement. Was this cellar perhaps designed to keep plenty of bottles of good French wine cool for Don Porfirio, whose life style was far more European than Mexican?
Having found the train station, our plan was then to try climbing huge Cerro de Mazatepec, whose peak we could see, 442 meters above us. This “hill” is actually an extinct scoria volcano, scoria being volcanic cinder, heavier than pumice, often used in landscaping or for making cheap roadbeds.
I had been told by people near Porfirio’s Pool that there were senderos starting at the train station and leading up to the very top of the volcano, but Don Pablo, a man living next to the tracks, said we’d need a machete to follow those trails, now that the rainy season was in full swing. “Sin embargo (but),” added Don Pablo, “you should have no problem following the path up to La Cruz (The Cross).”
Don Pablo kindly let us park in front of his home and we set off for the cross. After walking about 500 meters from his house, we worked our way up a steep slope, more or less following a fence. After 100 meters, we came to a narrow trail which tunnels through the underbrush, heading upward. After another 50 meters, we emerged from the leafy tunnel at the cross. From here, at 1,564 meters above sea level, we had a nice view of San Isidro Mazatepec and the surrounding hills, all spread out below us.
Afterwards, we drove six kilometers southwest to Lake Valencia for a fish fry. Two years ago this lake, also known as La Presa del Hurtado, suffered an ecological disaster when someone dumped 3,000 tons of molasses into it, killing off all the fish by depriving them of oxygen. Seven months ago I visited the lake and found it looking truly dismal, entirely surrounded by a broad brown band of dead water plants. Now I can report that, superficially, the lake appears quite nice. However, when I asked the waiter where the fish we were eating had been caught, he replied that all the fish they serve now come from Presa de La Vega.
How to get there
From Guadalajara’s Periférico, take highway 54 (Colima) southwest 15.6 kilometers and get off at the Tala-Tlajomulco Circuito Metropolitano Sur. You can also reach this point easily from Ajijic. From here go west 13.6 kilometers until you come to the Mazatepec sign. You’ll see a big cemetery on your right and a pedestrian bridge overhead. Turn left (southwest) immediately after the bridge (N20.51671 W103.61099) and follow the unusually wide cobblestone road 545 meters. Here (N20.51205 W103.61292) turn left and drive southeast 313 meters to the entrance of Balneario Río Escondido, but instead of going in, continue driving east another 290 meters to the old station (N20.50993 W103.60824). If you want to hike to the cross and need a place to leave your car, drive across the rails and go south 91 meters. Now turn east and go 331 meters to Pablo’s house (N20.50882 W103.60592) where you might ask permission to park. From here you can start your walk, following the route named “Mazatepec Volcano Cross” on Wikiloc.com. The Cross is located at N20.50732 W103.61056 and Porfirio Díaz’s hot pool is at N20.51087 W103.61620, now part of Balneario San Antonio. Driving time from Guadalajara or the lake is less than an hour.