This month’s cover is a digital photo of papier-mâché chili peppers taken in Ajijic. These strings of papier-mâché items are known as ristras and are just one of several Mexican paper, art forms. Typically, ristras are fruit, vegetables, garlic, birds and other animals. Paper crafts have a long history in this country. Everywhere you look there are paper articles […]
Continue ReadingI think that it is time to cover some of the Spanish terms used in construction. There isn’t room in the space I have for this column to cover all the terms but perhaps a brief primer is in order. First, the proper term to use to address any worker is not “usted” but “tu”. If you use usted you send […]
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When it’s winter up north, the skimboarding season is in full stride along the Pacific Coast beaches of Mexico. This is when the best talent goes head-to-head to determine ultimately who will make it to the world championship in Laguna Beach, California, where the sport was invented. It’s a sport that has not attained the […]
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Tomorrow’s champions are at work here, at Bahía de Navidad. In the hot afternoons along the wave-thumped beach of Melaque, lithe brown bodies dash along the alternately stirred and subdued sand and launch themselves at the sea. The steady winter sun descends in its unwavering plunge into a horizon washed faithfully by varying hues of […]
Continue ReadingA gourd is a member of the squash family. Grown in corn fields here between the stalks, they are harvested and stored in a bodega to dry. Indigenous people used the casings as practical implements like plates, bowls and water vessels. Here in Ajijic at Avant Gourd Gallery, they are lovingly carved, painted, decorated and transformed into […]
Continue ReadingMany of the things we take for granted today didn’t exist in the last century. A case in point is the railroad from Manzanillo to Guadalajara. The grand celebrations for the inauguration of this line, completed in 1908, were among the finest ever seen in Colima. The Mexican President of the time, Porfirio Diaz, attended […]
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Well, She came out to the lake again last Sunday. Driving in a specialized open car, The Virgin of Zapopan and the Bishop came from Her home, the Basilica of Zapopan to spend the day at the lake, bringing blessings, visiting friends and admirers in several of the lakeside communities. In all those lakeside communities, […]
Continue ReadingBy mid-October, everything was done, I was packed and ready to leave. I placed the cat carrier on the front seat, hugged my friends as they warned me again that I would surely be raped and pillaged, climbed behind the wheel and began my trek to my new life in Mexico. This trip had actually […]
Continue ReadingIt happens all the time when I am talking with a Mexican friend as we walk or drive. In the midst of riveting conversation, she stops mid-word to touch her head, heart and shoulders and I realize we are passing a church. While a familiar custom around the world, even cradle Catholics are mystified by […]
Continue ReadingFor centuries Indians have been leaving offerings of votive bowls and clay figurines in Lake Chapala for the deities of the waters. Today the Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit continue the tradition. But their story has a peculiar twist. One person’s mythology is another person’s religion. The Huichols have a vast store of both. […]
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