First Stop in the New World by David Lida: an interview with the author
Mexico City has long exercised a fascination for writers of varying foreign stripes - Graham Greene, Aldous Huxley, Jack Keruoac, D. H. Lawrence, William S. Burroughs, B. Traven; not to mention Latin American writers such as Roberto Bolaño, Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Alvaro Mutis - and while some of them have stopped here for brief periods and others have made it their home, the erstwhile megalopolis (now 'hypermetropolis') remains an elusive quarry to pin down in words. Its trawling immensity may be a well of inspiration or a veritable Oak Island of futile excavation in search of treasures that refuse to be unearthed.
read moreTo market, to market: treasure hunting in Mexico City's flea markets
Some time ago I was exploring the Mercado de Antiguëdades de Cuauhtemoc in downtown Mexico City with my brother-in-law and an entrepreneurial young Mexican named Carlos Villasena, press officer for th...
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Did You Know? The Mexican Wave and unruly mobs
Studies of the Mexican wave may suggest how to control unruly mobs
Defined as "a rippling wave effect that passes right around a stadium full of spectators, achieved when all the spectators in turn ...
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Did you know? Mexico City's charwoman-businessman: Conchita Jurado
A charwoman-actress once captivated Mexican high society in her alter ego as Don Carlos Balmori.
An elaborate tomb in Mexico City's main cemetery, the Panteón Civil de Dolores, is a lasting reminder ...
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Did you know? Mexico has five of the world's most endangered heritage sites
Five places in Mexico are on the list of the world's 100 most endangered heritage sites.
"The World Monuments Fund (WMF) is the foremost private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation o...
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Did You Know? Birth control pills come from Mexican yams
The oral contraceptive pill, often referred to simply as "the Pill" was officially fifty years old on October 15, 2001. In the words of The Economist: it "was arguably the first lifestyle drug t...
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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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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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Frozen moments: the photos of Mexico's Ricardo Gomez Jimenez
"I like the power to capture the image in that particular moment. It's like if a photo of you was taken, but you were caught in a moment. And then you see the photo and say, 'wow, I don't even recognize myself.'"
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A million meanings: the art of Mexican painter Raul Lopez Garcia
For artist Raúl López García, it is the language of his subconscious that manifests itself in his paintings.
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Creating is being: Mexican artist Raymundo Becerril Porras
"For the simple fact that we are sensitive beings, we can't stop making things, creating, seeing the world in another manner. The faculty of being, of walking through the world, of seeing is born in the habit of creating - little by little - something, anything."
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The fiery spirit of Mexico's Carmen Mondragon
Known as Nahui Ollin, Mondragón is remembered as a figure in the art scene of the 1920s and as an uninhibited woman who paved the way for female liberation in Mexico.
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Chile Seed Pipian: Pipián de Semillas de Chile
It is customary for Mexican cooks to save the seeds they remove from dried chiles and store them, mixing several varieties in the same jar. This traditional recipe from El Bajio restaurant in Mexico Ci...
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Treasures in Heaven, a Novel by Kathleen Alcala
Here's an interesting novel set in turn-of-the-century Mexico City. It's a story that's mainly concerned with women's rights, which were just about non-existent in those times, and the political turbulence preceding the Mexican Revolution. Estela, a rather attractive and spirited lady, lives in a small rural town with her infant son, Noé. We meet her at the point in her life when she is leaving her husband and heading for Mexico City. Essentially she's looking for her former lover, Dr. Victor Carranza.
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Mexico's Olympic memories
It's showtime in Athens. The Greeks are all stirred up about the Olympic Games, worrying about terrorist threats and who's going to pay the bills when the party is over and everybody goes home.
Thirty...
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The renovation of Mexico City's Historic Center
Mexico City is one of the world's largest urban centers, and its population continues to grow at a rate unequaled by any other area in the nation. The Mexico City region has long been the center of eco...
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Dining in the DF: food and drink in Mexico's capital
A look at the myriad dining experiences to be had in the capital itself, Mexico City, commonly known as "el D.F.," short for Distrito Federal.
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Travelling in Mexico City's Zona Rosa
The Zona Rosa is located conveniently close to Mexico City's Centro Histórico . It lies on the northern side of the famous Paseo de la Reforma (a long tree-lined street modeled after the Champs-Elysé...
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Patrick Dennis, art lover
Patrick Dennis found me in Sullivan Park, just behind El Monumento de la Madre in Mexico City, one fine Sunday, and changed my life.
His buddy, Nina Olds, Gore Vidal's mother, and my mother's buddy an...
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