The magic of Playa del Carmen on Mexico's Maya Riviera
A paradisiacal town on Mexico's Maya Riviera can be found just a 45-minute drive from the Cancun International airport. Less known, but no less beautiful, Playa del Carmen has a lot to offer, and has b...
read more
Mexico City's San Fernando Cemetery for famous sons, present or not
The San Fernando Cemetery first began operating in 1713. The poor were first buried there, in the section known as the "Panteón chico." Later, aristocrats nudged their way in, and then in 1835 the "Panteón grande" was constructed and it became an all-purpose public bone yard.
read more
May in Mexico: Fiestas galore
It actually begins on April 30 with the Dia del Niño, when children are honored with gifts and treats, and classes are canceled for a day of fun. Labor Day — May 1 — follows immediately with parades in every city and town. May 3 is the feast day of the Holy Cross. The Battle of Puebla is commemorated on the 5th — el Cinco de Mayo, perhaps a bigger event in the U.S. and Canada. May 10 is always Mother's Day... read more
The state of Colima, Mexico: a resource page
If you had to live the rest of your life in one Mexican State, which one would it be? A straw-poll of Mexconnect readers suggests that their choice might well be Colima.
Why?
Because not only is Coli...
read more
Silver, saints, and sinners™: Semana Santa in Taxco, Mexico
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
Dancing with the Stars: Carnival on Cozumel
As a wave of dancers flooded the street, the beat of the salsa flowed through my body. My feet moved and my shoulders shimmied. A beautiful dancer, wearing an off-the-shoulder dress leaned toward me an...
read more
Scouting Mexico retirement scenes
My pick is the David Frost, American computer programmer, banjo-picker and adventurer, currently encouraging or coaxing his wife Jo to hop-scotch around Mexico, scouting possible retirement scenes. read more
The Magic Circle: Mexico's five ecosystems meet around Guadalajara
For a while I've been asking myself how it's possible that I keep finding new natural wonders to write about after 25 years of living near Guadalajara. So, one day I sat down with a map and drew a circ...
read more
Mexico's Dia de Muertos celebration: Is it dying?
"Every year there are more and more tourists. They're not coming to see our tradition, they just want another reason to have a fiesta. It gets worse later, when they start urinating on the candles."
read moreWhen I took Fernando to Guanajuato
Colonial charm, Talavera and shrimp ice cream in Dolores Hidalgo
Someone has mistakenly put shrimp into the ice cream or else I'm reading the sign incorrectly — always a possibility as my Spanish certainly needs some work. But then again, when I order camarones a...
read more
Tabacalera Alberto: What's smoking with Mexico's leading cigar maker?
Driving to Yucatan, I made a wrong turn and wound up in the town of Catemaco. A shady beach drive along a huge lake provided a tranquil setting reminiscent of Hollywood's 1930s America. I pulled to the...
read more
Exploring caves in Mexico: the speleologist's new frontier
Soaking wet and covered with mud, we followed the narrow underground stream deeper and deeper into the cave until we found ourselves standing about three meters above a pool of undetermined depth. The ...
read more
Did tequila originate in the Mexican town of Amatitan, Jalisco?
All the world has been told that tequila, the drink was born in Tequila — the town located 45 kilometers northwest of Guadalajara — but is this really a fact? Curiously, the famed Tequila Express t...
read more
Plaza hopping in Queretaro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
We sat at a shady table at an outside patio listening to Pavarotti sing an aria while watching the silvery jets from a plaza fountain in 70-degree weather. This is my idea of the best way to spend a we...
read more
Tehuamixtle: the Cabo Corrientes shore on Mexico's Pacific coast
The coast south of Cabo Corrientes, the southerly arm of our Bay of Banderas, is known as the Costa Alegre, Happy Coast, all the way down to Manzanillo. Barra de Navidad and Careyes are two of the better known spots. Directly west of El Tuito, the civic center of Cabo Corrientes, lies its bulk — a broad, hilly and ravined stretch of scrub and farm country that is separated from the Pacific by swaths of mile-long beaches and turquoise waters that have remained remarkably pristine.
read more
Frosty mornings in the sierras: healthy lifestyles in a small Mexican town
A perfect Mexico camping spot on the Costa Esmeralda of Veracruz
The term Costa Esmeralda covers a stretch of highway about fifteen miles long from Hotel Riachuelos to Casitas. Five tiny beach towns, occasionally broken by cattle farms and small rivers running down to the sea, enliven the stretch. These Mexican Gulf beaches are veritable tropical gardens. The location is 259 kilometers south of Tampico and 205 kilometers north of Veracruz on Highway 180.
read more
Pilgrimage from San Miguel de Allende to San Juan de los Lagos in 1967
Founded in 1542, San Juan de los Lagos is set in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, an area distinguished by its devotion to the Roman Catholic faith. The Cathedral there is home to the diminutive image of the Virgin of the Immaculate Concepcion. Late in January, pilgrims on foot can be seen thronging toward the town for the celebration of Candlemas on February 2.
read more
Free riding the roads of Mexico
Mexico has one of the most extensive highway systems anywhere, providing convenient and indispensable connections among villages, towns and cities.
read moreThere's a lot to see and do in Veracruz, Mexico
Rafting on the
Pescado River in Veracruz
Veracruz offers some awesome adventure sports in a pristine area near the village of Jalcomulco, about 90 minutes from Veracruz City....
read more
December guava fair in Calvillo, Aguascalientes
When I first saw guava fruit I mistook it for lemon.
It happened on my first trip to Aguascalientes during the summer rainy season when a tree — its branches loaded with tiny round yellow fruit in t...
read more
Durango's colonial architecture: eleven quarry stone gems
Many of the city of Durango's important architectural gems, some dating back to the 16th century, still stand today; they provide a colonial backdrop for Durango's strolling residents and tourists alike.
read more
Mazatlan: why snowbirds keep coming back
The closest of Mexico's Pacific beach resorts to the U.S. West Coast, Mazatlan is a favorite winter destination for snowbirds who love its casual, sometimes gritty atmosphere, low prices, fresh seafood and miles of golden beaches. Many Canadians and West Coasters return year after year, settling in for a couple of weeks or half a year.
read more
Night in Mina Dos Estrellas, a haunted mine in Mexico
The Dos Estrellas (Two Stars) mine has had a long and checkered history. It was a fabled producer of gold and silver in the 18th century. Then one night more than 70 years ago, the god of the mine vented its wrath, unleashing a tragedy on those who made a living from its veins.
read more