An American acquaintance of mine, who believes himself to be quite astute about such things, is in the habit of asking whether San Miguel de Allende is the real Mexico and, if it’s not, where can it be found? I suppose the presence of 10,000 Canadians and Americans in this city of 75,000 puts him […]
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I’m sitting in a third grade class at the Independencia School in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Aside from the charming teacher, there’s hardly a full set of teeth in the room, although nobody’s smile appears to be diminished by this defect. The teacher’s name is Fatima Almeida and she does not work for the […]
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The glory days of hacienda living are today just an intriguing piece of Mexico’s history. For the newly-arrived Spanish nobles it was a time of great wealth and great expectations that began with their arrival in Mexico in 1524, until the slow demise of the grand estates following the Mexican Revolution of 1910. This land, […]
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“Camino de Guanajuato que pasas por tanto pueblo” (“Way of Guanajuato, you pass through so many towns”) Thus sang José Alfredo Jiménez in his song “Camino de Guanajuato”. And the roads of his homeland, the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, do indeed pass through cities, towns and landscapes worthy of exploration. The standard version of the song […]
Continue ReadingRebels, we know, can range from wild-eyed anarchists to sober and judicious opponents of an established order who make a considered decision that the system under which they live is no longer viable. If there ever was a “law-and-order” rebel, it was Ignacio de Allende y Unzaga. Where many who rose against the Spanish crown […]
Continue ReadingProbably the individual in history who most resembled Agustin de Iturbide was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the French statesman who managed to hold high positions in the pre-revolutionary ancien regime, the revolutionary government, the court of Napoleon, the restored Bourbon dynasty and the bourgeois monarchy of “Citizen King” Louis Philippe. Talleyrand, who made opportunism into […]
Continue ReadingThe term ” corregidor” is normally associated with an island in the Philippines that witnessed one of the most dramatic and tragic episodes of the Second World War — when a starving, outgunned, and outnumbered band of American and Filipino soldiers finally surrendered to a Japanese invasion force after heroic but futile resistance. But how did […]
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I had heard about San Juan de Los Lagos, and its exvotos, for many years. A stay in Guadalajara gave me the opportunity to visit; I was not disappointed. When I first walked into the Basilica, I knew that I was in a special place. ; There were many pilgrims standing in front of the altar, looking […]
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Chihuahua, the state capital, is not a particularly tourist-oriented town but it is virtually inevitable that travelers seeking to explore the inner recesses of the state spend a night or two here as part of their itinerary. The city was officially founded at the start of the eighteenth century and its historic buildings stand scattered […]
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Saulo Moreno Hernandez is a 71 year old sagacious, self-effacing artist from Tlapujahua, in the state of Michoacan. One of his works is featured in the Americas Gallery of the British Museum in London. One of his early ‘calaveritas’, which are imaginative statues of skeletons depicted as alive and in various poses and garb, was bought by […]
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