St. Patrick’s Day is very special in Mexico because it is a time when Mexicans remember the San Patricios, or the Battalion of St. Patrick.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and other ideologues of the MAGA persuasion are perpetually warning about the dangers of a Mexican “invasion” — one of undocumented low-income folk fleeing poverty and economic crisis.

We have more than 70 dogs at SOS Chapala DOG Rescue, and at least 40 more waiting to get in. We can’t build new kennels fast enough.

It wasn’t long ago that Puerto Vallarta’s Parque Lázaro Cárdenas, anchoring its world-famous Old Town, or Zona Romantica to some, was a dark hole of danger littered with used condoms and drug paraphernalia.

With the more relaxed pandemic measures announced February 13, the Ex Convento del Carmen is marking its re-opening – although in truth it has for months been more open than other Guadalajara art venues – with a variegated, non-classical exhibit focused on refugees and migrants worldwide, as seen through the eyes of 13 artists.

 Lourdes Alvarez has been content to have her two college-age daughters at home with her in Guadalajara every day during the pandemic, while her husband runs a manufacturing business and the young women study online.