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“I’m interested in visiting Guava Beach in the Primavera Forest,” wrote Albert Schmaedick from Chapala. “Are there any good campgrounds nearby?”

In this passage from “America Un Viaje de Cuento,” Rodriguez is in Raramuri territory in northern Mexico, which, these days, is also narco territory. He is trying to get from Tubares, Chihuahua, located 440 kilometers north of Mazatlan, to a place called Piedras Verdes, site of a large gold mine called El Sauzal, and is faced with a sandy brecha up a very steep slope.

Close to 300 people gathered at Guadalajara’s Casa Clavigero on April 23 for the debut presentation of Salva Rodriguez’s latest book on his world bike tour. The Spanish cyclist set out from his home town of Granada in 2006 and since then has pedaled about 150,000 kilometers through Africa, Asia and, most recently, the American continent. “I have only 4,000 kilometers more to go and I’ll be back home,” he told his audience, somewhat wistfully.

Mexico recently made headlines when it was included in the U.S. Trade Representative’s “Notorious Markets List,” which identifies markets around the world that harm business through intellectual property rights infringement. It was stated that the main Mexican markets selling illegal goods are the Mercado Tepito in Mexico City and Guadalajara’s San Juan de Dios.

Visitors to Teuchitlan’s ever more popular Phil Weigand Museum eventually wander into its auditorium to take the weight off their feet and watch a 50-minute video called “An Unknown Civilization in Ancient Western Mexico.” 

The town of La Primavera is located 12 kilometers northwest of Guadalajara on the extension of Avenida Vallarta (Highway 15), the road heading for Tepic, Puerto Vallarta and Nogales. It takes only a few minutes to drive south through this pueblito, whereupon you come to a sort of forest. No, I don’t mean the woods, but rather a forest of huge, unsightly signs announcing all sorts of things to do and see, from balnearios (bathing areas) to ziplines.