Western Mexico: A Traveler's Treasury, 4th edition
The Mango Orchard: The Extraordinary True Story of Family Lost and Found
Worried about life passing him by, in 1898 Arturo "kissed his sweetheart Mariah goodbye and set off on his Mexican adventures."
Bayley, over one-hundred years later, "was plagued by the same fear about life passing me by." read more
When I took Fernando to Guanajuato
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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Did you know? Mexico's vultures have very different eating habits.
Vultures (zopilotes in Spanish) are among the most conspicuous birds in many parts of Mexico. Commonly misidentified as eagles, these blackish scavengers can be seen almost anywhere, often in large flo...
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Indigenous Mexico: an overview
The Republic of Mexico is a very large country, boasting a total area of almost 1,978,000 square kilometers (760,000 square miles) and a population of 103,400,165 (July 2002 estimate). With its central...
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Did you know? Mexico's ancient astronomers had sophisticated calendars
Several ancient civilizations developed astonishingly accurate calendars. Even so, occasional adjustments were needed to bring the calendar back in line with solar events. Archaeologists studying the s...
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Did you know? The first Mexico tourist guide books
Comprehensive guide books to Mexico have existed for more than 120 years.
Modern travelers to Mexico are often hard-pressed to choose their favorite guide. Fodor's, Frommer's, Real Guide, Insight Guid...
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Chihuahua City, Pancho Villa and Parral de Hidalgo
Click for interactive map
Chihuahua, the state capital, is not a particularly tourist-oriented town but it is virtually inevitable that travelers seeking to explore the inner recesses of the state ...
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Did you know? A village named "Honey"
Believe it or not, there is a village in Mexico with the unlikely name of Honey.
Honey. This hardly sounds like a Mexican word and certainly lacks any Nahuatl or Spanish roots. Yet, in the state of Pu...
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Did you know? Mexico has one of the world's oldest still-functioning printing presses
One of the oldest printing presses still in operation anywhere in the world is in Tacámbaro, Michoacán.
Juan Pascoe lives on a remote ex-hacienda outside Tacámbaro, Michoacán. Visitors invited to ...
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The Zapata Route in Morelos Part 1: The Land Was in His Heart
At the heart of liberty is land. Emiliano Zapata knew this better than anyone; his slogan was "Tierra y Libertad!" (Land and Liberty!) This key figure in the Mexican Revolution was born in the heart of...
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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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Lake Chapala - a local history
Chapala: A Formal History
...Ah! Chapala
you have the magic of a story book
stories of sunsets and earthenware,
of romantic moonlit nights
Peaceful Chapala,
your la...
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Historia local de Chapala en español
....¡Ay laguna de Chapala
tienes del cuento la magia,
cuento de ocasos y albarradas
de enamoradas noches lunadas.
Quieto Chapala,
es tu laguna
novia romántica ...
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The rise and almost fall of the hot dog in Mexico
In 1943 a couple of young American entrepreneurs attending a bullfight in Mexico and observing the crowd that filled the stadium, hit on the idea that they could become millionaires by introducing the ...
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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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Veracruz, Mexico: a feast for the senses
Veracruz is unlike any other city in Mexico, with a rhythm all its own. Salsa music, the cry of the street vendor, the bell of a trolley, and the comings and goings of sea vessels all blend together. M...
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Miraculous Air: A Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico by C. M. Mayo
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.
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Did you know? An early ascent of Mexico's highest peak, El Pico de Orizaba
Scientists first explored El Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest peak, as long ago as 1838.
El Pico de Orizaba, or Citlaltépetl (= star), is Mexico's highest peak, with a summit 5,746 meters (18,853 fe...
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Did you know? Independence battle map is upsidedown
The battle in question is the Battle of Calderon Bridge (Batalla del Puente de Calderon), fought just outside Guadalajara in January 1811 as part of Mexico’s fight for Independence. The decisive batt...
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Robert Barrett and Richard Nathan: two Englishmen in Xalapa, Veracruz
The first Englishman to set foot in Xalapa was an unfortunate fellow called Robert Barrett. That was back in 1568. Some 432 years later, another Englishman has set foot in this delightful city. But Ric...
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The Leon Trotsky Museum - murder and Marxism in Mexico City
On a balmy summer evening in August 1940, a young man gained admittance to the study of Leon Trotsky's heavily guarded house near Mexico City. He asked Trotsky to read something he had written. While T...
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Mazatlan, a European city
I was recently invited to write the prologue for a book on Mazatlán history, with the condition that I relate Mazatlán to Europe. As a Mazatleco who has been living in Switzerland since 1982, ...
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