Travel Guide; Uruapan, Angahuan, Volcan Paricutin, Nexpa
Uruapan is not a very picturesque city. It is about six hours from Mexico City and has a market, a zocalo surrounded by traffic and lots of beggars. On the plus side it has a tropical park with carefully designed waterfalls and the famous "knee print of the devil". I am afraid I didn't get the low down on how they know the actual devil was actually kneeling in the park. There are plenty of signs to the Park as you drive into town and it costs 12 pesos.
There are some nice looking four star hotels on the main square. I stayed in the grim but cheap (100 pesos) Hotel //////////. All the hotels seem to have parking. Tourist info can give you a map - take the road against the traffic towards the park. A bit further on from Bancomer the office is on your right.
The reason one would visit Uruapan is the nearby Paricutin volcano. It is the youngest on the planet, as it came out of a field in February 1943, and it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Two villages were buried by the lava, and you can still see the remains of a church sticking out of the hillside. It is about a forty minute drive from Uruapan. Head out of town past the park along a single lane road. After about fifteen minutes turn left towards Angahuan. At the Pemex in Angahuan turn left and signs will take you past the town square to the visitor centre and museum where you will find guides.
Angahuan is an indigenous community with muddy roads and little wooden huts. The women wear traditional dress and the local language is Purépecha. It is eye-opening to see people living in such poverty in a place fairly near to Mexico City. A much better option than staying in Uruapan would be to find a place here. There are cabanas and a hotel near the visitor centre, or if you want a more interesting experience ask the locals if they know of anywhere to stay - you may be offered a room in someone's house.
Volcan Paricutin is about 9 km from the visitor centre and you can get there by horse or by foot. Walking up to the volcano you can take the interesting route, which involves clambering across the massive lava fields, and passing by some steaming, hot, sulphuric rocks. It looks a long way off, and when you reach the perfectly formed black cone, you have to clamber up through the rocks and sand. I arrived in three and a half hours. After some excellent scree running back down the cone, you reach the horse track. If you walk back along this track it will take another three hours to reach the ruined church, then a bit less than an hour from the church back to the car park. I strongly recommend getting a guide to show you the lava field route. If you lose the path it is very slow going climbing over spikey lose rocks, plus I would never have found my way through the woods at the beginning. My guide charged 200 pesos.
By horse all the way (except the cone) you might get a sore arse and will complete the round trip much more quickly - about four hours. But you don't get to clamber over lava and it costs a bit more, about 350 I think.
If you don't fancy climbing the volcano you can look at it from a distance, and walk or drive to the ruined church where there are some restaurants and souvenir shops on the weekends. The drive is along sandy roads - ask the locals for directions.
From Uruapan you can get back on the Zihuatanejo highway easily, and it is only about two and a half hours to the pacific coast. Nexpa is north of Lazaro Cardenas, at km 55 on highway 200. Follow signs from Lazaro Cardenas to Playa Azul, then, before you arrive, take a right turn onto the 200.
It is a surfing beach with cabanas and hammocks on the seafront. The comfortable ones with air conditioning ($350-400) are next to one of the two shops and are owned by Helen from Somerset and her Mexican husband. The ones nearer the point with a better view of the surfers are $100-200. You can camp for about $20 a night. There are four restaurants and a bar. You will usually find a few foreigners around, and the pool table in the bar is the social hub. If you want to chill out on the beach, but not be completely alone, this is your place. The sea can be rough, and there is a lagoon in which you can swim. Some of the nearby bays have calm water and decent snorkeling if you manage to get out of your hammock and explore a bit.
From Nexpa straight back to Mexico City by car is about 8 hours - more if you get back to the city at rush hour! The places you lose the highway and may want to get the map out are Morelia and Toluca.