Earlier this year, I revisited the city of Mérida in the Mexican state of Yucátan. A lot has changed since I was first in Mérida back in 1987. What was once a relatively quiet provincial capital is now a cosmopolitan city of some one million souls. Still, Mérida turned our to be much as I remember it, especially the historical center, which has an eclectic mix of architecture, including handsome Spanish colonial buildings dating back to the 16th century.
I was also pleased to discover that Mérida remains a colorful and inspiring place for photography. Fortunately, modernization (such as free public Wi-Fi in the lively main plaza) has not lessened the city's considerable charm. I've put together a 2014 Calender with a dozen favorite images from my Mérida trip. To get the most out of the calendar preview below, please click on the full screen icon at the bottom right of the screen.
Anyone interested in the history of the Yucatán should consider taking a day trip from the city of Mérida to nearby Hacienda Yaxcopoil (YASH-coh-poh-EEL). This former henequén (sisal) hacienda, which dates back to the 17th century, offers rare glimpses of life among the Yucatán's wealthy hacendados during Spanish colonial days and the henequén boom of the late 1900's that made Yucatán one of the richest states in Mexico.
What is truly special about Yaxcopoil is that unlike most other Yucatecan haciendas, it has been preserved in its original state. Ghosts of the past still haunt the main building's dimly lit rooms filled with worn but elegant European-style furniture, kerosene lamps, and other fixtures from days gone by. High wooden doors bearing the marks of time open into a traditional Spanish courtyard flanked by sweeping stone arches and brimming with greenery.
Hacienda Yaxcopoil gets its name from a Maya archaeological site located on the plantation's extensive land holdings, which once encompassed some 22,000 acres. Fittingly, a room off the hacienda's inner courtyard has been turned into a small museum housing artifacts from the Yaxcopoil ruins. Ceramic plates and pots adorn the walls, and ancient limestone carvings stand silently in corners illuminated by natural light streaming through open windows with weathered green and white shutters.
In the hacienda's factory area or planta desfribradora languishes machinery once used to shred the henequén fiber. Mysterious contraptions with rusty iron cogs and wheels that haven't turned for decades stand next to an impressive-looking diesel engine that was used to power them with belts and pulleys. This huge motor was built in Germany in 1913 and is still in working order.
Behind the machine room
stretch warehouses and packing houses that, with their handsome
neoclassical facades and columns, look more like stately colonial mansions than plantation buildings. The hacienda also boasts extensive gardens and an orchard
where water tanks and functioning pumps installed during the early 20th
century promise to keep Yaxcopoil blooming for years -- perhaps even
centuries -- to come.
Hacienda Yaxcopoil is situated 33 km (20 miles) southwest of Mérida and can be reached by rental car, public bus, or on organized tours offered by companies in Mérida. The hacienda is open Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is 75 Mexican pesos (about $6.00 US).
Mouse over the slideshow below to view captions. Click on individual
images for information about ordering prints or leasing for editorial
use.
Tlacotalpan has a lot more going for it than its tongue-twisting name. This beautifully restored Spanish colonial settlement on the Rio Papaloapan (River of Butterflies) in the state of Veracruz is not only one of the most attractive towns in Mexico, but it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a thriving cultural center.
Tlacotalpan has been inhabited since pre-Columbian times, and its name means something like "between the waters" or "divided earth" in Nahuatl, the language of the ancient Aztecs. Not surprisingly, Spanish conquistadors vanquished this area during the l6th century and established a river port at strategically located Tlacotalpan.
The community grew into an important trading center for cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, and other exotic tropical products. By the mid 1800's, Tlacotalpan boasted an opera house, a municipal palace, and a number of other substantial buildings. However, the arrival of the railway to Veracruz in the late 19th century spelled the beginning of the end for Tlacotalpan's prosperity as goods from the interior could now be more easily shipped to the coast by rail than by water.
Tlacotalpan settled in for a long siesta during the early part of the 20th century and didn't really awaken until 1998 when it was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. Funds were subsequently made available for restoration, and the locals literally went to town fixing up decaying houses and churches. Today, it seems as if every building in Tlacotalpan sports a brightly painted facade and neoclassical style colonnades and porticos.
