Posts filed under 'Veracruz'
Zacatecas and Puebla are the only 2 locations on this list of Colonial Gems from last Wednesday’s San Francisco Chronicle that Livtopia is not currently listing. We will be. Puebla we should be announcing in the next few weeks. Zacatecas is the focus of huge government investments in new hospitals and infrastructure, according to this December Reforma article, (in Spanish/Registration required) and we should have someone on the ground there by the end of this spring.
The full list of colonial Mexican cities from the San Francisco Chronicle is as follows (I left their handy links to the local tourist bureaus as well):
- Mérida
- Morelia
- Campeche
- Oaxaca
- Puebla
- Guanajuato
- Cuernavaca
- Querétaro
- Zacatecas
- Veracruz
When you visit just a few of them it is easy to see why Mexico’s tourist revenues were up so sharply last year.
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January 27th, 2008
The date December, 24 2007 (Gregorian), corresponds to the following Aztec date:
Because things are likely to get slow and holiday traffic - on the internet anyway - tends to dip, this post is not only a holiday greeting to you, but to the many superstar bloggers quoted below. All of them are part of the BlogRoll we unveiled a few weeks ago, but they’re also among the most prolific in the blogging business.
To start with, the one truly newsworthy entry from the past week came from the Panama Investor Blog, where they’ve announced that the 90 day visa for Americans is back on. That should put a stop to some of the confusion - at last - and perhaps to some of the moaning and groaning, at least for a little while.
The Tropical Adventures holiday party in La Flor, Costa Rica, made for some interesting writing on the Blog of the Tropical Adventures website. These folks seem to have to explain how their operation runs over and over to critics who believe that without a big benefactor backing them they are just a tourist business in the guise of a volunteer operation. That doesn’t seem to have dampened the spirits of the kids with whom they’ve been working.
The better than year-long saga of Adopting Kids in Costa Rica took another twist. Playa Pelada is one of the only places on the internet, that I know of anyway, where you can really follow the adoption process, in detail, week after week. That’s in addition to the insight into living and growing in Costa Rica that also makes up a big part of Playa Pelada fare.
On to Mexico. The Aztec Calendar illustration above came via The Mex Files, who directed us to this cool Aztec Calendar website. You can figure out how to write or say whatever day, month and year you want according to the calendar. And, no weekend project, this calendar is complete with artwork and a full list of the gods and deities who rule over the world of the Aztecs not even to mention a few decades of study and work that appear to have gone into it.
The folks at Yucatan Living provided another of their Juggernaut Entries with news from all over the Peninsula. Airline news includes a new route from Milan to Mérida, and a new low cost route between Cancun and Campeche. They point out that tourism numbers in Yucatan continue to climb and the number of Yucatecos in the US can be informally monitored by checking the US registrations at el Diario, the Mérida daily.
On the more domestic side of All Things Mexico, the Living in Mexico blog provided a great update on what’s coming up in their organic garden. And Home-Sweet-Mexico provided some 10 decorating tips for dealing with the ubiquitous and quirky short-cuts that Mexican Builders and Landlords often leave us to deal with.
If you want real holiday news though, try dragging an enormous commercial popcorn popper around to the Posada processions in your small Mexican pueblo. The folks at Viva Veracruz give that story and a lot more.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by for a terrific year of blogging and traveling and dreaming and making things better for everyone.
Click here to return to Livtopia.com
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December 24th, 2007
There’s a truly jaw-dropping article in Monday’s Bloomington- Normal Pantagraph.
It’s not jaw-dropping because of the crazy idea of moving to Veracruz, though the idea is way-out there for some, but because of the tremendous life-story of the star of the article, Debbie Mounts.
In 1989, she visited Mexico City as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer and taught courses in Chicano Studies in a master’s program at the National Autonomous University. [… She] bought a colonial estate in the San Miguel Allende to operate as a small, elegant hotel. At the same time, she opened a Spanish language school […] Next, she moved farther south to the colonial city of Oaxaca, where her Spanish-language school continued. Another whim led to the opening of the successful Milagros Para Ti, a shop that allowed her to work with local craftsmen and combine social goals with business.
In 1998, Mounts left Mexico to move to Bloomington-Normal where she became an assistant professor in ISU’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She taught there two years. While in Bloomington, she renovated a house at 521 E. Mulberry St. that was one of the homes on the Old House Tour in 2001. She later took a job as project director for a state-funded English-as-a-Second-Language program for Lincoln Land Community College in Beardstown.
