Every two years, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) awards the Equator prize (worth 30,000 dollars) to communities that have shown “outstanding achievement in the reduction of poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.” One of the winners of the 2004 Equator prize was the indigenous community of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, in […]
Continue ReadingI’m not what you would consider one of those mystical psychic types, well versed in the mumbo jumbo of the supernatural. But I’m not a skeptic, either. All I can do is simply accept what happens to me, that which I experience, and write some things off as unexplainable. Such was the case with the […]
Continue ReadingMythology and Legends of the Nahua People: Essays on Ancient Mexico Part 1: “The Creation of the Universe” Part 2: “Legend of the Fifth Sun” Part 3: “Creation of the Fifth Sun at Teotihuacan” As the future unfolds, history is tucked away into the past. We see this past because our ancestors recorded the events of their […]
Continue ReadingMythology and Legends of the Nahua People: Essays on Ancient Mexico Part 1: “The Creation of the Universe” Part 2: “Legend of the Fifth Sun” Part 3: “Creation of the Fifth Sun at Teotihuacan” In the mythology of the Nahua people, The Legend of the Fifth Sun is a telling of the past before the existence of […]
Continue ReadingMythology and Legends of the Nahua People: Essays on Ancient Mexico Part 1: “The Creation of the Universe” Part 2: “Legend of the Fifth Sun” Part 3: “Creation of the Fifth Sun at Teotihuacan” In the mythology of ancient Mexico the world began not with a Genesis overseen by one almighty god, but with a creation resulting […]
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“In Mexico I have found an outlet for creative talents never tapped before. You can do what ever you want. Pick up a plastic bag and make something out of it. Pick up a seed pod, paint it and add legs, and it’s an animal. Where else but in Mexico would someone put a fancy […]
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The diversity of the Mexican population never ceases to amaze me. Whether being in Mexico City, Mazatlan, Oaxaca or Palenque I always admire the beautiful Mexican faces ranging from light to mocha to coffee brown. Enjoying an ensalada de frutas in a comedor in Merida during my second visit to Mexico I noticed a lady. Her extremely pale face; […]
Continue ReadingNovember is a festive month here in Ajijic, beginning with the celebrations of All Saints Day and Day of the Dead, and ending with the feast of the village’s patron, San Andrés. Invariably the most lively celebrations in any Mexican village, the fiestas patronales here seem possessed of a unique spirit of mirth unmatched in other nearby […]
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The recent demise of one of my dearest friends has made me reflect on how my experiences in Mexico have not only enriched my life, but also taught me to better cope with death. I am deeply grateful to my Mexican friends for having given me a model for accepting human mortality and facing loss […]
Continue ReadingTaking up residence in a Mexican village has meant, among other joys, the chance to live out my greatest childhood fantasy: to be a cowgirl with horses of my own. I’ve now relinquished illusions of becoming a champion barrel racer, but cherish waking up to the sounds of Choco and Quilocho whinnying for their morning […]
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