A new exhibit running through January at the Museo de las Culturas Populares in Coyoacan, Mexico City, celebrates the “wow” factor of the wrestling phenomenon known the world over as lucha libre (free fighting) — that is as famous a Mexican cultural export nowadays as Frida Kahlo, Day of the Dead, and tequila. It’s also big in […]
Continue Reading
Despite years living in Mexico City, I had never been to the archeological zone of Templo Mayor — once the heart of the Aztec empire of Tenochtitlan, now located in the heart of the Historic Centre next to the National Palace and the Cathedral — right off the Zócalo, until very recently. It was something […]
Continue Reading
Mexico is a country rich in creative expression, and its creative roots go far back into the history of its people. In much of the modern work done today, one can still catch a glimpse of the mysterious energy that permeated all pre-Columbian work. In the state of Veracruz, the Xalapa Anthropological Museum houses a […]
Continue Reading
When the honorable and distinguished city leaders of Cocula, Jalisco select me as communications consultant for their mariachi museum, I shall recommend minor enhancements. The host who greets visitors and discreetly flips a switch to light up exhibits would also turn on background music, mariachis of course. If cost is a concern in a snug […]
Continue Reading
I once lived next to an elderly woman in Mexico City whose home was a veritable museum of unique and occasionally bizarre collectibles. Her living room was given over to the collection and there was barely space enough to sit. Among the many items the woman possessed were several 19th century, German-made porcelain dolls — […]
Continue Reading
A cool waterfall rushes over rocks into a pool surrounded by Boston ferns, split-leaf philodendron and magnolias in the desert of the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. Turtles bask on the shore, iguanas stare through a window into the herpetarium in the next room, and dinosaur eggs lay nestled beneath lush foliage. The biodome of […]
Continue Reading
Palm trees reach towards the sky above the plaza. Water gushes from a swan-shaped fountain. Flowers bloom profusely. A banner above the bandstand declares February a month of ‘Love and Friendship’ in Colima City, Colima Mexico. Picking my way among smiling faces, I seek an empty chair, set up in the park for the evening’s […]
Continue Reading
Part 1 – Colima, City of the Palms La Hacienda de Nogueras is an elegantly restored hacienda hidden in the countryside of Colima. Six miles north of Colima City, it links the region’s rich pre-Hispanic past with colonial and modern history. To get there, you head towards the small town of Comala. You may drive […]
Continue Reading
For me, Tonalá has always seemed like a magical sort of place, like something that one would only stumble upon in the make-believe world of fiction. Its narrow, dusty streets lined with unadorned buildings give Tonalá a rather unpolished look as compared with neighboring Tlaquepaque or Guadalajara’s downtown. Yet there are treasures to be discovered […]
Continue ReadingFor an offbeat travel experience in the Mexico City area, consider a visit to the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan. Hidden behind high cobalt blue walls at the corner of Londres and Allende in this charming southwestern suburb, the museo is where the surrealist artist Frida Kahlo was born, grew up and later lived with […]
Continue Reading