Index to Mexico this month (all 12 months) 1, 1857 Conservative general Tomás Mejía assaults the British consulate in San Luis Potosí and steals $240,000. The British government subsequently demands that this sum be included in the external debt owed them by President Juárez. 1, 1873 The birth in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, of the […]
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Index to Mexico this month (all 12 months) December 1, 1810 José María Mercado, a priest supporting Father Hidalgo’s call for independence from Spain, attacks the Pacific coast port of San Blas, capturing it in a few hours. 2, 1546 Hernán Cortés, leader of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico, dies in Spain. His body is […]
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Index to Mexico this month (all 12 months) April 1, 1536. Pánfilo Narváez’s expedition had been shipwrecked off the Florida coast in 1518. After 18 years of traversing the continent, on foot, four survivors, including Alvaro Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and Alonso del Castillo Maldonado finally make contact with other Spaniards near the Pacific Ocean […]
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In a land of smokey mezcals, rompopes, single-distilled raicillas, cervezas, tequilas, and Kahlua—that thick, sweet coffee liqueur made in Veracruz whose name in Nahuatl means the house of the Acolhua people—wine would seem to scarcely merit a mention. But in the 30 miles stretching between San Juan del Río and Bernal, known as the Querétaro […]
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Index to Mexico this month (all 12 months) 1, 1542 The Fourth Expedition to Asia departs from the Pacific coast port of Navidad (now known as Barra de Navidad) under the command of Ruy López de Villalobos. This expedition reaches the Philippines. 2, 1810 In the opening chapter of Mexico’s fight for independence from Spain, […]
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Index to Mexico this month (all 12 months) October 1, 1542 The decision is made to refound the city of Guadalajara in its present location, in the valley of Atemajac. Three previous attempts to found the city had not prospered, but the site chosen this time proved more propitious. 2, 1535 The first Viceroy of […]
Continue ReadingMexican seven seas fish is a specialty of La Cenaduría, a lovely old adobe restaurant in San Jose del Cabo. It combines fresh red snapper filets, a mild salsa roja, and just enough manchego cheese to melt over the top. The description of the preparation that I was given mentioned only “red sauce;” since this […]
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Many years ago, our intrepid little band of gypsies became hopelessly lost on a trip through what was then relatively undeveloped Baja California. Too dark to be on the road, and too late to find accommodations, the situation called for some ingenuity, and we got permission from a farmer to park our van alongside his […]
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The rugged Baja California peninsula and the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, have been bewitching hardy visitors for decades. Some of the early fans were John Steinbeck and Earl Stanley Gardner, who took time out from Perry Mason to produce a magnificent photo book on the Sea of Cortez and its villages. Until […]
Continue ReadingA surprising percentage of Mexico’s land area is protected in one form or another. A very large number of sites of archaeological or historical importance are managed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, more commonly known by its acronym INAH. In theory, all buildings more than 100 years old have some degree of […]
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