It is the eve of the last month of the year. December is a month I seldom travel. It is a month designated for family time. Each weekend seems to spur an event or occasion. It is also the final chapter of the year, a time for reflection. And on the eve of the last month of 2011, I couldn’t help but think back on my travels for the year, as many of us do throughout this time of ending and beginning. What I have concluded about my travels this year is that I learned something about travel I didn’t realize before. The realization comes after travel, when you are home reflecting on experiences. Continue Reading
Petatlán, Mexico Wishes You Were Here
In Petatlán Mexico, if you find a miraculous Jesus statue and cross you adorn him in lime green polyester fabric. The town only a few dozen miles east of Zihuatanejo has become a major pilgrimage site in the Guerrero state of Mexico. In the 1500s, a statue to Christ complete with a cross was found in the Petatlán River. A miracle of sorts, the Church of the Father of Jesus de Petatlán was built to house the statue. An earthquake would call for a reconstructed church today that is both modern and classic in design. People come from all over the area to ask the Petatlán Christ statue for Continue Reading
Zihuatanejo, Mexico Wishes You Were Here
After a time, you forget little details about a place, just as after a time, you forget what transpired in the 6th grade. Heading to Zihuatanejo, I had no memory of the town, no idea I had heard of it somewhere before setting foot on its sands in January. A fishing port for centuries, the town of Zihuatanejo, “Zihua” to locals, hugs Zihuatanejo Bay. In the northwestern region of the State of Guerrero, sheltered by the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains, Zihuatanejo proudly boasts of being “the land of women”. The name Zihuatanejo stems from the Náhuatl word, Zihuatlan, meaning “land of women”. Continue Reading
A Traveler’s Colored Coconut Process
On the side of a nothing road, something unnaturally bright catches my eye. These roads are often viewed from the train, bus or car window. It appears like a nothing town, but maybe it’s not. I start to see vendors set up amidst shacks for homes, selling neon colored substances. So bright, these little balls and squares of candy I presume would make any rainbow blush. On the Pacific Coast of Mexico, in between the Sierra Madres in the state of Guerrero, the sweetest town in the area rests, easy to recognize for the smells seeping out of those shacks. Juluchuca is known for its production Continue Reading
Barra de Potosí, Mexico Wishes You Were Here
Off in the distance, it appears men are walking on water. A biblical scene formulates right before my eyes in Barra de Potosí, a small beach town just a 30 minute drive from Zihuatanejo, Mexico. My guide Francisco is quick to quiet my miraculous vision, telling me the water can’t reach the surface at that particular point. He doesn’t always pick up on my sarcasm. What Francisco can’t explain, nor can I, is the feeling of the heavenly in this beach side village at the southern end of Playa Larga beach. There are those scenes of Mexican beach towns in movies I often wonder where they can be Continue Reading