Comala: Walking tour of Comala and Ex-Hacienda de Nogueras
(Available daily except Monday)

Time: 3 to 4 hours
Includes: Museum entrance, snack
Exertion level: Moderate
Preparation: Comfortable clothes and shoes for walking; sun protection

This walking tour has two purposes: to experience Comala’s unique blend of town and country life, and to learn more about the history of Comala and the surrounding area.

Horses are a genuine and integral part of daily life here. It’s not only that the milkman still arrives by horseback, it’s also that horses are treasured for their beauty, ceremonial value and accomplished dancing. So we begin our tour with local horse trainers, where day after day, local stallions and boarded horses from Colima and Guadalajara are put through their paces as they learn the dancing and prancing that has made them famous.

Next we stop at the Comalteco coffee company and enjoy a sample of their finely toasted, export-quality brew while the staff explain the process of buying, cleaning, drying and toasting their product.

We then walk to Nogueras to tour the former Hacienda de Nogueras, which dates from the 17th Century and which was acquired by the University of Colima in 1994. We visit the collections of the last private owner of the hacienda, the artist Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo. On view are his paintings and furniture creations which have placed a permanent stamp on the style and decoration of Comala. In addition we see Rangel’s fine collection of pre-Hispanic pottery and figures all gathered on the original grounds of the hacienda.

We then enter the adjacent Eco-Parque, a park dedicated to improving our relationship with the natural environment. It is also a migratory haven for ducks and geese, and a turtle conservation program.

Our return route passes through the “lungs of Comala,” the protected old-growth trees and coffee plantations that line the road from Nogueras back to the center of Comala.

In the historic center, we’ll tarry a few moments in the garden, with the bronze statue of the renowned Mexican author Juan Rulfo. He chose the name “Comala” for the fictitious name of the town in his novel Pedro Páramo.

On the way home we stop in with Doña Chuy whose hand-made tortillas fresh off the comal remind us of how Comala got its name. Comalli is the nahuatl word for “place where comals are made.”