Did You Know? Quetzal Dancers in Puebla, Mexico
The Quetzal Dance is one of the most colorful folkloric dances anywhere in the country. It is also thought to be one of the most ancient. Both the dance and the spectacular headdresses worn b...
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Did you know? A village named "Honey"
Believe it or not, there is a village in Mexico with the unlikely name of Honey.
Honey. This hardly sounds like a Mexican word and certainly lacks any Nahuatl or Spanish roots. Yet, in the state of Pu...
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Did you know? Mexico's Nobel Prize nominee and music revolutionary
A Mexican who tried to revolutionize the world of classical music was once nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1950, Julián Carrillo was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. The nominat...
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Did You Know? A fungus from Mexico and the Irish potato famine
There wouldn't be many Irish people in the United States if it wasn't for a Mexican fungus.
The census of 1841 in Ireland recorded a population of about 8 million. This figure was a staggering 300% m...
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Did You Know? Famous artists pioneer art community in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
A young couple who became famous artists pioneered the San Miguel de Allende foreign community.
San Miguel de Allende's vibrant art and music scene is deservedly famous. Among the early pioneers respo...
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Did you know? Mexico has one of the world's oldest still-functioning printing presses
One of the oldest printing presses still in operation anywhere in the world is in Tacámbaro, Michoacán.
Juan Pascoe lives on a remote ex-hacienda outside Tacámbaro, Michoacán. Visitors invited to ...
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Did you know? Mexico has over thirty UNESCO-designated biosphere reserves
A surprising percentage of Mexico's land area is protected in one form or another. A very large number of sites of archaeological or historical importance are managed by the National Institute of Anthr...
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Did You Know? Vanilla Festival in Papantla, Veracruz
The Vanilla Festival is held in early summer every year in Papantla, Veracruz. The origins of the festival pre-date the Spanish conquest. Its timing is now tied to the Catholic celebration of the Feast...
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Did You Know? Some tequila is priced at $225,000
I know what you're thinking:
"Tequila prices have been rising for years, but 225,000 dollars for a bottle is ridiculous!"
"Are we talking about a regular-sized bottle, or a supersized jumbo-jet full ...
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Did you know? An enchanted lake in Veracruz rises every dry season, but falls again during the wet season.
Peculiar, but true. There are several lakes named Laguna Encantada (Enchanted Lake) in Mexico, but this one is near Catemaco in the Tuxtlas region of the state of Veracruz. Catemaco is famous for its w...
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Did you know? Mexico's Domesday Book
Mexico's equivalent of the Domesday book was compiled in the sixteenth century.
History shows that conquerors often have very little idea of what they have really acquired until it is firmly within th...
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Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals
The world’s largest natural crystals (of selenite, said to enhance sex drive) have been discovered in caverns in Chihuahua.
Early in 2001, news emerged of a truly extraordinary discovery in caver...
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Did You Know? Tequila dates from the sixteenth century
In 1897, Carl Lumholtz, the famous Norwegian ethnologist, who spent several years living with remote Indian tribes in Mexico, found that the Huichol Indians in eastern Nayarti distilled agave juice usi...
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Did You Know? Artists in Mexico with disabilities
Several famous Mexican artists had serious physical disabilities.
Three Mexican artists, whose very different works are admired annually by thousands, and who were born in successive decades of the ni...
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Did You Know? January's weather in Mexico forecasts the rest of the year
Many Mexicans, especially campesinos, who are closer to the land than most, believe that the weather during the month of January serves as a long-range forecast for the entire year. The precise predict...
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Did You Know? Bouncing balls and Mexican ingenuity
Rubber balls wouldn't bounce very high if it wasn't for some Mexican ingenuity.
The Morning Glory
Ipomoea alba, the tropical white-flowering morning glory (moonflower or moon vine) is a perennial in ...
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Did you know? Thousands of Mexico's students receive classes by TV
Mexico's pioneering "telesecundaria" or "television secondary school" system began back in 1968. It now provides junior high school classes in remote areas, serving about one million students in grades...
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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 yachtsman won the first round-the-world yacht race
The first Whitbread Round-The-World yacht race was won by a Mexican.
Most people do not associate Mexico and Mexicans with yachting, but it’s a fact that the first Whitbread Round-The-World Yacht Ra...
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Did You Know? The Hero of Nacozari
November 7, 2007, marks the centenary of the death of Jesús García, the "Hero of Nacozari."
The small town of Nacozari occupies a valley nestled in the foothills of the Western Sierra Madre (Sierra ...
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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's largest bird is the American White Pelican
The American White Pelican is Mexico's largest bird, while its relative the Brown Pelican is one of the most fun to watch.
White Pelicans on Lake Chapala;
photo: John Mitchell, Earth Images Foundat...
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Did you know? Lots of "real" Aztec gold was only tumbaga.
What the Spanish Conquistadors thought was gold was often only an alloy called tumbaga.
As they explored the New World, the early conquistadors were spurred on by the possibility of finding treasure a...
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Did You Know? Mexico's national flower is the humble dahlia
With more than 30,000 native flowering plants to choose from, who would have thought that the humble dahlia would become Mexico's national flower?
The earliest known description of the dahlia (known t...
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