A Mexico patriarch
Every Sunday in Mexico is Father's Day.
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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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Ask an old gringo: NASCAR, tortilla prices and the border fence
Questions and answers about life in Mexico.
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Sisters and mothers in a Mexico town
Blanca and Maria are sisters. Blanca owns and operates a souvenir stand upstairs from the public market, just off the main plaza in Talpa de Allende. She has a young daughter. Maria owns and operates a beauty shop, and is expecting her first child.
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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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A Balloon In Cactus
By popular demand, this column has reverted to its original title, “A Balloon In Cactus.”
Well over three fan letters urged me to go back to the original title. Here’s what I mean:
...
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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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Ajijic: God's green room
At the Oscars as in all of show business, the green room you hear about is an ordinary place where celebrities wait until it's time to go onstage. It's not really green.
Ajijic has been called God's g...
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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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Moving Here Permanently?
Transporting your worldly possessions into Mexico is both an art and a science, even more so if you intend to do so on your own… truck and all. Then the task also becomes a challenge and an adventure...
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Computer service south of the border: crash, burn, and learn
By Jan Baker © Jan Baker 2006 -
One Friday two weeks ago I had cleaned the house all spic and span, and I had just come in with a well earned cup of coffee to sit down at the computer, only to fi...
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The corn is as high as an elephant's eye
Oscar Hammerstein II probably didn't realize when he wrote the lyrics for Broadway hit Oklahoma! that "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye," were prophetic words. Corn, at $4.21 a bushel (as of...
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Good doctor makes house calls
The good doctor really does make house calls.
Juan Barbosa Gallego arrives with a reassuring smile. His personality is perfect for his mission. He is calm, soft-spoken and confident he can produce a c...
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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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The Listserv Phenomenon
Many listservs and Forums are cybercommunities of distinct personalities rubbing digital elbows. Just as a small town might have its old money patriach, its moral guardian or even a town drunk, standar...
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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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Top ten New Year's resolutions
Unable to achieve world peace, though I had resolved to do so last year, it's probably a better idea to keep my New Year's resolutions simple and in line with my limited capabilities.
Toward that goal...
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Mexico's hidden black trick
This is the story of Mexico City College and the hidden black trick.
Some of you may have missed Morris (Moe) Williams, even though he was out and about for more than four decades. Beginning in the fa...
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Deporting Santa Claus
Associated Press reports the U.S. Department of Immigration apprehended Santa Claus attempting to illegally enter the United States from Mexico. He was caught maneuvering his sleigh over a fence recent...
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What I know about Mexico
Having seen and done enough for certification as a low-level expert, I shall now tell you what I think I know about Mexico.
Christmas is not as commercialized as in the United States but Santa Claus i...
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Our beloved Oaxaca, now on US and Canadian Do Not Visit list
Is no one thinking of the ordinary people of Oaxaca and how this event is causing distress and loss of income?
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The Mexican
It's easy to tell an election is coming in the U.S., because here we go again with the border situation, better known as the "Let's build a fence to keep them out" game. If U.S. politicians were really...
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Ask an old gringo: Copper Canyon, poverty, and becoming a Mexican citizen
Questions and answers about life in Mexico
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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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Mexico missionaries
Let the word go out across all the land, "The Baptists are coming, the Baptists are coming" -- to Mexico.
Do what? You say they've been here for a hundred years? On my, cancel the cry.
I don't know b...
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