In 2024, Mexico News Daily once again covered plenty of “hard news” and “bad news” stories.
As we have done since MND was founded more than 10 years ago, we also reported numerous stories that made us laugh, brought a smile to our faces, warmed our hearts and even left us scratching our heads in bewilderment.
Maya priests join investigation after tree falls in ‘center of the world’
Now, as we approach the end of the year, it’s time to look back at the amusing, uplifting, inspirational, heartening, gratifying, strange, surreal and “only in Mexico” stories MND published this year.
We continue today with a compilation of articles we published between July and September.
Click here to read our Q1 compilation, and here to read our Q2 compilation.
Look out for our “México Magico” compendium for the final quarter of the year tomorrow!
México Mágico: A look back at MND’s weird and wonderful stories in the third quarter of 2024
Early in the third quarter of the year, we reported on another strange political story — eight men were accused of “identity theft” after they won municipal positions at elections in Michoacán. Why? They posed as trans women to flout gender parity laws.
Also in the news in early July was a statue of Poseidon in the surf just off the coast of Progreso, Yucatán. It was a bizarre story indeed: Check out our reports here and here.
Police deployed to protect Poseidon statue that ‘angered’ a Maya god in Yucatán
Another intriguing story was that of the skeletons of 112 prehistoric humans that were found in México state during the construction of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport. The National Institute of Anthropology and History said in July that some of the skeletons may have belonged to ancient female warriors.
We’ve always got an eye on Mexicans doing interesting and impressive things abroad so in late July our gaze turned toward France, where a women’s archery team won Mexico’s first medal — a bronze — at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Mexico ended up winning five medals at the Games: three silvers and two bronze medals.
This women’s team won Mexico’s first medal at the Paris Olympics
If there was an Olympics for tacos, Mexico would undoubtedly come out on top. In August, the state of Tlaxcala set a new Guinness World Record when more than 150 taqueros from Tlaxcala served the greatest variety of tacos de canasta (basket tacos) in one place.
Later the same month, a 30-meter-high ceiba tree fell into a cenote in Xocén, Yucatán, triggering an investigation by Maya priests and Mexican officials because certain Maya cosmologies consider Xocén to be “the center of the world.”
Taco triumph in Tlaxcala! State wins Guinness World Record for greatest variety of tacos
In late August, another delegation of Mexican athletes headed to Paris to compete in this year’s Paralympic Games. They came home with a total of 17 medals including three golds!
Our focus returned to Europe in late September as the 35-year-old wife of imprisoned drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Emma Coronel Aispuro, sashayed down the catwalk as a model during Milan Fashion Week.
Emma Coronel, wife of ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, to model at Milan Fashion Week
Back in Mexico, two baby crocodiles made a splash when they were spotted in separate stations of the Mexico City metro system, while a priest in Veracruz attracted attention for blessing with holy water a stretch of highway where two fatal accidents had occurred.
In the third quarter of the year, MND writer Gabriela Solis also gave us this interesting piece on Mexican stereotypes. So are you a chairo, a godínez or a fifí?
We hope you enjoyed reading our quirkier stories this year, and perhaps found a few here that you missed. We’re already looking forward to another year of weird, wonderful and distinctively Mexican stories in 2025!
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