This region has a lot going on culturally as well. It is the home of Son Jarocho, a spicy blend of Spanish, indigenous, and African rhythms that has become the traditional music of Veracruz. During the annual Candelaria or Candlemas celebrations in early February, Jaranero musicians and visitors from all over Mexico converge on Tlacotalpan for a three-day festival of music, religious processions, and other events marking the advent of spring.
Tlacotalpan is also the birthplace of Agustín Lara (1897-1970), one of Mexico's most beloved singers and composers. Lara's house has been turned into a museum commemorating his life and work. In addition, the town's cultural center, which hosts exhibits along with dance and music rehearsals, has been named after Tlacotalpan's most illustrious native son.
The town of Tlacotalpan lies about 90 minutes (110 km) south by car or bus from the city of Veracruz. The best hotels in town are the comfortable Hotel Reforma near the main plaza and the more upscale and atmospheric Posada Doña Lala, also situated in the historical center of town.
Move the cursor over the screen below to view captions. Click on individual images to see larger views and for information on ordering prints or downloading photos for personal or editorial use.
When I was a child, I was always building forts -- snow forts, sand forts, tree forts, cardboard-box forts, you name it. I don’ know what this obsession stemmed from. Perhaps it had something to do with wanting to feel safe. Or maybe I had just seen too many pirate movies and Westerns. Whatever the reason, my love of forts followed me into adulthood, and it persists to this day.
Not surprisingly, during my travels in Latin America, I have sought out and photographed forts of all kinds. The Spanish built dozens of them along the coasts of Mexico and Central America, as well as in the Caribbean. These imposing structures helped protect Spain’s colonies in the New World from foreign navies and raids by the likes of English and Dutch pirates.
Below is a slide-show of forts in Latin America that I have explored. Each has a distinct personality. Some like the San Juan de Ulua fortress in Veracruz, Mexico, are forbidding and dungeon-like. Others are airy and even inviting like Acapulco’s Fuerte San Diego, whose sunlit interior has been painted bright yellow. However, all of these historical buildings have something in common: behind their high stone walls surmounted by rusty cannon lie stories begging to be told.
Move the cursor over the screen to read captions. Click on individual images to read captions. Click on individual images to see enlargements and for information on ordering prints or leasing photos for personal or editorial use,
When I think of Puebla, what always come to mind first are the brightly colored Talavera tiles that turn the domes and facades of this Mexican city's many churches and other handsome Spanish colonial buildings into geometric fantasies. These mesmerizing azulejos (tiles) date back to the 16th century, when tile-makers from Talavera, Spain, settled in Mexico and began producing the durable Talavera pottery and tiles for which Puebla has become famous. Puebla's artisans eventually added Italian, Chinese and indigenous designs to the original Moorish ones, creating what has become a truly Mexican ceramic tradition.
Below is a slide-show featuring some of my photos of Puebla's Talavera tiles. Move the cursor over the screen to read captions. Click on individual images for information about ordering prints or leasing photos for personal, editorial, or commercial use.
The winding road from Santa Rosa de Copán to Gracias in Western Honduras dips and climbs like a roller coaster through a wild landscape of deep valleys, pine-clad mountains and rocky streams. It's no wonder that when Spanish conquistadors exploring this region during the early 1500's finally happened upon a stretch of flat land, they named the community that they founded there "Gracias a Dios" (Thank God).
Now known simply as Gracias, this sleepy town may not look very important today, but at one time it was the Spanish capital of all Central America. In 1544, Gracias was chosen to be the home of the Spanish Empire’s governing council, the Audiencia de los Confines. Gracias served as an administrative center until 1548, when the Audencia packed up and moved to Antigua, Guatemala.
Not surprisingly, given its isolated location, Gracias fell into a long period of anonymity. Recently, however, Gracias' quiet charms have been rediscovered by adventurous travelers, and the town is being put back on the map as a budding tourist destination and convenient base for exploring nearby Lenca Indian villages and Celaque National Park.
Gracias' compact historical center fans out from a tree-shaded main square with a tiny central bandstand that has been converted into a pleasant two-storey cafe. Restored colonial buildings line the town's narrow streets, and there are several old churches worth seeking out. The most attractive is the 17th century Iglesia La Merced, which has an ornate baroque-style facade with spiral columns and niches containing religious statues. Next to the white and yellow Iglesia San Marcos on the main square stands the building that was once home to the Spanish Audencia. A pair of sculpted lions with gruff, human-like faces keep watch over its wide stone entrance. Across the street is the Casa Galeano, a remodeled colonial mansion that now houses a very good regional museum and a small botanical garden.
