Santiago and environs serves the rgion as an important source of palm leaves for making palapa roofs. Palmeros claim the fan - shaped fronds are best cut during a full moon, as rising sap make palms leaves last longer. Among the residents of the small but nicely landscaped Parque Zool gico are a peccart, bear, coyote, fox, monkey, parrots, and ducks. Some of the animals are Cape Region natives. The park is open daily 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. in summer, until 5 p.m. the rest of the year.
Admission is free, though donations are gladly accepted.
To bypass the town center and proceed directly to the the zoo, take the left fork just after crossing the dry arroyo near the town entrance, then take the next left fork onto a levee road that curves along the south end of town to the zoo. Also in town, a small, rustic museum adjacent to the church at the corner of Calzada Misoneros and Calle Victoria contains colonial artifacts and local fossils. It's open Mon. Santiago celebrates its patron saint day, the feast day of St. James, on 25 July. Camping is permitted in the canyon.