Traditional Maya house in Yucatan © John G. Gladstein, 2008

Tricksters, avengers and guardian spirits: Mexican Ghosts

The child, they said, was old enough to collect leña — kindling — from the rugged Chiapas hillsides and to mount and ride a burro. His peasant parents called him “hombrecito” — “little man” — and trusted him to care for the few chickens and goats that provided the family with sustenance. One moonless night, awakened by the barking […]

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Former Jesuit College Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico

Did you know? Mexico has more World Heritage sites than any other country in the Americas

The status of World Heritage site is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) denomination. The status is conferred on selected sites under the terms of “The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage”, adopted at UNESCO’s 17th General Conference in November 1972 and subsequently ratified by 186 member […]

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Frank Henry, an English silver mining engineer who worked in Mexico during the Revolution of 1910. This is part of a letter written by his wife Edith on December 23rd, 1915, days before he was killed. © Julia Swanson, 2006

Murder in Mexico: an English family during the Revolution

My grandfather, Frank Henry, was an English silver mining engineer in Mexico during the Revolution of 1910-16. This is the story of a family’s harrowing escape from marauding bandits at the height of the Revolution. Sadly, it was without my grandfather, as he had been brutally murdered by the bandits while defending their home from […]

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Mexico’s famous historical people – a chronological list of Mexican makers of history

940? – ? Quetzalcoatl 1403 – 1473 Nezahualcoyotl ? – 1469 Moctezuma Ilhuicamina (I) 1480? – 1520 Moctezuma Xocoyotl (II) 1489? – 1531? Jeronimo de Aguilar 1485 – 1547 Hernan Cortés 1495 – 1525 Cuauhtemoc 14?? – 1550 Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán “Bloody Guzman” ? – ? La Malinche In Search of Malinche – the […]

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The Mexican Postal Service celebrates 100 years of the Mexican Revolution and the Bicentennial of Mexico’s Independence

Mexico likes to celebrate, and this year it has two monumental events to celebrate. On the very day (September 16) of the Bicentenario, the Bicentenary celebrating Mexican independence — I leisurely looked over the collection of stamps of Mexico that I have accumulated over the past couple of decades. Celebrating independence from Spain is nothing new to […]

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