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When hikers gather around the campfire to share stories of their most unforgettable experiences in the great outdoors, you can be sure you´re not going to hear about trips that came off without a hitch, exactly as planned. No, it is far more entertaining to go back to those occasions when Nature proved itself most capricious and Murphy’s Law reigned supreme.

A young woman spends every Saturday working with a group of volunteers who are trying to reforest a huge empty lot in Zapopan to turn it into an outdoor school where people can learn about ecosystems. 

Recently, archaeologist Rodrigo Esparza gave a talk at Guadalajara’s City Museum on natural resources of indigenous peoples in this area before the Conquista. He mentioned to his audience the “Magic Circle” I have often written about, the confluence of all five of Mexico’s ecosystems within a radius of 250 kilometers around Guadalajara. 

Recycling is a watchword among ecologically oriented people, but in most cases it means melting or grinding up metals, plastics and paper products to produce more metal, plastic and paper products. Tonala artisans Miguel and Ara Camacho, however, believe in recycling with more imagination and style.

My neighbor, Rodrigo Orozco, is growing something green and slimy in four big vats in his back yard. Because he is also raising 5,000 tarantulas (to outfox poachers) I wondered what sort of swamp creatures I might see crawling out of those vats, but Rodrigo assured me he was simply helping to reintroduce to Mexico a sort of food supplement used by the  Aztecs and other Mesoamericans before the Conquista and known to them as Tecuitlatl, which, I hate to say, Rodrigo translates as “rock poop.”

From Jocotepec it’s only a 90-minute drive to little San José de Gracia, Michoacán, located quite close to the popular mountain resort town of Mazamitla. San José has been holding a big Expo Orquidea for the last seven years, but word about it had never reached our ears. Now, thanks to Alex Solís, who promotes various events taking place south of Lake Chapala, we knew this expo was going to take place from February 6 to 8, over the weekend.