Mounts visited the lush green of the mist-shrouded mountains of Veracruz in 2000. She moved there a year and a half ago. Another whim led her to build the eco-lodge with her friend and business partner Paul Hebb.
Wheeeeww, and I thought I was busy. The eco-lodge, El Retoño, is just outside of Coatepec, and:
offers travel packages to highlight a variety of aspects of the region’s natural beauty. In addition to the garden tours, the area boasts as many as 500 bird species during migration. Birds that have been seen at the lodge range from the acorn woodpecker, golden-crowned warbler, rufus-capped warbler and dusty-capped flycatcher to the orange-billed nightingale thrush and Montezuma oropendola.
I’ve written enough about the unique character of people for a life-time. So, awe-inspiring as she is, I think Mounts would prefer that I concentrate on the fantastic and growing eco-tourism going on all over the state of Veracruz. The Pantagraph article covers the issue in quite some detail and gives full contact info if you’re thinking of heading down there.
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October 4th, 2007
Sorry I couldn’t help but leave that photo nice and big. This story came from the American Embassy in Mexico; the Veracruz Aquarium joins a partnership that for nearly 15 years has been fighting to preserve the heritage of marine life along the coasts of the United States. The Aquarium at Veracruz is the 20th partner in the network of Coastal Ecosystems Learning Centers, the first that is actually outside of the United States.
Visitors have been marveling over the Aquarium at Veracruz pretty much since it’s opening. As I mentioned here, it’s easily the biggest aquarium in Latin America, and somehow aquariums just seem to workout nice where ever you put them. In Veracruz, with all that history and culture, taking an afternoon off with some really big fish is a great diversion. It’s also terrific to see the US government taking positive steps toward partnerships with other countries.
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June 21st, 2007
I paid a visit to the beachfront, just along the coast in front of Rancho Bellavista, and just north of Tuxpan in the state of Veracruz. I took these photos just a few weeks ago and wanted to get relatively big versions of them posted.
I’d love to hear what people think of northern Veracruz. Mexico’s Gulf Coast is a whole different ball-game than the Pacific or the Caribbean coasts. Way more laid back, and on the come-back from years of nearly locals-only tourism. But to me the lack of exoticism feels more familiar, more approachable and yet still it is beautiful and largely underdeveloped. Proximity to relatively big cities like Poza Rica and Tampico mean all the amenities are nearby. I really am on my way to further exploring the great and HUGE state of Veracruz. I will post then but for now, I am quite happy with the far north.
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April 30th, 2007
We’re in the middle of another complete and total site-overhaul, so I really have not been able to do anything close to the reading I would like to. I have narrowed my list of good blogs Mexico and Latin America Blogs to read, and it definitely includes the following, and soon enough the complete list will appear somewhere here in these pages. But for now, these were among my favorite posts from the past week or so:
From Countdown to Mexico:
For some reason I really want them (and some others) to understand that our decision to move isn’t just because we want change, or to live better on the income we’ll have than we could up here….that the slowness, and the sociability, and the chance to really connect with ourselves and each other is more possible there.
I can understand those reasons perfectly. Nancy’s post is about the documentary film, Lost and Found in Mexico.
A spate of happy posts at My Life Back in Mexico,give good glimpses into 30 year old Jose’s return to his native country, including, finally settling in Puebla and job searching and interviewing and getting a job.
Blah Blah Blah Ginger found that Ajijic was remarkably like her old home town of Santa Barbara, with lots of witty insight, and photos, of shopping and poking around the artisans booths. “It’s way too early for me to be buying lamps, I don’t even have any furniture to put them on.”
Go-Oaxaca blog seems to be posting a bit more in Spanish than in English, but their photos always make stopping by worthwhile. Maybe it’s just that Oaxaca is Mexico’s most photogenic state.
And Yucatan Living brought news of a Bookstore and other events in Mérida, and just today this comprehensive interview with new Mérida resident Lorena Pacheco.
Billieblog’s masterful account of busy-ness should be required reading at our next seminar in the “what-to-expect” category.
I always want to write a post about how those of us from more northerly parts of North America end up with this invigorated taste for the heavy cultural and architectural history of Mexico and even for the whole western world. From Xico satisifies that longing with a couple of solid posts on the history of San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz.
