“There is a sensitive filament in our beings, which responds to Mexican music…. To the sight of a horse well ridden, to the spectacle of a bull skillfully lassoed…. All of us, absolutely all of us, share the national feeling for horsemanship.” José Alvarez del Villar Bill, my husband, answered the phone and handed it […]
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How well can a person understand a culture not their own? Can experiences be understood without full command of the Spanish language; a language in which civility is interwoven like lace? With these questions I return again and again to Mexico. Invited to sit “down at the table,” I’m gradually getting to know the people […]
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Young people paraded through the village plaza, singing and dancing. In large letters against a white background their banner proclaimed: Las Fiestas Taurinas, Los Ingenios, Diciembre 17, Sabado, 2:00 P.M. Most bystander heads swung their way, proving the effectiveness of Mexican-style public announcements. All this hoopla guaranteed that somewhere, a good time was coming soon. Las […]
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¿Te gustan los toros?” asked eleven-year-old Maggie. Her eyes scanned my face looking for a yes. Did I like the bulls? A bullfight? I flinched at the thought. Earlier during the week, I’d jumped at my young friend’s invitations to enjoy all events at La Fiesta de Virgen de Guadalupe. But now, visions of bloody bulls […]
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As the evening mass ended, the huge colonial doors of Santa Maria Magdalena swung open. People swarmed down the church stairs into the plaza. I moved along with the crowd to a wrought iron bench. The small town plaza was alive with color and movement. Shadows flickered across the white curlicues on the kiosko or bandstand. Lights […]
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Gold-colored walls line the main street through Santa María del Oro, Nayarit. Bumping along the cobblestones in our camper-van, we are following in the footsteps of the Spanish conquistadors. In 1504, the nephew of Hernán Cortés, Franciso Cortés de San Buenaventura came here, in search of gold. In 1530, the renegade conquistador, Nuño Beltrán de […]
Continue Reading¿Está sufriendo por esos kilitos extras después de las fiestas decembrinas? ¿Piensa en cambiar el guacamole y los totopos por requesón y palitos de apio? Antes de que lo haga, considere las múltiples formas de preparar los platillos mexicanos de manera saludable y baja en calorías. Muchas personas, especialmente aquellas que asocian la cocina mexicana […]
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El esplendor físico de la cultura maya se aprecia sobre todo en la arquitectura y decorado de sus ciudades. Estas ciudades-estado constituían la sede del poder de los reyes-sacerdotes que administraban la obediencia, el tributo y la fuerza de trabajo del pueblo que creía en ellos. Se han identificado muchas ciudades y centros ceremoniales mayas, […]
Continue ReadingHace muchos años, en una de mis primeras visitas a los Estados Unidos, tuve la oportunidad de asistir a una fiesta más o menos formal, organizada en honor de alguna de las personalidades de la pequeña ciudad del Medio Oeste en la que me encontraba. Recuerdo que recibí invitación impresa y toda la cosa, y […]
Continue ReadingIt’s just a short run to the Third World. Twenty five miles in fact. That’s how far it is from Deming, New Mexico to Palomas, Mexico. Deming sits quietly along Interstate 10, fifty miles from Las Cruces and about a hundred miles south of Tucson, Arizona. In fact Deming’s claim to fame is that it […]
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