The real Don Adams is still alive
The real Don Adams came to Mexico to die. It seemed like a good place for such a significant event. Convenient. He could drive down from Texas. Good weather if anybody wanted to walk in a funeral march...
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The Widow Tamez, accidental expatriate
Back in the old days of Pirate Island, an island only by definition, located along the Rio Grande near Ysleta and San Elizario in El Paso County, Mexico and the U.S. had a boundary by treaty mdash; the...
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Mexico backroads
The backroads of Mexico often offer adventure, perhaps a bit of excitement, sometimes a touch of the dramatic and, occasionally, a hint of danger.
We thought we'd found all four on a deteriorating 10-...
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Stars shine in sunny Mexico
Along with many other expatriates living in Mexico, we occasionally hear of a famous one who lives, or once lived, among us.
We know that Helen Hayes, Erich Fromm and Maurice Evans lived in Cuernavaca...
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Where in the World is Amy Gray Kirkcaldy? - Adjusting to life in Mexico
To live here, you have to learn to love it unconditionally. You have to stop trying to accept Mexico and let it accept you instead, or else you'll never appreciate its beauty.
Back in the summer of 20...
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Ask an old gringo: Easter, cobblestones and WalMart
Questions and answers about life in Mexico.
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Elvira Arellano: saint or sinner?
When Elvira Arellano illegally crossed the U.S. border in 1997, she had no idea that one day, she would become a beacon of light in the darkness of U.S. immigration politics, nor that Time magazine wou...
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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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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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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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Christmas shopping with the sliding US dollar
This Christmas will really test a person's ability to stretch a dollar, especially a U.S. dollar, since we've been watching it shrink for quite awhile now.
It certainly isn't necessary for big-mouth m...
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Ask an old gringo: holidays, drug war, mariachis and street vendors
Questions and answers about life in Mexico.
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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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Tramites: Mexican Paperwork----ouch!
Episode 1. How weakness and overconfidence can lead to bad decisions.
Spring fever got to Jerezano in early May of 2001. In that weakened condition the new car bug stung and stung hard. Jerezano mu...
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A modern day Rio Grande ferry tale
The sun was shining, the breeze was gentle and Mark Alvarez was in a really good mood. "People call me all day when it starts raining," he said. They call because they need to find out if they'll be ab...
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Bumbling bulldozer in a Mexico beach paradise
Artist James Vitale, owner and operator of El Encanto, a boutique eco-hotel or maybe a healing place or perhaps a vibrant retreat for creativity and education, came onto his verandah to say "Good morni...
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Shootout in Chapala at Paris Cafe
Alas and alas, this may be my/your final dispatch from the Grady Allen treasury of tall tales. The scrappy little survivor of Texas oilfields has departed this life and Mexico is poorer for his passing...
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The fence along the Mexican border
The English-speaking people of the world aren't always as smart as, say, Stephen Hawking who writes about cosmic stuff like time, black holes and the universe, but wouldn't you think the people in char...
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A Response To The Documentary Sicko
Hi, Mike.
Sicko is great but why did you forget Mexico? Uncle Sam wouldn't be giving you trouble on your return stateside, not like going to Cuba. And the Mexicans have been fi...
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Ask an old gringo: Mexico City, Cancun and moving to Mexico
Questions and answers about life in Mexico
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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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Say Bartender, make mine tuna on the rocks
In the Bible, Jesus turns water into wine and multiplies two fishes into enough to feed 12,000 people, including women and children. Can China top that? Seems as though they're going to try.
Sun Keman...
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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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Secrets hidden in the Mexican sierra
One of my favorite antiques is a live doll. Last month she celebrated a century plus one year.
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Driving in Mexico
In my younger days, when I was relatively fearless or disturbingly dumb, I occasionally operated a motor vehicle on the mean streets of New York City, in broad daylight and at night, and once the wrong...
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