Perched above Gracias is the Fuerte de San Cristóbal, a renovated Spanish fort that provides some inspiring views of the surrounding mountains. Also popular with both locals and visitors are two sets of natural thermal pools on the outskirts of town. The more upscale of these hot springs facilities is the Termas del Rio, which is operated by the Posada de Don Juan, a comfortable new hotel that has opened in downtown Gracias.
Gracias is also gateway to what has become known as La Ruta Lenca or Lenca Route, a series of picturesque villages inhabited by Lenca Indians, the largest indigenous group in Honduras. The Lenca are best known for their distinctive earthenware pottery that is sold in markets throughout the country.
The Lenca village easiest to reach from Gracias is La Campa located about 16 kilometers (10 miles) away on a paved road. At the entrance to La Campa sits an interpretation center named La Escuelona. This rambling colonial-era complex has galleries with Lenca pottery and historical exhibits as well as showrooms where visitors can buy locally made plates, chimes, whistles and other ceramic creations. Several other pottery stores and workshops lie scattered around town, including the well-stocked home of Doña Desideria Pérez, which has a traditional wood-fired Lenca pottery oven in the backyard.
Uunpaved streets lead downhill past humble dwellings with tile roofs to La Campa's main claim to fame, the Iglesia de San Matías. This three-hundred-year-old church was restored in 1938. However, its brightly colored facade decorated with floral motifs and fluttering angels looks as if it has just been given a fresh coat of paint in hopes that more travelers will soon be coming to admire it.
Move the cursor over the screen of the slide-show below to read captions. Click on individual images to see larger versions and for information about ordering prints or leasing photos for personal or commercial and editorial use.
Every once in a while I come across a book about Latin America that is so inspiring I feel compelled to spread the word. One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in Mexico (101 Beautiful Small Towns) by Guillermo Garcia Oropeza and Cristobal Garcia Sanchez is just such a work. Published in 2008 by Rizzoli International Publications, this generously illustrated coffee table book introduces readers to some of the most alluring places in Mexico. Spanish colonial towns, seaside villages, and even pre-Hispanic ruins are grouped by geographic regions, and almost every state in the country is represented. Lively text giving detailed historical background accompanies the eye-catching photos. Plus an appendix lists addresses of state and municipal tourism offices, hotels, and restaurants, making this a guide that should appeal to both armchair and active travelers who have a passion for Mexico.
Here is slide-show of some of small and not-so-small towns that I have visited in Mexico. Move the cursor over the screen to view captions. Click on individual photos to see larger versions and for information about ordering prints or downloading files for personal, editorial or commercial use.
When I first started traveling to Mexico in the 1980's, one of my goals was to eventually visit all of that country's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The list was considerably shorter back then, but it was still an ambitious project.
Mexico now has 31 properties(27 Cultural and four Natural) inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which is more than any other nation in the Americas. I've managed to explore 25 of these sites over the years, and I hope to be around long enough to complete my plans. However, this may not be as easy as it sounds. Mexico has a lineup of places waiting to be added to the World Heritage List, so it promises to keep getting longer.
Some of the most recent sites in Mexico to have been submitted to UNESCO for consideration are the Spanish colonial city of San Luis Potosi, Ria Celestun and Izamal in the Yucatan, as well as the surrealist sculpture garden of Las Pozas in the state of San Luis Potosi.
Here is a slide-show of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Mexico that I've been lucky enough to visit. Please mouse over the screen to view the captions. Click on individual images for information about licensing or ordering prints.
With a population estimated at close to two million, Quito is Ecuador’s capital and second largest city. It also claims to be the second highest capital in the world after La Paz, Bolivia.
Quito’s air may be thin, but the city is thick with history. Quito sits on the ruins of an Incan city that the Incas burned to the ground rather than have it fall into Spanish clutches. The Spanish Conquistadors established the city of San Francisco de Quito in 1534. They proceeded to Christianize local Indians and use them as laborers to build splendid churches, convents, and monasteries. Most of these architectural treasures are still around. In fact, downtown Quito is so well preserved that it was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1978.
