Barranca del Cupatitzio

Uruapan keeps a rainforest gorge inside its street grid. At the head of the Barranca del Cupatitzio, water emerges from the rock at the spring called the Rodilla del Diablo - the Devil's Knee, where legend has a friar forcing the devil to kneel and the spring appearing - and from that source the river runs about a kilometre down a shaded canyon to the park's lower gate. The 1930s design turned the descent into a promenade: stone-edged pools, dozens of engineered cascades and fountains, arched bridges and paths under a canopy of tree ferns, cedars and enormous strangler figs, with mist, birdsong and the constant white noise of falling water. Trout ponds, a nursery of Michoacan flora and craft stalls occupy the flats. The park is named for Eduardo Ruiz and treated by Uruapan as its living room - joggers at dawn, families and photographers by midday, wedding parties in every clearing on Saturdays. The river continues downstream to the Tzararacua falls; the city's avocado wealth grows in the same volcanic soil that makes this water so abundant.

What's there

• The Devil's Knee spring - the river appearing from rock.
• The cascade promenade - stone pools and fountains all the way down.
• The canopy - tree ferns, cedars and figs over the gorge.
• The trout ponds and stalls - the park's cheerful flats.

When to go

Mornings for mist, birds and empty paths; November to May keeps the trails driest. Weekends fill with families and photo shoots.

Things to know

Paths are wet, mossy and stepped - grip matters. Swimming is not the point here; the pools are ornamental. The park closes at dusk, and the surrounding city needs ordinary urban attention.

Nearby

The Tzararacua waterfall lies downstream by road; Paricutin's lava fields and Angahuan are an hour northwest.