Category Archives: Mexico

Experience the Magic of the Monarch Butterfly Migration in Mexico

Posted on by

Once a year for four months, the pine and oak forests of the UNESCO-protected Biosphere Reserve, high up in the Transatlantic Volcanic Belt outside of Mexico City, come alive. Starting in early November, on the Day of the Dead, millions of monarch butterflies arrive after their 3,000-mile journey from eastern Canada and the United States to mate … creating one of the most majestic natural wonders in the world.

monarch butterflies in mexico

The butterflies clump together for warmth when the sun is hiding.

It all started in December when I realized I wanted to start off 2016 the way I wanted to end it — traveling and being inspired. I’ve always wanted to see the butterfly migration; when I was a child growing up in Ohio, the butterflies would sometimes pass through on their way to Mexico, and it was awe-inspiring to see football fields full of them — and I wanted to revisit that on a grander scale. I knew I had to go see the migration in Mexico.

Continue reading →

What to Eat, Drink, Do and Where to Stay in Mexico City, 2016’s Hotspot

Posted on by
Mexico City

Mexico City is full of delights and surprises.

James Bond loves it, Formula 1 loves it, and it just got the coveted No. 1 spot on the New York Times’s “52 Places to Go in 2016” list — it’s official: Mexico City is hot right now.

After years of suffering through a bad reputation — pollution, overcrowding, and crime — the city has pulled itself up by its bootstraps and become a leader in the arts, gastronomy, and cultural excursions. With 150 museums (many of them either free or costing just a few dollars) and four UNESCO sites, Mexico City is a historical culture lover’s dream. Even better, with a strong dollar (the exchange rate is now around 17 pesos to the dollar), it’s more affordable than, say, a jaunt to Europe — or even Los Angeles. And, as of Jan. 1, U.S.-Mexico aviation restrictions, which capped the number of airlines that could fly on the U.S.-Mexico routes, have eased, and carriers like JetBlue are now doing nonstop flights to the capital, making trips easier than ever.

Continue reading →

There’s An Amusement Park in Mexico Where You Can Illegally Cross The Border. #NotKidding…

Posted on by


Have you ever wanted to get shot at by police, beaten up by narcs, and chased through a swamp of raw sewage? Well then, we have the tourist attraction for you! No, really.

Two years ago, when I first heard about the “border-crossing experience” in Hidalgo, Mexico, I did a double take.

“A what?” I asked.

“A border-crossing experience,” my friend said. “You pretend to cross into the United States illegally.”

“People do this? Willingly?”

“Yep.”

WATCH: Dodging Bullets In Illegal Mexican Border Crossing Amusement Park Experience

Freddie Agustin explains why anyone would want to do a mock illegal border crossing. (Photo: Andrew Rothschild)

Obviously, I had to go check it out.

Related: Watch: Mexican Wrestling Is the Most Fun You Will Ever Have in Tights

Continue reading →

Mexican Wrestling: The Most Fun You Can Have in Tights… and a Mask

Posted on by


Lucha libre, Mexican wrestling, has long been a fascination of mine. Those masks! That hair! The overacting! The flamboyant dancers! It’s like the WWE on steroids. In fact, American wrestling was spawned by lucha libre, and, as a kid in Cincinnati, Ohio, I grew up obsessed with Hulk Hogan (pre-reality show), Ric Flair, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, and Jake “the Snake” Roberts. So when lucha libre superstarDragón Rojo Jr. offered to meet me in the ring, I jumped at the chance.

WATCH: Mexican Wrestling Is the Most Fun You’ll Ever Have in Tights

Paula Froelich and Dragón Rojo Jr. (Andrew Rothschild/Yahoo Travel)

I arrived at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City on a Tuesday night before the big weekly luchadores matches (think a south-of-the-border version of a weekly smackdown) and … got put in a headlock, spun around, and body-slammed. Not kidding. Watch the video. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my entire life.

Continue reading →

How To Piss Off the Locals in Mexico

Posted on by

http://youtu.be/CcVVgXKuqmA

The No. 1 rule of travel is pretty simple: Don’t piss off the locals. Most people know this — or at least they think they do, and they usually give it the old college try when it comes to not stepping on the toes of the people around them in another city or country.

