Selvatica: Cancun's Number One Attraction

There are 58 Cancún attractions listed on TripAdvisor. As tourists visit and vote upon, these places fall or rise in the league. A bad review causes a venue to topple, losing ratings; a good review sees it soar above the competition. Yet one attraction has managed to hang onto its top spot since 2009. Last year, it was voted the best adventure park in Mexico. Selvatica Canopy Expedition and Adventure Tour is officially the ride of your life.


Selvatica is about an hour's drive from Cancún's Hotel Zone, but it is well worth the visit. This is an attraction for adrenaline junkies, which will have you flying through the tree-tops; racing along wild tracks in dune buggies; then plunging into the cool freshness of a cenote.

The adventure takes place out in the Yucatán Jungle. There are twelve zip-lines here, comprising of some of the highest and fastest in the country. The biggest of them all, only for the most daring visitors, is 65 feet (20 meters) above the ground. That one is obviously not for those suffering from vertigo. For the less adventurous, there are zip-lines much closer to the jungle floor.

The adults will then pair up to ride dune buggies, across rough jungle tracks, towards a crystal clear cenote, thirty minutes down the road. This is not a ride for children. They will be conveyed, more sedately, in a truck. For those at the wheel of the buggies, this will be driving like you've always wanted to do it: fast, reckless and fraught with wild abandon. Why should rally drivers have all the fun?


It may sound like this is an adventure park where you take your life into your hands. However, the facilities are quite safe. At each stage, trained personnel ensure that everyone is safely harnessed and experiencing nothing but unadulterated fun. They can cater for youngsters as young as three years old. The activities are then graded upwards to match every visitor's nerve and stamina.

Selvatica Canopy Expedition and Adventure Tour
Over 20 mental and physical challenges, with zip lines, suspended bridges, dancing cables, buggies and a cenote.

Luis Miguel: The Latin Frank Sinatra

Tonight, Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional will be packed to the rafters, as 'El Sol de México' Luis Miguel takes the stage. He is one of Mexico's biggest stars, with a twenty-five year career that has spanned the globe.

Along the way, he has picked up more Grammys, Platinum discs and other accolades, than any other Latin singer before him. He was the first Latin artist to achieve a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Not bad for someone who is just forty years of age.



Luis Miguel is in the middle of a 161 day tour, which started in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, USA, and will end in Puerto Rico. The schedule takes in seven countries, usually playing at the biggest venues possible, in a bid to accommodate armies of fans. They will, no doubt, be more than glad to see him, after a mystery health scare saw him hospitalized in Los Angeles recently.

The singer was actually born in Puerto Rico, to Spanish and Italian parents, but his family moved to Mexico when he was a baby. He has lived here ever since. His first album came out when he was just eleven years old, after he was snapped up by EMI Records. By the time he was fifteen, he was winning awards for his duet with Scottish singer, Sheena Easton.

That was merely the beginning of a glittering career, which is still going strong. He may be one of Mexico's favorite sons, but his appeal is international. (Saddam Hussein purportedly had Luis Miguel's 'Segundo Romance' album in his possession, when the dictator was captured by Western forces.)



For more information about the singer, please visit Luis Miguel's official website (in Spanish).

White Lies: 'Ritual' Album

White Lies are a British-based, indie rock band, who are currently taking the world by storm. They have been extensively likened to Joy Division and The Killers, though its members deny that either have been an influence. Last October, they rocked Mexico with their slot at the Corona Capital Festival, Mexico City. In the full knowledge that their album, 'Ritual', was soon to be released, the band looked around themselves and they had an idea.


'Ritual' was released on January 18th, 2011, along with a promotional video. The soundtrack previewed, with snippets, three of the album's songs: 'Bad Love', 'Holy Ghost' and 'Bigger Than Us'. The film itself was shot entirely in Mexico City, intercut with scenes of the band performing in a studio.



The story follows the spiritual shopping trip of two young Mexican women. They collect witchcraft supplies, each precisely prepared before being placed in a box. The box itself is carried as if it is something sacred, as the women process through the market. The box is then taken to the cathedral to be blessed. Finally, the women are at the center of a third ritual, with a shaman dancing up the energies around them. We are never told what the outcome of these endeavours should be. The point is not the reward, but the quest itself and the rituals engaged upon along the way.

The footage was mainly filmed at Mercado de Sonora, a market known for its witchcraft supplies, in Mexico City. Also featured is Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María (Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary), as well as several streets in Mexico's capital city.


