CIXX. Un Viaje a Colima y Comala

A Trip to Colima and Comala

One of the attractive plazas in Colima Centro, Jardín Libertad. Portales sheltering the seats of a number of restaurants and bars line three sides of the plaza, the Colima State government office building abuts the fourth. Fountains such as the one pictured are at each corner of the plaza; pathways are directed inward to a central, 19th century Belgian gazebo.

In mid-September our Cazadores de Haciendas group travelled about three and a half hours southwest of our lakeside village to the city of Colima, capital of a small state with the same name that borders on the Pacific Ocean. It was an interesting trip, much of it alongside several large and very shallow lake beds filled at the end of the rainy season, followed by a broken landscape of green canyons and mountain views. Nevado de Colima, the tallest peak we could see at almost 14,000 feet, played peek-a-boo with us. On its southern flank, Volcán de Colima, a still-active volcano, seemed to raise puffs of smoke, or perhaps our imaginations made too much of the wispy clouds. 

La Campana archeological site is located on the outskirts of Colima city. During its heyday, 700-900 CE, it was the largest pre-hispanic settlement in what is now western Mexico. In the distance you see Volcán Colima with Nevado Colima to its left. Notice their alignment with the steps of the small pyramid to the left of two of our Cazadores. 

Our second day in Colima we awoke early, caravanned and GPSed our way through the city to La Campana archeological site. The Mexicans have a habit of partially restoring (above) their pre-hispanic ruins. I'm not sure where exactly their archeologists draw the line at the extent of restoration, perhaps they are trying to strike a balance between "suggestive" and "picturesque".  Regardless, the sixteen of us enjoyed wandering alone or together on and among the rock structures in this one hundred acre area.

We drove another half hour from La Campana to the village of Comala, one of some hundred Pueblo Magicos in Mexico chosen for their picturesque qualities. Comala certainly qualified with its recently white-washed walls, lush and well-tended plaza, all dominated on the near horizon by Volcán Colima. The prehispanic name for this area translates to "Valley of the Flowers". 

After exploring the small centro area, some of us gathered under the portales fronting one side of Comala's main plaza. I ordered the tamarind-flavored ponche made locally and snacked on the complimentary botanas that filled our table. In the midst of this tasty lunch we were startled by a burst of fireworks that set off a large flock of pigeons that had been roosting among the church's belltowers. They encircled the plaza as all the bells pealed loudly for a good long minute. The hullabaloo was in honor of Comala's patron saint, Miguel. That's him in the picture above, barely visible with upraised sword between the two front spires of the church. Our arrival here had coincided with Miguel's fiesta patronal.

A statue on the bench far left in the photo above represents Juan Ruflo, a Mexican writer of the last mid-century who allegedly set his most famous novel in Comala. His boots are being perpetually polished by a bronze, stool-sitting shoeshine boy.  Meanwhile, town folks chat quietly in the mid-day shade around the plaza's fountains. Vendors sell sno-cones and tuba--a fresh and cooling drink made of fermented coconut milk.

Siesta time. Billowing cumulus clouds cover Colima volcano rising in the near distance above the red-tiled rooftops of Comala. Mid-afternoon the Hacienda Hunters gather from various parts of the village and make good their name as they ping-pong through Comala's roadwork detours on the way to Nogueras Hacienda, allegedly only a few miles away.

Nogueras was famously occupied and remodeled for much of the past half-century by a prolific and multi-talented artist, Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo. A section of the buildings holds his paintings and custom furniture, as well as a fantastically well-displayed sample of local prehispanic ceramics, often depicting their revered dogs. Other areas of the ex-hacienda provide homes and workshops for artisans, large and artfully restored main living quarters and a magnificent five acre garden and arboretum, all now overseen by the University of Colima. 

A beautiful embroidered camisa is for sale in one of a dozen or so picturesque tiendas/residencias along the lane in front of the hacienda. Below is a gnarly leaf on the garden patio...Good trip.