I felt protected by an angel while wandering through old Quito’s plazas and labyrinthine streets. Wherever I went, I could see the winged Virgin of Quito, hovering above the low-rise colonial architecture like a guardian angel. This huge statue stands on a hill called El Panecillo or “Little Bread Loaf” to the south of the old town. It is said to be the only depiction of a winged Virgin in the Americas. The monument was apparently modeled after an apocalyptic vision from the biblical book of Revelations. Quito’s unusual Virgin wears a crown of stars, and she balances on top of a chained dragon and a large globe of the world.
The heart of Quito’s Old Town is the Plaza de la Independencia, which locals usually call the Plaza Grande. This large square dates back to the 16th century and is flanked by some of the city’s most important buildings, including Quito’s austere-looking cathedral, and the white presidential palace or Palacio de Gobierno with its handsome colonnades. Looking like a wallflower on the north side of Plaza Grande is a nondescript modern administration building that was built to replace a crumbling colonial structure. Tall marble columns surmounted by a bronze statue of Liberty marks the center of the plaza.
The Plaza Grande is one of the best places for people-watching in old Quito. I visited the plaza on a Sunday when it was packed with Quiteños – as people from Quito are called – relaxing and chatting on wrought-iron benches. Quito is a conservative place, and most of the older people were dressed in their Sunday best. Some ladies had brought parasols to protect themselves from the strong equatorial sun. Children were running about dipping their hands in the splashing baroque fountains, chasing flocks of pigeons, and dodging people strolling to and from the area’s numerous churches.
I soon discovered that it was difficult to walk more than two blocks in old Quito without bumping into a church. Quito’s churches tend to be plain and formal on the outside. However, I found a notable exception one block west of the Plaza Grande. La Compañia de Jésus church has the most ornate baroque facade in Ecuador. It reportedly took 160 over years to build La Compañia and carve the collage of cherubs, sacred hearts and other icons ringing its stone entranceway.
The church’s gilded nave and towering altar smothered in gold leaf are truly a Conquistador’s dream come true. Tourism brochures often refer to La Compañia as “Quito’s Sistine Chapel.” Peering up at the church’s vaulted ceiling, I could see why: Moorish geometric designs inlaid with gold glittered in the diffuse light, and dozens of somber paintings depicting saints and religious scenes hung from the sweeping arches.
If Plaza Grande is the heart of Quito, then the Plaza San Francisco is the city’s soul. This vast cobblestone square is ringed by colonial buildings and bordered on its west side by the high white walls and twin spires of the San Francisco Church and Monastery. The plaza was built on the site of the original Inca city’s marketplace, which buzzed with traders from all over the northern Andes.
When I was there, Indian women wearing their signature narrow-brimmed fedoras approached me hawking multicolored weavings, and men bent double under enormous loads strapped to their backs plodded by. I joined the Sunday crowds filing into San Francisco Church. Once inside the church’s dark interior, I found myself engulfed by a sea of glinting baroque carvings and the echoes of hundreds of feet shuffling across creaking wooden floors as they have for centuries.
IF YOU GO
Quito’s Old Town has few services for travelers. Most stay in the Mariscal Sucre district in new Quito. This compact neighborhood northeast of the old town is full of budget hotels, restaurants, and stores catering to tourists. The best way to get to old Quito from Mariscal Sucre is on the efficient and inexpensive (fare $0.30) trolley bus system. The trolleys have their own lanes and can zip right through Quito’s frequent traffic jams. Taxis are also cheap and plentiful. Most of old Quito’s museums are closed on Mondays. The tourism information office on the Plaza de la Independencia supplies a good map of Quito and brochures.
Below is a slide-show featuring some of my Quito photos. Move the cursor over the screen to view captions. Click on images to see larger views and for information about ordering prints or leasing for personal or editorial use.
The first thing that catches your eye when you step off the bus in downtown Tepotzotlan is the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier with its soaring three-tiered bell tower and richly decorated façade. This extravagant 17th-century church is considered to be one of the finest examples of Churrigueresque (Mexican baroque) architecture in Mexico.
Tepotzotlan is a pleasant colonial town on the northern edge of Mexico City’s urban sprawl. A lively outdoor handicrafts market held in the main square and streets lined with outdoor restaurants make Tepotzotlan a popular weekend retreat among people from the capital. However, the main reason for visiting the town is the Museo Nacional de Virreinato (National Museum of the Viceroyalty) that occupies a former Jesuit monastery adjacent to the San Francisco Javier church.