In October 2010, Mexico City was their third and final stop, on their short Mexican tour. Previously, they had played at Guadalajara and Monterrey. They managed to grab some time off before their Guadalajara date, in order to spend quality tourist time looking around the city.

White Lies will be back in Mexico in a couple of months time. They are playing at Vive Cuervo Salón, Mexico City, on May 26th, 2011, as part of the North American leg of their world tour.

The Killers: 'When You Were Young'

Tlayacapan has long been noted for its spiritual landscape. Ever since the Augustian monks flooded in, between 1534 and 1574, monasteries, chapels and churches have dominated the area. The largest of all, the monastery of San Juan Baustista (St John the Baptist), towers over everything else. It contains the biggest church in the entire state of Morelos; and it is part of a complex which was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994.

With such scenery to use, it's hardly any wonder that The Killers chose this town as the location for their seminal 2006 music video, 'When You Were Young.'



The story is told in a series of flashbacks. A young woman (Sonia Couoh) takes up the position of a cook/barmaid in a bar. Her entrance interrupts the flirting between the bar's owner (Gustavo Sanchez Parra) and a female patron. The look which passes between employer and new employee is enough to tip the customer off. These pair are attracted to each other; the customer has lost her chance, so she storms out. The camera pans to the next room, where The Killers are playing to a packed crowd. The young woman and The Killer's singer, Brandon Flowers, exchange a long, meaningful gaze, as Flowers warns, "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus."

The young woman and the bar-owner become a couple, with religion ever in the foreground. She is a devout Catholic, praying in various locations, while her boyfriend waits outside. They are eventually seen getting married, with their family surrounding them in a joyous scene.

Fachada principal de la Capilla de Santiago, in Tlayacapan
Another flashback shows how it all goes wrong. She returns home one day to find her husband in bed with another woman. It is the woman from the bar, who had been so angry when the couple first met. While the bar-owner moves to reach his wife, his mistress pulls him back onto the bed. His wife rushes out, utterly distraught. She eventually ends up on a high mountain, topped with a white cross, looking out over the town.

There are two endings. In the mainstream version, her husband catches up and the couple are reconciled. In the alternative version, she leaps to her death from the summit, before he can reach her.

Capilla de Santiago, as seen in 'When You Were Young'
Mexican film director, Carlos Reygadas, was brought in to create the music video. Based in Mexico City, Reygadas was a United Nations worker, turned movie-maker, who usually focused on full-length feature films.

At the time when 'When You Were Young' was being shot, Reygadas had just received world-wide notoriety for his film, 'Batalla en el Cielo' (Battle in Heaven). It had competed in the Cannes Film Festival, but was remembered mainly for the scenes of graphic sex, with religious undertones. Several commentators have pointed out the common themes between 'Batalla en el Cielo' and those in 'When You Were Young'. Both also had scenes were a protagonist climbs a mountain peak, adorned with a cross, and looks out across the vista beneath.


A scene from 'When You Were Young'
It used to be just Christian pilgrims and Chinelos dance aficionados, who made the journey to Tlayacapan. These days the local people are getting used to meeting fans of The Killers. Visitors to the town will easily find someone to show them around the locations, where the video was filmed.

NIN's Mexico Connection

In August, 1999, Nine Inch Nails took over two locations in Jalisco. They brought with them award-winning director, Mark Pellington, and immediately cast 250 local people as extras. This was the shoot of the 'We're In It Together' music video and the result was a stunning piece of dark cinema.



'We're in This Together' is a paranoid love song, about a couple trying to survive against an unknown force. In this dystopian world, something is out to get them, with hints of torture and attempted separation. The couple cling to each other, even when there is no hope.

You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow

It is never stated who, or what, is after them.

The video reportedly followed the plot of a nightmare, which was dreamt by NIN lead singer, Trent Reznor. It also paid homage to the 1927 cult film, 'Metropolis', with obvious similarities, including the black outfits of the the characters within it. The lady, to whom Trent Reznor so desperately wants to cling, is only alluded to in the seven inch extended version. She is glimpsed in a red dress, stark against the black and white of the rest of the footage, in a nod to 'Schindler's List'.

Filming took place between August 5th-8th, 1999, in downtown Guadaljara and in a dry lake, 100km (62m) south, near to the town of Sayula. The intersection of Independencia Norte and Hidalgo was widely used as a location, as was Mercado Mexaclatzingo and a local hospital for people suffering from extensive burns. The building, in which Trent Reznor sings alone, is on la Calsada del Independencia, one of the main highways running through Guadaljara.


