Fifteen years ago I camped in the gorgeous Sierra de Tapalpa at a place overlooking the big salt flats of Sayula, located about 20 kilometers west of Lake Chapala. In those remote woods up above, we discovered Alfredo, a man of letters living alone in a cabin, who seemed to have taken seriously the ancient admonition, “Know thyself.” I wrote an article about this “sagacious hermit-philosopher of the tall pines” in the May 24, 1997 edition of this newspaper.
Unfortunately, in all those years I never got a chance to revisit Alfredo, so last Sunday some friends and I headed up the now beautifully paved highway towards Atemajac de Brisuelas, looking for the pueblito of San Cayetano, near which the philosopher used to live, according to my notes.
Alas, we found no trace of San Cayetano or Alfredo, but – as happens so often when you wander around in rural Mexico – we did discover unexpected, marvelous places (and people) we hadn’t known before.
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