Q: Jude tell us about yourself: A: I was born in Chicago and grew up in the 50’s in a small suburb. I married young, had four kids, a son and three daughters. Fourteen years later in Seattle, I found myself divorced, enrolling as a freshman at University of Washington. I spent eight very successful […]
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This month’s cover is a digital photo of papier-mâché chili peppers taken in Ajijic. These strings of papier-mâché items are known as ristras and are just one of several Mexican paper, art forms. Typically, ristras are fruit, vegetables, garlic, birds and other animals. Paper crafts have a long history in this country. Everywhere you look there are paper articles […]
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There is no buzzing lobby. No long formidable hotel desk. No jostling line of people waiting to check in and out. Instead, there is the Hacienda’s Concierge desk, set in the open-air reception terrace, amidst stunning Old Mexico architecture and looking out on the almost unbelievably beautiful azure waters of the Sea of Cortez. And, […]
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There are three plants that are an essential part of the Mexican household, limon [lime, not lemon], papaya, and the trusty sabila [aloe vera]. Every Mexican home that has some kind of a piece of garden has an arbol de limones in it, a lime tree, not a lemon tree. It is planted as a twig, nurtured lovingly, and if it has not […]
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In June I saw the first indications of rain. Clouds from the northeast began building in the late afternoons before dissolving halfway across the lake. I spent most days in my office, in front of the fan, working on projects and dodging Chuya. “¡Mira!” she grunted one afternoon, summoning me to the front part of the […]
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Holiday poinsettias are as much a part of the Christmas fabric as the Nativity scene or the traditional wreaths. Native to Mexico, poinsettias are classic winter bloomers. Commonly known here as flores de nochebuena, or flowers of the Holy Night, have come to resonate with Christians beyond the country’s borders. As many as 500 million fire plants […]
Continue ReadingTraveling to Mexico is like having a fling, a stunning romance, a love affair so intense that everything becomes a romantic vision. Senses are heightened, feelings revive, and travelers find themselves newly innocent and unfettered by the constraints of their own societies. Depending upon our temperament, we are at once profoundly carried away so that we […]
Continue ReadingMidlife Mavericks: Women reinventing their lives in Mexico Written by Karen Blue In her first non-fiction book, Midlife Mavericks, author Karen Blue presents the stories of nineteen American and Canadian women who left their countries, families, and cultural roles to begin new lives in Mexico. In elegantly framed vignettes, unmarried women in the second halves of their […]
Continue ReadingMuch 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 palm of the hand, moves violently and sometimes jumps into the air. (The French call them “haricots sauters”.) The secret of the […]
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Often, when we think of starving children, we’re thinking about Central Africa or parts of India or even remote areas of South America. But Mexico has its share of the poor, as close by as the Chapala area. Some children are, in fact, so impoverished as to border on that critical brink of lack of […]
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