Located a few minutes from the historical town of San Miguel de Allende, El Charco del Ingenio is a Botanical Garden and outstanding Nature Preserve. It also displays a vast botanical collection of cacti and other Mexican plants, many of which are rare, threatened or in danger of extinction. It was a local initiative born in 1990 which resolved to rescue and protect a unique area of great environmental, scenic and historical value, open to all as a community resource. From the initial rescue of El Charco canyon –threatened by the fast urban sprawl of San Miguel—and the creation of the Botanical Garden, the site has experienced fundamental changes. It became since then a place devoted to preserve its natural resources as well as a wide collection of succulent plants coming from various regions of Mexico.