Hurricane Season: What You Need to Know

Here are some basics tips to make sure your beach trips, especially to the Caribbean and Mexico, go smoothly through November. The 2011 season has begun and NOAA, part of the National Weather Service, is expecting an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season and a below-normal East Pacific hurricane season.

The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June 1 through November 30,…

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta Travel Guide

Throughout the region, from the Riviera Nayarit to the Costalegre, long, flat beaches invite walking, and reefs and offshore breaks draw divers, snorkelers, and surfers. In places, untouristy hideaways, with little to distract you beyond waves lapping the shore, may be accessible by land or by sea. Omnipresent seafood shanties are perfect vantage points for…

Cancun

Cancun Travel Guide

Cancun is a great place to experience 21st-century Mexico. There isn’t much that’s quaint or historical in this distinctively modern city, many of whose residents have embraced the accoutrements of urban middle-class life—cell phones, cable TV—that are found all over the world.

Most locals live on the mainland, in the part of the city known as El Centro,…

HISTORY OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE

New European empires: 16th century AD

Since the fall of Rome, there has been no empire based in Europe which extends outside the continent. This situation changes abruptly in the 16th century, when Spain and Portugal become the pioneers in a new era of colonization.

The Iberian peninsula is well poised at the time for this leap into the unknown.

In…

HISTORY OF MEXICO

San Lorenzo and La Venta: 1200 – 400 BC

The first civilization in central and north America develops in about 1200 BC in the coastal regions of the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the Olmec civilization, its early site is at San Lorenzo.

From about 900 BC the capital city of the Olmecs moves further east along…

HISTORY OF THE MAYA

The Maya then and now: from 1500 BC

The Maya, occupying the triangle of land framed by the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, have the longest identifiable history of any American people. Social customs, language and physical characteristics (such as unusually round heads) suggest an unbroken link between the American Indians living in the region…

Cozumel

Cozumel Travel Guide

It’s all about the water here—the shimmering, clear-as-glass aquamarine sea that makes you want to kick off your shoes, slip on your fins, and dive right in. Once you come up for air, though, you’ll find that Mexico’s largest Caribbean island is pretty fun to explore on land, too.

Despite a severe lashing by Hurricane Wilma in October…

Emiliano Zapata Biography (1879 – 1919)

(born August 8, 1879, Anenecuilco, Mexico—died April 10, 1919, Morelos) Mexican revolutionary, champion of agrarianism, who fought in guerrilla actions during and after the Mexican Revolution (1910–20). Early career

Zapata was the son of a mestizo peasant who trained and sold horses. He was orphaned at the age of 17 and had to look after his brothers and sisters….

HISTORY OF THE AZTECS

The Aztecs and Mexico City: 14th century AD

The Aztecs are a tribe, according to their own legends, from Aztlan somewhere in the north of modern Mexico. From this place, which they leave in about the 12th century AD, they derive their name as Aztecs. By the time they settle again, after two centuries of migration and warfare, they are…

Acapulco

Acapulco Travel Guide

The center of Acapulco is on the western edge of the bay. The streets form a grid that’s easy to explore on foot. Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán, a wide coastal boulevard, runs the length of the bay and is lined with hotels, restaurants, and malls. You can explore the strip by taxi, bus, or rental car, stopping…