In April of 1975 when my wife and I finally completed the two-year hallucinatory ordeal of buying the Colony Reporter (as it was then called), a government fiat ruled Mexican journalism: “NO FREE PRESS.”  Even a hint of such an inclination tended to prompt a strong “Keep that up, we’ll shut you down... and deport you.”  This made publishing a newspaper in Mexico both surreal and a bit scary.  Still, after a period of daunting, if short-lived, wrangles, we concocted strategies that allowed us to dodge the censors.  

When foreigners arrive in Guadalajara, they want to experience or at least see what is currently the dance that has become the world-wide representative of Latin dance — salsa.  However, though salsa has evolved from Latin-American rhythms, it was actually “born” in New York City!   It’s “parents” are actually the Cuban danzon and mambo (which also has its roots in danzon, a dance that is now more alive in Mexico than in Cuba).  While salsa is primarily a dance for the younger and physically fit — especially here in Mexico where a single, fast paced dance can last 15-20 minutes — danzon can be danced by people of all ages and physical abilities.  In fact, the danzon group that I attend in Zapopan includes a woman of 84 and a man in his 60’s who dances with the aid of a cane! 

Most people associate going to the zoo with summer and children on vacation from school. The Guadalajara Zoo is no exception, as, according to zoo public relations staffer Danae Vazquez, summer brings the greatest influx of visitors to the zoo, which is widely known as the best in Latin America.

However, winter — even January — really rock, Vazquez said, because many people enjoy the sparse crowds and active animals at this time of year. 

“The mornings are especially nice” she said, because cool and downright cold temperatures make the animals perkier than ever. “In the afternoons, when it’s a bit warmer, they tend to rest.”

The polar bears were definitely going with the flow as explained by Vazquez. At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday the two males and one female were konked out — collapsed on a ledge just above their beautiful aqua pool, oblivious to visitors peering through large windows from a darkened grotto below ground level, who were hoping to see them show off in their aquarium-style digs. Well, one can hardly blame a polar bear for never, ever, considering Guadalajara invigoratingly chilly.

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However, in the primate area, a hefty orangutang must not have heard Vazquez proclaim that sunny January afternoons are for snoozing. In full sun at 3 p.m., he bounded up one of eight impressively tall towers that have recently been built for the zoo’s five orangutangs. 

The towers are made of slick metal, explained Primate Curator and Veterinarian Luis Soto, so that where a tower is grounded in a visitor area and doesn’t have steps, the orangutangs can’t get down it. “They’re connected by cables that the orangutangs use to get from one tower to the other.” 

On the grass below the acrobat, a mother orangutang nursed her two-year-old baby Chemita for a few seconds before the youngster sauntered away to thrill visitors by executing an effortless somersault and then setting off to scale a precariously tilted log.

Primates in another new area called Monkeyland are just as active, explained tour guide Rosy Cepeda of Charter Club  Tours, who had brought a group of visitors to the Zoo and entered Monkeyland for the first time. She recounted that, while wandering around with the monkeys, she even saw one of them dare to snatch a woman’s purse.

Cepeda further explained that, besides Monkeyland, a favorite spot for young zoo visitors is the Safari. “They see a big variety of animals who are fat and healthy,” she said.  

Older 

visitors, on the other hand, love taking the Sky Zoo — a system of small gondolas suspended from cables in the air. Sky Zoo coasts along overhead, through and above treetops, giving visitors a good overview of the entire park. 

“While they’re in the Sky Zoo, people can decide what they want to see later, when they are walking,” Cepeda said. She noted that she encourages people to get what is called Paquete Diamond, a pass that allows them to do everything in the park. (Cost: 205 pesos for adults, 145 pesos for children.)

Cepeda also noted that she especially loves the Zoo’s aquariums. “They are organized by ecosystem,” she said, “and the signage they have for reading is very good.”

“We are a zoo that is not near the ocean,” Vazquez emphasized, “but we have recreated the sea in the exhibit.”

Back on land, one visiting couple, a member of Cepeda’s group, declared that the Zoo’s white tiger exhibit had been their favorite. “The tigers were in an outdoor area enjoying the sun,” said Rosemarie Masson.

It is perhaps a reflection of the quality of the zoo, that many staffers have worked there a long time. Primate Curator Soto said that he has been at the zoo since the age of 17 — 11 years. Likewise, Vazquez said she has been at the zoo many years. As we neared the Zoo’s exit, with the Russian Mountain (Montaña Rusa) in the next-door amusement park clattering overhead and its riders emitting terrified screams, Vazquez declared without hesitation that the 

principal reason for the high quality of the Zoo is its director, Francisco Rodriguez Herrejón. “He has been here 25 years,” she noted.

Zoológico Guadalajara, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Basic entrance fee: 70 pesos adults, 42 pesos children. www.zooguadalajara.com.mx, (33 )3674-4488, Calzada de Independencia just outside Periferico. Zoológico stop on the Macrobus. {/access}

After a sip or two of Forteleza, which is served upon check-in at the Hacienda El Carmen hotel, if you squint your eyes just right as you wander through the property’s reception rooms, you can easily imagine yourself to have stepped back into old colonial Mexico.  It’s hard not to visualize the past here on a slow and sultry afternoon.  In my mind’s eye, I see family guests in white linens and silks, playing roque among the peacocks or polo beyond the fountains.

Mexico has always attracted a wide roster of foreign artists and intellectuals. Among those who pursued their creative vision in the country are U.S. writers Katherine Anne Porter and William Burroughs, British novelist Graham Greene, Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his countryman, filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. 

In 2014, Islam and Mexico were most frequently mentioned together in the context of terrorism. Republicans such as Rick Perry and Duncan Hunter caused controversy by saying that Muslim extremists were entering the United States through its southern border. The allegations were part of a long series of similar claims. Terrorists sneaking north or allying with drug cartels has been a persistent theme in the U.S. media since 9/11. Some cases, including a December 2002 incident in which a Lebanese man smuggled in Hezbollah sympathizers, have had truth to them. Yet the vast majority of these claims were unsubstantiated and amounted to little more than fear-mongering.