New World Women is a native women artisan group in Tecalpulco, Guerrero who decided to form a production cooperative. These skilled artisans are the original designers and producers, creating beautiful jewelry. Theirs is a cottage industry with a goal of perpetuating the region's craft tradition and creating a source of work that can keep their people at home — an alternative to migrating to urban centers or to the U.S. These enterprising women utilize modern means of communication. They communicate through their web page and via romantic novelas serialized on blogs. They write e-mail, post videos on YouTube, and have published an unusual book: The New World Mexican Women Workbook: How to Make Your Own Traditional Mexican Jewelry. read more

The City of Silver If you have heard of the picturesque, old colonial Mexican town of Taxco at all, you probably associate it with that precious metal so characteristic of Mexico – silver. If you... read more

The first traces of an awakening sun touch the morning horizon, brushing aside the night's long shadows. On the streets of Ixtapalapa, a working class neighborhood 30 minutes by cab from the center of ... read more

This is an odd volume. I originally bought it because it advertises itself as "a gathering of some of the best travel writing ever" about Mexico. However, you quickly find as you dip into it that not all the articles are about travel. Also, very few of them have been written in recent times. Indeed, a couple were written about 100 years ago. However, that's not a criticism. read more

January 21st….After getting a couple more hours of cardio-vascular workout hiking the streets of Taxco this A.M. trying to find just the right silver trinket as a gift for my son's novia we took off for Cuernavaca about noon. No rush, as it is only about forty miles from Taxco to Cuernavaca using the Acapulco to Mexico DF toll road, Highway 95. Arriving before 1pm, poorer by $71 pesos for the three tolls charged on even this short stretch of road, we got off the Cuota and cruised Cuernavaca from south to north on the old free highway 95 looking for a hotel.

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My guide book tells me that it's exactly 1,000 kilometers from Guadalajara to Oaxaca. That's about 660 miles. I know of people who say they've driven the distance in one day and I have to concede that it's possible. The only way you can do it is to take toll roads the whole way, start at the crack of dawn and drive like hell. The other thing you have to do is drive through Mexico City. read more