View Larger Map

During the four days of filming, 250 Guadalajara men were employed, working 12 hours a day. They were all aged between 20 and 30 years old and made up the horde of black-clad people running with Trent Reznor. It's been suggested that they represented his loneliness and isolation in this world.

Francisco Gonzalez, a journalist for the local newspaper, Periodico Publico, reported at the time, "One of the curious things was that 95 percent of the people didn't know who Reznor was. They were only curious about the shoot, and not who the artist was."

Romantic Cabo San Lucas Attracts the Stars

It seems that you can't turn around, in Mexico, without bumping into another of the world's celebrities. While most of the great and the good are heading to Tulum, another Mexican coastal resort has emerged as THE romantic get-away for star-crossed lovers.


Cabo San Lucas lies where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean. It's long been a hideout for the rich and famous, with some truly magnificent mansions dotting its horizons. But the town is also well known for its casual atmosphere. There is plenty to see and do there, with watersports, fishing, glorious beaches, then shops and restaurants catering for visitors and locals alike.

Several nightclubs pump up the volume, once the sun has set. Incidentally, don't miss that sunset. Watching the skies weave their tapesty of pink, peach and red, over the stunning landmark of El Arco, is definitely a profound, heart quickening experience.


An extra lure, for Cabo San Lucas, is that it is relatively close to Los Angeles. Well-heeled Hollywood royalty can easily fly in for a day's relaxation, before returning to the movie lots the following day. Celebrities spotted in town, just recently, include Jessica Alba, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin, Cash Warren and Kate Beckinsale. But they are not the ones making the headlines.

The American press are reporting that Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn were here, last Tuesday. Ms Johansson appeared to be well over her divorce from Ryan Reynolds. She was practically sitting on Mr Penn's knee, as the couple canoodled over margueritas. They also enjoyed a lobster meal, in one of Cabo San Lucas's exclusive restaurants.

Unfortunately, their stay in such beautiful surroundings was short lived. By evening, Ms Johansson flew back to LA, where she is currently filming, 'We Bought a Zoo'. Mr Penn then travelled on, without her, to Venezuela. He is a close friend of President Hugo Chavez.


Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansson
Cabo San Lucas could never be viewed as a quick day-trip destination for European stars, yet they are here too. Last January, the British media were awash with the news that Gethin Jones had finally got his girl. The Blue Peter presenter apparently packed a £10,000 diamond engagement ring, in his luggage, for his Mexican vacation. Once in the heady, romantic environment of Cabo San Lucas, he bent down on one knee and popped the question.

The lady being proposed to was his long-term girlfiend, none over than internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, Katherine Jenkins. (Dr Who fans will know her as the exquisitely singing Abigail, from the last Christmas special.)


Gethin Jones and Katherine Jenkins
The news broke when Ms Jenkins announced it on her official website.

“Geth and I are engaged! He popped the question at the end of an amazing holiday on the coast of Mexico and of course I said yes. We haven’t set a date yet but it will be sometime next year.”

The engagement ring
Meanwhile, Gethin's description of the scene can be heard on the BBC. Unfortunately, it appears that they won't be returning to Mexico to actually exchange their vows. The wedding is scheduled to take place in their native Wales.

While we're all now contemplating our own romantic trips to Cabo San Lucas, it seems like a good time to end on a song from Katherine Jenkins.

72 Million Year Old Dinosaur Bonanza Found in Mexico

72 million years ago, the desert of Coahuila looked very different. For a start, it wasn't a desert. This was the late Cretaceous period when, to the north, a vast, inland sea covered most of the south and western states of the present day USA. Coahuila sat at the southern plains of this sea. It was a huge, swampy estuary, covered in lush vegetation. It was here that the dinosaurs came to drink and feed; and some left traces that are only now coming to light.


Tyrannosaurus Rex
This was the hunting ground of Tyrannosaurus Rex, but that infamous species of dinosaur certainly wasn't alone out there. The remains of Coahuilaceratops Magnacuerna, a dinosaur named after the state, were discovered last year here. That was just the beginning, for it seems that this area is a treasure trove of pre-historic remains, on a par to those in Wyoming or Utah. Moreover, paleontologists have only just begun to scratch the surface.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that 207 dinosaur footprints have been found so far in Coahuila. These lay alongside fragments of vertebrae and long bones, belonging to a selection of creatures, who died there 72 million years ago. They are so recently uncovered, that they haven't yet been fully identified and classified. However, they are likely to include the Hadrosauridae, Ornitomimidae and Tyrannosaurus families.


