Mexico presents a different face to each person that meets her. Traveling through the country is an experience unique to the individual, even to people on the same journey, whether they be tourists spending a week at an ultra-modern beach resort or ethnologists visiting remote indigenous villages. Each of us has a personal framework through […]
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In Mexico, the lime — known as a limón — is everywhere, served with nearly all food except coffee and dessert (and some desserts are made with them) and sold in even the smallest neighborhood stores. Here, limes are considered a necessity, and almost no kitchen is without them. Wedges of lime accompany everything from morning plates […]
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Never have I known a name to so perfectly capture the essence of a person as in the case of artisan and philosopher Kupíha’ute-Itzpapalotl. Both parts of his name mean obsidian butterfly — Kupíha’ute in the Huichol language and Itzpapalotl in the Aztec or Mexica language. “The butterfly, or kupí, is the movement, the transformation, the continuous […]
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A chance remark recently by Mexico Connect publisher David McLaughlin has prompted me to examine the statistics on Mexican beauty. As a single, footloose and fancy-free, 20-something-year-old in Mexico City in the 1980s, I often heard that the most beautiful women in Mexico came from the state of Sinaloa. While I’m not confessing to having […]
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The oldest winery in the Americas is in Parras de la Fuente In Mexico, vineyards and wineries exist in several states, including Baja California, Sonora, Zacatecas, Querétaro, and Coahuila. Wine experts usually claim that Mexico’s finest wines come from Baja California, but award-winning wines are also now emerging from the oldest winery anywhere in the […]
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The yearly “Fiestas de Santiago” was going full tilt. And I truly mean tilt, because at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, I noticed quite a few local residents in a very happy mood due to the consumption of copious quantities of alcohol, another tradition. This party is held for a week every July in the […]
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Note: This article is an edited extract from chapter 6 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico, by Richard Rhoda and Tony Burton (Sombrero Books, 2010). Though parts of northern Mexico are arid, the country as a whole receives an average of 760 mm of precipitation a year (slightly over 30 in). This is a considerable […]
Continue ReadingPossibly no other country in the world has as many festivals, fairs and feast days as Mexico. National holidays, religious holidays and people’s santos (saints’ days) are all celebrated with gusto, as are the observances of the patron saints of virtually every city, town and pueblito. The santoral, or calendar of saints’ days, is so crowded with names […]
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Tacos al pastor Tacos de carnitas Tacos al carbón Tacos de fritangas Tacos de cazuela Tacos dorados Tacos de pescado Last month’s article traced the origins of Mexico’s street tacos and presented information on the street stands themselves and the condiments they offer, as well as giving some tips on how to go about selecting a […]
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Celebrated 45 days before Easter (April 16th this year), Carnaval is a celebration of earthly, or carnal pleasures before the austerity and sacrifice of Lent. Beginning on the Friday before Ash Wednesday, Carnival reaches its climax on Mardi Gras — “Fat Tuesday.” Perhaps the most famous festivities are those of Rio de Janeiro and New […]
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