Right: A message from your friendly neighborhood drug cartel: “The pain of Michoacanos overwhelms us. No more crimes against innocent people. The Zetas will pay for their terrorist acts. Sincerely, La Familia.” In recent days, signs like this one have appeared in major intersections across Michoacan, including a few in Zamora.

IT ALL STARTED SEPTEMBER 15, when […]

DEAR ABBY: I am an American living in the Mexican state of Michoacan. Recently, I moved into an apartment with a spacious roof/deck, and now all my Mexican friends want to use it as a place to hold a barbecue. Is this advisable? — CONCERNED GRINGO TENANT
DEAR CONCERNED: You should be aware of a few […]

 Angela and Luis wait on customers at Carniceria La Blanca in Zamora’s central market.
 
It’s a huge garage sale, but also has food. It’s a zoo, where hundreds scratch out something like a living selling the oddest things a foreigner could imagine. It’s a dirty, gritty, and chaotic place, with bands, friends, and competition all […]

Wanna dance? Bring money.
Look closely at that photo. The setting is a wedding reception in a quinta, basically a large retable hall for parties of the wedding, baptism, first communion, birthday, and quinciñera sort. Besides the revelers and the obligatory bottles of Coca-Cola and Squirt, we have the bride, and the groom, who is decorated […]

She could be your R.A.
 
Kady Leon Wu is the sort of student that every teacher wants to have in great quantities. She is smart, dedicated to learning English, and always did the homework in our Saturday classes this past year. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who moved to Mexico City and then Michoacan, she recently matriculated to the prestigious […]