The monastery originally housed two schools, one for indigenous children and another for novice priests. During the early 1960’s, the building was extensively restored and turned into a museum displaying religious art and other artifacts from Mexico’s colonial period. The San Francisco Javier church and Jesuit monastery were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
Behind the monastery’s walls lies a maze of corridors and rooms surrounding two main courtyards. The larger courtyard, the Patio of the Reservoirs, gets its name from cisterns that are still used to collect rainwater. This space was reserved for the Jesuit priests and school children. Fronting the patio is an apothecary room with 17th-century murals documenting the medicine-related work of several Catholic saints.
Smaller and more intimate, the second courtyard is called the Patio of the Oranges, after the scented orange trees growing in it. Novice priests apparently used this area for rest and recreation, amusing themselves with worldly pastimes such as bowling and billiards. The cloister’s upper floor harbors religious murals and the students’ library, whose shelves are stocked with some 4000 antique books in Latin, Greek, Spanish, and French.
Hidden away in another corner of the monastery, the lavishly decorated Chapel of the Novices or Capilla Domestica has a towering gilded altar festooned with mirrors, portraits of saints, statuettes, and reliquaries. Here, the novice monks prayed and no doubt did their best to look pious under a vaulted ceiling ringed with the crests of the various religious orders that came to Christianize the peoples of New Spain.
Most of the museum’s exhibits can be found in a series of large rooms once occupied by Jesuit fathers. On display are important paintings, furniture, carvings, textiles and countless other colonial treasures from Mexico’s viceregal period, which lasted from the Spanish Conquest in 1521 to the beginning of the 19th century. There are also some haunting pre-Columbian artifacts plus a fascinating “diagram of the castes,” an 18th-century painting depicting the various racial mixes that resulted from interbreeding during the colonization of Mexico.
From the monastery, a narrow staircase leads to the San Francisco Xavier church. It becomes obvious upon entering this opulent building that the Jesuits were neither short on missionary zeal nor strapped for cash. During the 18th century, they commissioned some of New Spain’s finest architects and artists to create the church’s sumptuous baroque altarpieces, all of which were fashioned from polychromed wood and covered in gold leaf, statues, and paintings.
The church’s resplendent main altar is dedicated San Francisco Xavier, patron saint of the monastery. Other altars include one devoted to San Ignacio de Loyola, principal founder of the Jesuit order, plus another honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. Equally impressive are the jewel-box-like Relicario de San Jose, a glittering room built to store valuable relics, and an octagonal chamber known as the Camarin de la Virgen, which has celestial scenes painted on its ceiling.
All this gold and glitter can get a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, the museum offers visitors a quiet refuge. Its pleasant open-air restaurant is an ideal place to relax over regional specialties such as tortilla soup or huitlacoche crepes while contemplating a peaceful courtyard filled with flowering bougainvillea and ghosts from Mexico’s colonial past.
GETTING THERE
The easiest way to get to Tepotzotlan from downtown Mexico City is to take the metro (subway) to the El Rosario station and then catch a minibus, which will let you off beside the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier. The trip from El Rosario to Tepotzotlan costs 10 Mexican pesos (abiut US$1.00) and takes about 75 minutes. The Museo Nacional de Virreinato (Plaza Hidalgo 99) is open from Tuesday through Sunday from 9am to 6 pm. Admission is 43 pesos (about US$4.25).
Not a lot of tourists make it to the sleepy riverside town of La Antigua on the sultry coast of Veracruz state, Mexico. But at one time La Antigua must have been a happening place. It was here that Hernán Cortés reportedly torched his ships before marching inland with his army of 150 men to conquer the mighty Aztec Empire. Cortes scuttled the fleet so that his soldiers could not entertain any thoughts of chickening out and sailing back to Cuba.
The Spanish founded La Antigua in 1523 after abandoning an earlier settlement known as Villa Rica, which was probably the first European outpost in Mexico. Eventually, the conquistadors built the city of Veracruz to the north of La Antigua. But for the better part of a century, La Antigua served as the main Spanish port on Mexico’s east coast.
La Antigua has a pleasant main square with an elevated bandstand and a large church built on the same site as an earlier one that burned down in about 1570. Next to the plaza stands the nondescript-looking El Cabildo, the oldest city hall in Mexico. There is also a squat building fronted by columns that served as a slave market during colonial times.
