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Mixtlán is a small town located about halfway between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Its name means “the place of the clouds,” but in recent years it has become better known as the land of mushrooms.

I’ve described hundreds of great places to hike to inside the “Magic Circle” around Guadalajara. This week I’ll try to paint a similar picture for San Miguel de Allende, thanks to the help of local resident Randy Kremlacek, one of the leaders of the San Miguel Hiking Group.

Several Guadalajara musicians—all expats—told me they had very rewarding experiences at a temazcal located near the ruins of the Guachimontones circular pyramids, 50 kilometers west of the city. I decided to investigate.

Before human beings appeared on the scene, many of Mexico’s Pacific islands were home to vast colonies of birds … accompanied by rats, cats and goats, just to name a few of the invasive species that soon wiped out the seabirds.

Mexicans know and love their salsas. For a foreign-made chili sauce to impress a Mexican, it has to be quite extraordinary. “

The Jalisco village of Oconahua is hidden away in the municipality of Etzatlán, a few miles from the border with Nayarit. Most of its inhabitants are indigenous and the pueblo’s fine tortillas are much appreciated in the region.