Mexico Notes Across the unforgiving Sierra Madres. There is nothing soft about these mountains, unless you happen upon a view in low light that carries the eye across a widened vista. Journal, Mayo 23 Tom fills up the car with one last tank of American gas in Douglas, Arizona as Susan bids a cell phone […]
Continue ReadingMexico Notes Solstice morn. Hot sun on my face. I have been awake since 4:30, Mexico rising to the surface, a wakening jolt of images and smells, not to be forgotten or unwritten. Journal, June 22 We began as three. My husband, Tom, my good friend, Susan, and myself. We began at the top of […]
Continue ReadingMexico Notes “Pedro” stands in my parent’s house, a permanent fixture. He is a concrete, life-size Mexican man, in a loose, dirty shirt and dark, baggy trousers held up with a piece of rope. He leans against a light post, a brown beer bottle in one hand, his other arm around the post. His soiled […]
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FROM FAR AWAY I am wondering about my state of Durango, Mexico. I am wondering how much rain has fallen on the Sierra Madre Occidental today or how congested traffic got in Durango City, the state’s capitol. In my head I envision the map of the state and pinpoint major cities and landmarks that I […]
Continue ReadingFirst published in the Adirondack Mountain Sun, Volume 10, Number 19, February 22, 2002. Reproduced by kind permission of the author John Gerhlein and Rose Valasky (Publisher) and Anthony Byrnes (Editor) of the Adirondack Mountain Sun. I went to look at Butterflies last week and I hit the mother load of Monarchs; one of the […]
Continue ReadingMexico Notes This place, where people do not say buenos dias , they sing it. Mexican men and women alike. Journal, June 3, 2003 Soon out of San Blas we hit the four-lane cuota. Roller coaster ups and downs, sudden roadwork, tense curves. The road defies gravity. And common sense. It is SO Mexico. We fancy every kilometer of […]
Continue ReadingMexico Notes We get out of town, skipping the tianguis of Ajijic. It was just … time to leave. Journal, June 4, 2003 We pile into the packed car once again. Destination: Pátzcuaro, via Morelia. The drive is cool upon the skin, amidst mountains and water. It is good to move on, I reflect, […]
Continue ReadingMexico Notes The final three days of our journey raise me above the lather of crowds and traffic. Muse returns, to the swish swish of the Mexico broom. Sweep sidewalks. Sweep streets and and home. Brooms in blue and neon pink. Brooms of straw. Grass and plastico. Journal, June 15 We almost miss Xilitla. I […]
Continue ReadingMexico Notes – part 10 Narrow, serpentine streets. Old world baroque buildings. Steep hills – shoehorned with vivid-colored casas. I have dropped into a spectacular place – a cross between San Francisco and Paris. Journal, June 9 We skirt Morelia, cross the four-lane cuota to Mexico City and head north into lake-lands, Guanajuato-bound. Guanajuato comes from […]
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Much of the land comprising Mérida was once dotted with lavish haciendas where the henequen plant was grown. From henequen was produced a fiber called sisal, the main ingredient of twine. Today the picturesque, abandoned main hacienda buildings, recognized as architectural treasures, are being bought, restored and turned into luxury hotels and restaurants. Haciendas generally consisted of a main […]
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