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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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.

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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

As you drive the winding road into town, you catch glimpses of it perched like an eagle's aerie on a ridge of the mountains that ring the valley. The small archaeological site, which overlooks Malinalc... read more