Get Deported From Spain And Go To Mexico Instead

After years of working at UPS and, more recently, studying evenings at the local community college, Sam finally took a vacation. He got two weeks off. He bought round-trip tickets to Spain, with an arrival in Madrid and departure in

How To Cut A Mango Mexican Style

I spent years cutting the mango in bizarre ways until I met Sam. We sat in plastic lawn chairs on the sunny balcony of a hotel in Tulum, Mexico, drinking coffee and eating mangoes. I gave a clumsy yank on

Lessons From The Road In Placencia, Belize

Adventure travel, backpacking – whatever you want to call it, it’s much more than a great time. It’s a great learning experience. When I took a year off university to travel in Europe one summer (I spent the rest of

Two Soccer Finals In Mexico

Silence swept through the anxious crowd. Sweaty fans stopped pushing for a moment and erupted in cheers. Toluca had scored in the final shot. Loud soccer chants began, along with hugging and jumping. Beer, red t-shirts and baseball hats flew

Pure Evil Is A Potato Thief

It could have been anywhere – it just happened to be in Mexico. Despite loads of bad press, the vast majority of people here are good, hardworking, decent folks. But the exceptions can be exceptionally bad. The Hidalgo market is

My Mexican Father-In-Law

Machismo manifests in different ways. Sometimes it’s outright sexism – not letting your wife work, loudly demanding your breakfast, cheating on her with prostitutes. Sometimes it’s a societal problem, like lower salaries and poorer job prospects for women. Sometimes it’s

Country Line Dancing In Mexico

Club music pumped and bodies bumped on the top floor of the packed cantina. Girls wore miniskirts, tight tank tops, and lots of hairspray. Colored lights spun and lasers twirled. But suddenly the music stopped. The house lights came on,

A Dry Weekend In Mérida

A dry weekend in Mexico – yes, hell had frozen over. In a country of all night cantinas, beer for breakfast and tequila all day, the government decreed that no alcohol would be sold from Friday at midnight to Monday