Colimilla, Colima: The freshest seafood in Mexico
"When you return from your friends in Guadalajara, I will take you to the freshest, finest seafood in Colima!" promised Nestor, as we left the hotel that he managed in Melaque, Jalisco. Well, I do no...
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Traveling in Mexico: Security of mind
How safe is tourist travel in Mexico? This question rates among the most controversial on any Internet forum about Mexico. Crime is a complex subject woven deep in any country's social fabric. The foll...
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Passion with the Mexican people
PASSION: According to the Random House College Dictionary it is "any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling." It is further defined as "a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm or desire for any...
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Iguanas in Mexico fly at midnight
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...
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A Jalisco Mexican in Washington, D.C.
Oh yes, I know this column is called Inside Mexico. But if the archetype of the American writer, Samuel Clemens, wrote and published an account of the adventures of A Connecticut Yankee in King ...
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Keeping in touch from Mexico
(The rates quoted in this article are as of August 1998)
When I first started traveling in Mexico in the '60s, it was truly like going back in time. If you wanted to place a call back to the States or...
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Letting go in Mexico: Young teens on their own
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...
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Mexico City's Hipodromo: A day at the horse races
Having lived in Mexico for several years, I have met my share of out-of-town visitors arriving on flights into Mexico City. We've made the usual round of historical and architectural sights, as well as...
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Alicia Ramirez, a friend in Melaque
The diminutive, stocky woman with a long braid of dark hair walks the five- mile long sweeping expanse of beach several times every day. Usually she walks alone, but, sometimes other women or men accom...
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Eat, drink and be merry: Mexican hummingbirds migrate to Canada
Each year, in late March, the visitors from Mexico arrive in southern Canada. They knock lightly on all the windows to let me know of their return. I know that they expect a good breakfast, lunch and d...
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Train times in Mexico
"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...
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Drugs, rebellion, and Mexico's militarization
Long-time travelers to Mexico will have noticed an increase in the presence of Mexican military units around the country, particularly roadblock inspection squads purportedly searching for drugs and we...
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In Mexico, the more that things change...
There is a saying "the more things change, the more they remain the same." This saying, is of course, subject to debate. But I admit to always finding myself contemplating this expression every t...
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Cenote daydreams, Yucatan, Mexico
Recollections of stunning ruins, fantastic snorkelling,
exquisite food and friendly people.
The Yucatan is unlike any other region of Mexico. It has unique terrain, climate, cuisine and peop...
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San Patricio Melaque revisited
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 ...
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People I saw passing by
The streetlamp on any street,
in any city, sees so many people passing by...
Alberto Cortez
I live now in this junkyard. It is not such a bad life. The open sky, the s...
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A three mile stroll through Mexican history
I’m going to sound like something of a museum freak – which I’m definitely not. There’s a limit to the amount of "tourism" I can handle when I’m travelling. My strict ration is one castle, or one cathedral or one stately home per day. All of which is my way of saying that by far the classiest, the biggest and the most elegant museum I’ve ever seen is in Mexico City - The National Museum of Anthropology.
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Trailer tales from La Bufadora, Baja California
Anyone you talk to in Baja with a roof over their head has a story or two to go with the roof. Jack Smith of Los Angeles Times, joyfully chronicled his home building adventures in his book, God and Mr....
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Eating the guest of honor
Juan Mata Ortíz is a small village of potters, farmers and cowboys in Northern Chihuahua. About 30 years ago, an unschooled artistic genius, Juan Quezada, taught himself how to make earthenware jars i...
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Mexicans are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met
While I’m perfectly aware that this country has more than its share of bad people, I have to say after four years here that some of the nicest people I’ve ever met are Mexicans.
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Bandidos
Every time I hear the word “bandidos” the hair on the back of my neck starts to rise. The word sounds scary, doesn’t it? Where do these bandidos come from, anyway? I’d give anything to see a bo...
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Johnny's Beach on Baja's Golfo de Santa Clara
The ubiquitous land crab — about the size of the palm of a hand
© Barbara Sands, 2010
"If you've ever traveled the mainland side of the Sea of Cortez, just south of the town of El Golfo de Santa...
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Learning Spanish by immersion: Does it work?
Imagine a language course that starts off with the instructor giving a monologue that lasts all of sixty minutes, delivered almost entirely in Spanish. What our teacher, Hugo, gave us on that first day was a rundown, delivered at a normal conversational pace, on what we could expect in the next month. There were very few English words used, other than those we obviously didn’t understand. The only saving grace for us was that Hugo repeated his message constantly in several different ways.
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Barra del Tordo, Tamaulipas is paradise close to home
You can stop looking for paradise. It's only 5 hours south of the Texas/Mexico border at McAllen or Brownsville. Most guidebooks dismiss the Gulf Coast uninteresting. They couldn't be more wrong. El Pa...
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The adventures of Shadow: My dog, Sombra
When we first met, the attraction was instant and mutual. Her chocolate brown eyes melted into my gringa blues and we knew we were destined to be the best of friends. I smiled at her shyly and s...
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