Puerto Vallarta Fast Facts, Travel Tips & Information

 By Alma Flores & Gerardo Rivera China Invented it, Italy named it and Mexico claimed it for all time. The Chinese Piñata Connection In the childhood memories of every Mexican there is a scene full of excitement: with a blindfold over our eyes and a broomstick styled pole in our hands, to the tune of the cries and chants of aunts, cousins and little friends who sing strike it, strike it, strike it, don't loose your aim, 'cause if you loose it, you'll loose your way!, the child we were twirls and jumps, stretching arms to reach and strike the evasive piñata that flies, up and down. Higher! Lower! Straight ahead!- above our heads. And together with this memory, we remember the magic of becoming, in the happy case of being the lucky one who broke the pinata, the hero or heroine of the party. The pinata is always associated with a party or fiesta, a Mexican fiesta. Throughout the world, the piñata is referred to as a tradition that originated in our land, to the degree that piñatas of different shapes and sizes travel to other countries in the baggage of millions of travelers ...

By Debora Arriaga Weiss I owe it all to my manager and to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Raúl "Ratón" Macías, boxer. Infinite are the favors granted by the Virgin of Guadalupe. As Mexicans, Catholic or not, millions of us take refuge under her comforting starry mantle. She is our Guadalupe. mother of all Mexicans, the Morenita del Tepeyac. Virgin of Guadalupe, the mysterious ayate, an image that is venerated by the faithful. As proof of her apparition on December 12th, 1531, the virgin impressed her image on a cloth woven from maguey fiber that cloaked the mystic, clairvoyant Aztec Indian, Juan Diego. Virgin-Mother, Santa Maria de Guadalupe is the banner that weaves maguey threads with those of silk into a tapestry of cultures and beliefs: of Tonantzin, our Madrecita (little Mother), Mother Earth, mother of gods and men, and Holy Mary Mother of God. Guadalupe-Tonantzin, a symbol of national identity, an emblem of unity, a combination of indigenous and Iberic roots, the initial fusion of pre-Hispanic Mexico with the West, and through it, with the East. Beyond mere religious, social or psychological interpretations, one is Guadalupan because one is Mexican –goes the popular saying-, it symbolizes ...

For many centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards, the indigenous people who lived in Mexican territory had shown a profound devotion and respect for the sun: the most powerful star of the cosmos had a notable influence on the social organization of the people of the time. One of the most simple and earliest of the sun adoration rituals was, according to the experts, that of the primitive hunters, who offered it the first pieces of meat-torn from the animals that, with great effort, they had captured. Later, with the development of agriculture and the subsequent unfolding of Mesoamerican civilizations, the sun's warmth and its veneration became intertwined with the cult of rain and water. The earth, hostile during the dry season, became fertile and prodigious with rain and sun. That is why great ceremonies were organized on the equinoxes: to celebrate these changes in the universe. Towards the end of the Classical Period (between the years 900 and 1200 D.C.), the sun cults acquired a more specific expression. Researchers believe that its development corresponds to the increasing predominance of the warriors in these societies. That is why the solar ceremonies and rituals acquired an increasingly militaristic character, related ...

By Monica Lavin No home, office, school or reunion in Mexico let January 6th pass unnoticed. On this day, known as the Day of the Magi or of the Three Wise Men, tradition obliges you to share a "rosca", a large ring-shaped pastry with a small doll hidden inside. The doll embedded in the Rosca de Reyes represents Baby Jesus, and whoever is fortunate enough to find it in their slice of rosca acquires the commitment to give a party on the following February 2nd, Candlemas Day, a celebration where tamales and atole, a corn-flour dish and a corn-based drink, are a must on the menu. Rosca de Reyes Each of these traditions, which in Mexico go hand in hand with our natural inclination for good food and the pleasure of sharing, has a religious origin: the birth of the baby God. the pilgrimage of the Kings of Orient carrying their gifts for the Holy Child, Virgin Mary's forty days of purification, and Baby Jesus' presentation at the temple, on the second day of February. The Epiphany, or the Twelfth Night, is still celebrated throughout Mexico and ends with the feast of the rosca, which -according to tradition- is eaten ...

By F. Katz, extracts from "Pancho Villa", originally published on Vive Mexico. Along with Moctezuma and Benito Juarez, Pancho Villa is surely the best known Mexican personality throughout the world. Legends of Villa's exploits are found not only in Mexico but in the United States as well and have even reached beyond. They are present in the popular mind, tradition, and songs as much as they are in Mexican and Hollywood movies. There are legends of Pancho Villa the Robin Hood, Villa the Mexican Napoleon, Villa the ruthless killer, Villa the womanizer, and Villa as the only foreigner who has attacked the mainland of the United States since the war of 1812 and actually gotten away with it. Whether correct or not, exaggerated or real, these legends have resulted that the leader has clouded the movement, and the myths have clouded the leader (...) Villa's Division del Norte was probably the largest revolutionary army that Latin America ever produced. The revolution he led was the only real social revolution to ever take place along the United States border (..) Still more significant, it was one of the few revolutionary movements with which an American government attempted not only to negotiate ...