The most impressive relic from La Antigua’s past is the so-called Casa de Cortés located just east of the town plaza. Despite its name, this rambling structure was never really the home of Hernan Cortés. It is thought to have been an administrative complex or customs house that may have been used to house troops or perhaps even store gold pilfered from the Aztecs.
Guarded by a rusty cannon, the Casa de Cortés is now a roofless maze of disintegrating coral-stone walls and vacant doorways. As intriguing as the building itself are massive strangler fig trees whose tangled roots have entwined themselves like tentacles about the ruins threatening to swallow them whole.
A few blocks to the west stands a walled compound harbouring the Ermita del Rosario, said to be the oldest church in the mainland of the Americas. This diminutive white building looks top-heavy with its large roof comb housing a trio of bells. During colonial times, a group of Franciscan friars visited the church every year to worship the Virgen del Rosario and parade her adorned image to the nearby Rio Huitzilapan. This tradition is recreated every October to honor local fishermen.
A dusty street leads south to the river from La Antigua’s plaza. It skirts Los Cuarteles, a deserted army barracks built in the early 19th century, plus a giant Ceiba tree that was probably around during the days of the conquistadors. In fact, legend has it that Cortes chained his ships to this very tree. It is now situated a fair distance from the water since the river has changed its course over the centuries.
Bordering the Rio Huitzilapan is a small market with souvenir stands and women selling homemade snacks. Just past the market, a swaying suspension bridge spans the wide, slow-moving river. All is peaceful here now. However, with a little imagination, it’s easy to conjure up images of Cortes’ flaming ships drifting on the murky waters toward the Gulf of Mexico.
GETTING THERE: La Antigua is located about 24 km (15 miles) north of the port of Veracruz and roughly 1.5 km (one mile) east of Highway 150. Second class buses leave every 30 minutes from the Veracruz bus station for the town of Cardel and will stop at the road leading to La Antigua. From the highway, taxis ply the route into the village. It is also possible to arrange a tour to La Antigua with taxi drivers in Veracruz.
Below is a slide-show with some of my photos of La Antigua, Veracruz. Move the cursor over the screen to view captions. Click on individual images for information about ordering prints or leasing photos.
Las Pozas is truly one of the hidden wonders of 20th-century Mexico. Located in the lush rain forest of the isolated Huasteca Potosina region of San Luis Potosi state, this remarkable surrealistic sculpture garden was created by Edward James, an eccentric British poet, nature lover, and art patron. Between 1949 and 1984, James built 36 fantastical concrete sculptures in an 80-acre parcel of jungle near the mountain town of Xilitla.
Born in 1907 into extreme wealth, young Edward James lived a life of privilege. He was brought up on 6000-acre West Dean Estate in West Essex and attended Eton and Oxford. James later mingled with London high-society and embraced the literary and art worlds of his time. After a failed marriage to dancer Tilly Losch, James moved to Europe where he befriended Salvador Dali, Magritte and other members of the nascent surrealist movement. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, Edward James amassed a large collection of surrealist paintings, which he later sold to finance the construction of his own artistic fantasies at Las Pozas.
Today, a visit to Las Pozas offers a walk through a fairytale world of giant bamboo-shaped columns surmounted by concrete flowers, and half-finished cement towers sprouting leafy motifs and tentacles of rusted rebar. Precarious spiral staircases ascend to the open sky, and narrow bridges lead to pristine waterfalls tumbling through the trees. Surprises await at each turn in the winding path: faded yellow and blue Gothic arches clinging to weathered facades, stone walls with eye-shaped peepholes surveying the greenery, and giant fleurs de lys sculptures blooming in the tangled undergrowth.
Edward James died in 1984, leaving Las Pozas in the care of his longtime friend and construction supervisor Plutarco Gastelum. In 2007, the Gastelum family sold Las Pozas to Fondo Xilitla, a nonprofit organization established to preserve and repair Las Pozas' sculptures, which are slowly being devoured by the jungle. Like a true surrealist, Edward James felt that his home should never be finished, so it is only fitting that Fondo Xilitla is planning to pick up where James left off.
