History of Mexico: time-line overview resource page. Born Doroteo Arango in San Juan del Río, Durango, in 1877 (1879 according to some sources), the man most of the world knew as Pancho Villa spent much of his life in Durango until, at age 16, he killed a man who had raped his younger sister. Little […]
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“Ay Chihuahua!” Have you ever heard this time-honored phrase of amazement uttered by some dumbstruck or exasperated Mexican? Whatever its origins, it is perhaps never more appropriately used than by those visitors who come to appreciate the state’s wide diversity of tourist merits. Once familiar with them, they too can rightly exclaim, “Ay Chihuahua!”. While […]
Continue ReadingAsked to identify Francisco “Pancho” Villa, most people living North of the Rio Grande and even some Mexicans would call him a “bandido” but a careful examination of his career reveals simply a man willing to break the law to further a cause. In many ways, he remains an enigma. Born in San Juan del Rio, Durango, […]
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When we talk of Mexico’s great painters, Francisco Goitia isn’t the first name that comes to mind. Yet, without a doubt, he is one of last century’s great painters. He the spirit of his times and reflected the hearts of his people with love and passion. Francisco Goitia was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas on October […]
Continue ReadingFrancisco Madero was a man who was too good for his own good. Naive, trusting, merciful toward those who deserved no mercy, he was in the end betrayed and murdered by those in whom he had mistakenly placed his trust. A rich man’s son whose following included bandits and killers, a teetotaler and spiritualist in […]
Continue ReadingTo most of us, the term “German agent” conjures up the image of a heel-clicking Bundist swilling beer and sieg heiling as he attends his monthly meeting at Camp Siegfried. If his vintage is pre-WWI rather than pre-WWII, then the Sieg Heil! will be replaced by something like Kaiser Hoch! What the terms do not evoke is the roistering figure […]
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A principal figure in the history of Mexico, and a principal figure in the Mexican Revolution, Francisco “Pancho” Villa was born June 5, 1877, ’78 or ’79 in Grande, or San Juan del Río, Durango as Doroteo Arango (there conflicting sources as to where and when he was born). He became a fugitive when he […]
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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 spend a night or two here as part of their itinerary. The city was officially founded at the start of the eighteenth century and its historic buildings stand scattered […]
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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 fishing village and mango processing town. It is now an up and coming small Mexican town bejewelled with the striking […]
Continue Reading During Christmas holidays, a college sophomore stumbled into a board game, “Pancho Villa, Dead or Alive.” He was surprised I had heard of Pancho but not the goofy game. He said everybody was playing it. I doubted that — but filed away his remark as another insensitive putdown, a way of saying I am old […]
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