El Charco del Ingenio is often simply referred to as San Miguel de Allende Botanical Garden. Because of this, I’m not sure what I was expecting the first time we visited in late 2021—a small property with a number of native flowering plants and an enclosed conservatory squeezed in, perhaps?
In reality, this is a massive reserve sprawled out on the edge of San Miguel’s Old Town. It straddles both sides of a large reservoir and a cascading river that has cut an impressive gorge.
During our first visit, we were able to cross the river to the north side where there is a stone labyrinth, church ruins, and a few miles of trails to explore.
Here in the middle of rainy season, the river is too high to cross, so we stuck to the south side. In doing so, we realized there was about a third of the park we weren’t able to explore last time.
Here in July, the dam is wide open, meaning we should actually see some falls a bit downriver that we weren’t able to see in December.
El Charco spans 217 acres and traces its roots back to a 16th-century grain mill—the remnants of which can still be seen in the park.
El Charco has got to be one of the most impressive, best maintained, and cleanest parks and reserves we’ve come across in Mexico.
Also visible along the gorge’s edge are the remains of an old aqueduct that was used to transport water to the Aurora textile factory—now a museum and art gallery.
The southeastern section of the reserve resembles more of a botanical garden, with different species of flowering cacti and a large glass and mesh conservatory housing tropical plants.
We took an Uber to El Charco but decided that the 25-minute mostly-downhill walk back to the town might be nice on this very pleasant day. The last part of the journey offered some pretty nice views of town.
We don’t usually opt for cutting through markets as short cuts, but SMA’s narrow streets (and extremely narrow sidewalks) don’t make for easy walking with kids.
SMA’s network of market alleys offers a relatively easy way to get from Plaza Civica all the way back to El Portal where we catch our bus back to the RV Park and Hotel San Ramon.
