Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Oaxaca is the tremendous difference between one region of the state and another. The sierras which crisscross it form natural boundaries between enclaves of culture which have existed since pre-Hispanic times. One of the most unique and charismatic of these is a group known as istmeños, inhabitants of the Isthmus of […]
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Tony Burton’s Mexican Kaleidoscope is a whirlwind trip through some of the underpinnings of Mexican culture, told with humour, affection and well-documented facts. This readable compendium of little known stories made me want to revisit many places I’d already seen. How much richer my experiences would have been had I been able to take this user-friendly and […]
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Sombrero Books, 2010; Available from Amazon.com (Paperback) Did you ever wonder why rain usually falls in the late afternoon or night during the summer in western Mexico? Can you figure out why the death rate for Mexicans is four times higher than for US-born workers in the southeastern USA? Do you know why “harmless” organic […]
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There wouldn’t be many Irish people in the United States if it wasn’t for a Mexican fungus. The census of 1841 in Ireland recorded a population of about 8 million. This figure was a staggering 300% more than sixty years earlier. The staple Irish food at that time was the humble potato and Ireland’s rapid […]
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José María Narváez (1768-1840) is one of Mexico’s forgotten heroes. Captain George Vancouver is usually given the credit for exploring the Georgia Strait and discovering the site of the city that now bears his name, but actually José María Narváez y Gervete was the first European to sail and chart those waters a full year […]
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The first detailed scientific account of Lake Chapala was written by Henri Guillaume Galeotti. It was based on a visit to Chapala in February-March 1837. The article was published first in French in 1839, and then shortly afterwards in Spanish in El Mosaico Mexicano. It remains unclear precisely why Galeotti prepared his excellent article devoted to the […]
Continue ReadingThis article first appeared in Ron Mader’s Eco Travels (www.planeta.com) A desert whose immensity borders mountains that look like craters, where an abundance of aereolites are scattered around it, just like the memory of a test missile that fell in its arid territory, make the mysterious Zone of Silence in the north of Mexico a […]
Continue ReadingOFFICIAL NAME: United Mexican States CAPITAL AND LARGEST CITY: Mexico City AREA: 1,978,000 sq Km ( 760,000 sq mi) MAJOR CITIES: Mexico City (25 mil), Guadalajara (8.5 mil) and Monterrey (5 mil) POPULATION (1995): Estimated 95 million POPULATION DENSITY: 75.2 persons per sq km DISTRIBUTION: 69% Urban, 31% rural ANNUAL GROWTH (1995): 3% ETHNICITY: 60% […]
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Many Mexicans, especially campesinos, who are closer to the land than most, believe that the weather during the month of January serves as a long-range forecast for the entire year. The precise prediction system is thought to be based on long cycles of observations carried out in an age when people depended far more on […]
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The following is a story concerning an ancient lake that covered a large area of the State of Jalisco and spread into Michoacan and Aguascalientes. This map is a visual portrayal of the lake superimposed on a regional map. The south central portion of the State of Jalisco presents a panorama of lakes arranged in […]
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