GETTING THERE: Xilitla is situated about 350 kms (220 miles) southeast of the city of San Luis Potosi. There is frequent first-class bus service from San Luis Potosi (via Ciudad Valles) to Xilitla. The most interesting place to stay in Xilitla is the Posada El Castillo, Edward James' former home and something of a surrealist fantasy itself. An attractive alternative is the Hostal del Cafe, a welcoming small hotel set in a patch of tropical jungle only a few minutes walk from downtown Xilitla. Las Pozas lies three km (two miles) north of Xilita. Admission is about US$3.00. Opening hours are daily from 9am until 6pm. For more information about Fondo Xilitla, visit the organization's website.
Move the cursor over the slide-show below to view captions. Click on images to see information about ordering prints or downloading images for personal, editorial, or commercial use.
San Luis Potosi has never received as much attention as its famous neighbors, Guanajuato and Zacatecas, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. But this situation could change in 2010, when it is likely that San Luis Potosi will also be added to the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List.
True, San Luis Potosi doesn't overwhelm your senses with spectacular architecture the way some of Mexico's Spanish colonial cities do, rather its beauty lies in the details: ornate iron balconies, neoclassical doorways, and understated facades decorated with intricate crests and scrollwork reveal themselves as you wander its orderly grid of streets.
The Spanish founded San Luis Potosi in 1592 after they discovered gold and silver at Cerro de San Pedro in the nearby mountains. San Luis soon became one of the most important and wealthiest cities in New Spain and a major stop on the Camino Real or Royal Road, along which silver and gold were transported from Zacatecas south to coffers in Mexico City.
San Luis Potosi is organized around six plazas, each with its own personality and unique blend of architectural styles representing four centuries of building sprees. At the heart of the historical center lies the sprawling Plaza de Armas with its 17th-century baroque cathedral, and somber-looking Palacio Municipal and Palacio de Gobierno, both dating back to the 19th century.
The 17th-century Edifico de la Antigua Caja Real or Old Royal Treasury Building near the Plaza de Armas is currently being restored to help meet part of the requirements outlined by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during its 33rd session that was held in Seville, Spain, in June 2009. It is now anticipated that the UNESCO committee will inscribe San Luis Potosi on the World Heritage list during its 34th session in 2010.
Move the cursor over the slide-show below to view captions. Click on images to see information about ordering prints or downloading images for personal, editorial, or commercial use.
According to an old saying, "Granada is Nicaragua; the rest is just mountains." Anyone who has traveled in Nicaragua knows this to be hyperbole.Nonetheless, this handsome Spanish colonial city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua has evolved into the country’s unofficial "tourism capital." In October, I made my third visit to Granada since 1998 and was happy to find that it has not yet become a victim of its own popularity. New hotels and restaurants keep popping up, and the inevitable tour buses have arrived. However, the city retains its tranquil atmosphere, plus strict building laws ensure that all restoration work and new construction adhere to original colonial designs. With its dignified churches, elegant plazas, colourful facades, and ubiquitous horse-drawn carriages, Granada promises to remain one of the most charming and photogenic cities in Latin America.
Click on the two links below to read a travel article that I wrote about Granada.
Move the cursor over the slide-show below to view captions. Click on images to see information about ordering prints or downloading images for personal, editorial, or commercial use.
While attending Tianguis 2008 in Acapulco, I came across a beautifully illustrated English-language special guidebook to Mexico's Pueblos Mágicos that has been published by México Desconocido. The 175-page guide entitled Mexico's Magical Towns describes 35 towns found in every region of the country and supplies maps along with information about sightseeing, local handicrafts, food, and transportation. These communities have been given special tourism status because of their exceptional cultural or historical value. Some of them are located close to main highways and can be easily reached by public bus. Others are well off the beaten path and require considerably more effort to visit.
The latest town to be added to the "Magical Towns" list is Capulalpam de Mendez situated in a thickly forested area 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the city of Oaxaca. This isolated community is known for its 17th-century Dominican Church of Saint Matthew, which has 15 baroque altarpieces. So far, I've made it to more than a dozen Pueblos Mágicos and, with the help of the new México Desconocido guide, I hope to add at least another dozen to my collection.
On a recent stay in Mexico City, I visited the Casa Luis Barragán, the former home of Mexico's most influential modern architect. Luis Barragán built the house in 1947 and lived there until his death in 1948. It is now operated as a museum by a nonprofit organization that gives tours to the public.
