Amealco, a scenic town in Mexico’s Querétaro state, is one of the country’s designated Pueblos Mágicos or “Magic Towns.” This distinction, awarded by the Mexican government, recognizes places that offer visitors exceptional beauty, cultural richness, and historical significance. Amealco, a reservation of Otomí indigenous culture, is where a treasured craft has been perfected over centuries. […]
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Between working her daytime radio shows. Chela was also asked to sing in various theaters and nightclubs in the city. Construction began on the Palacio de Bellas Artes in October 1904, and its inauguration was in 1934. Located in the center of Mexico City near the Alameda Park, it quickly began hosting all forms of […]
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Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D. Last year I participated in a panel discussion in Oaxaca about a new book entitled La E del Mezcal: Exportación, by Dra. Blanca Esther Salvador Martínez. While the other panelists essentially praised the author for writing such an important book and explained how it thoroughly covered all the bases regarding the […]
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In 1937, Celia Campos decided to try her luck at the XEQ radio station Amateur Hour talent contest. She would sing at parties for her family and friends. They would always tell her to try out for those amateur programs. Before you actually sang in the program, you had to go to the station on […]
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Few North Americans recognize that the roots of these treasured “Christmas” traditions were active long before the birth of Christ. In fact, most evolved from pagan winter solstice rituals of the Celts, Druids, Scandinavians and indigenous groups, and the much older Jewish Festival of Lights. While the most beloved Mexican Christmas traditions are firmly based […]
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My husband’s Aunt Chela was a famous singer, who performed internationally. Fifteen years ago, I decided to write a book about Aunt Chela’s life for our family. I searched the internet for information on her appearances in Los Angeles, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. but found nothing. Wikipedia had only one paragraph of the most basic, […]
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It would be hard to overstate the symbolic importance of Chapultepec Park, not only to Mexico City, but to the country as well. It has played a key role in Mexico’s history since the Mesoamerican era, with emperors and presidents eager to leave their mark on it. But its recent history also includes neglect. To […]
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MexConnect’s founder, David McLaughlin (1946-2019), would have celebrated his 78th birthday on the 17th of this month. As we strive to live up the incredibly high standards he set for this website, we remember all the good times we shared in the old days—from hand coding thousands of articles and images to animated discussions about […]
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G. M. Bashford’s Tourist Guide to Mexico was first published exactly seventy years ago in 1954. It was one of a spate of motoring book guides written after World War II as Americans began to hit the open road and drive south in search of sunshine and adventure. How much has Mexico really changed in […]
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The foods of the Pacific coast resort Puerto Vallarta can be as simple—and delicious—as those sold by vendors who stroll the beach hawking skewers of fire-roasted shrimp and trays of freshly shucked oysters or the street vendors like Caesar who, wielding a machete, sells fresh coconuts at his stand on Aquiles Serdán to a long […]
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