Ajijic: 500 Years of Adventures Produced by the Thomas Paine Chapter National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution 2011 This charming little book, put together by the Thomas Paine Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was compiled by long-term Ajijic residents Alexandra Bateman and Nancy Bollenbach. The Thomas Paine chapter of […]
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Xtabentum: A Novel of Yucatan By Rosy Hugener with Carl Hugener Create Space, 2011 Available from Amazon Books: Paperback and Kindle This is a beautiful story, well conceived and well crafted and satisfying. Xtabentum: A Novel of Yucatan begins in 1906, in those tense years just preceding the Mexican Revolution. A woman in Merida is giving birth […]
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Playing for Pancho Villa By Sterling Bennett Libros Valor, Mazatlan, Mexico, 2013 Available from Amazon Books: Paperback The year was 1916. Young Frank Holloway “got mercury poisoning working in the Silver Creek Mine in Mogollón, New Mexico.” To recover his health, his doctor told him to get away and go have “an adventure.” And so… perhaps […]
Continue ReadingWith more than 30,000 native flowering plants to choose from, who would have thought that the humble dahlia would become Mexico’s national flower? The earliest known description of the dahlia (known to the Aztecs as acocoxóchitl) comes from the Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagún, who arrived in New Spain in 1529. The Aztec name is believed […]
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Both the name and the coat-of-arms of San Luis Potosi recall the tremendous importance of mining to Mexico’s economy. Called Potosí in emulation of the mines of that name high in the Bolivian Andes, the city’s coat-of-arms, awarded in 1656, has its patron saint standing atop a hill in which are three mine shafts. Left […]
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Believe it or not, there is a village in Mexico with the unlikely name of Honey. Honey. This hardly sounds like a Mexican word and certainly lacks any Nahuatl or Spanish roots. Yet, in the state of Puebla there is a small village named Honey. I admit that when I first heard of the village, […]
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In the early years of the twentieth century, the nature of warfare changed dramatically. The deployment of aircraft unleashed a powerful new weapon for warring factions, previously forced to rely only on their land and sea forces. The earliest attempt to incorporate air power into fighting is thought to have been when an Italian pilot […]
Continue ReadingTwenty-eight thousand years ago B.C., Mexico was discovered by hunters looking for a recipe for Sopa Azteca. A resourceful lot, they created corn by combining two types of grasses. These seekers of good eats eventually morphed into the splendor of the Olmec civilization. In 2300 B.C., the Olmecs invented pottery to put the corn in, making […]
Continue ReadingUntil yesterday, I had never heard of Charlie Foster. Today, I’m writing about him. One of the benefits of being a writer is the fact-checking, because you can end up with provocative information. That’s how I found out about Charlie Foster. An ace flier is defined in the dictionary as a fighter pilot who has […]
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In 1916, an intrepid reporter, Guillermo Ojara, was assigned by his paper, El Demócrata, to go south to seek and interview Emiliano Zapata. After harrowing incidents with hundreds of Zapatistas in the mountains, valleys, even The Hill of the Scorpions inhabited by thousands of those deadly creatures, Ojara was finally brought to his subject. It is interesting […]
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