Normally from the same part of Mexico, the Ruminating Expatriot travelled much further afield to Cabo San Lucas and has been providing the same insightful and photo-laden posts. I was personally glad to see that his commentary translates to a west coast environment with no loss of acuity. Cheers !!
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April 14th, 2007
It is taking me a while to get through all of the photos I’ve taken. Suffice it to say, even though the Cuota highway is still not open (it’ll cut the journey nearly in half when it opens), the voyage is spectacular in just about every regard. Coming up is my trip to Rancho Bellavista on the Gulf Coast.
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March 26th, 2007
I’ll be writing next week, hopefully quite a bit more about this beautiful stretch of land along the Gulf Coast in Veracruz. It’s a pretty easy drive from Mexico City now, but I am also anxious to see what I can learn about the state of the new highway between (roughly) Pachuca and Poza Rica that should cut the drive time almost in half. Anyway, there is more information at Livtopia, but I will be supplementing that with what I learn on this little trip. 
I am familiar with the area, I know the beautiful ruins at El Tajin, and the coast between Tampico and perhaps Tecolutla. But this is the first trip I am making specifically to look at available properties and with an eye to development. So, next week you can expect a few posts on this pristine coastal area and the advances being made in terms of ecological living and sustainable development.
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March 23rd, 2007
I’m just hoping to spread a little traffic over to Catemaco News & Commentary, where, I just spent a good 15 minutes on this fantastic airplane trip. Despite the technical difficulties, I applaud the comprehensive vision of the blog. Their links section is massive and useful and the focus of their site offers a good look into many of the areas of Veracruz that are other wise very difficult to learn about. Cheers.
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March 15th, 2007
Livtopia has a lot of experience and a legal firm that helps us get Visas for people in just about every walk of life. Still, it is useful to know that times and places and circumstances change and vary and so do the rules and regulations that determine what visa you’re going to end up getting.
I thought today’s post from Viva Veracruz was exceptionally insightful about some of the idiosyncracies of the system. Rules do vary depending on who is executing them. And the forum at Viva Veracruz gives you a good idea the range of experiences people have with the Mexican immigration office. In of itself the forum is useful for a lot of other things too.
On the Road with Gary has also been pretty consistently writing about getting the FM-3. He picked it up yesterday and with the insight that is unique to people considering moving to Mexico, both posts are well worth reading.
Actually, we just placed an ad in Inside Mexico promoting this aspect of the Livtopia experience,ie; all the stuff we do besides real estate. See the bottom of page 11 of the March (PDF) issue here. (You’ll be hearing more from and about Inside Mexico here soon.)
Suffice it to say, one of the tough parts of dealing with people moving to Mexico is that a lot of them are already fiercely independent and happy to accept a challenge. If you find the challenge of getting a visa too much, or you just don’t feel like dealing with it, our Concierge deals with it all the time for people retiring and for people here on business, whatever… it’s not expensive and it can all be taken care of in English if you like.
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March 3rd, 2007
Just because you retire to Mexico, already a great travel and tourism destination, doesn’t mean you end up traveling any less. Seems every blog I turned to this weekend had more travel stories.
Mamahop records the family adventures Hopalog Travels around Veracruz from Xico to Xalapa and places in between. Similar meanderings were recorded at Viva Veracruz.
Flor y Canto provided great advice on getting to Atla and San Pablito in the Sierra de Puebla from Mexico City. It’s a bit of a trek and Flor y Canto’s new blog looks terrific.
Gwyn from Guadalajara took off for Tulum so you’ll want to keep an eye on his Flickr page. We’re expecting more great photos to show up there.
And who knew there are Two Tequisquipans? John’s excellent Mexico Woods blog explores them both, with terrific photography and I agree on choosing the second in Querétaro state, though he followed up today with still more to consider as far as hotels, water and food.
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February 26th, 2007
Go-Oaxaca Blog has posted some truly extraordinary photos of the Carnaval celebrations near Ocotlan, just south of the capital of Oaxaca, (the rest of the post is must see stuff!). Carnaval is pretty quiet in Mexico’s capital, but outside it is truly something else, as I thought these photos well captured. Veracruz and Mazatlan are best known in Mexico for their Carnaval celebrations. There’s a good Flickr photostream here
