Up north we have wide sidewalks with curb cuts for wheelchairs. Many buildings have wheelchair ramps. Some crosswalk signals make chirping noises for the blind. The handicapped have special parking spaces.We have a lot less of that in Mexico, especially in a colonial town like San Miguel de Allende, where streets were laid out in the 1600s without SUVs and wheelchairs in mind. (Our situation can ha...

Chiapas has escaped. About month ago, the parrot Clint and I share was perched on the wrought iron railing of my terrace that overlooks the city. I had neglected to keep up with clipping his wing feathers. With a sudden squawk, he took wing like he'd been flying all of his life. He was out of sight within seconds.I am devastated.I find it hard to convey a sense of the powerful bond that can form be...

Look what they've done to my car, Ma.Scrapes, dents?this was a brand new car when I brought it to Mexico, resplendent in pearlescent white paint. Were I to bring it to a US body shop, it would cost at least half its value to make it like new. Given the condition it's in today, it would sell for a low fraction of low book.See how the sidewall rubber has been ground off the left front tire? (Upper le...

Guano-bespattered walks and walls discourage human visitors from lingering on the path between Parque Ju?rez and the Cultural Center at El Chorro. Here, two of the culprits loiter beside one such wall.They're beautiful creatures, and they've nested in the area of Parque Ju?rez for ages. But humans have moved in. Many want the birds out. Recently the city triumphed in the years-long battle with the...

Mexicans and their Mesoamerican forebears have been working stone for centuries, and they're very good at it. Anywhere in the country where living conditions are inviting (water, arable soil) hundreds of archeological sites attest to the multiplicity and permanence of their works. The Conquistadors harnessed the skills of indigenous stoneworkers, at first for church-building.The stone of choice is...