This is a story of how my wife, Teresa, and I realized our dream of owning a sailboat here on the Caribbean side of Mexico. Being former coastal Californians with 10 years of sailing experience under our lifejackets and now living on the Caribbean coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula, we wanted a sailboat at our […]
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Located just 20 minutes south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya, Puerto Morelos is a haven of peace and solitude. It is possibly the last vestige of an authentic, small fishing village on the entire Caribbean coastline of Mexico. People come here to avoid the high prices of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. My wife, […]
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The trouble with writing about a hidden gem of a place is that once the information is out the place will still be a gem but it will no longer be hidden. The little village of Tenacatita is such a little known treasure. Soft white sand on a two mile beach, mild waves, laid-back atmosphere […]
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Sitting in bathtub-warm water in the middle of the desert looking at the surrounding mountains under a deep blue sky is a delightful experience. We are in the Cuatro Ciénegas Nature Preserve just outside the town of Cuatro Ciénegas, northwest of Monclova in the state of Coahuila. This Area of Protection of Flora and Fauna […]
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We woke to the sound of gunshots – six in rapid succession. My husband levitated off the bed shouting “What! What was that?” The shots continued, punctuated by long black silence between them. Eventually we braved getting out of bed and peeking out the window. Behind the brick wall of a nearby church courtyard, we […]
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The early inhabitants of Merida “discovered” a plant that had been a well-known staple to the indigenous Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula: henequen (Agave sisalana). A versatile, spiky, cactus-like bit of green that yielded valuable hemp, it soon earned the name “green gold” (verde de oro) because of the wealth it lavished upon the millionaire hacendados who farmed […]
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Just about an hour from Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, there’s a little town (population 17,740) with a big reputation: Tequila. Meaning “the rock that cuts” in the Nahuatl language, Tequila is the home of the famous Agave Azul cactus. Under the shadow of an extinct 9,000 foot volcano, this is the only place […]
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Angela Peralta is a big name in Mazatlán (mah-saht-LAHN). And practically everyone, especially the locals, are happy to tell you “the real story” about this legendary, Mexican diva. Only every story you hear is different. So after a lot of research, here’s the authentic saga of Angela Peralta. So they say: When Angela Peralta, lovingly […]
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Cogan’s Reviews With these two thrillers we find ourselves in the world of hard-boiled private eyes – a la Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler – but with a difference. Both stories are squarely set in Mexico. Murdoch Hughes has created a private eye, Rick Gage, who has given up his former career as a detective […]
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Regardless whether you translate la frontera as “border” or “frontier,” the images evoked are often negative: lawlessness, dusty streets, harsh climes, and a general disregard for human life. Even in an historical context, frontier life means living on the edges of civilization. When outsiders first encounter a Texas-Mexico border town, such images are often brutally reinforced. The […]
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