Every Mexican town has a street named after Pedro Moreno, a hero of the Independence War of the early 1800s. Years ago I read about Moreno’s defense of a fortress he had built on top of a mountain called El Sombrero, in a wilderness area in Los Altos de Jalisco. 

Chatting with some environmentalists, we heard about an animal reserve called Isla Grande, located in the last place you’d expect to find a park: right in the middle of the salt flats of Sayula. “They´ve created a sort of little Africa out there,” said our informants, “and you can pet the animals.”

From the 1890’s through the early decades of the 20th century, Chapala was renowned as an Easter season vacation playground for Mexico’s high ranking politicians, diplomats, business leaders and the crème de la crème of Guadalajara society.