Born in Guadalajara in 1902, Luis Barragán trained as an engineer and later taught himself architecture. He was greatly influenced by the convents, haciendas, and provincial towns of Mexico as well as by the Moorish architecture of southern Spain and Morocco. Barragán was a lover of solitude and a deeply religious man. In keeping with these values, his house's interior is almost monastic in its simplicity. However, natural light and colour are everywhere, and the multilevel structure is full of architectural surprises, eclectic furnishings, plus carefully framed views of a semi-wild tropical garden.
In 2004, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added the Casa Luis Barragán to its World Heritage List, making it the only single building in the world to have been awarded this honour.
Move the cursor over the screen to read captions. Click on individual images to see larger versions and for information on ordering prints or on leasing photos for personal use.
The Casa Luis Barragán is located at Francisco Ramírez 14 in Mexico City’s Tacubaya district, not far from the Constituyentes metro (subway) station. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 10am-2pm and 4pm-6pm, as well as Saturday 10am-1pm. Tours of the house led by Spanish-speaking guides are given by appointment only. Admission is 100 Mexican pesos or about $10. E-mail informes@casaluisBarragán.org to arrange a visiting time.
I was a bit apprehensive before visiting Guayaquil last fall. Ecuador's largest city and main gateway to the Galápagos Islands has long had a reputation for being a seedy and dangerous place. However, I was pleasantly surprised. This metropolis of over two million people on the Río Guayas has been spruced up in recent years with a number of ambitious urban renewal programs.
Guayaquil's rundown waterfront has been replaced by an attractive 2.5-kilometer (1.6 miles) pedestrian walkway known as Malecón 2000, which has restaurants, shopping areas, botanical gardens, plus a new Anthropological and Contemporarary Art Museum (MAAC Museum) and theatre complex. Many important buildings around town have also been refurbished, and 100-year-old houses in the historic Las Peñas neighbourhood on Cerro Santa Ana have been restored and painted bright colours.
Another new addition is the Guayaquil Historical Park across the river from downtown. This 8-hectare (20 acres) tropical park is divided into three zones: a Wildlife Zone with interptretive trails and local animals - many of them endangered species - living in natural settings; a Traditional Zone highlighting the rural lifestyles of Ecuador's Pacific coast; and an Urban Architecture Zone with handsome wooden buildings from the early 20th century that were transported from Guayaquil by boat. Projects like these often seem contrived to me. But I thought that this one was well done, and the tranquil park made a welcome break from the crowded city centre.
The Parque Histórico Guayaquil is located across the Guayaquil-Durán bridge. It is open Tueday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission is US$3 for adults and US$1.50 for children. The park is wheelchair accessible, and there is a pleasant restaurant.
When I first visited Mazatlan over fifteen years ago, the city's historical centre was a romantic ruin full of neglected 19th-century European architecture. Tourists were few and far between in Old Mazatlan. These days, however, Mazatlán Viejo is a going concern. Tourists stroll through the area's narrow streets admiring handsome refurbished buildings and visiting museums and art galleries. After sunset, they linger well into the night in lively restaurants surrounding compact Plazuela Machado.
Old Mazatlan'e rebirth began in the early 1990's with the restoration of the neoclassical Angela Peralta Theatre, which is now the city's main cultural venue. Later, in 2001, the Mexican government gave 479 buildings in 180 downtown blocks new status as protected historical monuments. This was followed by the formation of the independent Historical Center Project in 2002, whose mission was to protect and develop Old Mazatlan.
Numerous grass-roots preservation and beautification projects during recent years have brought Mazatlan's architecturally unique core back to life. They have also reconnected this thriving port city with its post-colonial roots and reaffirmed that it is much more than just another beach resort.
During my latest visit to Mexico, I had the chance to visit the rugged Sierra Gorda region in the state of Querétaro. This area is best known for its five Franciscan missions: Landa, Jalpan, Concá, Tilaco, and Tancoyol. These isolated 18th-century missions are reached by a roller-coaster road that winds through the stark mountains of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve. This dramatic, cactus-studded landscape is some of the most awe-inspiring that I've encountered in Mexico. The missions all have churches with remarkable baroque facades richly decorated with both Christian symbols and pre-Hispanic indigenous motifs, as well as stylized plants and geometric designs. In 2003, the Sierra Gorda missions were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mexico now has 24 such sites, more than any other country in the Americas.
