Tehuantepec: Hold on to your sombrero
Adventurous Mexico - exploring Mexico's outdoors - self-guided tours, mountains, volcanoes, hiking, camping, sailing, fishing, kayaking and more
Climbing Mexican mountains, volcanoes and caves.
Climbing Mexico's volcanoes
Pico de Orizaba (Citlateptl) 5700m 18,700ft
Popocatepl 5452m 17,887ft
Iztaccihuatl 5286m 17,342ft
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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...
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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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Did you know? Mexico has more than one geographic center
Mexico has more than one geographic center.
I've often been asked, "Where's the center of Mexico?", and I've always deliberately fudged my reply, but is there a simple answer to this question? Well, p...
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Volcanoes in Mexico
When Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés was asked to describe Mexico in the early 1500s, he is said to have crumpled up a piece of paper and set it on a table, demonstrating Mexico's mountainous land...
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Mexico, a Higher Vision: Excerpts from the Prologue by Carlos Fuentes
To see Mexico from the air is to look upon the face of creation. Our everyday, earthbound vision takes flight and is transformed into a vision of the elements. This book is a portrait of water and fire, of wind and earthquake, of the moon and the sun. For it is we - you and I - who see and touch and smell and taste and feel today, even as we witness the perpetual rebirth of the land here and now. We are the witnesses to creation, because of the mountains that watch us and in spite of their warning: "we will endure, you will not."
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Mexico's Climate - Farenheit
The coast and lower parts of Mexico can often be very hot with temperatures ranging from 75º - 88ºF in winter and up to 90ºF in summer. In altitudes from 1,220 - 1,830 meters temperatures range from...
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Did you know? An enchanted lake in Veracruz rises every dry season, but falls again during the wet season
Peculiar, but true. There are several lakes named Laguna Encantada (Enchanted Lake) in Mexico, but this one is near Catemaco in the Tuxtlas region of the state of Veracruz. Catemaco is famous for its w...
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The Volcanoes of Colima
The Volcán de Fuego
In the past 400 years, the Volcán de Fuego has been the most active volcano in Mexico, and indeed one of the most active in the world, having erupted at least 30 times sin...
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The magnetic deserts of the world - Zone of Silence, Mexico, gateway to the universe
A desert whose immensity borders mountains that look like craters, where an abundance of aereolites are scattered around it, just like the memory of a test missile that fell in its arid territory, make the mysterious Zone of Silence in the north of Mexico a sidereal scene.
The magnificent vista of the celestial vault from there contributes to this impression; it permits one to appreciate the constant showers of stars and of some artificial satellites in movement, accompanied by the blanket of silence that effectively covers this faraway place where, it is said, the radios' electromagnetic waves cannot penetrate.
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Facts About Mexico
OFFICIAL NAME: United Mexican States
CAPITAL AND LARGEST CITY: Mexico City
AREA: 1,978,000 sq Km ( 760,000 sq mi)
MAJOR CITIES: Mexico City (25 mil), Guadalajara (8.5 mil) and Monterrey...
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Mexico, a Higher Vision: An Aerial Journey from Past to Present by Michael Calderwood
This is the first coffee-table book I ever reviewed and I have to say right off the bat that it's a winner. It is made up of some 200 photographs from all parts of Mexico - all of them taken from a high elevation, either an aircraft or mountaintop or, occasionally, a tall building. At first it sounds like a rather limited concept but in execution the "godlike" perspective works beautifully to highlight the uniqueness of this country. What this handsome volume delivers is a treasure trove of striking views of deserts, cities, villages, volcanoes, mountain ranges, desolate beaches, crowded beaches, jungles, individual buildings and other striking images. We look down on huge elaborate temple ruins in the midst of lush jungle or on abandoned haciendas in arid desert country, as well as on vast populated modern cities and luxury resorts.
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The Mexican climate: A thumbnail guide
One blazing Baja afternoon, I was sitting inside a palapa restaurant, directly in the airflow of a circulating air fan. The temperature was well over 100 degrees and the humidity was hovering around seventy-five percent. I was trying to work up enough courage to trudge a mile and a half to the beach, when suddenly a middle-aged couple breezed through the doorway. They were attired in crisp tennis whites, and seemingly stepped right out of an advertisement for a Rocky Mountain beer. "Nice day, isn't it?" the man tipped his hat in my direction. "Sure is" I grumbled.
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Atlantis in Mexico: Part Two
Manzanillo, Colima is an important seaport since before the Spanish Conquest and a popular international tourist destination. The old, provincial port is also the western home for the Mexican navy. Dri...
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Atlantis in Mexico: Part One
'Ships at a distance have everyone's wish on board.'
While in Canada, I surf the Internet, looking for sites and information about Mexico. Sometimes a check at a favourite site reveals something n...
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Xalapa, Veracruz: city of flowers
I’m puzzled as to why Xalapa hasn’t become more of a permanent residence for Americans and Canadians. Of the six cities my wife and I visited – Morelia, Cholula, Puebla, Xalapa, Vera Cruz and Queretero – Xalapa is for us the hands-down winner.
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