Gallery: Tapalpa: Land of colors Tapalpa is an alpine town south of Guadalajara. Surrounded by forests, lakes and streams, Tapalpa beckons visitors to its restful landscape. One winter weekend, as my van snakes up the Sierras, I stare at the valley falling away… fast. At 2200 meters above sea level, it is no wonder that […]
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Photo Gallery Cradle of the mariachi, tequila, and the Jarabe Tapatío, or Mexican hat dance, for many, the state of Jalisco is the essence of Mexico. Colonial cities with architectural jewels, Pueblos Mágicos, quiet alpine towns, sophisticated urban centers, and the pre-Hispanic site of Guachimontones with its circular pyramids vie with tropical beaches along Jalisco’s […]
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In Spanish, Puerto Escondido means ‘hidden port’, and the little beach town tucked away in the southern part of Oaxaca certainly lives up to that name. Part of its elusiveness is because there are no direct jets from Miami, New York, Denver or L.A. This discourages some travelers and tones down the ritz and glitz […]
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Whether you live in Oaxaca or vacation here on a regular basis, if you’ve begun to integrate into the community, eventually you’ll be asked to be a padrino or madrina (godparent) to an ahijado or ahijada (godchild), so you’d better familiarize yourself with “compadrazgo,” or co-godparenthood. In a nutshell, it’s a web of mutual rights and obligations of monumental importance throughout Mexico and […]
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My favorite travel writer, Jan Morris, who has probably written about more cities than anyone else on the planet says about Oaxaca: “It is unmistakably Mexico, but Mexico idealized perhaps, a Mexico almost without tears. For travellers of my own sensibility, often tempted to stay at home rather than face the hassle of this endemically […]
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Gallery: Bahias de Huatulco on Mexico’s Oaxaca coast Bahias de Huatulco (pronounced Wa-tool-co) located on the coast of Oaxaca, ( map) about six hours from Oaxaca City by car, and approximately three hundred miles south of Acapulco, is the latest development of Fonatur, Mexico’s tourist promotion board. Rumor has it that back in the early eighties, […]
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“Is it always this bad?” I asked, panting in the heat. “Oh no! Sometimes it’s much worse,” the grandmotherly woman across the aisle assured me. “It can be much hotter…and a lot more crowded.” The battered bus was making torturously slow progress up a mountainous jungle highway. I was hot. I was cranky. I was […]
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Photo Gallery: Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca (Photos by Geri Anderson) Hidden along the beautiful coast of Oaxaca, you’ll find Bahias de Huatulco, a jewel of a resort, developed with an eye toward ecological preservation. Although a Fonatur project, the Pacific Coast in this southern part Mexico is less promoted and therefore less well known than […]
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PHOTO GALLERY: San Agustin Bay – Huatulco, Oaxaca Bahias de Huatulco is one of the most beautiful spots on the Pacific Coast. It has been transformed into a forward looking tourism center that combines comfort and good planning with extreme care for its ecological environment. It stretches along 18 miles of jagged coastline that encompasses […]
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Monday, July 21, 2014, the colorful pageantry of Mexico’s Guelaguetza is reenacted once again during the Lunes del Cerro (Mondays on the Hill. A Zapotec word signifying offering or offertory, Guelaguetza was the term used to describe the Oaxaca ceremony and celebration held each year to propitiate the gods in return for sufficient rain and a bountiful harvest. More […]
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