Often, after visitors have been here a short time, I hear them comment on how kind and accepting the Mexicans in the villages along the shores of Lake Chapala are to of the foreigners who have invaded their villages and neighborhoods. For years, I have accepted this is just the way it is in this […]
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Well, She came out to the lake again last Sunday. Driving in a specialized open car, The Virgin of Zapopan and the Bishop came from Her home, the Basilica of Zapopan to spend the day at the lake, bringing blessings, visiting friends and admirers in several of the lakeside communities. In all those lakeside communities, […]
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For many years, villages and towns in Mexico, have enacted special Biblical events and gathered to pray at specially erected altars to celebrate sacred figures on each of the Fridays of Lent. These special Lenten traditions, masses and processions remind the people of the lessons and sacrifices of the pre-Easter season. Our Lady of Sorrows, Nuestra […]
Continue ReadingBy mid-October, everything was done, I was packed and ready to leave. I placed the cat carrier on the front seat, hugged my friends as they warned me again that I would surely be raped and pillaged, climbed behind the wheel and began my trek to my new life in Mexico. This trip had actually […]
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Christianizing their way around Lake Chapala in the early 1500s, taking the path of least resistance, Franciscan missionaries left each well-established settlement of Indians with their centuries-old community name. As the Franciscans were moving from village to village, they were selecting a Patron Saint for each new congregation, then adding the Saint’s name to the […]
Continue ReadingIt happens all the time when I am talking with a Mexican friend as we walk or drive. In the midst of riveting conversation, she stops mid-word to touch her head, heart and shoulders and I realize we are passing a church. While a familiar custom around the world, even cradle Catholics are mystified by […]
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When I first set eyes on the pure, crystal blue waters of Lago (lake) Zirahuén in the central highlands of Mexico, my stomach did a nose dive. How could such striking alpine beauty exist in a country known for its beaches, desserts and low lying vegetation? Lago Zirahuén, surrounded by hills forested with pine, oak […]
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Nestled in the mountains of the Sierra de Guanajuato is the picturesque city of Guanajuato. Its name originates from the word Quanax-juato which, in the indigenous dialect of the region, meant “Place of Frogs” – because the indigenous tribes thought the place was fit only for frogs! Little could they have known that the Spanish would later […]
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Chocolate, that perennial favorite, has been accused of being sinfully delicious, overly fattening, and the precursor to teenage complexion problems. Its history is intertwined with religion, and at one point was the cause of a theological donnybrook in the Catholic church in Mexico. “Food of the Gods,” is the literal translation of the name Theobroma. The name, […]
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A most unusual museum crowns the top of Trozado Hill in Guanajuato, Mexico. Its collection of objects – mummified human corpses – serves to provide funds for social assistance in the city, and as a powerful memento mori. The most famous tourist attraction of this part of the country, the museum is located above the municipal […]
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