Brightly-painted Zapotec murals invoking warfare recently unearthed from tombs in southern Mexico may date back nearly 2,000 years, officials said late on Wednesday of the find that sheds new light on the ancient civilization's funerary rites. The well-preserved murals found in the largest of five tombs, its chambers arranged in a cross-like structure, show sharp black lines and richly-dressed figures painted in colorful red and yellow hues, in the town of San Pedro Nexicho, in southern Oaxaca state. Workers of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), rescue dozens of pre-Hispanic Zapotec tombs in San Pedro Nexicho, Oaxaca, Mexico in this photo released on January 18, 2023, and distributed by INAH. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)...
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travelogues, travel articles and news about Mexico
Parts of Mexico's remote southern jungles have barely changed since the time of the ancient Maya. In the eyes of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a railway his government is building - known as the Tren Maya - will bring modern connectivity to areas for generations deprived of significant economic benefits. But the railway and its hasty construction also critically endanger pristine wilderness and ancient cave systems beneath the jungle floor, droves of scientists and environmental activists say. A house stands on the edge of forest which has been cleared for construction of section 5 of the new Mayan Train route, in Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Mexico, November 6, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez The railway "is splitting the jungle in half," said Ismael Lara, a guide wh...
Read MoreOne of Mexico's most notorious prisons begins a new chapter this weekend as a Pacific Ocean getaway after a makeover aimed at bringing in tourists to the former penal colony. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday evening opened the Islas Marias Tourist Center, bidding to turn the decades-old federal prison in the Islas Marias archipelago into an environmental attraction and place for history lovers. "This is tourism for excursions, to explore, to live with nature," Lopez Obrador said this week. "To recreate history, it's something exceptional, extraordinary." Alongside villas to lodge guests, a restaurant, a cafe and beaches, the revamped site includes an arch named after Nelson Mandela, who spent some 18 years behind bars on South Africa's Robben Island before bein...
Read MoreIt is one of the world’s most visited and beloved religious venues – the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with a circular, tent-shaped roof visible from miles away and a sacred history that each year draws millions of pilgrims from near and far to its hilltop site in Mexico City. Early December is the busiest time, as pilgrims converge ahead of Dec. 12, the feast day honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. To Catholic believers, the date is the anniversary of one of several apparitions of the Virgin Mary witnessed by an Indigenous Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531. The COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the number of pilgrims in 2020. Last year, even with some restrictions still in place, attendance for the December celebrations rose to at least 3.5 million, according to local officials. Bigg...
Read MoreFrom a distance, they appear like autumn foliage: millions of endangered monarch butterflies blanketing trees in a kaleidoscope of brown, orange and black. As the crisp mountain air warms, they flutter above dazzled visitors who have come to see an annual tradition that persists despite the environmental and human pressures threatening it. Monarch butterflies fly at the Sierra Chincua butterfly sanctuary in Angangeo, Michoacan state, Mexico. December 3, 2022 REUTERS/Raquel Cunha Every year, migratory monarchs travel up to 2,000 miles (3,000 km) from the eastern United States and Canada to spend the winter among the forests of central and western Mexico. Winter weekends bring hundreds of visitors to Sierra Chincua, an idyllic monarch sanctuary in the western state of Michoacan,...
Read MoreLying on a shady patch of grass under the hot Mexico sun, Zazil, a female spotted jaguar stretches her limbs. Born in captivity, she is a top candidate to help boost wild populations of this magnificent, endangered species. Reino Animal, a sprawling animal conservation park some 56 kilometres (35 miles) northeast from Mexico City, plans to move one of their female jaguars and her future cubs to its new facility next spring. A jaguar is seen at the jaguar sanctuary inside of Reino Animal Conservation Park, in Oxtotipac, State of Mexico, Mexico, November 2022. Reino Animal/ Handout via REUTERS After two years without human interaction, it plans to release the cubs into the wild. Animals bred in captivity in contact with humans or those rescued from the exotic pet trade cannot be se...
Read MoreDuring the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place in late October and early November in Mexico, the living remember and honor their dearly departed, but with celebration — not sorrow. Marigolds decorate the streets as music blares from speakers. Adults and children alike dress as skeletons and take photos, capturing the annual joy-filled festivities. It is believed that during the Day of the Dead — or Dia de Muertos — they are able to commune with their deceased loved ones. People dressed as Mexico's iconic "Catrinas" march in the Grand Procession of the Catrinas, part of upcoming Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico City, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) No one knows when the first observance took place, but it is rooted in agriculture-related beliefs fr...
Read MoreAn ancient Mexican site more than 1,000 years old has been declared the country's first archaeological zone in a decade, antiquities institute INAH announced on Tuesday, despite several years of steep budget cuts for archeological research. Cañada de la Virgen, the modern name of an ancient Otomi ceremonial center, is located near the picturesque mountain town and tourist destination of San Miguel de Allende. A view of the pre-Hispanic site of Canada de la Virgen, Guanajuato, Mexico, in this undated handout photo. Mauricio Marat/INAH/Handout via REUTERS The pre-Hispanic site features a large stone temple complex and other structures, many aligned with astronomical bodies, and is believed to have reached its peak around 600-900 AD, contemporaneous with dozens of major Maya cites. ...
Read MoreA magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Mexico’s central Pacific coast on Monday, killing two persons and setting off a seismic alarm in the rattled capital on the anniversary of two earlier devastating quakes. Alarms for the new quake came less than an hour after a quake alarms warbled in a nationwide earthquake simulation marking major quakes that struck on the same date in 1985 and 2017. The magnitude 8.0 quake centered near the coast of Guerrero state in 1985 killed at least 9,500 people. More than 360 people died in the magnitude 7.1 quake that struck in 2017. This one didn’t cause much damage, but was very powerful. A general view shows vehicles damaged by the collapse of the facade of a department store during an earthquake, in Manzanillo, Mexico September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jesus Lo...
Read MoreUnusual forests on stilts mitigate climate change, Mexican research shows Researchers have identified a new reason to protect mangrove forests: they’ve been quietly keeping carbon out of Earth’s atmosphere for the past 5,000 years. Mangroves thrive in conditions most plants cannot tolerate, like salty coastal waters. Some species have air-conducting, vertical roots that act like snorkels when tides are high, giving the appearance of trees floating on stilts. A UC Riverside and UC San Diego-led research team set out to understand how marine mangroves off the coast of La Paz, Mexico, absorb and release elements like nitrogen and carbon, processes called biogeochemical cycling. UCSD coastal ecologist Matthew Costa entering mangrove forest in Mexico. Photo credit: Ramiro Arcos Agu...
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