Last week on November 2, Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, I followed the throngs who were streaming down the street. In Coatepec’s large, old cemetery, hundreds of people were gathering around the gravestones and tombs of their ancestors, whole families bearing flowers and decorations and food to spruce things up. It was a bright, [...]
This week in Coatepec is the Festival San Jeronimo, a week-long celebration in honor of the town’s patron saint. In English we know him as Jerome, c. 347 – September 30, 420, an early translator of the Christian and Hebrew scriptures. As I write this, fireworks – really big, loud ones – are exploding somewhere [...]
I was in Xico today and didn’t realize it was a fiesta day until this parade came up the street – they do this kind of thing a lot, at least once a month if not more. I grabbed my camera and took three short videos, all worth watching for a taste of “deep Mexico”. [...]
My friend’s house here in Coatepec is a good example of just how weird and interesting living spaces are in Mexico. I know everybody loves to see photos of gorgeous, perfectly-maintained buildings here, but I want to emphasize that this is an “affordable” home. It’s shared by a group of young academics working on a [...]
I just picked up a package at the local post office, books from Amazon.com in the U.S.A. It’s not even all that expensive to ship them here – about $10 for a stack of them – and only took about two weeks. It was a little adventure actually getting my hands on them, though. First, [...]
I just went out and got this take-out food and I just kind of can’t believe my good fortune. I took it out of the wrappers and put it on the plate at home. They’re tacos al pastor – five of them – on corn tortillas made in front of me, with meat roasted on [...]
Why do I love it here? I want to convince my readers that photos and videos aren’t enough to convey what I really want to share, so here’s another “word-video”, “recorded” 10 minutes ago. I leave my little house, and the sun is shining and a little breeze is stirring the leaves and flowers in [...]