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For years I’ve been searching for the perfect mirador from which to view the city of Guadalajara. To my great vergüenza (shame), it never occurred to me to check out the most obvious choice, the highest point in the city, which happens to be Cerro del Cuatro, an extinct scoria volcano 1,870 meters above sea level, located in the municipality of Tlaquepaque. Somehow, I had always imagined this hill smothered with small houses and alleyways: not exactly the great outdoors. Then along came Franky Alvarez.

In 2006, Salvador Rodríguez of Granada, Spain decided to visit the world by bicycle. Since then, he has covered 135,150 kilometers on two wheels, fixed 258 flat tires and written two fascinating books on what he has learned. Recently he gave a talk on his adventures at Estación Bici, a popular R&R center for cyclists, located inside the Primavera Forest.

Years ago my friend Roy Sánchez told me about a wonderful place to camp and hike, hidden away deep in the misty mountains of San Sebastián del Oeste. “It’s called “Potrero de Mulas,” he said, “and the only hangup is that you have to cross 20 rivers to get there.”

To celebrate its second anniversary, Estación Bici – the welcome center for cyclists in the Primavera Forest – invited author Susana Pint to speak on her experiences as a Mexican woman living in Saudi Arabia for some 12 years.

Not long ago I described a drive up to the top of Cerro Viejo from the town of San Miguel Cuyutlán.

One day I met a man who casually mentioned a “bottomless pit” somewhere around a small town called La Estrella, 35 kilometers south of Tuxpan.