Hadrosauridae


Ornitomimidae
The discoveries have been made over three sites, covering 5,000 sq. meters (53,750 sq. feet, in Coahuila. The largest was within the city of General Cepeda. Paleontologists have sealed off an area of Las Aguilas, which is where the footprints were found. It will eventually be open to the public, once the experts have done their jobs.

INAH-Coahuila Center paleontologist Felisa Aguilar explained, "Those places are still hidden under vegetation and won’t be opened to the public until they are registered so that their future conservation can be guaranteed."

Other remains, in the same area, have been dated to the Pleistocene, which makes them a mere 2.5 million years to 10,000 years old.

Carnival! Veracruz Rocks Mardi Gras

Mexicans love to party, neither argument or apology there! Once a year, the biggest party of all erupts throughout the country; and no city does it better than Veracruz. This is Carnival! It is Mardi Gras! And it is absolutely spectacular.



Carnaval de Veracruz runs from March 1st to March 9th this year, so the festivities have already begun. Tuesday's celebrations began with the official launch, followed by the children's parade. They were followed by orchestras and dance groups. As afternoon turned to evening, things really started to heat up with Rumbata!

The effigy of 'evil humor' or 'bad mood' was paraded, alongside music, laughter and dancing. While the crowds were entertained by live bands and dance troupes, performing Salseras, the effigy was set up in Zócalo de Veracruz. At 9pm, everyone packed into the square to watch 'evil humor' turned into a bonfire. It was the ceremonial start of Carnival - the burning of all residual bad feeling from 2010. It was the signal to let down your hair and become truly carefree. As the fireworks filled the skies, the message was clear: Let the fiesta begin!



Carnival is celebrated all over the world, particularly where Christianity has left its mark. It occurs during the run up to Lent, when Christians are traditionally supposed to eat no meat (many dilute that into giving up sweets or television or something). As Lent was a time of fasting, then the days before it had to be a period of eating up everything that wasn't going to keep.

Great banquets of perishable foods arrived on the table, particularly during the eve of Lent - Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French) or Shrove Tuesday. It was the last gorging before the diet of basic sustenance. In short, it was 'farewell to meat' or, in the Latin, carne vale; carnival in English or carnaval in Spanish.

Of course, if you're going to have a big meal, then you might as well have a party. Veracruz is the perfect example of just that!





There will be parades, music and other festivities from now until March 9th. Each day takes a different theme or story. Today, the King of Happiness is key. He will move in procession through the streets, before eventually ending up in Auditorio Benito Juárez. Here there will be his coronation ceremony. Let Happiness reign!

His consort, the Queen of the Carnival, has her big moment tomorrow. The streets will be thronged with Veracruz's most beautiful ladies, all escorting their festival regent. She too will arrive in Auditorio Benito Juárez for her very own coronation. Happiness and Carnival, it doesn't need spelling out, does it?

Not all of the spectacles are in the streets. Veracruz is a port and so there's a vast ocean out there to fill too. The Boat Parade takes place on Saturday.





The Carnaval de Veracruz is a huge affair. It's big enough to attract performances from some of Latin America's biggest celebrities. This year is no exception. Macro Plaza Malecón is one of Veracruz's largest public squares. It will be the venue for some stunning live shows. On Saturday night, Luis Enrique, aka El Principe de la Salsa (the Prince of Salsa), will take to the stage. The following night, it will be Yuri. Born and bred in the city, she is Mexico's answer to Madonna.

For more information, please visit the Carnival's official website (Spanish). An English translation of the programme can be found here.

A Taste of Mexico: Mole Poblano!

Salsa might be the food most commonly associated with Mexico, so it's only fitting that one of its variants is the national dish. Mole Poblano was literally a meal fit for a king (or, at least, his representative in Mexico) and legends abound as to its origin.


Mole Poblano
Before anyone starts panicking here, mole has nothing to do with a small, sightless mammal, which lives underground. It is pronounced 'mo-lay' and it is actually the sauce that is, traditionally, poured over turkey. However, it does have one strange ingredient - chocolate!

Mole Poblano is a rich and very tasty dish, which utilizes at least twenty components. These include turkey, tomatoes, chocolate and chillies, within a spicy mixture of black pepper, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, anise and garlic. It is known as 'fusion food', because of these ingredients, as they range from home-grown produce to those exported from Europe. How they came to be mixed together is the stuff of legends.


