Mexico's Lake Chapala And Ajijic
Mexico’s Lake Chapala and Ajijic: The Insiders Guide to the Northshore for International Travelers by Teresa A. Kendrick is a comprehensive 170-plus page guide to one of the most sought-after destina...
View Article"A Foreigners Tale"
"My father thought Mexico was the best place on earth," said Isabel as she heaved a huge pot for steaming tamales onto the stove in her kitchen. "But he always felt like a Spaniard. Always like ...
View ArticleBass Fishing In Mexico
W hen a certain 17-year-old Bronco gave up the ghost in Dallas last September, every mechanic in the garage it was towed to wiped their tools, shook their heads, and talked about one thing. Bass ...
View Article"On The Road To The Cofradia"
B y the end of June, the villages around the Lake were cool and green and deserted, the time of year everyone waited for. Influenced by tourism, we knew that visitors would begin returning in Nov...
View ArticleA Package From Spain
“A Package from Spain”© 2003 T. Adams At 3 p.m. one Wednesday during the first week of July someone pulled the string on the brass bell outside Isabe...
View ArticleGracias Y Adios
Dear Readers, When "Tales From the Maracuyá" first appeared as a Mexico Connect column in July 2003, I hoped to chronicle an extraordinary year in Mexico with an extraordinary friend. My ...
View Article"The Passion Fruit Vine"
A fter nine years in Jalisco, my infatuation with the Mexico that visitors experience had long since become the Mexico where I worked for a living-where I filed taxes, met deadlines and had the o...
View Article"Isabel's Enigma"
"Isabel's Enigma"© 2003 T. Adams I n June I saw the first indications of rain. Clouds from the northeast began building in the late afterno...
View ArticleDid you know? A sacred game
The ancient game of amalla was not mere sport. The ballcourt was a "middleworld" between gods and humans, a battleground for the cosmic tension between life and death, good and evil, sacrifice and...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Henequen - Sisal
One of the greatest gifts the Indigenous peoples of Mexico shared with the world was their discovery and cultivation of natural fibers. One of these, henequén, continues to be used throughout the...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Castille Soap
From the late 17th century and throughout the 18th, Castille soap was the reigning soap of Europe. It surpassed even the French soaps that, at their peak, were considered supremely prized elements of t...
View ArticleDid You Know? - At One Time Alaska Was Part Of Mexico?
In the second half of the 18th century both the Russians and the British began to penetrate into the Alaskan peninsula, an area considered a Spanish possession as Spain was credited with "discovering" ...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Chewing Gum
Did you know that among the many things Mexico has given to the world, chewing gum is one of them? El Tzictlil, a Nahuatl word for resin from the Zapote Blanco tree, caught the attention of three Amer...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Pineapples & Papaya
Did you know that peanuts, vanilla, guavas, tomatoes, some forty different chiles, avocados, and papayas originally came from Mexico? Pineapple also grew wild in Mexico, as well as Peru and along the ...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Nochebuena / Poinsettia
Nochebuena, the Mexican name of the flower English-speakers call poinsettia, was discovered in Taxco and the valleys surrounding Cuernavaca. Known by the Aztecs in their native Nahuatl language as cuet...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Peanuts
Did you know that the first people known to have used the peanut were the Mayans of Mexico? International explorers first recorded the peanut in Haiti, but were told it had originally been taken from ...
View ArticleArteplumaria - the Mexican art of feather painting
Did you know that one of the highest, most elegant and sumptuous arts of pre-Conquest Mexico was arteplumaria, the art of feather painting? Used to decorate headdresses, standards, staffs, lances,...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Mexican Jumping Beans "Frijoles Saltarines"
Much of the world has heard about the legendary "Mexican Jumping Bean", the small seed that resembles the common "frijole" or bean, that, when warmed by the heat of the sun or when held in the pal...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Vanilla
Did you know that the vanilla bean is from an aromatic orchid that originally came from Mexico? The Academy of Sciences and Gastronomic Arts in Paris were so taken with the fruit of this orchid, that ...
View ArticleDid You Know? - Tobacco / Xigar
Did you know that the word "cigar" originates from the Mayan word xigar? The word was used to describe the action of aspirating or sucking which later came to signify the act of smoking tobacco. T...
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