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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Mr Edgar ‘Rasta’ Coulsen is a native of the Caribbean town of San of Juan del Norte – an end of the world settlement perched at the mouth of the Rio San Juan. In this short video interview, Interamericana talked to him about the changes that have taken place in the region since his childhood.
One day, me and my compadres took a trip up the Río Istiam – a tranquil waterway that meanders inland at the isthmus between Ometepe’s two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas. The river is home to abundant bird life, caimans, turtles and herds of indolent livestock. Many thanks to Jennifer Kennedy and the three Matts – Barwick, Hicks and Ashford, who appear in this video clip.
Via Via is something of a León institution, attracting Nicas and foreigners alike with its buzzing multi-cultural atmosphere, dirt-cheap bottles of rum and rousing Friday night music sets. Amalgama, featured in this video, are an institution in themselves, playing everything from rock ballads to crowd-pleasing revolutionary classics. In this clip they are accompanied by itinerant musician Richard Crandell and his Zimbabwean imbira.
As a poor chele, or white boy, rhythm was never going to come naturally to me. Nonetheless, my militant salsa instructor, Angel, patiently tried to teach me to dance. And when he could be patient no longer, he simply ordered me to the nearest disco…
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…
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Friday, September 11, 2009
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