Wild Bill is a seventy-six year-old expatriate enjoying his motor home and life in relative seclusion at Quinta Alicia Trailer Park on the palm covered coast of Costa Esmeralda, Mexico. Retired from both the military and a career in aviation management, Bill is a widower with five grown children. We sat at a concrete picnic […]
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Retiring in Mexico means different things for different people. But an American couple in tiny Tecolutla on Mexico’s Emerald Coast have forged a unique and fulfilling lifestyle by taking the road less traveled. I’d been through the area many times before learning of this unlisted, unadvertised restaurant. I’ve enjoyed it over the four years since and hope […]
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The producer of Medicine Man, starring Sean Connery, found Los Tuxtlas, as did Mel Gibson when he filmed Apocalypto. Being the home of the mysterious Olmec civilization, which predated the Mayans, makes it the perfect base for Mexico’s witches and medicine men who still produce curative powders and drinks from native plants based on ancient lore. Beyond historical sites, […]
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Still cool, in the early tropical morning, I pulled to the curve to savor a coffee at the Fractal to enjoy the early morning activities on the malecón along Laguna Catemaco. The Fractal had been an accidental discovery, but I doubted many tourists worldwide had a better view or more satisfying setting for a morning brew. Entering […]
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Puros Santa Clara number among the world’s finest cigars. In fact, these fine Mexico cigars rival — and surpass — Cuban cigars in flavor and quality. Many articles cover Mexican tobacco, hand-rolled cigars and the internationally famous owners and growers of the product. But to fully appreciate Puros Santa Clara, its owner and founder Señor […]
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I stepped to the front of the restaurant, near the screen, and turned around. From the darkened room, the worst motorcycle gang in southern Mexico stared back. Then I noticed these rough looking, leather-clad and tattooed hombres were enjoying paletas — Mexico’s fresh fruit popsicles. What one can learn about a product as — well as oneself […]
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Although mention of Veracruz usually brings to mind a tropical Gulf Coast climate and an abundance of fish and seafood, the western region of the state is home to a mountain range, a cloud forest, and a huge variety of plant and animal life in one of the most beautiful habitats in Mexico. It is […]
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Mexico is a country rich in creative expression, and its creative roots go far back into the history of its people. In much of the modern work done today, one can still catch a glimpse of the mysterious energy that permeated all pre-Columbian work. In the state of Veracruz, the Xalapa Anthropological Museum houses a […]
Continue ReadingOne of my happiest dining memories is the first time I tried Arroz a la Tumbada at the King of Carnival restaurant in the city of Veracruz, where it is prepared to order for each diner and served in individual clay cazuelas. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons corn oil 1 cup medium grain rice, washed and dried […]
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Peculiar, but true. There are several lakes named Laguna Encantada (Enchanted Lake) in Mexico, but this one is near Catemaco in the Tuxtlas region of the state of Veracruz. Catemaco is famous for its witches, so perhaps one of them cast a spell on the lake, making it behave perversely, its level changing in opposition […]
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