Memories of Morelia: Tall buildings, Janitzio and a hamburger
I was nine years old the first time I visited Morelia, in 1973. I was living with my family in Xicotepec, a small town in the north of the State of Puebla. We spent our summer vacation that year with m...
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Traveling with children to Oaxaca
The options are innumerable. It's simply a matter of doing a bit of homework - asking, and then committing yourself to a vacation dedicated in large part to your children.
Oaxaca has traditionally bee...
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Large families North and South of the border
Families in Mexico tend to be numerous. I know about big families. I come from one.
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Family tradition: five generations of mezcaleros in Matatlan, Oaxaca
Don Isaac recounts awaking at 4 a.m. then walking from his village of Matatlán, with his mule, to Oaxac. He arrived some 14 or 15 hours later… just to buy a large cántaro, the traditiona...
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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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Anyone for bridge?
"But I haven't played bridge since college."
"The last time I played bridge, Ely Culbertson was the authority."
"I've just been too busy earning a living to find time for Bridge."
Sound familiar? We...
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Mexico flowers and flower art
The Dark Side of the Dream by Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez
The story begins in 1941, at the time America went to war with Japan and Germany. It concerns the Salazar family, poor farmers in Chihuahua. The grandfather, Sebastian, knows he is dying and he advises the family to move to the United States. He reasons that because of the war the Americans will want lots of people to work in their country as their men go off to fight. Their farm is a ruin. Only expensive fertilizer could bring it back to life. And they don't have any money.
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Tortilla run: a day in Tijuana
We woke at 7 a.m. to the blaring horn of the propane truck " beepbeeeeeepbeepbeeeeeeeeep " and wonder if he will ever buy a muffler for that dang truck.
We dress quickly so that we can get to the ...
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A day in the life of my mother-in-law by Alex Vinson
Wake up about 6am.
Verify today is the day that water is available (every 3rd day).
Prop the front door open with a stick.
Remove the carefully coiled garden hose from its storage place ...
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Tienda del las dos estufas
My suegra (mother-in-law) decided that she wanted to sell vegetables from her front porch in rural Guerrero. I asked her how much profit she would like to make and we would work the numbers back...
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My neighbor the truck driver
What was all that whirring and buzzing noise coming from downstairs?
My new neighbor from Mexico City was spending a sunny Saturday polishing the fuel tank on his semi tractor.
I introduced myself (a...
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Only Once in a Lifetime by Alejandro Grattan
Here's a story that takes in a complete life, from childhood well into adulthood, and from rags to riches. It's a story that is of interest to we residents in the Lake Chapala area as it starts out in Ajijic and covers a fair number of years there - or should I say here. On page one we encounter ten-year-old Francisco Obregón, a homeless barefoot orphan outside the Old Posada on the Ajijic waterfront. It's 1940 and Francisco is hustling for odd jobs and tips. It's the only way he can manage to survive.
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Breaking Even by Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez
"What Val saw as his long period of involuntary servitude was about to come to an end. In the prison movie parlance he liked to affect, he had done his 'hard time.' He had finally reached his eighteenth birthday, and Texas law entitled him to make his own decisions now." The time is 1955. Val has just graduated from high school - although barely. He's finally free to escape the tiny Texas town of Big Bend, which he detests, and go off to California. Val's mother, Guadalupe, is Mexican and his father, who has long since flown the coop, is Anglo, which at least makes Val part Mexican.
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Buying a home in Mexico
Who would have thought that buying a house in Mexico would be such a scandal? Maybe it should have occurred to me beforehand that I would encounter some very unusual problems while trying to acquire pr...
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Who would have thought?
I've been very quiet for the past few months; I apologize for the silence. I'm finally back, and I have BIIIIIIIIG news. No, it's not a divorce, or a birth, or a career change that brought me a six-fig...
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By the way ...
I've been living and working in Mexico for almost two years, and lately, I've been reflecting a great deal about my experiences-and my articles. I was going to write about Mexican family economics (and...
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To bribe or not to bribe?
There´s no denying it - Mexico is a beautiful land. But there is no uglier sight in this world than what I am about to describe. Imagine a portly man dressed in black pants with a yellow stripe down t...
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A dog's life
About three months ago, I was at the mall with Carlos. It was a Sunday like any other; we were simply out for a stroll around the shopping center. Carlos always goes to the pet store to look at the dog...
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Mexican family economics
One of my first questions upon arriving to Monterrey was, "How do people survive here?" Salaries are so embarrassingly low for the majority of the population, and the cost of living is sky high. So how...
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Odds And Ends, Or Forty Things Everyone Should Know
While in Mexico I have learned many things, some of them nice and some of them not so nice. Most of what I have "learned" just makes me chuckle, like the time my mother-in-law told me I would get anemi...
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My Life As An Escaramuza Mom
In this day and age, dedicated parents willingly support any type of sporting activity that draws the interest of our off-spring. The average mother of today assumes a host of collateral tasks that go ...
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Wedding invitation
Petra is the grand matriarch in our Mexican community of Nestipac, in suburban Jocotepec. A daughter and two children live to the right of her home. Two sons and their familes live to her left. Those o...
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My Mexican daughter-in-law: the bride wore green and white and red
“Be careful what you wish for,” they say, “you might get it.” That may be true most of the time, but not this time.
My son has given me what I wished for — he just married a Mexican girl!
K...
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Village in the Sun by Dane Chandos
I reviewed Chandos's other book, "House in the Sun", in Mexico Connect a couple of months ago and now I'm catching up on what was actually the author's first book, published four years earlier. We're given a good long loving look at the various events that mark a typical year in a Mexican village - like The Day of the Dead, the Day of the Cross, Navidad, birthdays and the other festivals that are customarily celebrated. It all adds up to an attractive narrative.
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