Several decades ago, tracts of dense, impassable rainforest consumed the southernmost stretches of Veracruz state, barely penetrated by roads or humanity. Only a few obscure settlements lay hidden in the miles of ravenous foliage, teeming canopies and bursting vegetation skirting the Gulf of Mexico.
Today, southern Veracruz is a less dramatic land of rolling cattle pastures, [...]
Friday, August 14, 2009
From Tuxpan I head south through the verdant landscape passing Poza Rica and arriving in Papantla, a small Totonac town that’s famed for its nearby ruins, El Tajín. The town is busy and replete with all the teeming energy you’d expect from a working indigenous settlement.
Passersby hold animated discussions on street corners. Market vendors sell [...]
Friday, August 14, 2009
Northern Veracruz is a land wrapped in heat and heavy vegetation, winding rivers, exuberant foliage and tropical fruit trees – bananas, papayas, mangos, avocados and plantain – all rising from a bed of ravenous grass and wildly twisting creepers.
In an obscure corner of an obscure state I find myself in the city of Tuxpan – [...]
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Veracruz is a city with a Caribbean soul, soaked up with feisty rhythms, feisty people, fierce sunshine, salsa and beautiful spirited madness. Veracruz is hot with music – sensuous and sensual – a city for dancers, drinkers and drunks.
Part grotty industrial port, part elegant colonial jewel, Veracruz derives its endless energy from the melodies spilling [...]
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Every year on the first thursday of March, a cavalcade of sorcerers, healers and conjurers descends upon Catemaco, reminiscent of some Dark Age witches’ gathering. They perform dramatic public cleansings (or limpiezas), cast spells, swap potions and engage in endless theatrics.
Originally intended as a knowledge-sharing convention for the region’s healers, it has now become a [...]
Interamericana is an intrepid new travel blog about the people and places surrounding the Carretera Interamericana - a 6000 kilometre stretch of highway that links Mexico and the seven nations of Central America. Created by guidebook writer and journalist Richard Arghiris, Interamericana combines photography, video and the best in alternative travel writing.
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Granada’s international poetry festival kicked off yesterday, 14th February 2010, with a belting set from Katia Cardenal. Performing at the Plaza Independencia, Katia sang a mixture of rousing folk songs and revolutionary ballads, including a superb homage to the Miskito people of the Atlantic coast (2nd song featured, actually in the Miskito language). Turn up the volume, pour yourself a rum, kick back and enjoy…
The land is scorched and broken. Piles of dark volcanic rubble litter the scene, yet to be properly eroded by sun, wind and rain. Years from now, these rocks will be transformed into fine, fertile silt. But for today, dead, black lava fields cling to the slopes like some monstrous reptilian hide – coarse, inscrutable, alien…
New Year’s Eve in Nicaragua is celebrated with all the incendiary zeal befitting one of the world’s most volcanic and tempestuous nations. Fire-crackers are ignited en-masse. A frenzy of explosions ricochets across the city. A grotesque effigy symbolizing the passing year is paraded through the streets and burned. These are some of the scenes depicted in this short video.
Las Isletas (The Little Islands) are one of Granada’s principal attractions. An archipelago of some 354 jewel-like islets scattered over the surface of Lake Nicaragua, they lure scores of visitors daily. This video was shot on the northern side of the island chain, where we saw a mixture of upscale holiday homes and other more natural settings strewn with lilies and vegetation…
Catholic sentiments reach a fervent peak in Nicaragua during the Purísima, a festival entirely devoted to the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Lasting from late November to 8th December, the Purísima is a protracted celebration involving various family and church gatherings, as well as spirited street parties. Such is the scene depicted in this short film…
From late September to early December, the otherwise sleepy town of Masaya – Nicaragua’s bastion of folklore and indigenous traditions – comes alive with countless animated events, including the shambolic procession of El Torovenado, filmed here. This anarchic spectacle is the very embodiment of Nicaraguan character…
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Friday, September 11, 2009
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