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For months I watched the woodpeckers hollow out the telephone pole in front of my house to build their new home. The problem was that the hole they were working on was their fourth attempt at nest making and I wondered just how many holes that pole could take before it snapped. I wondered if male woodpeckers face the same problems as male weaver birds (Ploceidae), which have to “try, try again” until their lady loves say, “Yes, this is perfect for my nest.”

Mascota’s eminent archaeologist, Joseph Mountjoy recently informed us that the town’s already outstanding museum has been completely upgraded and expanded. We decided this was a perfect excuse to revisit Mascota, which lies about 150 kilometers west of Guadalajara and Lake Chapala. We also planned to take a peek at the nearby mountain village of San Sebastián, whose charm is legendary.

Every year Bosque la Primavera organizes at least one long trek across the forest. This year it was a sixteen-kilometer hike on March 24, starting at the western edge of the Protected Area, crossing the famed Río Caliente and ending at the little town of La Primavera, which lies 15 kilometers due west of Guadalajara, alongside the highway to Tepic and Nogales.

Have you ever discovered red marks on your skin which itch something awful, much worse than a mosquito bite? I have on many occasions and when I would show them to country folk here in western Mexico, they told me I had güinas or aradores, nearly invisible little creatures that literally get “under your skin.”

Long ago we heard rumors that the petroglyphs of Altavista – located 50 kilometers north of Puerto Vallarta as the Macaw flies – were a sight we had to see. Finally, one day in March, we decided to go visit the place, figuring that this time of year the humidity and the gnat count would be low while the temperature would be pleasant by day and cool at night: perfect ingredients for camping on the beach at the nearby pueblito of Chacala.

In 2003, more than 9,200 non-government workers missed a day or more of work because of typing or keyboarding related injuries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. In 2008, the situation got a whole lot worse as sales of laptop computers overtook those of desktops for the first time. Today, according to British-born Paul King, co-founder of Guadalajara’s Practicayoga, things will get much worse, as laptops begin to take their place as the principal workhorses of the office.