The Mexicans can’t dance my legs off, I’ll tell you that — oh, well, in the “barrios” they can, but there the dancing is more like Olympic gymnastics. If you’re just going out in the evening to “dar un chanclazo” (kick the old shoes around) at a neighborhood party or dance hall you can train for it like I […]
Continue ReadingOften, after visitors have been here a short time, I hear them comment on how kind and accepting the Mexicans in the villages along the shores of Lake Chapala are to of the foreigners who have invaded their villages and neighborhoods. For years, I have accepted this is just the way it is in this […]
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When I first set eyes on the pure, crystal blue waters of Lago (lake) Zirahuén in the central highlands of Mexico, my stomach did a nose dive. How could such striking alpine beauty exist in a country known for its beaches, desserts and low lying vegetation? Lago Zirahuén, surrounded by hills forested with pine, oak […]
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Cogan’s Reviews Mexico, a Traveler’s Literary Companion by C. M. Mayo I’ve reviewed over a hundred books for MexConnect. These have covered the gamut of topics, all related to this country – fiction, travel, history, living in Mexico, moving to Mexico, biographies, city profiles and a few volumes difficult to categorize. I thought I had […]
Continue ReadingAs a newcomer to the area, I wonder if your excellent magazine could assist me in understanding a couple of things. Is it correct that the language of this area at the time of the conquistadors was Nahuatl, the language of the Azteca? If so, when did the language cease to be used around the […]
Continue ReadingHURDLE THE LANGUAGE BARRIER – by learning Latin American hand and voice signals. These vary from one culture to another. The following are distinctly LATINO: THE WAGGING FINGER – is the way to say no, definitely and finally. No one questions this dignified and simple way of saying “NO”. Just move the index finger of either […]
Continue ReadingSpring fever got to Jerezano in early May of 2001. In that weakened condition the new car bug stung and stung hard. Jerezano mused to himself, “It’s time I got a new car.” Zang went the stinger: “My old one is being beaten to death on these Mexican roads, the shocks are gone, the electrical […]
Continue ReadingToday I’m sending up rockets ( cohetes). It’s a day worth celebrating. If you have lived for any time in Mexico in a small town you know what I mean. That first rocket exploding at 5:30 in the still pre-dawn of a quiet winter night before the donkeys start braying and the roosters start crowing says […]
Continue ReadingIt was just about five years ago that my friends started to disappear from the streets of the little Mexican villages on the shores of Lake Chapala where I had retired some three years earlier. At first I thought they were sick or had moved back to the “old country” but then I met a […]
Continue ReadingPlaza Garibaldi, 2 a.m., and the mean streets are bopping. Beers flowing. Flowing friends. Tequilas, too. Maybe a few too many. What the hell. You’ll get a taxi … You are a writer and this is a first-person narrative. Maybe you’ll be able to sell the piece. Because you were shot after you boarded that […]
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