Petroglyphs at Alta Visa

By Sara Alexander

About 55 miles north of Vallarata off highway 200 (about 2 hrs. driving time) are the petroglyphs near Alta Vista. After the town of La Penita de Jaltemba there will be a small cemetary just visible on the right hand hillside. Just after that is the turn off to Alta Vista. Now, the road sign is only for traffic going south so you can drive right by without knowing it. There are no other road signs to his place. Here are photos of where to turn right.  Turn down this road.  Go about 1 mile down this tree line road. Turn right here. Go right at this sign. Drive until the road makes a Y with this gate between the two roads.  You can park there to turn down the right hand road.   The road from then on gets narrower and progressively worse.  I would only recommend it if you have a 4WD that has been jacked up. It is about a 45 minute walk to the main entrance where there is a palapa and you pay an admission of 20 pesos.

After the entrance gate you will follow a stream for about 20 minutes. It is nicely cool in the shade of the trees after the walk down the rough road. There are no maps or directions here either, so stay on the left hand side of the stream. Some of the petroglyphs have signs near them but most don’t and there are around 2000 scattered over 80 hectacres.

The stream is bordered by these wonderful rock formations and several small pools.  That middle pool is deep enough to swim in this area will allow dogs and mine had a great time. This is a Huichol site that is still used for their ceremonies, so please treat it with respect.