The five faces of God - and where to find them
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 moreZumpango: the guardians of a forgotten cemetery
"Magic realism" describes a style of Latin American writing where dreams and reality meet on equal footing in worlds lying ephemerally in between, poised to subvert back to the norm the very instant a ...
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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.
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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...
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Pictures of Teotihuacan, Mexico
Teotihuacán (pronounced teh-oh-tee-wah-KAHN) is an archaeological site some 50 km north of downtown Mexico City but still in the Valle de Mexico (the bowl surrounded by mountains in which Mexico City ...
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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...
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The renovation of Mexico City's Historic Center
By Michele Joyce. © 2004
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 regi...
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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.
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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.
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Mexicasa : The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico by Gina Hyams and Melba Levick (coffee table book)
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.
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Oaxaca... magic city
Believe me, it’s not quite like any other town you’ve ever been to. Even in Mexico.
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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...
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Malinalco, Mexico - A Font Of Mexico's History
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...
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The Magic Of Chalma
Chalma, about an hour and a half by car from Cuernavaca, is a rather grubby little town, which few foreigners visit. Yet on weekends and holy days, the place is packed with pilgrims, who come to worshi...
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South from Zacatecas: La Quemada archaeological site and Jerez, an undiscovered colonial gem
Click for interactive map
Two sites within an hour's drive south of Zacatecas make it well worthwhile to linger at least an extra day when visiting this splendid colonial treasure, described in a p...
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Did you know? Mexico has five of the world's most endangered heritage sites
Five places in Mexico are on the list of the world's 100 most endangered heritage sites.
"The World Monuments Fund (WMF) is the foremost private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation o...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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The Zapata Route In Morelos Part 2: His Heart Stopped Beating
Part 1 - The Land Was in His Heart
Zapata's Death
After leaving Museo Casa de Zapata your next stop in the Zapata Route is in Chinameca where he was shot. It's qui...
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Touring Mexico's Yucatan ruins
We took an early morning ferry from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. The warm wind and sea spray felt good on our frost bitten faces, fresh from Northern California.
We had previously toured the Mayan rui...
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Monastic Getaway
Let's face it.
Escaping Mexico City can be a great thing.
Now more than ever.
So much so that one would think that this unrestrained monster we call the Federal District, and the para...
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Visiting Zacatecas, a UNESCO World Heritage City
We follow a meandering street that twists and turns like the best of any Medieval European city. But that, in a way, is what Zacatecas is.
A soft dusk has settled over the cobblestone streets of...
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Loreto and San Javier: From Sun, Sand and Snorkeling to Museums, Missions and Mountains.
These three towns in Baja California Sur, offer a relaxing alternative to the frenetic pace of life in the pricier and more touristy Los Cabos area. Loreto, Mulegé and Santa Rosalía are very differen...
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