How alarmed you should be by crime in the U.S. or in Mexico? It can be a matter of perspective The abduction about ten days ago of four Americans driving across the border from Brownsville, Texas to the Mexican city of Matam0ros, left two of them dead in addition to a Mexican bystander, and restarted …
Offer critters shelter and they will come When we bought our three-hectare ranch (approximately seven-and-a-half acres) about 13 years ago, the land had been ravaged by nature and man, the victim of decades of erosion and overgrazing. We decided to let two-thirds of the land lie fallow, a gesture that in current eco-speak in Britain …
Under AMLO, it's starting to look like an autocracy In the run-up to the 2000 presidential election Vicente Fox, candidate of the National Action Party (PAN) made an unprecedented campaign appearance at a meet-and-greet rally in Chicago, home to one of the largest Mexican-American populations in the U.S. Fox, a hulk of a man about …
To remember her cooking and the family history The exploration of some people's fraught relationship with their mothers must be a leading topic of psychotherapy even if sifting through life's what-ifs and could-have-beens while lying on a couch often doesn't alleviate present-day anguishes. Grandmothers are a different story. Our memories of them are rose-tinted by …
Everyday Mexican cooking is easy, except when it ain't Between the pandemic lockdown and remodeling of our kitchen and terrace, we hadn't done any entertaining for more than two years, not that we were ever a couple of gay Martha Stewarts who would whip up a Beef Bourguignon, set out the fancy china and tableware …
A moving ceremony even if the young participants didn't fully appreciate its meaning First Communion is one of the holiest and most important initiation rites in the life of a Roman Catholic, as the bread and wine consecrated during the Mass represent the continuing presence of Jesus on earth. Yet I'd bet pesos to doughnuts …
San Miguel is increasingly pricey but expat generosity is hardly the chief culprit Last Sunday Stew and I stopped at Querétaro's "Mercado de Flores," a hangar-size paradise of all things gardening located next to the city cemetery, that sells plants, pots and other supplies at noticeable lower prices than nurseries in San Miguel. If you …
Continue reading Is paying higher wages bad for Mexican workers?
After three years of masks, tests, vaccines and boosters, the pandemic just won't away We spent Christmas in New York, where it was very cold. Its eight million residents, plus probably another million tourists like us, appeared to be dashing between restaurants, cinemas, theaters, museums, subways, buses and any place that promised shelter and warmth. …
Consuming lots of news can make you a more informed citizen—or a neurotic zombie If there were a Twelve Step program to alleviate an addiction to news, I might qualify for membership. I already have had to deal with two types of addictions—booze and nicotine—so it's not much of a stretch that my well-nigh obsessive, …
In this tiny Mexican town with an unpronounceable name, Christmas is a serious year-round business If you get to visit this lovely town, and you should, you need to remember two things. Its name is Tlalpujahua and that's pronounced something like "Tlal-poo-háh-wa." Practice, so if instead going through Atlacomulco on the way to Tlalpujahua, you …
El Rancho Santa Clara 