I often get asked about heath care in Mexico. Typically, my response is generic. In fact, during my last webinar I explained how affordable the care I receive is; however, I explained that my needs are very basic. For example, I receive acupuncture, cupping and a massage once a week, all for a fraction of the price I would pay in Canada. I visit the dentist twice a year and pay wonderfully affordable prices and when I’ve had to visit a doctor for a cold, it is inexpensive as well. My needs are basic but on a warm tropical December morning that changed. Continue reading My Surgery in Huatulco→
It’s about a three-minute walk to the beach from our gorgeous blue and white casita aptly named La Casa Azul in San Agustinillo, Mexico. The salty sea air is prevalent as Miky and I wake up to the sound of rooster crows and the Pacific waves crashing on the shore. If we wake up early enough, we can watch the splendid red-blood orange globe of the sun rising behind the palm tree on our balcony. For ten minutes, it keeps the intensity of that color before turning a lighter yellow as it rises above the pale blue sky and darker blue of the Pacific. Continue reading Morning Walk→
More than 30% of Mexican teenagers between the ages 15 to 19 are sexually active, 56% of these teen girls become pregnant. Mexico ranks number one for teen pregnancy among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), made up of 35 developed and developing countries. Continue reading Teen Pregnancy in Mexico→
“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi
I have a lot of mixed feelings about chickens; interestingly, I do not have mixed feelings about eggs. I think an examination of how humans relate to chickens can tell us a great deal about the ambiguousness of our morality. I know many people who will expound pedantically on the cruelties of cockfighting and then think nothing of picking up a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Humans – we’re complex like that. Continue reading Editor’s Letter→
Un Nuevo Amanecer is a non-profit organization that helps children with disabilities. This dedicated group receives very little government assistance and could not exist without the generous support of Huatulco’s residents and visitors. Eighty percent of its funding comes from two exuberant beach parties, held at Playa Chahue each winter. Continue reading Celebrate Two Success Stories Together→
The question is both the beginning of a bad joke and somewhat misleading. Kosher chickens cannot cross roads. When physically capable of crossing a road, a chicken simply cannot yet be kosher. Only when it has been examined and declared whole and in good health and slaughtered by someone certified as a shochet can a chicken have a chance of being called kosher. If a chicken had crossed a road it might later become kosher, but if it was clipped by a car or even just lost a toe nail, it would called trafe or “torn” and would never be accepted by a shochet. Continue reading Why Did the Kosher Chicken Cross the Road?→
The history of the origin of domesticated chickens (Gallus domesticus) is long and interesting. They were first domesticated from a wild form called red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), a bird that still exists at least in parts of southeast Asia where it originated, and likely hybridized with the gray junglefowl (G. sonneratii) about 8,000 years ago. Research indicates possible multiple origins from distinct areas of South and Southeast Asia, southern China, Thailand, Burma, and India. Firm evidence of domesticated chickens isn’t found in China until 3600 BCE. From Smithsonian Magazine: “It is all the more surprising in light of the belief by many archaeologists that chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cockfighting. Until the advent of large-scale industrial production in the 20th century, the economic and nutritional contribution of chickens was modest.” Continue reading Origin of Chicken: Jungle Runs Afowl in the Western Hemisphere→
There is nothing to create a more quintessential Mexican ambiance than that early morning sound of a rooster crowing. When you live in a Canadian city most of the year, as I do, where chickens are allowed in back yard cages, but a rooster’s crowing would be considered a noise bylaw infraction, it’s definitely a different sound to my urban ears and one that instantly tells me I’m waking up far from home. Continue reading Cock-A-Doodle-Do!→
By Kary Vannice
by Jane Bauer
By Marcia Chaiken, with Jan Chaiken
By Julie Etra
By Leigh Morrow
You must be logged in to post a comment.