Mole Poblano, with some of its ingredients
The most pervasive story involves those celebrated nuns of the Convent of Santa Monica, in Puebla (aka Santa Rosa). These were the devout ladies who later became famous again, when it was learned that they had continued to exist, in subterranean tunnels, after their existence had become illegal. (The Underground Nuns.) A century before that, the nuns were not only accepted by the State, but there chosen for a visit by the Spanish Viceroy. A good meal was clearly required.

The Convent's kitchen had turkey to use, along with the trimmings, so all that was really needed was the salsa to accompany it. The available foods and spices were laid out, and then someone added chocolate.

There are those that say that it was a divinely inspired nun, who just knew that it would work; others say that it was a mischevious novice, who sneaked into the kitchen and sprinkled in cocoa as a prank; yet another version tells of a window left open and a freak wind blowing across the table, knocking the chocolate into the mix (God did it?); while a fourth story was that a team of nuns worked tirelessly for days, experimenting with all that they had, in order to make an impression with a unique sauce.

There was a fifth telling, but that has been largely discredited by historians. That one said that a folk-memory of an Atzec dish had been carried into the Convent by a nun. They just had to reproduce it. This one is seen as unlikely, as chocolate was sacred to the Aztec. It would have been like a Christian using Communion wafers like nachos. It would have been just short of heresy.


A street vendor serving from a vat of Mole Poblano
Puebla may take the credit for the invention of Mole Poblano, but these days it can be found all over Mexico. The idea of chocolate and turkey together may sound bizarre, however the proof of the sauce is in the tasting. Mole Poblano always passes first time.

A recipe for Mole Poblano may be found here.

A Taste of Mexico: Salsa!

You have never tasted salsa, until you've entered Mexico. Just saying. In some countries, the salsa is the dressing. It's something that's plonked on top, that you can take or leave. Not so in Mexico. In Mexico, meals get formed around the salsa. It's never the same twice. It evolves. It's personal. For many cooks, their most prized knowledge is the salsa recipe that got passed down from grandmother. If this is your first time in Mexico, then you must eat salsa. (If it's your second, you won't need telling.)


On a recent trip abroad, I visited a theater complex. Among the snacks on offer were nachos, with hot cheese sauce, jalapeño peppers and salsa. It arrived and I stared in askance at the little, plastic pot of red stuff. "What's this?" "That's your salsa. Enjoy your day." That wasn't salsa. That was a few chopped tomatoes, shoved through a blender, with a spring of coriander. If that is your experience of salsa, then you are in for a serious treat in Mexico.

Admittedly, Mexican salsa does often use tomato (or green tomatillos) as its base. Coriander (or Chinese parsley) does have its place too. But there's more! Even the most basic salsa will have garlic, onions and a choice out of literally thousands of chiles, ranging from the mild to the blow your socks off strong. It never stops there. What gets added next can often be a jealously guarded secret; or it can be up to individual tastes. Chocolate in the mole; carrots; sesame seeds; paprika; nuts; any number of spices; sweetcorn; olives; peppers; fruits (mango is popular); lime juice; you name it and someone in Mexico will have experimented with it.

Making salsa is an art. Some of the fast food restaurants will use a blender for speed, but in the homes, and in the quality establishments, salsa is made in a molcajete.


The molcajete is used just like a pestle and mortar, though it is made out of basalt. It was used as a cooking utensil, in Mexico, way before the coming of the Spanish. The ancient Maya used one. Its very name comes from the Nahuatl language. The Atzec had something similar, though their's was made from ceramic. The point being that when a item has been used for over a thousand years, with no sign of being given up any time soon, you know that there's a reason. And that reason is the taste of the salsa coming out of it.

Each of the ingredients are added in separately and pounded into submission by the cook. The subtle flavors depend upon when they were added, and in which quantities, and how long they were allowed to influence the dish. You just don't get that in a blender.


Salsa, in Spanish, means 'sauce'. Most of these are served cold, though some recipes do call for cooked salsa. It can be eaten on its own, or as a dip with tortilla chips, or as a spread (think tacos).

The actual recipes can differ from restaurant to restaurant, and certainly from home to home. But there are regional variations too. The salsa served in Monterrey may be nothing like that presented in Guerraro.

For more information about salsas, plus some recipes, visit: Mexican Salsas by Luis Dumois.