To start off the 2018 A to Z Challenge, I’d like to tell you about a little town called Los Amoles. Its full name is Cerro de Los Amoles (Hill of Los Amoles–I haven’t been able to find out what Amoles means though) and it is part of the municipality of Moroleon, just like La Yacata. However, Los Amoles is 2361 meters above sea level and that makes a world of difference.
Los Amoles is at the center of that snow-topped mountain.
We’ve been to Los Amoles on several occasions. We’ve hiked up the mountain to pick capulines (chokeberries) which only grow in that area. We’ve been caught in hail storms and flash floods while driving over the mountain. My husband and son drove the motorcycle through a lagoon on a quest for wild horses said to roam free in the area. And my American sister-in-law fell and knocked out a tooth while picnicking in these parts. Good times!
More recently, the powers that be decided to create an eco-park in Los Amoles. I thought it would be something interesting to see, so we went. The actual road to the park isn’t well marked. There’s only 1 sign pointing the way. You need to drive past the church, the local drinking spot, and the plaza de toros (bull ring) even to get to that sign. But we found it!
It seems the entrance is yet unfinished. The gate is a wired stick contraption. One of the workers said it was to keep the free roaming chickens, pigs, horses, cows and other animals from destroying the area.
As you can see, it was actually very nice! There are solar lights, individual cookout areas, wooden playsets for the kids and some saplings that one day will grow into trees providing the animals don’t eat them first.
According to this article, the eco-park will also have some zip lines, cabins you can rent to stay in, and some biking trails but that hasn’t materialized yet. Maybe there will be more signs up to direct visitors once those attractions are up and running?
Surviving Mexico 
The panorama is beautiful! Lovely start to the challenge. Looking forward to more. Happy A-zing.
Nilanjana
Madly-in-Verse
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Thanks for joining AtoZ! I always think it would be so interesting to go back to places like this, developing attractions, a few years later and see how they’ve evolved.
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Things in Mexico take so long to finish but I hope that this project is as nice as planned! Thanks for stopping by!
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What a fun place to visit. I’ve never been to Mexico . . . yet!
https://marcyhowes.blogspot.com/
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There’s certainly a lot to see in Mexico!
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Los Amoles looks beautiful. If the build the cabins or other sleeping environment, they could market that as a group camping / getaway retreat destination. Signage would help, for sure! The mountain road must be loads of fun in hail storms (where is that sarcasm font when you need it?).
Emily In Ecuador
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Ah Moroleon! It is only 2.5 to 3 hours away from our area of Morelia, Michoacan. I know this only as during our first road trip from Chicago to Morelia, I mistook it for Morelia. I became super excited after fifteen hours of continuous driving from the US/Mexico border. I will certainly visit here from the shorter drive from Morelia. That is a marvelous moutain and great photo of it!
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Yeah, Moroleon is not Morelia by a long shot. Although only about 50 minutes in distance, they are centuries apart in culture!
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Amoles are plants whose roots have detergent properties so it is used as soap. It’s originally from the Nahuatl word for soap. Apparently they are similar to yucca or agave. So, Cerro de los Amoles is Mount of the Soap Plants? Or, Soap Plant Mountain!
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Neat! I’ll have to keep my eyes open for plants that may have given the town its name next time we go through.
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This El Cerro de Los Amoles belonged to my Great Grandfather 100 years ago Refugio Lopez Bedoya.
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WOW!
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