Related: How to P*** Off a New Yorker in 12 Easy Steps

But what if you don’t know? What if you have no idea what irks the heck out of the locals? No worries; Yahoo Travel is here to help. With our How to P*ss Off series, we help you navigate those crazy cultural differences that can get you in so much trouble. So instead of getting bad karma and dirty looks, you can make friends and have a great time. This week’s episode is all about Mexico — everything you need to know to not rock the boat when visiting. We love our neighbors to the south, but do not piss them off. It ain’t pretty.

Related: 12 Ways to P*** Off a Nebraskan

Thanks to The Muddy Boot.

The Hot New Workout from Mexico? The El Jimador Burn! (aka How to Make Tequila in 6 “Easy” Steps)

Posted on by

http://youtu.be/XvTflC3SMZs

I have to be honest with you, tequila was never my jam. In college there was too much of it, there was usually a worm involved and the smell just made me gag. It also causes a weird side-effect for me. It makes me go all vampire on people and try to bite anyone within a two feet radius. It’s not pretty.

However, in recent years, everyone I know has started drinking it – but on another level. Not as a cheap mixer for a margarita, or as a slammer (“lick it, drink it, suck it”), but as a high end liquor on its own, often without lime. I was confused. “But it’s so awful,” I said to my friend in Los Angeles.

Related: I Finally Learned How to Put on a Decent Skeleton Face For the Day of the Dead 

“Try it,” he said, offering me some 49-month, barrel-aged tequila. I took a deep breathe, steeled my stomach and… it was delicious. Like scotch. I was considering converting when an invite to the Herradura Tequila Factory in Amititan, Mexico came through.

“Sign me up!” I said and a week later there I was at the distillery (housed in an old school hacienda)  in the agave fields surrounding the Amititan Mountains.

The Herradura hacienda has been run by the same family for 184 years and is the perfect blend of old school and new technology. My guide, Ruben Aceves, hoisted me on a horse and we rode out to the Agave fields, where I started my “How To Make Tequila in Six Steps.”

“It’s easy,” Ruben said.

Ruben is a liar.

Click HERE for all six steps. PS: My arms still hurt.

Art Basel, Shmart Basel – The Real New Art Capital is in Oaxaca, Mexico

Posted on by

While we gear up for Art Basel in Miami – where everyone will OOOH and AHHH over graffiti art in places like Wynwood Walls and in the galleries – the real talent lies south of the border in Oaxaca, Mexico. Here, in almost every street, are miles of graffiti art, intricately painted Alejibres wood sculptures and embroidery most collectors would die for. It is the new Beco de Batman, and the secret of art collectors everywhere. Thank you to The Muddy Boot for taking me on the ultimate art tour of Mexico. Towns visited included Oaxaca and the Zapotec village of Teotitlan del Valle, where the masters of the Day of the Dead “carpets” (sculpture made of sand and flowers) reside. In this town, the main road leading from the cathedral to the cemetery is lined with Skeletal graffiti and shops that make special burial carpets – which can cost up to $300 a pop and only stay up for one day (a lot of money when your average annual salary is only $1K a year).

The area also specializes in textiles – hand dyed and hand woven carpets or wall hangings which are intricately embroidered. The process can take a year depending on how large the carpet/hanging is. For anyone who loves art, this is a must see. 

I Finally Learned How To Put On a Decent Skeleton Face

Posted on by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk19KRj_AA8

I went to Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead celebration this year because why the hell not, eh? And because it was super cool and rocked the house. And because I wanted to do it right, I went full Catarina Dead Lady… For those of you who have never seen a Tim Burton movie or have lived in a shoe box, the Day of the Dead is, according to Frances Ann Day in “Latina and Latino Voices in Literature”:

“On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children’s altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives.”

Aaaaand they dress up just like Halloween. PS: DO YOU KNOW HOW FRICKING HARD IT IS TO TAKE THAT SHELLACK OFF? REALLY HARD! After the jump Check out more pics Continue reading →