Restaurant with a view. Santa Elena Vineyard © 2024 Jane Simon Ammeson.

The Aguascalientes Wine Route: award-winning wines, great food and live music

When the Spaniards arrived in the region in west central Mexico that would become Aguascalientes, Caxcán farmers and nomadic Zacatecos Indians and other early indigenous people were already crafting wine by foraging and fermenting the grapes that grew wild in these high desert plains. But the Spaniards had brought with them cuttings of Vitis vinifera, […]

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Zihuatanejo © 2023 Jane Simon Ammeson

Relax for the day in picture-perfect Zihuatanejo

We take the coastal road south as it winds through the tree-covered Sierra Madre del Sur mountains and past vistas of the blue waters of the Pacific far below, traveling to Zihuatanejo, pronounced Zi-Wat-En-Ay-O, as anyone who has ever heard the song of the same name knows. Often called Zihua for short, the name comes […]

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Author at Cenote Xlacah. © 2022 Jane Simon Ammeson

Visiting Dzibilchaltún: an ancient city in an ancient land

Once a vast city of 40,000 spread across 8 square miles or so of jungle and meadows, Dzibilchaltún was a long-lived Mayan city, a major player in the salt trade, and the ultimate survivor. Founded around 300 B.C., Dzibilchaltún lasted until the arrival of the Spanish in 1540. An architectural marvel even now, as it […]

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Viñedos Aztecas © 2021 Jane Simon Ammeson

Sampling fine wines on the Querétaro Wine Trail

In a land of smokey mezcals, rompopes, single-distilled raicillas, cervezas, tequilas, and Kahlua—that thick, sweet coffee liqueur made in Veracruz whose name in Nahuatl means the house of the Acolhua people—wine would seem to scarcely merit a mention. But in the 30 miles stretching between San Juan del Río and Bernal, known as the Querétaro […]

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New Worlds for the Deaf cover

New Worlds for the Deaf: the story of the pioneering Lakeside School for the Deaf in rural Mexico by Gwen Chan Burton

New Worlds for the Deaf: the story of the pioneering Lakeside School for the Deaf in rural Mexico by Gwen Chan Burton (Sombrero Books, 2020) In 1982, Gwen Chan Burton, who had previously taught in government secondary schools in Australia and Canada for 12 years, was faced with a big career decision. Burton (whose name […]

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Piña colada time at Isla de Ixtapa © 2020 Jane Simon Ammeson

Pangas and piña coladas: a laid-back lunch on Isla de Ixtapa, Guerrero

Greg knows the old way—or so he says—but all I can see is an empty stretch of sand and water where the southern tip of Playa Quieta ends at a rocky outcropping of rocks jutting out into the Bahia de Palmar. When I lived here, he explains, this is where we caught the pangas going […]

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