Los Colomos

The Bosque Los Colomos is an an important urban forest and park straddling the northwestern border of Guadalajara with neighboring Zapopan. The forest is one of the most important in the metropolitan area and one of the most emblematic. People come for picnics, to stroll through the trees, and for photographic shoots among the gardens, playing fields and pools. 

The park dates to water works done at the end of the 19th century when engineer Agustín V. Pascal began working to supply the city with as much water as the town could use. Within a few years, the protected area was declared a parkland by Governor Luis del Carmen Curiel. It has been, more recently, declared a protected natural area since 2007. At 93.29 hectares, it's quite a big area and home to a tremendous diversity of plants and trees, and some 160 species of wildlife.

The park is named for the watering holes used by those traveling from Guadalajara to the Zapopan Basilica. The pools along the river were named for the Xanthosoma roseum, the elephant eared flowering plants that are locally known as colomos. That name soon came to be applied to the river and water pools themselves. Today, colomos plants are used in bio-remediation processes and they're still considered an important part of the overall ecosystem in the park and across the region.

The park is famously home to the twin Mexican garden and one designed as a Japanese garden donated by the people of Kyoto in Japan. It remains a symbol of friendship between the two peoples. It opened in 1994 and still boasts a temple in honor of the goddess, Dagoin Samboin.

Today, the park is a favorite for visitors from all over the region. Easily walkable from the Plaza Patria station on the light rail train, it's about a half hour walking west on the Avenida Patria.