Por enésima vez, el carro se había atorado en el camino. ¡Carajo! La cosa estaba mucho peor de lo que habíamos imaginado. Abrí la puerta y me bajé para ver cómo sacarnos del agujero en que habíamos caído. Con dificultad acarreamos, mi mujer y yo, piedras suficientes para allanar el piso. Por fin logramos salir […]
Continue ReadingThere is no truth in the words of foreigners. Chilam Balam of Chumayel The news arrives every day: accusations of menacing maneuvers by the Mexican army in Chiapas, proclamations and declarations from different groups and leaders, peace commissions that grow and die like wild flowers in the fields. Violence and killings. Injustice and oppression. Articles […]
Continue Reading( En Español: La Caridad Empieza En Casa) Weeks ago, the world was shocked by the news arriving from Acteal, Chiapas. More than forty persons, including women and children, were brutally shot to death while praying for peace for their land. The perpetrators of this massacre were gunmen organized and armed by groups that oppose the […]
Continue Reading(In English: Charity Begins At Home) Hace unas semanas, el mundo se estremeció con las noticias provenientes de Acteal, Chiapas. Más de cuarenta personas, mujeres y niños incluidos, fueron brutalmente asesinadas mientras rezaban por la paz en sus comunidades. Los autores de esta masacre fueron elementos armados por grupos que se oponen al Ejército Zapatista […]
Continue ReadingMany years ago, on one of my first trips to the United States, I had the opportunity to attend to a rather formal party, organized in honor of one of the local personalities at the small, charming Midwest city I was visiting. I remember that I received a printed invitation, and I also remember something […]
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Cogan’s Reviews Although it’s about Mexico, this one starts off in Ecuador in the 1960s where the author was doing doctoral fieldwork for a dissertation on haciendas in that country. His work took him to a remote research station on the side of a mountain seventy miles from electricity, running water, telephones, etc. One day […]
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One day Mary and I decided to go to the nearby town of Tequila where, of course, they make tequila. There’s a train you can take from Guadalajara to Tequila on Saturdays. Lots of tourists do this. I’d read articles in guidebooks that described whole groups of people getting stone cold drunk during drinking contests. […]
Continue ReadingToday Mary and I set out to drive completely around Lake Chapala, Mexico’s biggest lake. It’s quite an undertaking, about a 180-mile drive. Before hitting the road, we went to “Sanborns” for breakfast. I ordered my own breakfast in Spanish, asking for eggs, ham, and orange juice. This was the second time I’d tried to […]
Continue ReadingMary and I went to Aguascalientes on the last day of September to look for a house to rent. Harry and Alejandro had left the previous day, traveling by bus. We offered them a ride in the White Bullet (we finally got the WB back it still had a noise in the engine, but […]
Continue ReadingBack when we did our house hunting, Mary and I carted 160 pounds of books and a metal detector down to Guadalajara. I didn’t know if metal detectors were legal in Mexico, so I didn’t declare it as we went through customs. The light there turned green instead of red, so my smuggling operation was […]
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