On being a gringo in Mexico: From Colonel to Cuernavaca
Is it easy for a GEM (Gringo en Mexico)? I guess that depends on the GEM!
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Family fun at Parque Aquatico Oaxtepec near Cuernavaca, Morelos
As soon as you walk in the gates of PAO (Parque Aquatico Oaxtepec) you know that everyone in your family is going to have fun. Right in front of the entrance is a sparkling pool with child-accessible w...
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Lake Chapala fishing trip
Gary West with Salvador
A fishin' we will go, a fishin' we will go; hi, ho, the merry-o, a fishin' we will go.
Second son Gary came to the west end of Lake Chapala, to the suburbs of Jocotepec, in ...
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Oaxaca: what is it like?
Interactive map of Oaxaca
What is it like in Oaxaca? It's like no other place in all of Mexico. It is as close to a true mixture of the various Mexican cultures as can be found. Visitors to Oaxaca Cit...
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Affordable 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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One month in Mexico
Ben and Debs Blench, brave Brits in their 30s, threw away their jobs, sold their car, subleased their Amsterdam apartment and set off to see the world. They allocated one year for this unusual adventur...
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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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Gulp! The ATM Gulped My Credit Card! What Now?
Years ago at my car bank in Texas, the befuddled ATM swallowed my credit card. I immediately pushed the call button and told the teller answering that the machine wouldn't give me my card back. She sai...
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La Pena De Bernal And Guanajuato
Bernal
Travel articles always emphasize the good and minimize the bad. After reading so much about so many different paradises all over the world, one begins to wonder where the authors find a...
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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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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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Lake Chapala In 2004
2004 turned out to be another fortuitous year for Lake Chapala.
According to data issued by the National Water Commission (CNA), accumulated rainfall registered nationwide in 2004 ran nine per cent ab...
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The Yin And Yang Of Retiring At Lake Chapala
What to do with those pesky cultural contradictions?
For some people, taking the plunge and retiring in Mexico turns out to be a bit more than they can handle. New Yorkers, ...
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Merida: fiery mistress, seductive city
Merida is a most un-Mexican city. It feels more European; more reserved in a middle class sort of way.
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Walking to Talpa in March
They are called romerías or peregrinaciones, and the people who make them are usually called peregrinos. They are pilgrims coming to pay homage to Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa, and they come by the thousands at this time of the year. It is best to buy shoes one size too big, and fill them up with extra socks when you start.
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Baja California Sur - Overview
LOCATION: The state of Baja California Sur is located in northeastern Mexico, on the peninsula of Baja California. It is bordered to the north by the state of Baja California Norte, to the west by the ...
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Judy's amazing adventure
By mid-October, everything was done, I was packed and ready to leave. I placed the cat carrier on the front seat, hugged my friends as they warned me again that I would surely be raped and pillaged, cl...
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Joco boat show
Thousands of you missed the Joco boat show, hot attraction at the west end of what was once Lake Chapala, before lirio (water hyacinth) covered it up, marring and scarring the colorful state of Ja...
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Beautiful Bay of Tenacatita
Despite hurricanes and earthquakes, political turmoil, higher gas prices and global warming, Mexico's marvelous Bay of Tenacatita remains a sea of tranquility.
White gold sand, the soft slope of the b...
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Molly's tamales!
"Morelia is a taco town", Molly remarked over morning coffee a few months ago. I didn't say anything because I knew her remark wasn't meant to be critical. It's just that after living in Morelia for a ...
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Getting Used To Things In Mexico
Traveling to Mexico is like having a fling, a stunning romance, a love affair so intense that everything becomes a romantic vision. Senses are heightened, feelings revive, and travelers find themselves...
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Hotels in the state of Oaxaca
Hotels in the city of Oaxaca
Link to detailed interactive map of Oaxaca
Basic map of Oaxaca state, Mexico
Huajuapan
*** CASA BLANCA
83 Rooms
Amatista 1
69000 Huajuapan, Oax.
(953) 209...
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Mexico weatherman
It happens every autumn. North-of-the-border questions make my day. The latest best one was "Isn't it sad to miss Christmas?"
Do what?
"You go to Mexico each winter. You always miss Christmas."
Good...
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The Insider's Guide: Mexico's Lake Chapala and Ajijic
I'm filled with admiration and respect for The Insider's Guide. Its 368 pages are so complete and comprehensive and so well thought out and so well organized. Teresa Kendrick and her colleagues have done a wonderful job of providing and packaging a full authoritative range of information, not only for long and short-term residents of the Lake Chapala area but also for those many people who seem to be contemplating coming here either to live as permanent retiree-residents or as snowbirds.
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