The Spaniards that arrived in New World found an enormous variety of edible plants that were totally new for the Europeans. One of these was the ayocotl (Phaseolus vulgaris), which, due to its high protein content and delicious flavor, together with maize had been for millennia the nutritional basis of the Mesoamerican native people. This very Mexican grain was so well received by the Europeans that, with the name of frejol, frijol, frijole, fagioli or judia, it soon invaded kitchens all over the world, becoming an indispensable ingredient for some of the best dishes. Take a tour in any market in Mexico and... what do you find? Beans. Beans of innumerable colors and shapes, beans of such a diversity that it can surprise you. Black beans and brown beans; red beans and white beans; speckled, pea and canary beans; lima, kidney, black-eye, pinto and cranberry beans; beans which grow on vines, on branches or on the ground. All of these names are based on their color, shape, size or growth pattern. How many varieties of beans are there? Some authors, such as Liberty Bailey on Phaseolus vulgaris, speak of from two to four hundred different varieties, all of them are sold ...

By Michelle Lopez Arciga The Aztecs called the fruit of the vine acacholli, the Purépechas knew it as seruráni, the Otomis called it obxi and the Tarahumaras named it uri. Mexico is the oldest American wine producer, but its industry of quality wines is relatively recent. The wine was consumed as food, medicine and to regain strength. In Pre-Columbian times, native Indians used wild vines to prepare a drink to which they added other fruit and honey. These uncultivated vines were laden with bunches of grapes, but due to their acidity, they did not produce wine. Several heterogeneous species of wild grapes existed but they were unlike the European Vitis vinifera, the most suitable species for producing quality wines. Since wine formed an essential part of the daily diet of the Spanish conquerors and settlers, the commercialization of this drink grew rapidly in the newly discovered lands. Juan de Grijalva is considered to be the first Spanish explorer to have a glass of wine with Aztec officials sent by Montezuma in ancient Tenochtitlan. The history of wine in Mexico unfolded during Colonialism since the first European vines were brought here by Spanish conquistadors and missionaries. Vines were planted from Mexico ...

It was in Parras that the conjunction of a clear sky, fiery land and the vineyard that stretches to the end of the plain materialized for the first time in New Spain. With time the miracle of the fruit appeared; the improvised wine press received the clusters and out flowed the juice that puts warmth in glasses and in women's cheeks. The sweet pleasing flavor of the must shared its well being with every palate. José Vasconcelos The Grape in Mexican lands Grape growing and winemaking in Mexico began soon after the Spanish Conquest. The Spaniards carried the seed and found here propitious lands for its cultivation, so necessary to supply the beverage of their ancient gastronomic culture. That is why the conquistador Hernando Cortez decreed that those settlers who had been given Indians should plant "a thousand sarmentums for every hundred Indians". In Santa Maria de las Parras, in the northern state of Coahuila, thus baptized by the first missionaries who arrived to evangelize the semi-nomadic Chichimeca groups that lived in the region, the arid desert found an oasis nourished by surface waters perfect for growing figs, olives, walnuts, peaches and, above all, grapes. The Jesuit chronicler Andres Perez ...

Over the Waves, by Juventino Rosas By Guadalupe P. Quintana P. "Only one other waltz vies with the "Blue Danube" for the privilege of being played around the world every day, every hour. It is "Over the waves", the best known musical composition among those produced by the Mexican arts." José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican Author. The world was conquered by a Mexican waltz around the end of the 19th century: Over the Waves, written by a little known Mexican composer, and its melody filled the air in dance halls, parks and fairs throughout Europe where it delighted listeners who danced and cheered it as if it were their own. Waltzes had conquered the heart of music-loving Europeans earlier that century. Inspired by the spirit of Germany's romantic movement, they uniquely embodied grace, fluidity, and cadence. The word "waltz" itself is derived from the German verb walzen, to turn, spin. It reflected some of the basic values which changed late 18th century Europe, ideals of liberty, expression, freedom. The popularity of this dance spread throughout the Old World and inspired its leading musicians: Beethoven, Mozart, Hayden, and especially Strauss, to compose more of such music. Europe ...

By M. Lavin It was all thanks to Kaldi the shepherd, from Egypt. One day in 1440 he saw his goats become truly festive after eating the small fruits from a certain bush. The bush was later named "coffee tree." The therapeutic properties of its fruit were praised. Asian countries went wild for the beverage which this small fruit produced, once it was dried and ground up. The beverage soon arrived in Europe. There it was adopted with devotion. In the Seventeenth Century, the first coffee shop opened in London. Coffee shops soon became quite popular in most European cities, where the beverage used to accompany placid encounters and conversations. Juan Antonio García later brought it from Cuba to Mexico, through the port of Veracruz. Finally, in the Nineteenth Century, it arrived in Chiapas by the hand of the Italian Geronimo Mancinelli, who planted it in the region known as Soconusco (in the southernmost part of the state which borders with Guatemala). There, for over a century, coffee growing has been the main economic activity. Since then, Mexico has been an important coffee producer worldwide. Among the other Mexican coffee-growing states (Veracruz, Oaxaca, Puebla), it is still Chiapas that is ...