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Did you know? Anglo vs. Mexican sayings by Tony Burton

Anglo and Mexican sayings are often subtly different. For starters, consider your pet cat. In Canada or the U.S., cats are considered to have nine lives; in Mexico, however, cats only have seven ... read more

culture-customs learning-language literature

Did You Know? "Tlacuaches" (opossums ) by Tony Burton

Tlacuaches (opossums) are short-lived but smarter than most people imagine... Imagine "a monstrous beast with a snout like a fox, a tail like a marmoset, ears like a bat, hands like a man, and feet li... read more

fauna

Did You Know? January's weather in Mexico forecasts the rest of the year by Tony Burton

Many Mexicans, especially campesinos, who are closer to the land than most, believe that the weather during the month of January serves as a long-range forecast for the entire year. The precise predict... read more

culture-customs geography maya

Did You Know? The Mexican Wave and unruly mobs by Tony Burton

Studies of the Mexican wave may suggest how to control unruly mobs Defined as "a rippling wave effect that passes right around a stadium full of spectators, achieved when all the spectators in turn ... read more

culture-customs Mexico City , México D.F.

Did You Know? Mexico's national flower is the humble dahlia by Tony Burton

With more than 30,000 native flowering plants to choose from, who would have thought that the humble dahlia would become Mexico's national flower? The earliest known description of the dahlia (known t... read more

culture-customs flora

Did You Know? Birth control pills come from Mexican yams by Tony Burton

The oral contraceptive pill, often referred to simply as "the Pill" was officially fifty years old on October 15, 2001. In the words of The Economist: it "was arguably the first lifestyle drug t... read more

ecology flora health Mexico City , México D.F.

Did You Know? Different traffic whistles in Mexico mean different things by Tony Burton

Mayhem prevails in many Mexican cities during rush hours. The traffic in some big cities rarely seems to let up, or slow down, as vehicles jockey for the best position before becoming ensnarled in a ta... read more

adjusting culture-customs driving-routes

Did You Know? Sixty-two indigenous languages still spoken in Mexico by Tony Burton

As many as 62 indigenous languages are still spoken in Mexico. Most people realize that the national language of Mexico is Spanish and that Mexico is the world's largest Spanish speaking country. In f... read more

culture-customs indigenous-groups learning-language

Did You Know? - Mexican Jumping Beans "Frijoles Saltarines" by Teresa Kendrick

Much of the world has heard about the legendary "Mexican Jumping Bean", the small seed that resembles the common "frijole" or bean, that, when warmed by the heat of the sun or when held in the pal... read more

culture-customs history

Did You Know? - Nochebuena / Poinsettia by Teresa Kendrick

Nochebuena, the Mexican name of the flower English-speakers call poinsettia, was discovered in Taxco and the valleys surrounding Cuernavaca. Known by the Aztecs in their native Nahuatl language as cuet... read more

christmas culture-customs famous-people flora history

Mexico faces an uphill fight against malnutrition by Tony Burton

More than 190 countries, including Mexico, have now signed up to the UN Millennium Development Goals, originally agreed in the year 2000. There are eight key goals (see table) and Mexico is well on... read more

health social-issues

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Tony Burton

British-born Tony Burton has graduate degrees from the universities of Cambridge and London. After three years of teaching in the West Indies, he moved to Mexico in 1979, subsequently accepting Mexican citizenship. For more than a decade, he directed Odisea Mexico, a non-profit that organized academic fieldwork, principally in the earth sciences (geography, ecology, biology), for high-school and college groups, and specialist ecotourist excursions for adults. He now divides his time between writing and working as an educational consultant, specializing in geography.

Until its demise in 2006, Tony edited the worldwide subscription newsletter "Lloyds Mexican Economic Report". He has translated works on Paricutin Volcano, Juan Rulfo and Lake Chapala and has authored hundreds of original travel and ecotourist articles and several academic articles on fieldwork techniques and methodology, published in both English and Spanish. He is the only person ever to have won ARETUR's "Best of Mexico" travel writing competition on three separate occasions.

His books include Islands in the Sun: St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla (Government of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, 1977); "West Mexico: A Traveller's Treasury" (Editorial Agata, Guadalajara, Mexico, 1993); Lake Chapala Through the Ages—an anthology of travellers' tales (Sombrero Books, 2008).

For many years Tony lived in Jocotepec, a small town on the shores of Lake Chapala, with his Canadian wife Gwen, who ran a hearing-aid program for hearing impaired students, their two bilingual, children and a cranky cat. The family currently resides on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

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