The Best Of Mexico

•Mexico City: Is It Safe?

•Eric in Oaxaca

I first came to Oaxaca eight years ago as a wide eyed student of pottery and Spanish while working on my B.A. at Humboldt State U. in California. I didn't know where the heck Oaxaca was nor could I pronounce it (wah-HA-ka), but didn't care I knew it was in Mexico, I knew I hadn't been there. I was doing studio art, and having just recently muddied my hands for the first time in the ceramics studio, I was an avid and fervant convert to the clayway. I have always been partial to that which is raw, basic, utilitarian and beautiful for it. Pottery hit that place in me immediately. I went to Oaxaca ignorant of what I would find, only vaguely aware that there was some pottery there. So I designed my project around that. I proposed to look at a potter, how she lived in breif, and how she made a pot.... (more) by Eric Mindling

Imagine my fascination with the half-millennium of New World history laid like a blanket over the eons of lost civilizations that constitute the past of the cities and hamlets of the central Mexican plateau. In 1981, many of the elderly residents of San Miguel de Allende’s thermal-watered outskirts spoke only Otomi, and history and mystery continue to sell Mexico to tourists.... (more) by Sareda Milosz

•Oaxaca: I've Changed My Mind

It had been two years since my last visit and I was interested to see what had changed, for better, or for worse. I arrived in town by second-class bus from the East. The first noticeable, and significant, change I observed was the increased military presence in the state of Oaxaca and at the entrance to the city. The Mexican government says that the military is engaged in "drug interdiction." People I spoke with on the bus called it government intimidation.... (more) by Bill Masterson

•Oaxaca in the Summer?

We are looking seriously at coming to Mexico for a month next July. Would you have any suggestions re places to take Nancy and Hannah? We will probably spend between one and two of the four weeks in San Miguel. Keep in mind that Nancy has never been to Mexico, but has travelled a lot and Hannah will be 10 and a half.... (more) from Jim Jamieson

Oaxaca Tips & Sidetrips

This excellent, highly detailed letter from Suzanne Strauss & Scott K. Kennedy is a mini-guidebook to the best of Oaxaca City and environs. Their letter is also a model for the kind of information we love to publish on this website. Please read it and be inspired to contribute your own travel reports and personal experiences!.... (more)

•Living In Zamora

My wife is working teaching English at a campus of Univa here in Zamora. She finds the college age kids a delight, and we have been made to feel very welcome by the people we meet. Zamora is not on the gringo trail and that's just fine with us.... (more) by Pat and Gaby

•Living in San Cristobal

I moved with my partner to live in San Cristobal de Las Casas, in the state of Chiapas, in February of 1997. Although we had never visited this area of Mexico, we chose San Cristobal, after much research. It fit the list of things we were looking for in a place to spend our two year sabbatical. It had a somewhat intact indigenous culture, moderate highland climate and possibilities for volunteering that would provide meaningful ‘work’.... (more) by Sage Mountainfire