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Having explored wild caves in such far-flung places as Jamaica, France and Saudi Arabia I naturally wanted to keep up the tradition when I moved to Mexico in 1985.

This article was originally going to be a list of delightful hot springs and rivers where you might soak away your troubles and forget the pandemic for a while. However, most of those relaxing sites are temporarily closed to the public. So what to do and where to go in times of Covid-19?

It all began as a beach holiday. Having heard that the ocean-front town of Cuyutlán, Colima had “the nicest black sand you could ever hope to see,” we drove there one night only to discover that – in the month of October, mind you – the temperature was 34 C, the humidity 82 percent and the water was full of manta rays.

I received a text message a week ago: “Richard says Cuyutlán in Colima has the best black sand beach he’s ever seen and an incredible surf. Want to go?”

Last weekend I had an opportunity to spend Saturday night at La Maria Lagoon in Colima, located 100 kilometers southwest of Lake Chapala.

Mascota is a charming little town located three-fourths of the way between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta as the crow flies.