Liliana, mi corazoncita
Corazoncita, or little heart, is a Mexican expression of affection, similar to 'sweetheart'. This is a story of my first visit to Mexico, and how a sweet, little Mexican girl became mi corazonci...
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Mexico City's miracle mile (or two)
"Wait," she protested. She bent over the crouched photographer busily framing the pleasant scene for posterity, his camera at the ready, shutter cocked. She spoke loudly into his ear. "Wait!"
On the v...
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A writer's education from the mean streets of Mexico City
Plaza Garibaldi, 2 a.m., and the mean streets are bopping.
Beers flowing. Flowing friends. Tequilas, too. Maybe a few too many.
What the hell. You'll get a taxi ...
You are a writer and this is a fi...
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Maldita Vecindad y Los Hijos del Quinto Patio
A riotous image of a storm of people bolting down a wide Mexico City avenue, in the midst of a live Maldita Vecindad rock performance from the back of a moving truck, comprises one of many memorable vi...
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The city's "apocalypse" has come and gone
In the novel "Virtual Light," cyberpunk author William Gibson envisages a Mexico City of the near future where the air is a sooted ebon and the populace wears oxygen masks.
It might seem far-fetched, ...
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The Aztecs speak - part 3
Quetzalcoatl was coming. Moctezuma had already sent wizards, magicians and seers, to cast spells that would destroy or at least deter the Spaniards from continuing toward his capital. Their failure had...
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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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Teotihuacan: The place of the gods
We were lucky: we managed to visit the famous pyramids of Teotihuacan on a rare sunny winter’s day, when Mexico City’s air was clear and, from our bus, you could actually see the snow capped volcan...
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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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A three mile stroll through Mexican history
I’m going to sound like something of a museum freak – which I’m definitely not. There’s a limit to the amount of "tourism" I can handle when I’m travelling. My strict ration is one castle, or one cathedral or one stately home per day. All of which is my way of saying that by far the classiest, the biggest and the most elegant museum I’ve ever seen is in Mexico City - The National Museum of Anthropology.
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Our Lady of Guadalupe
We possess an extraordinary account of this beautiful story, dated in the 16th century: the Nican Mopohua , written by an Indian nobleman, Don Antonio Valeriano, who was baptized and co...
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Did You Know? Mexico in the Guinness world records: part two
An earlier column described several Guinness records and their connection to Mexico and Mexicans. This month's column examines four more very different Guinness records which do not involve quite as mu...
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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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Creating Is Being: 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."
read moreFrozen Moments: The Photos Of 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.'"
read moreA Million Meanings: The Art Of Raul Lopez Garcia
'Between Laughing and...'
For artist Raúl López García, it is the language of his subconscious that manifests itself in his paintings.
"About two years ago, I realized that I wasn't inventing ...
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The Fiery Spirit Of 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.
During her heyday from the 1920s...
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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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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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Trotsky's Ghost
I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Communist Party (although I did subscribe to the Daily World during the wild and woolly Sixties), but a visit to Leon Trotsky´s house in Coyoacán ha...
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Feliz Navidad from Mexico City
In a winter devoid of snow and blistery winds, one has to work a little harder to bring the Christmas spirit to life.
In the latter part of November, Ajijic holds its annual nine-day fiesta in celebra...
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Mexico's Autumn Antiques Shows Promise To Be A Lot Of Fun
When I was growing up in New England, the autumn months were always full of weekend antiques shows. This type of event is not as common here in Mexico, but the coming months do offer collectors some su...
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