The earliest human inhabitants of the Lake Chapala area were probably nomadic tribes of Indians who had settled on the shores and islands of the lake, catching fish, extracting salt, and trying to herd wild game towards the water’s edge so that it would get bogged down in the mud. By the time the Spanish […]
Continue Reading“It’s this heat… this heat… that scorches every cell of my body that kills me about this place,” the Texan says while sipping his drink. “I’m going to be a linguistic genius with that phrase ‘Hace mucho calor’ [It’s very hot] before I leave Carmen.” Located on the Gulf of Mexico off the Yucatan peninsula, lies the […]
Continue ReadingBefore starting out on this route, it is important to understand that the Meseta Purepecha is 100% rural, that unique artistic treasures of Mexico have been preserved, and that there is little tourist infrastructure. For an unforgettable vacation and an even better guide to Michoacán, please ask for the pamphlets and maps of the Uruapan […]
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For a city named Peace, it has a rather grim history. A Spanish expedition sailed into the bay in 1533; the leader and several of his soldiers were killed by the indigenous residents soon after, by some accounts because they raped the native women. Hernan Cortes arrived two years later looking for pearls (he found […]
Continue ReadingThe fog of hallucination that occasionally seems to envelop Mexico hovers over San Blas most of the time. The amiable residents talk of their future as the next Puerto Vallarta while they wave towels to keep off the abundant mosquitoes, and inquire if you don’t find their town tranquilo while you yawn, stupefied from a night clamorous with the […]
Continue ReadingThe mangrove swamps of Mexico’s Pacific Coast shelter a seldom-visited jewel of a day-trip destination. Legend has it that the man-made island city of Mexcaltitan, was Aztlan, the ancient home of the Aztecs, and that it was here a priest had a vision of an eagle perched on a nopal cactus, eating a serpent, which he interpreted […]
Continue ReadingThe vast majority of visitors to Cancun never make it south of Tulum. Yet to many, that’s where the adventure starts. The relatively empty region south of Tulum is a delight to nature lovers, ruin buffs and adventure travelers. The best way to see this region is to rent a car for several days but […]
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Cogan’s Reviews I’ll let you in on a secret about book reviewing. It’s simply this: it’s much more enjoyable to review a book you don’t like than one you like. Dishing out dirt is a helluva lot more fun than singing praises. When you really don’t like a book, it’s wonderful to be able to […]
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Cogan’s Reviews A Mexico book by ‘Mexico Mike’ Nelson I’d love to have had this book five years ago when we first came to live in Mexico. It’s not that we ran into a string of problems then but it’s just such a useful source of information and opinion about living here it would have […]
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Cogan’s Reviews This is an odd volume. I originally bought it because it advertises itself as “a gathering of some of the best travel writing ever” about Mexico. However, you quickly find as you dip into it that not all the articles are about travel. Also, very few of them have been written in recent […]
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