Seeing my Mexico surroundings
I was able to see well enough to appreciate the Easter-basket beauty of the many different spring blossoms around Lake Chapala. With a clear, clean, robin-egg-blue sky as a background, the constantly changing tones of the mountains completed the mural of purple jacaranda, yellow primavera, magenta bougainvillea and the white and pink amapas trees.
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September 14, Day of the Charro
The charro wears a special suit, like none I've ever seen on Billy the Kid or John Wayne. The escaramuza wears her own beautiful attire; she rides and performs side-saddle.
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Frosty mornings in the sierras
Life in the mountains may be the secret of longevity.
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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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November in Talpa: month-long celebrations
From the Day of the Dead to the Guava Fair and the arrival of ten Virgins, November in Talpa is filled with festivities.
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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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Walking to Talpa in March
They are called romerías or peregrinaciones, and the people who make them are usually called peregrinos. They are pilgrims coming to pay homage to Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa, and they come by the thousands at this time of the year. It is best to buy shoes one size too big, and fill them up with extra socks when you start.
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Mexican posadas and a famous Christmas carol
In my neighborhood in Talpa de Allende, we actually had a Miracle Birth at our posada last year. The miracle was that Mama Donkey didn't throw the little Virgin Mary off her back.
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Christmas in the Sierra Madre mountains
Very few country homes are adorned with the Christmas tree most of us know. But there will definitely be a nativity scene over in the corner of the front room or in the center of the main table. It seems that the more humble the family, the bigger the crèche.
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A Mexico patriarch
Every Sunday in Mexico is Father's Day.
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Legend of the Virgin of Talpa
There was no human intervention in the restoration of the image and, if history can be believed, the transformation had to be supernatural, divine or spontaneous combustion mixed with staunch faith.
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Our Lady of the Rosary, beloved patroness of Talpa de Allende
October 7 is considered the birthday of Nuestra Señora del Rosario (the Virgin of Talpa). The six o'clock morning mass is dedicated to the Virgin, then she begins to receive her well-wishers. This is a very organized neighborhood-by-neighborhood pilgrimage to the church. Every pilgrim has a gift in hand. By 5 o'clock the holy carpet is ready, church bells begin to chime, and The Lady walks.
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My first pilgrimage: the Virgin "Rosario de Talpa", Jalisco.
If you live here in Mexico and don't study the culture or experience first-hand this ancient and mysterious country, you are missing the richness that surrounds you daily. It is one thing to go on an a...
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A Mexican pig party
A Mexican pig party plus my recipe for Mexicanized Mexissippi style crackling cornbread
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Mexican folk remedies
If you have something in your eye, take a hair from the tail of a live cat ....
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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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The Virgin of Talpa comes calling
There are secrets to all this pageantry that everybody doesn't know.
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Winemaking in the Mexican sierra
When he took the first sip of his nectar, Guy thought he could hear the angels sing.
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Mexconnect reaches around the world
I'm constantly amazed how far Mexconnect reaches out -- from little Talpa de Allende, Jalisco, to the direct descendant of a Nobel winner in Germany.
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Charro wedding in a small Mexican town
Wedding traditions vary all over the world and Mexico is no exception. Canada and the United States are such international melting pots that we may see Asian, African or English customs demonstrated in the same ceremony. The same is true in Mexico. Margarita wore her wedding veil over a large white velvet sombrero.
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Wildfires and old men: the legacy of US immigrants in Talpa
What no one was aware of was that, subtly, Guy and Bill were changing the ideals of the future leaders of a Mexico mountain village. Try Guy's Guy's Gringo Chile Relleno Casserole recipe.
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El Bramador: once a bustling colonial mining town
El Bramador is not the bustling, mining village it must have been in the 1860s, but the old mine shafts are still there. It is a ten-minute donkey ride up the mountainside from what was once the town's main plaza. Sidewalks are laid with flat stones that could have been slate dug from the surrounding hills. Red dust covers the streets, but the houses are clean and appear to have been recently painted.
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Virgin hair for the Madonna's new wig
Many of you know August is the month when Talpa de Allende's image of the Virgin begins walking the back roads, visiting and blessing the ranches, cattle, crops, ponds and creeks along the way. She is accompanied by her devotees for six weeks on this summer trek.<
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A cold winter for a young man from Mexico
New Year's Day, 1910 was colder than ever.
read moreFrom Talpa to Puerto Vallarta in the 1800s
I shall never forget the two trips we made to the seashore from Talpa.
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