Orquídea. La sola palabra conjura todo aquello que es bello, exótico, raro. Un aura de fascinación ha rodeado siempre a esta extraordinaria familia de plantas. Su cultivo se considera algo esotérico y difícil. Nada más alejado de la verdad. En un clima como el que disfrutamos en Guadalajara y sus alrededores, mantener una sana y […]
Continue ReadingIt’s just a short run to the Third World. Twenty five miles in fact. That’s how far it is from Deming, New Mexico to Palomas, Mexico. Deming sits quietly along Interstate 10, fifty miles from Las Cruces and about a hundred miles south of Tucson, Arizona. In fact Deming’s claim to fame is that it […]
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The biggest attraction on my most recent Baja to-do list was a visit to Mission San Francisco Javier De Vigge-Biundo, or simply, San Javier. Located via a 2.5 hr drive from Loreto, BCS, this mission is well worth the trip. Founded in 1699, this mission is the best-preserved in Baja. I was surprised to find […]
Continue ReadingI digress from stories about the potters of Mata Ortíz, Chihuahua this month to reminisce about my first New Year in Mexico. I was 13, I was in Puerto Vallarta and the year was 1958. “Mike, come and look.” Dad shook me awake. I squinted, bleary-eyed around the dark room. It was still the middle […]
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The tourists at Zipolite were decidedly young although, there was a generous smattering of old hippies who seemed to be the more ardent practitioners of nudism. A massive mountain range known as the Sierra Madre del Sur (mother range of the south) isolates Oaxaca City from the Pacific coastline of Oaxaca State. To get from […]
Continue ReadingThe financial impacts of poor water quality on Mexico are nothing short of staggering. In any discussion about visiting Mexico, somebody always pipes up with the comment “Don’t drink the water.” If I had a dollar for every time I have been given this advice, I would be a wealthy man indeed. Nonetheless, the comment […]
Continue ReadingJudy pounds on my bedroom door, waking me from a very sound sleep. After all, it’s only 7 a.m. “Yeah.” I say. “There’s a scorpion in the bathroom.” Silence. “Jim!” “So kill it.” “Killing scorpions is man’s work.” She yells. Now that surprises me, as Judy is a very independent woman. Struggling out of bed, […]
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If you’re contemplating a lengthy escape from northern winters, think seriously about the Grand Plateau of Mexico. On this great land mass between the eastern and western branches of the Sierra Madre Mountains thrives the economic and cultural soul of the country. Here, Spanish conquistadors ruled, Zorro righted wrongs and caballeros sported ponchos and sombreros. […]
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Only a two-hour drive from Mexico City, Tequisquiapan is the second most important tourist destination in Querétaro. Although it comes to life on weekends, it retains the charm of a Mexico’s provincial towns. Pleasant hotels and restaurants abound. There are trails for mountain biking. Underground rivers flow to the surface in thermal springs that can […]
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The inviting, and genuinely Mexican town of Lo De Marcos, still to be discovered by foreign tourists, is located just 20 minutes north of the San Pancho. It is a popular spot with affluent Mexican families who vacation here on weekends and holidays, spending the entire day, from dawn to dusk, frolicking at the beach. […]
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