Church Of Our Lord Of Villaseca
Cata, Guanajuato
This is part of one wall of the church in Cata, near the town of Guanajuato. When I visited in 1996, the walls were completely covered with exvotos to a height o...
read more
Evoking the ancient Maya: murals by Otoniel Baruck Sala
Maya-themed murals, which fuse shards of this ancient culture with elements of fantasy, are Sala's current focus.
read more
La Hacienda de Nogueras in Comala, Colima
La Hacienda de Nogueras is an elegantly restored hacienda hidden in the countryside of Colima. Six miles north of Colima City, it links the region's rich pre-Hispanic past with colonial and modern history.
read more
The Classic Period (300-900 AD) Part 1
With the rise of a variety of highly developed cultures, Mesoamerica entered its Golden Age. It was an era marked by political, intellectual and urban development, as well as excellence in monumental a...
read more
Colonial Lake Pátzcuaro
Travelers who are interested in the history of this region of Michoacán will be well rewarded by a tour of the numerous picturesque villages bordering Lake Pátzcuaro. In addition to their authentic ...
read more
Rompope: Mexico's Holiday Season Beverage
Perico rompope, an artisanal rompope from Yahualica, Mexico
© Daniel Wheeler, 2011
Rompope, or "Mexican eggnog," is one version of the many combinations of egg, milk, sugar and spirits that are tr...
read more
Lake Chapala religious services
All Saints Lutheran Church
Worship Service 10:30 a.m 4600 Avenida Tepeyac, Guad. Tel. (013)121-67-41
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Services in English and Spanish ,10 am. Riberas del P...
read more
Navigating through the cyberspace signposts of Mexican history
Take a look at enough street signs in Mexico and soon you will be pondering the origin of their names. The country's urban geography provides a veritable "Who's Who" of Mexico's heroes and important an...
read more
The Maya civilization, cities of the Maya
The material splendor of the Maya culture is appreciated, more than in any other field, in the architecture and ornamentation of their cities. These city-states were the center of power for the king-pr...
read more
Below Tulum
The vast majority of visitors to Cancun never make it south of Tulum. Yet to many, that's where the adventure starts. The relatively empty region south of Tulum is a delight to nature lovers, ruin buff...
read more
Santa Elena, discoverer of the Holy Cross
My fascination with life and accomplishments of Santa Elena came to me accidentally this year, as I struggled to unravel the traditions and customs of one of Mexico's most popular Feast Days-May 3rd, t...
read more
The Valley Of The Caves
Imagine living in an adobe home set into a cave halfway up the side of a mountain. Each morning you wake and look out on a vista of gleaming, craggy red rock reaching above forests of dark green pine t...
read more
Six books by Karen Witynski and Joe Carr
These six wonderful books hit a real soft spot because I'm an ardent admirer of Mexican creativity as it exhibits itself so lavishly in art, architecture, the design of everyday objects and the bold approach to color. And I particularly enjoy good photographic books, which these essentially are.
read more
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...
read more
Did you know? "The Bells of San Blas", Nayarit, Mexico
The author of the famous poem "The Bells of San Blas" had never ever visited the town.
The San Blas that the poem refers to is in the state of Nayarit, on the Pacific coast. Today, it is a small town,...
read more
Why are there so few ex-pats living in Morelia?
It’s a surprise to visit a likeable, livable city like Morelia for the first time and find there’s almost no gringo community there. In fact, one resident put the number at 100 to 150 total. And only a handful of those are the retirees who are so prevelant in Jalisco. Most Americans, for example, are associated with the university in Morelia, as both teachers and students.
read more
Moon Handbooks: Guadalajara by Bruce Whipperman
Here's a welcome addition to the growing library of Mexican guidebooks. It covers all the information you would expect, like motels, hotels, bed & breakfasts, restaurants, shopping, money exchange locations, tourist highlights and how to get from one place to another. In addition, there's an abundance of information on such items as bus fares, rental cars, walking and jogging routes, exercise gyms, language courses and even where to get rolls of film processed.
read more
Mexicasa: The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico by Gina Hyams and Melba Levick
Gina Hyams and Melba Levick have created a wonderful compilation of photographs of twenty-one of Mexico's most spectacular and beautiful inns and bed and breakfast establishments. This one is a real winner.
read more
Relive the romance of colonial Mexico at a hacienda hotel
Staying at a Mexican hacienda hotel is like being transported back in time. The casa principal or main house usually stands before an elegant garden ablaze with purple bougainvillea and red flam...
read more
Pictures of Teotihuacan, Mexico
Teotihuacan (pronounced teh-oh-tee-wah-KAHN or teh-oh-tee-WAH-kan — experts differ on which is correct) is an archaeological site some 50 kilometers north of downtown Mexico City but still in the Val...
read more
Map of Teotihuacán
Map courtesy of Lonely Planet Travel Books.
Their Guide to Mexico is the best Mexico travel book on the market.
Available for immediate shipping at Amazon.Com...
read more
Western Mexico: A Traveller's Treasury by Tony Burton
This useful volume is back in a new and updated edition and it’s still as essential as ever. Whether you’re making a brief visit as a tourist, or escaping the northern winter for a few months or checking out the area more extensively as a place to spend one’s retirement years, this is one item you should have in your survival kit. It’s a nice blend of guidebook, travelogue and history text with lots of local color and some ecological notes sprinkled throughout.
read more
Searching for Sor Juana - Mexican poet
In the preface to his monumental biography Sor Juana, the late Octavio Paz wrote, "In her lifetime [1651 to 1695], Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was read and admired not only in Mexico but in Spain and al...
read more
The five faces of God: Mexico's Sierra Gorda missions
They are known as the missions of the Sierra Gorda.
There are others he constructed, to be sure; the California missions are famous around the world. But the most splendid of all of Serra's missions, the ones in Mexico, are themselves a paradox.
These particularly marvelous monuments rest among the mountains in Queretaro state, all within a few minutes drive of each other. They are the crowning jewels of the pueblos of Jalpan, Concá, Tilaco, Landa, and Tancoyol.
read moreWild Steps of Heaven
The setting of the story is around 1910, the time of the Mexican Revolution and the war is an ever-present background to the story. It's a time when great cruelties were imposed on the Indian populace by the country's rulers. Indeed, genocide is the only word you could use to describe what happened. The villain of the piece is a colonel of the Rurales who makes it his personal mission to see that every Indian dies in the most hideous fashion possible. As villains go, this one is a real bastard.
read more