La Garita

La Garita sits at about 1,230 metres above sea level on the bank of the Tamazula River, which is born right here where the La Cuesta creek meets the Sierra del Tigre river. Part of the village lies on the valley floor and part climbs the hills, and Highway 110, the Jiquilpan–Manzanillo road, runs through the middle and splits the upper barrios from the lower ones. The local motto is "Pueblo Alegre", the cheerful town.

The settlement began as the Hacienda de San Lázaro, founded around 1846 according to the oldest residents, where muleteers and merchants travelling between Michoacán and Colima stopped to rest; the name garita is said to mean a refuge. Under the land reform of the Lázaro Cárdenas years the estate became an ejido, work on the highway started in 1940, and in 1946 the village received its own delegación with a civil registry and police.

Today sugarcane is the main crop and goes to the mill in Tamazula; corn and alfalfa are also grown and cattle are raised. Many families have relatives in the United States, above all in Joliet, Illinois. In the centre, the plaza and its bandstand were built with contributions from the residents themselves, and the parish church stands out for its clock tower. The busiest fairs are the Virgen del Sagrario fair, 20 to 30 November, and the San Lázaro fair, 17 to 22 December, with rodeo events, mariachi and concerts.