Dr. Leopoldo Rodarte Ramón, general director of the Federal District Water Commission, has a tough job. He is responsible for supplying an ever-growing population with water, draining thousands of tons of rain and wastewater, and treating huge discharges of industrial and domestic waste. To complicate matters, the Mexico City’s water infrastructure is no longer able […]
Continue ReadingMexican wines may finally be gaining ground in a centuries-old battle fraught with political, sociological and economic challenges, not to mention the usual climatic problems. Father Hidalgo would be proud. He reportedly launched the independence movement in the early 19th century to prevent authorities from uprooting grapevines Indians tended for him in Dolores, Guanajuato. Viceroys, […]
Continue ReadingI parked my car on the US side of the border as I had no idea what to expect if I drove into Mexico. Will I need a passport? Some kind of international driver’s license? Better to be safe and walk across and scope it out. So I walk through the heavy, iron, bird-cage looking […]
Continue ReadingMy suegra (mother-in-law) decided that she wanted to sell vegetables from her front porch in rural Guerrero. I asked her how much profit she would like to make and we would work the numbers backward from there. “Fifty pesos per day would be great,” she says. So I do some back-of-the-envelope calculations taking into account the cost […]
Continue ReadingWe woke at 7 a.m. to the blaring horn of the propane truck ” beepbeeeeeepbeepbeeeeeeeeep ” and wonder if he will ever buy a muffler for that dang truck. We dress quickly so that we can get to the tiangis early. We aren’t sure what we want to buy, but we know that the best deals are […]
Continue Reading[” Rompe – Cabeza ” (ROM-pe ca -BAY-sa, literally “head breaker”), is a term that Mexicans apply to all puzzles, from crosswords to mazes.] As you stroll through the Alameda, the vest-pocket park in front of the Cathedral plaza in Oaxaca, around 7:00 in the evening, keep an eye out for Ignacio Cervantes. He’s the elderly, white-goatee’d […]
Continue ReadingNovember first is children’s day in the series of remembrances and festivities that are known as Dias de los Muertos (days of the dead). On this day, the souls of departed children migrate to the homes of their still living relatives to take a sip of chocolate off the altar which has been constructed to […]
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sergiogomez / Moderator / Jan 7, 2009 Puns are the staple of Mexican humor. People use them on a daily basis, and these puns, or albures, are almost always sexual jokes or disguised insults. Sometimes they consist of words with two (or more) meanings. Sometimes they are phrases whose meaning changes depending on where you […]
Continue Reading MazDee: Apr 13, 2008 Gringa, Gabacha or just Americana? I looked in the language forum for a discussion of the use of these terms, but couldn’t find anything useful to answer a question some of us estranjeros have. A friend (US born but with years of experience in México) says that while gringo is not […]
Continue Reading sioux4noff no mames! My husband has a buddy who uses the expression “no mames.” He (the friend) wasn’t very clear on the meaning or when one would use the expression. Same with the expression “no manchas”. Another expression the guys use is “te banas” , which seem to be slang for see ya later, but […]
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