I should have known from the start that the wedding would be a success. I was too quick to doubt the power of such an event to unite people across physical, social, cultural, and linguistic barriers. And perhaps, too, I doubted the desire of my family and my in-laws to meet and communicate with each […]
Continue ReadingI had a dream. It was a grandiose dream featuring a pristine line of little tollbooths spanning a highway 25 lanes wide. Hundreds of cars were waiting patiently, equally distributed among the 25 lanes. There was traffic, but it moved steadily. As each car approached the little tollbooth, it pushed a button and the stop […]
Continue ReadingMexican cuisine is not for the weak at heart. Any food genre that is capable of making your throat, mouth, and lips burn for extended periods, invoking fits of hiccoughs, and wreaking havoc on stomachs, should not be taken lightly. Learning to eat Mexican is about adapting to change–slowly. The first change is adapting to […]
Continue ReadingI do not claim to be half as interesting as John Malkovich, but after my experiences in moving to Mexico, I may be just as bizarre. I have been through a remarkable number of changes in a period of about 10 months. Some days I think I’ve weathered the storm with grace and even start […]
Continue ReadingMexican men, like the rest of the world, get their ideas about American women from watching talk shows, soap operas, and movies. Therefore, they think we are terribly easy, unfaithful, and willing to hop into bed with any man who comes along. We all get divorced, none of us want children, and in general, we […]
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Deer and wolves that speak to man, arrows that carry prayers, serpents that bring rain or impart skill in embroidery, pumas that are messengers of the Gods — are all real in the Huichol belief system. These are the proud Indigenous people seen around Puerto Vallarta in their colorful embroidered clothing. “Huichol” (pronounced Wettchol), according […]
Continue ReadingThe Declaration of Independence of the United States eloquently states in its introductory paragraph: “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…. a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel […]
Continue ReadingEs en las comunidades campesinas del país en donde la fiesta se celebra con mayor intensidad. Destacan también algunos grupos indígenas que buscan conservar intactas sus tradiciones. En los estados como Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Puebla, así como el Distrito Federal, Morelos, Hidalgo y Chiapas, las festividades alcanzan un alto índice de participación, conviertiéndose en un […]
Continue Reading“Don’t go near the water,” mothers caution their children, “You might drown.” Good advice, but it has another meaning in Mexico and Texas. Moms living near the Rio Grande are protecting their children from a different threat than accidentally falling in; they’re talking about being sucked in. They’re talking “La Llorona.” Many versions of the […]
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The Aztecs called it tianquiztli, Nahuatl for the marketplace”. Modern Mexicans refer to it as the tianguis, mercado sobre ruedas (“market on wheels” – a term used mostly in Mexico City), baratillo, and many other local connotations. Homeowners use another kind of language to describe the vendors who have set up shop in the street, blocking public access by […]
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