One hour north of Manzanillo, Colima, the Primero Plus gave one final jolt in front of Melaque’s bus station. From air-conditioned comfort, we stepped down into the afternoon warmth. By arriving mid ... read more

It was Nestor's gold capped smile that greeted us in the lobby of a small San Patricio Melaque hotel. At 2 a.m. his warm greeting enhanced his offer of the last available room on a busy holiday weekend... read more

Josh, fourteen, and Rose, twelve, were keen to discover Mexico in their own way in San Patricio/ Melaque. As they were six and eight when last they frolicked in the waves, they now felt mature and open... read more

Valentine's Day brought me face-to-face with the shady 'lady' hidden in Acapulco. Not only did I meet the 'lady'; I was mistaken for her! Acapulco is one of Mexico's oldest coastal tourist destination... read more

Five years ago, I visited the Mexican sea-side resort of San Patricio (Melaque), Jalisco. I arrived with my family and small trailer to join an amiable colony of recreation vehicle campers at the free ... read more

The trailer was packed, the three kids and the dog were loaded into the van as final preparations were made for the "journey to the end of the earth". For us, Baja truly seemed land's end. Nobody we kn... read more

"Mexico has colorful folk art traditions," says the diminutive woman in white, pointing to a series of papier mache creations. "Ours are always amiable or nice, like a pleasant dream." Patricia ... read more

Gold-colored walls line the main street through Santa María del Oro, Nayarit. Bumping along the cobblestones in our camper-van, we are following in the footsteps of the Spanish conquistadors. In 1504,... read more

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

Palm trees reach towards the sky above the plaza. Water gushes from a swan-shaped fountain. Flowers bloom profusely. A banner above the bandstand declares February a month of 'Love and Friendship' in C... read more

The lush green volcanic hills of southern Veracruz permitted only glimpses of the approaching Laguna Catemaco. Small islands hid among swirls of soft grey neblina.(fog) They appeared then disappeare... read more

Mañana is a Mexican word that I struggle to understand. I continue to learn more about this word every time that I travel in Mexico. One of my earliest lessons was learned at the lighthouse that prote... read more

"TRAIN TIMES" IN MEXICO By "Blaise" Introduction by Wendy Devlin One of the great pleasures of traveling is the infinite variety of people that I meet at every turn in the road. The internet which i... read more

Ahhhh. Oohhh. Awww. Mmmmmm.” These are the sounds most often heard as bathers first step into a warm mineral pool. More and more North Americans are discovering the pleasures and benefits of soaking ... read more

During the heyday of westerns, films showed cowboys riding through the Great Sonoran Desert from Arizona to what is now the State of Sonora in Mexico. The desert is still there and so are the cowboys. ... read more

Fridays are Indian market days in the fountain-centered Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra, one of three main squares in Pátzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico. Walkways around the fountain are lined with stalls of good... read more

IF YOU GO . . . TRANSPORTATION ARRANGEMENTS AND ACCOMMODATIONS REFERENCES Alongside the rail... read more

There is a sense of permanence in so much change.   "Travel is like peeling an onion, at least one layer will make you cry." I don't recall who wrote that line, but it holds true. My trek started i... read more

Many visitors in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, realize that the quaint mountain town, aside from being a destination in itself, is a perfect jumping-off point for dozens of side-trips. Surround... read more

Back in 1940, just before Pearl Harbour, John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed Rickets, chartered a fishing boat, the Western Flyer, in Monterey, California, and sailed down the coast around the Baja into the Sea of Cortez. Their six-week mission was to collect specimens of marine life in the area. They jointly wrote a book about the voyage, largely about marine biology, which was published in 1941. A decade later, Steinbeck himself wrote this more personal book. The result is a mixture of travel writing, journalism, diary-keeping, philosophy, meditation and, yes, there's a lot of stuff about the marine life of the area. After all, the author was something of an authority in that field. read more

"My editor wanted me to write about life here in the region where we live. At that time, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato and Querétero ranked a page or two each in the guide books, day stops or overnighters on a tour of the ‘silver cities,’ the subject of an occasional tourist piece in a Sunday travel section, the ‘charming little town hidden away in the Mexican mountains.’ Don’t put a gloss on it, the editor said. Tell what life is really like, the good and the bad. Tell the truth a good fiction writer knows.” read more

Here's a guidebook with a very definite difference. It doesn't just set out in the usual way to give you a rundown on the community and make suggestions on what to do and where to go. Rather, Joseph Harmes, has put together a rather incredible list of 'bests' - some 126 pages of them in fact - to be found in San Miguel de Allende. These range, alphabetically, from Best Art Displays to where to find the Best Yogurt. In between you can mull over several hundred "bests", from Best Views to Best Dance Classes; from Best Tennis Courts to Best Places to Take Out-of-Towners; from Best Parks to Best Hidden Attractions; from Best Tortillas to Best Ways to Avoid Travellers Diarrhea… and so on. 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

Most of us think of the Baja Peninsula as a vast, sprawling, empty, underpopulated space on the Pacific Coast with hundreds of miles of desolate beaches. To a great extent, that's what it is. What Ms. Mayo gives us in Miraculous Air is a beautifully researched account of the history, geography, ecology, oceanography, the folklore, the wildlife and the incredible fishing in this vast area. We read of cave paintings of people who lived in the area some 10,800 years ago. And along the way, we meet a few quite interesting and memorable people. read more