The Mayaguez Zoo in Puerto Rico has an undeserved reputation as a second-rate zoo. Some of the guidebooks say things like, "they've come a long way from just cages, but it still leaves much to be desired." I tell you, if there's one group of people lazier than domesticated monkeys, it's Caribbean travel writers. When was the last time they came to this place?

Truth is, most travel writers for Puerto Rico never leave the San Juan metropolitan area which happens to be why we intentionally chose a house on the opposite side of the island. Of course we hit San Juan, but being all the way on the wrong side of the place, we hit everything else too, and it feels like we're the first writers to do so in about ten years.

That's not fair, I shouldn't say it feels like it, since there's no qualification to that. What I should say is that, of all the media reps we talked to, only two said they'd seen a travel writer in the past five years.

I may be four-years-old all the time, so it makes sense I've been there in less than five years, but that's pretty crazy. That means even the guidebook people are cutting corners like crazy, and that's not good for anybody but the writer's spouse, who luckily gets to see them more often.

Left - I was a bit put off by the fact that birds of prey may nip at kiddo fingers, but I reluctantly heeded the parental caution just the same.

But let's get back to the zoo.

The Mayaguez Zoo is very new by zoo standards. They've only been around about 30-years, which isn't very long even in dog-years. They don't have dogs, by the way, but you can find plenty of those domestically anyhow, so not a big worry. Zoos are among the last funded and the least funded of all governmental projects, so making a respectable go of it in any place is always a challenge.

So let's talk about what the zoo does right and why they are absolutely not a second-rate attraction:

Above - If you think ostriches frighten easily, you should see how we reacted when confronted by the mighty, feathered beast. Glass or not, I wished I had a pile of sand to stick my head in.

The only thing I can think of that I didn't see there was a tapir, and that's not to say they don't have one, just that it's such an ill-adapted and insipid beast that I can't imagine why any zoo would bother to keep them in stock (though the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle does just that.

The zoo in Mayaguez is an affordable day out, and a fun one, assuming you like animals. Ignore what the guidebooks say; those writers haven't been to the zoo in the last ten years, if ever at all. I'd guess they're just recycling second-hand information and my guess is educated, because I've been there and I got educated.

Above - Call it a big, dumb bird if you like, but this guy followed me from one side of the exhibit to the other, just waiting for a yummy morsel from my curiously pointing hands.

The zoo was a good day, even though we were hot and cranky. Even cranky, I'm going to guess you'll feel the same. If you're in Mayaguez or Rincon and traveling with kids, the zoo is a fine place to pop out for half-a-day's unwinding. It's not a destination to traverse the island for, but if you're close, it's worth your time.

For current hours and costs, review their Spanish language website (sorry, English not currently available, fortunately for us though, numbered digits look the same in both our languages).

Oh, and if you see an American guy running a concession stand, buy some ice cream from him or his wife and tell him we told you to. They're good people there and super friendly. It's not a big profit business and they're just doing their best, so spread some love around and tell him thanks for the gumball-quarter he spotted us when my Spiderman cone melted onto the ground. He's down two-bits off me, the least I can do is give him credit for it.

Above - Dominic was delighted that he found a bird to match his attire for the day. Oh Dominic, what a slave to fashion you are!

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