Six books by Karen Witynski and Joe Carr
These six wonderful books hit a real soft spot because I'm an ardent admirer of Mexican creativity as it exhibits itself so lavishly in art, architecture, the design of everyday objects and the bold approach to color. And I particularly enjoy good photographic books, which these essentially are.
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Atticus: A Novel by Ron Hansen
Atticus Cody is a 67 year old Colorado rancher. He’s a very successful straight-shooting kind of guy. He has a son, Scott, who is a painter, evidently talented. He has gone to Mexico and is out of touch with his father. Atticus cares: Scott doesn’t seem to be concerned. When the story opens, Atticus has learned about Scott’s death, by suicide, in a place called Resurrección, near Cancun. Atticus goes to Resurrección to pick up his son’s body and return it to Colorado. There he meets up with the cast of characters who knew Scott, most of whom are, at best, hippies and bohemians, at worst, drifters and fugitives.
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Mexicasa : The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico by Gina Hyams and Melba Levick (coffee table book)
Gina Hyams and Melba Levick have created a wonderful compilation of photographs of twenty-one of Mexico's most spectacular and beautiful inns and bed and breakfast establishments. This one is a real winner.
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The Maya civilization, cities of the Maya
The material splendor of the Maya culture is appreciated, more than in any other field, in the architecture and ornamentation of their cities. These city-states were the center of power for the king-pr...
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Puerto Morelos, A Yucatan Paradise
Located just 20 minutes south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya, Puerto Morelos is a haven of peace and solitude. It is possibly the last vestige of an authentic, small fishing village on the entire Caribb...
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Did you know? A plastic island is constructed in Mexico
An entire island has been constructed, not by Bob the Builder, but by Richie the Recycler!
Amazing but true: off the coast of Quintana Roo, Richie Sowa has painstakingly constructed an entire island,...
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Did you know? Mayan architects built world's oldest sound recordings
The Pyramid of Kukulkan, Chichen Itza
Photo by Tony Burton
Modern sound recordings usually involve tiny disks which can hold dozens of tracks, specially designed to be easily portable an...
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Did You Know? Mexico's kapok trees aided the U.S. war effort
Mexican kapok trees once helped the U.S. war effort.
During the Mexican dry season, a peculiar and very distinctive leafless tree often attracts attention because it appears to have large balls of flu...
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Nature's Artist: Alan Vazquez
"The topics that I address in my artwork are an SOS to protect our scarce natural resources of today."
"Nature is art," says 30-year-old artist Alan Vázquez. "You can find colors in the flowers and t...
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The Art Of Peace
Peace manifests itself through artistic expression in Cancun's "Day Out of Time" celebration.
read moreLiving Memories
"Contact with nature has always been my primary inspiration. The energy that you receive is powerful, and at the same time, peaceful."
When Miguel Angel Martínez attended a photogr...
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Cancun's Cultural Oasis: La Casa del Arte Popular Mexicano
Depicting death in situations of the living is an artistic tradition for which Mexico is renowned.
Tucked away between the towering hotels of Cancun's sparkling shores is a cultural treasu...
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Evoking The Ancient Maya: Murals Of Otoniel Baruck Sala
Maya-themed murals, which fuse shards of this ancient culture with elements of fantasy, are Sala's current focus.
Costa Real
Click on photos for la...
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A Mother And Teenage Son Travel The Yucatan
In March 1998, when Andrew was 15 years old, we took our Mayan trip together. I decided to take him for that month, because his small school in Anchorage, Alaska, was going to the Galapagos Islands, an...
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Massage Exchange With A Traditional Maya Massage Therapist
Night fell and it got dark with tropical quickness just as I was dropped off in a real VW bug at the bone-setter/massage man's home. On my way inside I almost stepped on a tarantula that seemed as big ...
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Holding On To The Dream In Cancun
First published in The London Observer/Guardian Foreign News Service Jan. 17, 2000
Anita Brown (my beautiful bride these twenty-two years) met a lady from Littleton, Colorado, on the way to downtown C...
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Is Cancun Plastic?
(Photographs by Faera Siegel ©2000)
When I tell my media friends that I am writing a book called "The Real Mexico", they invariably act a bit dumbfounded and frequently ask how I can possibly know an...
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Cancun Today - An Interview With Jules Siegel
An Interview With Jules Siegel
Cancun Today
With Jules Siegel & Tom Mangan
© 2000 Todos Derechos Reservados
Publisher's Note:
This...
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Cancun To Oaxaca - The Bus Ride Of 27 Pedicures
My friends asked, “You’re going by bus? Why?” I rationalized about all the experiences I’d have to write about. After vacationing for a week in the Yucatan, I was heading back to Oaxaca, where ...
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Touring Mexico's Yucatan ruins
We took an early morning ferry from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. The warm wind and sea spray felt good on our frost bitten faces, fresh from Northern California.
We had previously toured the Mayan rui...
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Mérida
Much of the land comprising Mérida was once dotted with lavish haciendas where the henequen plant was grown. From henequen was produced a fiber called sisal, the main ingredient of twine....
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Update On Economic Development In The Yucatan Fall 2002
It has been several years since I last wrote about the business climate in the Yucatan. Many changes have taken place in Mexico and the Yucatan since then. First, there was the historic election i...
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Merida, 1997: trade opportunities
Merida, Yucatan..I returned to Merida in July, 1997 to follow up on my contacts I had made last year while on my grant to facilitate trade between the Yucatan and the state of Mississippi. ( See pr...
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Yucatan World Class Labor At $3.00 USD Per Day
Yucatan, Mexico -- My mission...to explore the Yucatan to discover business opportunities for trade, manufacturing, and joint ventures. I was to be the liaison between the Harrison County Economic Deve...
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Mexico's Pyramid Power - Chichen Itza, El Tajin and Teotihuacan
Consider El Tajin's famous pyramid of the Niches, built by inheritors of the Olmec culture. Thousands of small stone blocks came together just so, like a Chinese block puzzle, to produce a structure th...
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