Cogan’s Reviews Most of us think of the Baja Peninsula as a vast, sprawling, empty, underpopulated space on the Pacific Coast with hundreds of miles of desolate beaches. To a great extent, that’s what it is. For many, it’s a place to avoid, except perhaps for the resorts on the extreme southern tip – Cabo […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews A very straightforward, unbiased, factual account of Mexican history from the times of the Indians, the Mayas and Toltecs and Aztecs up to the 1960s. The most interesting part for this reader was the early history before the Spanish conquest and the time immediately following. It’s a genuinely interesting adventure story. Having travelled […]
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Cogan’s Reviews One of the problems with reviewing this short but interesting novel is that the plot is based on a couple of surprises. To say too much about it would spoil the story. Once the action gets well underway the reader is presented with a surprising development involving one of the main characters. At […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews The story begins in 1941, at the time America went to war with Japan and Germany. It concerns the Salazar family, poor farmers in Chihuahua. The grandfather, Sebastian, knows he is dying and he advises the family to move to the United States. He reasons that because of the war the Americans will […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews As Ms. Spiegel writes in her introduction: “San Miguel de Allende is infused with history: every cobblestone seems to hide secrets about its past. All the stores and boutiques housed in former colonial mansions; all the restaurants that occupy the courtyards of elegant villas, all the gigantic wooden doorways through which the carriages of […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews Here is the history of Mexico in the last two or three decades – and what a history it is. It’s the story of how a dictatorship eventually found its way toward becoming a democracy. As stories go, this one has everything – political corruption, student demonstrations leading to a massacre, earthquakes, citizen […]
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Cogan’s Reviews This novel is described in several places as a classic of modern Hispanic literature and it really is a powerful book. Since it’s appearance it has been published in more than 27 editions and in several languages. The edition I just read is a Signet Classic paperback. It comes with a very useful […]
Continue ReadingOne of the Mexican Tourism Secretariat’s flagship programs in recent years has been its Magic Towns designation. This is a program after my own heart, and one that was long overdue when it was finally begun in 2001. Mexico’s Magic Towns (Pueblos Mágicos) range from tiny, almost undiscovered villages on the coast to sizeable inland […]
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In the early 1960s, Ajijic was gaining something of a reputation as a hang-out for ‘bohemians’ and later for hippies. Historian and MexConnect author Jim Tuck once described 1965 in Ajijic as “The Year of the Purge” when “resident hippies were unceremoniously escorted to the city limits”. In Tuck’s words, “Those who remained were serious […]
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Strange how the world turns. Much of Mexico is hungry for tourism. Mexico Mormons, a generally conservative religious sect, would probably prefer peace and quiet in Colonia Juarez but the presidential race in the United States is almost certain to generate traffic. Visitors may purchase a peach or two but they are more likely to […]
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