The Huichol Route is Mexico’s most likely next nomination. Being a cultural route and cultural landscape belonging to a surviving native tradition, it will tick all the boxes quickly. It’s not an easy site to grasp though. And most of the 5 locations are far off the beaten track in the mountains and deserts of central Mexico and need permission to visit from the community. But there is a relatively easy one near the city of Guadalajara: Xapawleyeta is located on Isla de los Alacranes in Lake Chapala. The lake area itself is a weekend destination for the city people and a popular spot for American retirees due to its sunny and warm micro-climate. (Side note: I wandered into a nice looking place for lunch in the town of Ajijic, noticed that there were many elderly Americans already seated when the restaurant manager said to me: “You’re not here for the bingo, are you?” I was out really quick!)

Direct buses to Chapala leave every half hour from Guadalajara’s old bus station. At the pier of Chapala, there’s a kiosk where you normally should be able to buy a boat transfer, but it was closed when I arrived at 9 am and stayed that way all morning. At 10, a boatsman started privately selling tours in front of the kiosk, he had a list with destinations and prices. The cost for Isla de los Alacranes (Scorpion’s Island) is 520 pesos (23 EUR) for a return, including a visit to the island of half an hour. You charter a whole boat, not a seat.

Lake Chapala is the biggest lake in Mexico, but it is not that large. Within 10 minutes, we arrived at the Isla de los Alacranes. I had read terrible things about it beforehand: that it is overrun by tourists, has a lot of trash and too many restaurants. But due to being early, I was the only one around. To me, the presence of a variety of birds and flowery trees was a pleasant surprise. The island is tiny, it takes less than 5 minutes to walk from one end to the other.

It wasn’t hard finding the sacred place of the Wixárika (Huichol) Indians: it lies right in front of the boat landing and has a bilingual information panel. What you’ll see is a rocky outcrop, with the remains of a stone hut on it. Inside the hut, offerings (candles, coconuts, ribbons) have been left. There’s also a sacred tree. What it means to them is a representation of one of the three mythological circles from which humanity emerged. According to the legend, Watakame (“the first cultivator”) was saved from a great flood here, he cut down a zalate tree to build a canoe and rescued himself together with a female black dog, who later transformed into the first woman and the mother of humanity. As a sacred place, it is where the Wixárika come on their yearly pilgrimages to bring offerings to their ancestors and the divinities.

The 5 locations are a coherent whole, consisting of 5 sacred places covering the 4 cardinal points and the center. So despite it being a small place, I am pretty sure Xapawleyeta on the Isla de los Alacranes will be included in a future nomination. I am very curious about what the other locations look like.