If it were not for the excellent travel postings of Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler of the New York Times, there would be few visitors cobbling their shoes to walk the cobbled streets of Chiapas, the state bordering Guatemala and the famed area of earlier indigenous and human rights movements. The Zapatista cause has faded recently, so the aura exists, but few of the followers.

Vast tracts of land on Mexico’s Pacific coast have been exploited to meet the needs of human occupants. In the process, habitats, species and plant life have been threatened.

What’s so impressive about San Blas is its untouched beauty. There are no shopping malls, no stoplights and no traffic.  It’s exactly the right place to “get away from it all.”

Jalisco’s Haciendas and Casas Rurales Association is offering a range of discounts on stays in old colonial houses and traditional haciendas, all of which are within a few hours drive of Guadalajara and Chapala and won’t break the bank.