Brutal sun blazed down on the Palenque Ruins in Chiapas, Mexico. Heat penetrated the thick rubber soles of my boots and crept up my pant legs as I climbed steep stone stairs of the Palacio – the Palace. At the top, I dabbed my beaded brow with a too-wet tissue and blinked away sweat stinging … Read more

If you decide to drive in Mexico, perhaps more than any other street sign you need to be aware of the ones that say “Topes”, or “Reductor de Velocidad,” both of which are usually accompanied by a graphic of two rounded mounds. These signs indicate a speed bump in the road, but unlike speed bumps … Read more

For most of his 86 years, Pio Barran Bertelli has been fascinated by animals. As a fisherman he became intimately familiar with the waters and estuaries of the Papaloapan River, where he cast his nets. Soon, however, he was paying attention to more than fish. He wrestled his first crocodile in 1959 and a second … Read more

On the spur of the moment I decided to hop on a bus to Tlacotalpan, a small fishing village about three hours south of Veracruz that is another UNESCO World heritage Site. Although the bus was not crowded I ended up sitting next to a young man named Miguel Angel Lopez who was returning to … Read more