More About Benito Juarez - The Town, The Park, The Lookout

We arrive, after 20 kilometers of winding road, to the town of Benito Juarez. This town is part of the Benito Juarez National Park, and part of a community of villages that cooperate to operate a type of eco-tourism centre - hiking nature trails, waterfalls, trout farms, community farming - you get the idea.
There was a short walk (90 minutes or so) to El Mirador, a lookout spot where the Sierra Madre mountains surround you on all sides. Sounded like a plan. We head out with Denise, the only female guide in the town, after paying our 20 peso per person entrance fee to the park and our 120 pesos group fee for the guide.

Other than safety and the feelig that someone is there who knows the route, Denise does not offer much in the way of area knowledge. For 120 pesos, I would recommend you get a guide however - you are helping out the local community and supporting their efforts to make the place appealing and attractive to guests. Who knows, some day they may even put in stairs to the suspension bridge so you don't have to scale a rock face to get there.

As usual in Oaxaca, we begin our hike by climbing. And climb we do. We will eventually end up at this lookout pictured above, after going around the mountain for what seems like 6 switchback turns, up stone steps and between rock faces. The view is well worth any effort, though the additional altitude (we are at about 4000 meters above sea level) makes Ralph a bit lightheaded and myself quickly winded. Other than a bit sweaty, George said he was just fine. That was until our descent had us picking our way through rocks and loose dirt, taking what I am sure was a short cut.
Ralph saw on the map that we were a mere 10 kilometers from Latuvi, and suggested we go and have trout for dinner. After our walk (2 hours and a bit, I guess we were slower than those before us), we pile into the car, and are warmly welcomed at the Cara de Leon Trout Farm. Here is a picture of George and Ralph making sure the fish was fresh.

As usual, another outstanding adventure.