Parícutin

Parícutin is the volcano that was born in a farmer's field. On the afternoon of 20 February 1943, Dionisio Pulido and his family were clearing their cornfield near the village of Parícutin in Michoacán when the ground swelled and split open, hissing and smelling of rotten eggs. Within a day a cone of cinders fifty metres high stood where the furrows had been; within a year it had grown to more than 330 m. For the first time, scientists could watch and record the entire life of a volcano of this type from its first breath to its last, which came in 1952, when the cone stood 424 m above the valley floor.

The eruption was slow enough that no one died from lava or ash — three people were killed by lightning generated in the eruption clouds — but it swallowed two villages. Parícutin disappeared entirely, and the lava that crept across the town of San Juan Parangaricutiro in 1944 left only the upper part of its church standing above a black, jagged sea of rock. The people were resettled, founding San Juan Nuevo. Before he left, Pulido is said to have put up a sign declaring that the volcano was owned and operated by him. The eruption drew reporters from around the world despite the war, served as the backdrop for the Hollywood film Captain from Castile, and inspired Mexican painters from Dr Atl to Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Today Parícutin is quiet but still warm: rainwater seeping into it rises again as steam. It is the youngest of about 1,400 volcanic vents in the Michoacán–Guanajuato volcanic field, part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, and lies within Pico de Tancítaro National Park. The classic visit starts in the village of Angahuan, from where the cone is clearly visible. Local guides lead the way on horseback through forest, agave fields and avocado groves, first to the ruined church — where the old altar is still decorated with candles and fresh flowers — and then to the volcano, whose last few hundred metres of loose, steep cinder must be climbed on foot to reach the rim of a crater about 200 m across.

Getting there

Peribán de Ramos is about 18 km away; Uruapan, about 29 km to the east, is the usual base. Uruapan International Airport (UPN) is about 25 km from the volcano. The main access is from Angahuan, where guides and horses can be hired; a guide is needed even on foot, as the path is not well marked.