Ancient Church of San Juan Parangaricutiro

In 1943, the Paricutín volcano buried the entire town of San Juan Parangaricutiro, in the Mexican state of Michoacán.

All its inhabitants survived, but were forced to leave their old home, in an exodus that took them to a relatively old former hacienda, where they rebuilt their town, from scratch: it is the municipality that we know today as Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro.You don't have to take a guide or a horse. You need to be able to climb the lava rock with a body. Some people may be happy to walk to the site and not climb the rocks. This might work if you're looking for the religious experience of being close to the church. This won't work if you're looking for photo-ops. The hike in takes approximately 30 minutes. With loose gravel and large rocks, it's all dirt, but it's very easy. It's marked on both sides by concrete curbs. Stay on the path and get to the church right. When you arrive by car, drive through the city and ignore all the help offers. There are two places near the end where you can use a bathroom to park for 20 pesos. The second to the last is The Mirador, and as the name implies, from the parking lot there is a great view of the site. Although it's just a little closer, I don't remember the next one. We chose to get to the sunrise and opened only the Mirador. If it's busy, the dust from the horses on the trail might bother you. My recommendation is to see how the wind blows and to adjust your path accordingly. Going early as we did has given us the unique experience of being the only ones on the site for an hour or so. That means no strangers to take in the beauty in your pictures and silence. Numerous restaurants with simple food and beverages are located just outside the site. There are five pesos of clean modern bathroom. Two cars were parked on the site. I read you couldn't get there by car. You can do that. Some restaurant owners owned the cars. They told us that getting there by car was a very long and out of the way route. And if you can't manage the hike in, as I said earlier, there's little point to get in by car as the lava rocks prevent you from going to the church.