This is a collection of 22 non-fiction essays, written over a period of 20 years, some of them previously published. Some of them are based on the author’s long involvement in PEN International. One such essay is “The suffering word: cases of repression of women poets in Mesoamerica”, in which
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Bob Broughton's Blog: Seven Mexican journalists murdered in first half of 2017
Mexico continues to be the one of the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. Martín Méndez Pineda of Acapulco tried to get asylum in the US, but after being detained for 100 days in not-very-good conditions, he gave up and returned to Mexico. He is not
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Book review: One Life, by David Lida
David Lida is an author who found a home for himself in Mexico 25 years ago. He tells the story of his first visit to Puerto Escondido, when he started wondering what life is like for the Mexicans who live a few blocks away from the centre of town. Thanks
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Wine tasting in the Valle de Guadalupe
The Valle de Guadalupe, located in Baja California between Ensenada and Tecate. Is Mexico’s primary wine-producing area. The first commercial winery on the scene was Domecq in 1972. L.A. Cetto and Santo Tomás are two other major producers with national distribution in Mexico. However, a map of the valley shows
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Sea Shepherd society protecting endangered marine species in the Sea of Cortez
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships M/Y Farley Mowat and M/Y Sam Simon are in the Sea of Cortez (a.k.a. the Gulf of California) for Operation Milagro III. The purpose of Operation Milagro III is to protect two endangered species, the totoaba fish and the vaquita porpoise. As the name
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Central American migration in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro
Children riding The Beast “La Bestia” (The Beast) is an unofficial name applied to freight trains that start in Tapachula, Chiapas, and go to Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, or Matamoros. These trains have for many years served as the transportation method of choice for poor people of Central America migrating to
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Book Review: I remember horsebuns, by Rafe Mair
Rafe Mair’s 13th book can be classified as an autobiography. It covers his life up to the University of British Columbia Law School. However, after the first 150 pages, the chapters in this book alternate between autobiographical ones and ones on top…
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Book Review: Seeing for Myself: A Political Traveler’s Memoir
The title of this book is totally appropriate. Some people who travel go to the beach, visit museums, birdwatch, or sample the local cuisine. Ginny NiCarthy, who lives in Seattle, got into traveling later on in life, and started doing a special type of “adventure travel”; visiting places that are
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Book Review: Into the Heart of Mexico: Seeing for Myself: A Political Traveler’s Memoir
The title of this book is totally appropriate. Some people who travel go to the beach, visit museums, birdwatch, or sample the local cuisine. Ginny NiCarthy, who lives in Seattle, got into traveling later on in life, and started doing a special type of “adventure travel”; visiting places that are
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Book Review: Into the Heart of Mexico: Expatriates Find Themselves Off the Beaten Path
John Scherber has lived in San Miguel de Allende since 2007. He has written 17 fiction books, and this is his third non-fiction. This book is a series of interviews of extranjeros who have settled permanently in Mexico. Scherber asked a lot of good questions, and got a lot of
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Volcanos and monasteries in Puebla State
Popocatepétl as seen from Cortez Pass. Photo byJakub Hejtmánek at Czech Wikipedia. The volcano Popocatépetl, located between Mexico City and Puebla, is currently 5,426 meters (17,802 feet) in elevation; it’s the second-highest mountain in Mexico. It erupted on May 8, 2013, and has been sending up ash frequently since January
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: A travel guide to Cuba
I made a visit to Cuba in January, 2015. I relied heavily on Lonely Planet: Cuba. This publication is a bit too friendly to the current government of Cuba, so I’m taking the trouble here to provide my version of The Real Story. First, I did not go to Varadero
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Interview with Cuban dissident economist Marta Beatriz Roque
Marta Beatriz Roque is the founder of the Cuban Institute of Independent Economists, and a prominent Cuban dissident who has been in and out of prison several times. Robert Broughton: You recently had a visit from a group of Democratic U.S. Senators and Members of Congress: Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vermont),
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: My brief survey of Mexican food
Now that I’ve lived in Mexico for over two years, here’s some culinary discoveries I’ve made. Coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktails): Shrimp and avocado in a spicy red sauce. I’ve learned that the difference between the good ones and the not-so-good ones is, the not-so-good ones are made with ketchup.
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Mexico initiates major high-speed rail project
On August 16, Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transport (SCT) Gerardo Ruiz Esparza and Governor Jose Calzada Rovirosa of the State of Querétaro announced the tender for a high-speed passenger rail line between Mexico City and Querétaro, a city of one million people 218 km. northwest of Mexico City. There
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: My Tienanmen Square experience
The current media coverage of the 25th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre has brought back some memories for me. I walked around Tienanmen Square one month after this event. No, I do not go around looking for trouble. The trip that took me through Beijing was part of a
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: Virginia Intermont College closes its doors
Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, VA held its final graduation ceremony in May 4, 2014. The school had been in financial trouble for a while. The beginning of the end came in 2013, when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) terminated the school’s accreditation. Although nobody ever confused
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: How to play tennis in Mexico
Public courts are rare in Mexico. Mexico has a lot of private clubs, where guests are usually welcome. These clubs don’t do much in the way of publicizing their existence, so you’ll have to do some asking around. “Deportivos” (sports clubs) are more accessible. Usally, you pay a day fee
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: A $40 billion bad idea in Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega, who holds the office of President of Nicaragua in defiance of Nicaragua’s Constitution, is championing a mega-project; a canal across the eastern part of Nicaragua that would provide an alternative to the Panama Canal. The estimated cost is $40 billion. My initial reaction, when I heard about this
Continue readingBob Broughton's Blog: How the US can help Mexico
President Obama paid a visit to Mexico at the beginning of May, and met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. They talked about narco-terrorism and immigration reform. Nothing much much will come of this, because the government of the US is dysfunctional. Congress isn’t going to pass any change to
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