Hunt for the Highland Hermit: Mystic philosophy, salubrious thistles & a beauteous belvedere
Many years ago I heard a rumor that there was a “man of letters” living in the hills near Atemajac de Brizuelas, high above the salt flats of Sayula. “His name is Alfredo and he’s been living in a cabin all by himself for 15 years,” a friend told us.
Curious to meet a modern-day hermit, we climbed a bumpy dirt road to a lonely area full of tall pines. At an altitude of 2,700 meters, we came to a small, rustic shack. Yes, it was the home of Alfredo the Hermit but he was hardly alone. Seven or eight visitors were seated with him on stumps and logs behind his cabin and – hard to believe – all were engaged in a lively discussion of the nature of time.
“You have to visit La Estación Bicicleta,” I was told again and again by friends who know the Primavera Forest well. “It’s such a cool place and they have a restaurant, too.”
Jaime Villa is a farmer who decided two years ago to start a wildlife sanctuary in the foothills of the Tequila Volcano. “The land,” he explained, “belongs to our ejido and it’s too rocky for farming. However, it’s extraordinarily beautiful and home to all kinds of animals and birds. So we applied to the government to set up a Management Unit for Wildlife Conservation (Unidad de Manejo para la Conservacion de Vida Silvestre or UMA) on 433 hectares of the land and our petition was granted. During the last two years, with the help of a grant, we’ve created a nature trail 350 meters long, a site for camping and picnicking, a hanging bridge, and a mirador with a spectacular view.”
I was about to start a game of racquetball with my friend Rodrigo Orozco when his cell phone beeped. The text message was from an unknown caller. “I’ve been bitten by a tarantula. What do I do?” were the words on the small screen.
My Coolpix camera was beginning to show signs of its age and I suspected it might freeze on me completely one day, no doubt right in the middle of some momentous event I was covering for the Guadalajara Reporter. Such a possibility was, of course, completely unthinkable, so I turned to Google to check out the prices of the new Coolpix AW100, which is waterproof and drop-proof with a built-in GPS: the perfect camera for a dangerous cliff-hanging trail or an underground river.
Members of Jalisco’s oldest hiking and camping club told me they had a mission.