LAGUNA DE SANTA MARÍA DEL ORO

LA CARRETERA A STA. MARÍA DEL ORO

After leaving highway 200 and heading east in the direction of Guadalajara,  the winding road in the foothills of the Sierra Madres  reaches a plateau where one is driving past ancient volcanoes and pine trees.  Google indicates the 120- mile drive from centro Vallarta is 3 hours and 34 minutes to the small,  uninteresting town of Santa María del Oro in the state of Nayarit, but we have never made it in less than four hours.

From town, one drives a very short distance before beginning the swirling green descent inside the crater to the startlingly beautiful blue-green lagoon.  Temperature of the very clear water remains at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit all year.

SANTA MARÍA RESORT HOTEL

NIETOS GIPSY, STELLA Y JAMES – LAGUNA DE STA. MARÍA DEL ORO

In a kayak in the middle of the lagoon, I met attractive Eric Saracho, who works with Alianza Jaguar AC.  The foundation is attempting to save the jaguars in Nayarit, who currently number approximately one hundred.

CAMERA TRAP PHOTO OF JAGUAR AND CUB AT JAGUAR RESERVE IN NAYARIT

Their survival is threatened by ranchers whose livestock are sometimes killed.  The foundation hopes to prevent the extermination of the jaguar by paying the ranchers for animals lost.

ZEUS EN SU NUEVO HOGAR

ZEUS – Caitlin Barnum, who was fostering Zeus, the beautiful Husky, was able to find a very good home for the dog whose owner couldn´t keep because of allergies.  Caitlin made a house inspection of a Valle Dorado couple who work out of their home.  Zeus will have loving, responsible owners, lots of space, shade,  and the company of two other rescue dogs. Canada would have been cooler, but an immediate solution was needed and an excellent one was found.

CASA EN COL. DEL VILLAR

COLONIA DEL VILLAR – Google maps show this colonia as a 27-minute drive northeast of centro Vallarta. GPS led me very far astray and after an hour of searching,  I gave up  on the first clinic day. 

PEACEANIMALS TRAILER – CLÍNICA EN DEL VILLAR

The following morning I found the neighborhood after an hour of many unmarked speed bumps (always a thrilling surprise), streets without street signs and rutted dirt roads. 

Colonia del villar is a disenfranchised neighborhood with terrible roads littered with plastic bags and bottles and mostly sad-looking cinder block houses. (“del villar” means “having to do with villas”).

I slowed down on rubbled dirt road to ask directions from a heavyset, middle-age woman dressed in a short lavender skirt, a short-sleeved lilac-colored blouse several sizes too small and green rubber flip flops.  She was holding a hose with the water running.  Standing next to her was a tan male Lab mix.  His gouged left side was drenched in blood and great drops of blood were dripping from his badly torn left ear.  

HERIDO POR ESTAR PELEANDO  CON OTROS PERROS – DEL VILLAR

I told the woman that I would like to take her dog to a free clinic and asked if she knew where it was.  Yes.  And… even though she wanted a “guard dog,” she wanted her pet neutered so it wouldn´t “fight every night.”  We lifted the quiet, bloody dog into my car and drove a couple of minutes away down the hill.  The PEACEAnimals trailer was in front of an empty cindar block building very near to a city bus parking location.  

The wounded dog was immediately tranquilized and soon afterwards prepared for surgery. After being neutered and while still sedated, it would be treated for fleas, ticks and worms and given pain meds and antibiotics.

CLÍNICA EN DEL VILLAR

What would equate to a city block away from the clinic was a beautiful, young male bullock tied up in a grassy area in front of someone´s home.  I rubbed his head with its tiny horns and patted his sleek, sturdy body. 

MUY CERQUITA DE LA CLÍNICA EN DEL VILLAR

When I moved to walk away, he nudged for more, and I knew I could love this animal.  A neighbor said the owner of the gentle bullock will slaughter it for meat.  

STERILIZATIONS AT COLONIA DEL VILLAR – AUGUST 16-19:

MALE DOGS – 11;
FEMALE DOGS – 29; 
MALE CATS – 26;    
FEMALE CATS – 29

TOTAL: 95

REGISTRANDO SU GATITA – CLÍNICA EN COLONIA DEL VILLAR

DONATIONS AT COLONIA DEL VILLAR:  920 PESOS

LESLIE PREARANDO GATOS PARA CIRUGÍA – DEL VILLAR

DR.  POLI Y DR. PACHECO – DEL VILLAR

MOJONERAS:  Thirty minutes northeast of centro Vallarta, it is very poor neighborhood with dirt, cobble and cement roads.  Usually a dusty place,  this week the some of the streets were muddy due to he recent rain.  The rainy season has arrived late this year.   One hopes it will continue into September, which is an unpleasantly hot and humid month.  

CLINICA EN EL AYUTAMIENTO – MOJONERAS

ABANDONED HOME – MOJONERAS – CASA ABANDONADA

By the time I arrived at the clinic on Wednesday at 9 AM, no more animals were being accepted.  Two blocks away at the neighborhood´s desolate-looking plaza, there were dogs in all directions, including a timid, sad-eyed, skinny Husky mix that I fed five hot dogs to.

“LOBO” – YA ESTERIZADA HACE MUCHO TIEMPO- TRATADA POR SARNA – MOJONERAS

A small, dark-haired woman with eyebrows tattooed high on her forehead walked towards me with a bag of groceries and introduced herself.  

MAGDALENA PONIENDO COLLAR EN “LOBO.”

Her name is Magdalena and she feeds eight neighborhood dogs in addition to her own.  She lives on the street where I was feeding the dog and took me to her very humble home to get a leash for “Lobo” (“Wolf”).  Already spayed, we walked back to the clinic together to have the docile dog treated for mange.

MAGDALENA WITH LOBO  –  CLINIC IN MOJONERAS

STERILIZATIONS IN MOJONERAS – AUGUST 22-25:

FEMALE DOGS – 48; MALE DOGS – 18; FEMALE CATS – 56;
MALE CATS – 40  TOTAL:  152!  plus

Pregnancy terminated for 1 dog with 2 fetuses and 1 cats with 1 fetus.

DR. PACHECO – GATOS PARA ESTERILIZAR – MOJONERAS

DONATIONS AT CLINIC IN MOJONERAS:  1,410 PESOS

FOR PHOTOS/NAMES OF RESCUED DOGS THAT NEED HOMES, THE CITY SHELTER (FORMER CENTRO DE ACOPIO) HAS A CURRENT ROSTER THAT INCLUDES PHOTOS, NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS.

CALLEJERO EN LA PLAZA- MOJONERAS – HOMELESS DOG IN THE PLAZA

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