Winter for Waterfalls

When to shoot waterfalls depends on what part of Mexico you are in and whether you are shooting color or black and white.  In central Mexico, summer rains produce rich foliage...and reddish water, yuk!  By December, the water is clean but you lose the green, a good excuse to go back to Ansel Adams and John Sexton and zone out in black and white.  This photo was taken below the Tixhiñu waterfall in the state of Mexico in January.

Chorros del Varal, Los Reyes, Michoacan

It only took a postcard to get me here back in 1992, and some Spanish to stop and ask along the dirt road heading west out of Los Reyes if this was the way to the waterfalls.  No signs.  At that point, only a couple miles from the falls, we were driving through flat sugar cane fields.  At one little town, there was a rope across the road.  We stopped and paid the unofficial five peso fee to be able to continue.  This is Mexico.  A map will only get you so far, then you have to ask directions.  And if you come to a rope and need to pay a tip, just pay it.  Don't be the ugly American and request a receipt.  Believe me, the final destination, more often than not, will be well worth it!