2004. It’s showtime in Athens. The Greeks are all stirred up about the Olympic Games, worrying about terrorist threats and who’s going to pay the bills when the party is over and everybody goes home. Thirty-six years ago, it was a lot like that in Mexico City. Before you read what I remember about those […]
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As Yogi Berra might say, 90 per cent of the world is changing. The other half is making adjustments. Among relatively recent arrivals to the shores of Lake Lirio (formerly Lake Chapala before water hyacinth took over the top), only Tony Burton and a few astute historians can begin to describe the changes a few […]
Continue ReadingSome ask why. Others say “Why not?” Seventeen years ago, for some strange and unexplained reason, the beautiful island of Jamaica allowed a cheerful and determined but not particularly talented bobsled team to enter the Calgary Winter Olympics. The athletes were on a proverbial shoestring budget. They borrowed a sled, solicited donations and sold sweatshirts […]
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Ancient Chinese proverb say ox in ditch bad news. Really bad if your ox. Lirio (water hyacinths) on Lake Chapala, in the colorful state of Jalisco, in this magical country called Mexico, is bad news. Because the ugly green carpet spent too much of the winter at our end of the lake, it’s really bad — […]
Continue ReadingArtist James Vitale, owner and operator of El Encanto, a boutique eco-hotel or maybe a healing place or perhaps a vibrant retreat for creativity and education, came onto his verandah to say “Good morning, Mexico.” Living in peace and tranquility in the pueblo of Santa Cruz de Miramar, between San Blas and Tepic in the […]
Continue ReadingIn my younger days, when I was relatively fearless or disturbingly dumb, I occasionally operated a motor vehicle on the mean streets of New York City, in broad daylight and at night, and once the wrong way on a one-way. Without hesitation, I ventured onto Los Angeles freeways at rush hour, through interstate construction zones […]
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After many downhill twists and turns, at the very end of a road built for Nayarit royalty, is a little lake that could have spilled from a book of fairy tales. La laguna Santa Maria del Oro, in the crater of a long-ago volcano, is near enough to perfect to forever please Christopher French. He’s been […]
Continue ReadingThis is the story of Mexico City College and the hidden black trick. Some of you may have missed Morris (Moe) Williams, even though he was out and about for more than four decades. Beginning in the fall of 1947, he was an Azteca, a player on the American-style football team at Mexico City College. […]
Continue ReadingLet the word go out across all the land, “The Baptists are coming, the Baptists are coming” — to Mexico. Do what? You say they’ve been here for a hundred years? On my, cancel the cry. I don’t know but I’ve been told that representatives of Protestant religions have been trying to save Catholic Mexico […]
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Southbound gringos of retirement age have the uncanny ability to immediately identify changes that should be made in Mexican lifestyle. Maybe you’ve heard the laundry list. “Punctuality is in desperate need of instant adjustment. Mexicans simply can’t tell time.” “There would be no language barrier if Mexicans would just speak English.” “These people are devoid […]
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