Mexican folk remedies
If you have something in your eye, take a hair from the tail of a live cat ....
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Getting Married In Mexico
The indispensable requirement is a fiance.
The legal requirements vary from state to state, so it would be wise to verify with the locale before you embark on your wedding plans. In most resort areas, there are no doubt wedding planners and concierge staff at major hotels who could take care of the paperwork so that everything could proceed smoothly.
In addition to directing you through the maze that's part of Mexico, you will have the much-needed benefit of having someone who speaks the language. That small investment could save time in traipsing back and forth to government offices and waiting around....when you could be better spending your time enjoying your vacation.
read moreAffordable Oaxaca as a locale for any grand fiesta
If you're getting married, turning 50, or planning that anniversary bash... consider Oaxaca
They say that Mexicans really know how to party. Here in Oaxaca we do it in spades, because it's part of a l...
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Honeybees: have they emigrated to Mexico?
There's been a big U.S. flap over the fact that honeybees seem to have gone missing. North Americans are becoming alarmed that, without pollination, foods such as almonds, apples, blueberries, peaches,...
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Grana Cochinilla Fina: The Best Kept Secret in Oaxaca
Most tourists have no idea that only a couple of hundred yards off the main highway, a minute or two from the black pottery village, is one the most fascinating destinations that the state of Oaxaca ha...
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Modern Day Miracles In Mexico
The construction of the new road was headed by an engineer named Manuel Gamboa. A faithful devotee of the Santo Niño de Atocha, he placed an image of the Santo Niño in a small cave alongside the road...
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Dress - A Matter Of Respect?
If expats want to be accepted into the broader society, then they must act the part and treat custom and societal standards with the respect they deserve. It's not enough to throw money at causes and d...
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September 14, Day of the Charro
The charro wears a special suit, like none I've ever seen on Billy the Kid or John Wayne. The escaramuza wears her own beautiful attire; she rides and performs side-saddle.
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Legend of the Virgin of Talpa
There was no human intervention in the restoration of the image and, if history can be believed, the transformation had to be supernatural, divine or spontaneous combustion mixed with staunch faith.
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Temazcal In Oaxaca
Temazcal is akin to the Iroquois sweat lodge. Who would have thought that we could ever have such a first-hand experience during modern times?
Curandera Doña Mariana chants while con...
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Las Mañanitas
Estas son las mañanitas
que cantaba el rey David;
a las muchachas bonitas
se las cantamos aquí.
Si el sereno de la esquina
me quisiera hacer favor
de apagar s...
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Famed Singer Bankrolls State-of-the-art Arena For Charreria Championship
Motorists traveling recently along the Guadalajara-Chapala highway may have been puzzled by what looks like the structural foundations of a mighty cathedral rising up near the roadway between the airpo...
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Las Mañanitas
. . . LAS MAÑANITAS.
Estas son las mañanitas
que cantaba el rey David;
a las muchachas bonitas
se las cantamos aquí.
Si el sereno de la esquina
me quisiera hace...
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Here and there: Washington DC and Jocotepec
Before we relocated to Mexico, to the interesting state of Jalisco, to Lake Chapala and, more specifically, to the outskirts of Jocotepec, we lived in Washington, D.C.
Washington and Jocotepec are not...
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Yes Virginia, there is another Mexico
"Move to Mexico? What, are you crazy?" said friends and relatives alike, adding, "Don't you know it's full of drug pushers, kidnappers and corrupt politicians?"
This attitude, prevalent among North Am...
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Las Posadas, 2001
"What is Christmas like in Mexico?" asked my friend, Edward. It didn’t take much encouragement for me to eagerly share this experience:
Once upon a Christmas nighttime, in a tiny village on the shor...
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How To Correct Misconceptions About Mexico - And Lose Your Friends At The Same Time
We who live in Mexico, whether full- or part-time, have a duty to correct the enormous amount of misinformation perpetuated by foreign media. More creatures live with their heads in the sand than the o...
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Santa Maria del Oro: near enough to perfect
After many downhill twists and turns, at the very end of a road built for Nayarit royalty, is a little lake that could have spilled from a book of fairy tales.
La laguna Santa Maria del Oro, in the cr...
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Mexico: not much to fear except fear itself
Mexico makes great television -- and I'm not talking about Pedro and Pancho cartoons.
When a bus misses a curve and tumbles into a ravine or loses a race with a train, the bloody mess becomes internat...
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Mel Gibson's Apocalypto
It's unusual for me to write about anything other than Mexico as seen through the eyes of a humorist. But this month's article is different, because someone familiar with the culture around which Gibso...
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How the Huichol Indians brought their art to Lake Chapala
For centuries Indians have been leaving offerings of votive bowls and clay figurines in Lake Chapala for the deities of the waters. Today the Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit continue the traditi...
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The Folkloric Ballet (Ballet Folklórico) of Guadalajara, Mexico
The whirling skirts of a dancer from the Ballet Folklorico at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara fill this month's cover. The costume belongs to the Jalisco segment of the show, which features traditi...
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Languages and place names of Lake Chapala, Mexico
Letter to the editor:
As a newcomer to the area, I wonder if your excellent magazine could assist me in understanding a couple of things. Is it correct that the language of this area at the time of th...
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The Divine Twins of the Quiche Maya
Throughout history twins have exerted a strange fascination over people's minds and imaginations. On the average one set of twins is born out of 80 pregnancies in different proportions, according to va...
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The Mexican art forms of ristras, papel amate and papel picado
This month's cover is a digital photo of papier-mâché chili peppers taken in Ajijic. These strings of papier-mâché items are known as ristras and are just one of several Mexican paper, art f...
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