In the late 1990s, Fernando Aragón Cruz, guiding bird researchers from the University of Albuquerque, collected a sample of Sugar Maple near Talpa de Allende, 50 kilometers southeast of Puerto Vallarta.
As native maples were previously only found in Jalisco’s Manantlán Nature Reserve, Mexican botanists were surprised. Their amazement grew upon visiting the site. Driving up La Cumbre hill at 1,764 meters altitude to El Refugio arroyo, they discovered not just one maple tree but an entire wood within an ancient fir-maple-conifer cloud forest. This ecosystem, rich in diverse tree and plant species, included flora dating back to the Pleistocene and possibly the Tertiary era. The botanists wondered how this ecological marvel had thrived for millions of years.
Botanist José Antonio Vázquez, with 20 years of field experience, described the forest as “exceedingly rich in structure and composition, possibly emerging after the North American glaciers melted.”
Rumors of a maple forest near Talpa had circulated for years, but precise locations remained elusive until botanist Miguel Cházaro called me one day.
“John, found a new hot spring on Río Verde – interested?”
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