T-Boned. Gringos would use the word T-Boned to describe the accident. The police report, in Spanish, would simply say golpe en el lado, hit on the side. When the big diesel water truck slammed on the brakes it was already too late. The heavy-duty grill drove the driver’s side door of the little tan Mexican car into […]
Continue ReadingFrom my seat near the aisle I am so close to the glowing casket that I can almost touch it. Although I was baptized 70 years ago, until I came to this little Mexican town I had only seen the inside of a Catholic church two or three times. But now from time to time […]
Continue ReadingWhen I moved to La Ribera, a small pueblo just north of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, Martín was already a fixture on my little dirt street. At first, I felt uneasy when I saw this strange Mexican near my gate; but over time I feared him less, then began to expect him, walking […]
Continue ReadingWhen Ramon handed the ball to me, I was pleased to find it was latex, not some synthetic material. It was probably very old, made from raw rubber. This one did not have a human skull inside. As I handed the guy my credit card for the rental car, an ominous voice inside me was […]
Continue Reading“The Earth is sick and dying. The lands of the Huichol Indians, hidden high in the remote Sierra Madre mountains of northwestern Mexico, are dying. The forests are shrinking, water is becoming scarce, and the animals are disappearing. “The Huichol Wise man, the Grand Shaman, knows why.” “When the world ends, it will be like […]
Continue ReadingAn earlier column described several Guinness records and their connection to Mexico and Mexicans. This month’s column examines four more very different Guinness records which do not involve quite as much physical activity. In movie images, Mexico is almost invariably associated with cacti and it should, therefore, come as no surprise to find that the […]
Continue ReadingBOOKS (and chapters in books) MAPS ACADEMIC JOURNALS TRAVEL ARTICLES ECONOMIC NEWSLETTERS TRANSLATIONS CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS 2022 Si las paredes pudieron hablar: edificios históricas de Chapala y sus antiguos habitantes (translation of If Walls Could Talk) 2022 A postcard history of Lake Chapala 2022 Foreign Footprints in Ajijic: Decades of Change in a Mexican Village 2021 […]
Continue ReadingSemana Santa in Morelia means a vacation at home for me. For one thing, I don’t want to become a statistic by hitting the open road, and for another, I don’t like crowds. But most importantly, I bask in those times when the help are gone and it’s just me and my Doberboys. By Thursday, […]
Continue ReadingPosted by Chez on Marzo 28, 2000 On TV we saw a “Pinyada” I have no idea of the spelling. It was a stuffed shape (rather large) filled with sweets that you hang up and hit till it breaks and the sweets fall out. I have heard this is Mexican? My 6-year-old son thinks it […]
Continue ReadingThe mariachi is believed to have originated in Jalisco, in the area of Cocula and Tecolitlan. So it is fitting that the capital of Jalisco celebrate this quintessential musical tradition, and the annual International Mariachi Festival — begun in 1994 — brings together groups from all over the world. Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the event includes concerts, […]
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