Chacala: a Nayarit village on the beach
A splendid tropical beach, Chacala is located about forty minutes north of La Peñita and just a few minutes south of the town of Las Varas. You know you are heading somewhere very special indeed as you drive along the windy road set amidst yet another, lost jungle leading to the town, whose name means, "Where there are Shrimp."
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La Peñita de Jaltemba: Nayarit beach with a turtle sanctuary
La Peñita de Jaltemba means "Place on the sandy shore, across from the cliff." Its beach is not the most beautiful in this area. One might say it is a little rough around the edges, being frequented b...
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Rincon de Guayabitos: an affordable paradise
Rincon de Guayabitos on the Nayarit coast is an affordable, beautiful beach side paradise with something for everyone.
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Los Ayala: undiscovered gem on the Nayarit coast
Los Ayala is situated at the foot of the Sierra de Vallejo Mountains. An undiscovered gem, Los Ayala is an authentic Mexican beach town and a fishing village. It is just now beginning to be discovered ...
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Punta Raza, Nayarit: where the jungle meets the sea
Punta Raza is an incredibly beautiful and pristine beach in a spectacular setting. Its two miles of unspoiled beach are a prime example of the incredible beauty of Nayarit beaches where the jungle meet...
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Lo de Marcos, Mexico: a friendly, family beach town
Set in a palm-fringed bay, the beach of Lo de Marcos is wide and adorned with soft, deep, almost white sand. The beach is simply gorgeous, resembling Hawaii, especially at its craggy north end, where crystal clear blue Pacific waves crash to the shore.
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Playa San Francisco: San Pancho for music and art
Playa San Francisco is a beautiful wide, sandy beach, fierce and riotous, set in the artsy town commonly referred to as "San Pancho." Like most towns along the Nayarit coast, San Pancho was once a fish...
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Tequisquiapan: provincial Mexican charm in Queretaro
Only a two-hour drive from Mexico City, Tequisquiapan is the second most important tourist destination in Querétaro. Although it comes to life on weekends, it retains the charm of a Mexico's provincia...
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Tourism in Mexico City, Cancun and Ajijic
Mexico's economic downturn may be worse than those of other nations, because so much of Mexico's economy depends on tourism.
Entrance to Mexico City
© Anthony Wright, 2009
Mexico City is desper...
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Guadalupe in Zacatecas: masterpieces of colonial art
Guadalupe's real treasure is the magnificent Church of the Virgin of Guadalupe with its three chapels and a convent, home to Franciscan monks. Part of the convent has been turned into the Museo de Guadalupe. It is one of the largest collections of religious art in North America.
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Villas Buena Vida on Mexico's Nayarit Riviera is a favorite with families and snowbirds
As sunlight flooded my room, I opened my eyes to see pelicans gliding in formation above the blue Mexican Pacific. I stretched, brewed a pot of coffee, and enjoyed a steaming cup on the balcony overlooking the beach as the world awakened. Life is laid back and casual in the Mexico town of Rincon de Guayabitos, and hotel Villas Buena Vida offers all the creature comforts for a quiet vacation in the sun.
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Vintage cars in a Mexico City museum
El Museo del Automóvil in the south of Mexico City houses more than a hundred painstakingly restored cars. In existence since 1991, the Museo del Automóvil is unique to Latin America and was the fruit of the labors of a group of vintage car lovers, who exhibit their treasures for the joy of it. While it is basically a permanent exhibition, around 30 cars are rotated every three months to allow other collectors to also display their wheels. All the cars are registered and in fine working order, and the engines are turned over once a month to keep them that way.
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Las Piedras Bola: the great stone balls of Ahualulco
Approximately twenty-five years ago I heard rumors of some curious geological formations hidden high in the hills above the town of Ahualulco de Mercado, which is located about 58 kilometers west of Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city. "There are giant stone balls up there," I was told, "perfectly round and lying in a great bed of volcanic ash." When I asked how these megaspherulites (as scientists call them today) came into being, I was told that they had been shot into the air from inside Tequila Volcano.
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Climbing volcanoes in Mexico
Climbers from the US and Canada looking for a new experience, and more altitude than they can find in the lower 48 states, can fly to Mexico City, and set a personal altitude record on the Mexican Volcanoes. This is a good warm-up trip for an attempt on a 20,000 ft peak in Alaska or South America. As a climber and a long-time fan of Mexico, here is my advice on climbing the Mexican volcanoes.
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Mexico's endless Pacific beach: sun, surf, sand, seafood and solitude
There's more to the Mexico seashore than skimboards, seafood and sun-bathing bronzed bodies: there is solitude. There are vast stretches of uninhabited or unfrequented beaches lounging serenely beside a roiling sea that stretches westward seemingly into infinity.
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El Fuerte in Sinaloa, Mexico, was once the capital of Arizona
Prior to the founding of San Juan de Carapoa (later renamed El Fuerte de Montesclaros) by Francisco de Ibarra in 1564, relatively little is known of the early Indian peoples living in the Fuerte valley...
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Interactive map of Campeche, Mexico
Interactive map of Campeche, Mexico
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In Morelos, Cuernavaca springs eternal
"Slightly to the right and below them, below the gigantic red evening,
whose reflection bled away in the deserted swimming pools scattered
everywhere like so many mirages, lay the peace and sweetness...
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Good morning, Melaque: one day in a small Mexico beach town
For the past number of years during our months of Mexico we have been traveling to Melaque-San Patricio-Obregon, a former fishing village on the Pacific coast about five hours by bus south of Puerto Vallarta. Known collectively as Melaque, the Mexico beach community is stable now at about 8,000 persons, and flourishes during December-March upon the arrival of several hundred tourists who pop up in the streets like alabaster mushrooms in a rain-stirred meadow.
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The magic of Bernal, Queretaro: wine, opals and historic charm
A century is just a moment ago in Bernal.
I have come to Bernal because it is one of Mexico's Pueblos Mágicos. These magical towns are designated such because of their historic charm, peaceful atmosphere and closeness to a major city, in this case, the state capital, Querétaro
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Busting ghosts at Xochicalco, Morelos: A UNESCO World Heritage Site
A ghostly aura emanates from the site - in part, perhaps, due to a lack of crowds. - The pyramid forms part of the archaeological zone of Xochicalco, which shimmers in heat and eerie solitude on a plateau among verdant surrounds in the southwest of the state of Morelos, 23 miles from Cuernavaca. A ghostly aura emanates from the site - in part, perhaps, due to a lack of crowds that permeate Xochicalco's more famous cousins elsewhere in Mexico.
read moreDriving in Mexico: How to avoid a bum steer
Greetings and I wish you many happy and safe journeys! read more
Mazatlan: Tequila, tans and working stiffs
There are different views of Mexico, as diverse as the numbers of observers.
read moreGPS on the road to San Pancho, Nayarit
The woman's voice from the dashboard announces, "In three point five kilometers, turn right onto I 80 toward Qptlantapque." - "What did she say? What is she talking about?" I ask. I'm driving, peering at the array of green signs ahead which look vaguely familiar. Not one comes close to matching any destination our audible guide has pronounced with such an unusual number of consonants. Bill consults the Mexico map book spread across his lap. "Ignore her," he says and takes the GPS from its special perch to enter new information.
read moreJohn Keeling's 2009 Restaurant Guide (Chapala, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta)
John Keeling's 2009 Restaurant Guide (Fifth Annual Edition) is not just for residents of the north-shore towns along Lake Chapala.
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