A memorial at the site of the fatal bus crash in Campeche. (Michael Balam/Cuartoscuro)
A traffic accident involving a passenger bus killed at least 41 people early Saturday morning in the southern state of Campeche, Mexico.
The news agency Reuters reported that the bus, which was carrying 48 people, collided with a truck, resulting in the deaths of 38 passengers and the bus’s two drivers. The driver of the truck also died in the accident.
The accident occurred near Escárcega, Campeche, approximately 300 kilometers east of the bus’s final destination of Villahermosa, Tabasco. (@enlabarra/X)
The two vehicles involved burst into flames and the quick-burning inferno prevented passers-by and emergency personnel from rescuing more people.
The bus, operated by Tour’s Acosta, left from the Caribbean resort city of Cancún on Friday night. It was traveling west across the Yucatán Peninsula on federal highway 186 with the Gulf coast city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, as its final destination.
Reuters images show the bus completely burned out following the collision, with just the skeletal remains of the metal frame left standing.
Officials from the neighboring state of Tabasco said recovery work is continuing, including efforts to identify those killed in the crash.
“So far, only 18 [bodies] have been confirmed, but much more is missing,” Tabasco sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity, adding that recovery work continued.
The bus company, based out of Quintana Roo, said it was “profoundly sorry about what happened” in a post on Facebook, adding that it was working with authorities to find out what happened and if the bus had been traveling within the speed limit.
“The local prosecutor’s office has informed us that the investigation will be taking effect in … the municipality of Candelaria, Campeche,” Tour’s Acosta wrote, advising relatives of the passengers to get in contact with the authorities there “to perform the relevant procedures.”
In a social media post, the governor of Campeche, Layda Sansores, extended condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
“We are working … in coordination with the government of Tabasco, federal authorities and the mayor of Escárcega, Juan Carlos Hernández Rath, to provide as much support as possible to the victims of this unfortunate accident,” she wrote.
In a statement posted to Facebook, Campeche Government Minister Liz Hernández said that Mayor Hernández Rath had stepped in to provide food and lodging to the families of those involved in the tragic accident.
Sweet, light and oh-so-delicious, these sopaipilla cheesecake cookie bites will leave your mouth watering. (Canva)
Sopapillas are light, airy pastries, fried in oil and dusted with cinnamon and/or sugar, and served warm accompanied by honey or syrup. And they are delicious — a traditional Mexican dessert, served alongside savory dishes, or with coffee, or just as dessert — a succulent fried pastry, sweet, little “puffs” — that are enjoyed by all. If that weren’t enough, these sopaipilla cheesecake bars are even better still.
The indigenous peoples of Mexico were making dough and frying it as far back as 2500 BCE and continued the practice until the arrival of Spanish colonizers. But here’s the difference. They made dough from maize and other grains and then fried it. The Spaniards introduced wheat flour and sugar to Mexico, therefore changing the whole dynamic. They became sweet.
Our recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake Cookie Bars makes things easy. We are not going to make dough, or fry it, but rather we’re going to achieve the pastry’s crispy texture by using puff pastry, and by pre-baking the crust. We are then going to kick-it-up with the addition of a cream-cheese layer, and top it with another sheet of puff pastry, sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar and butter, baked once again until browned and crispy.
We have now turned the traditional Mexican sopapilla into a crunchy, creamy, cheesecake filled cookie-bar, a pick-me-up-with-your-fingers delight to tantalize the tastebuds!
Sopapilla Cheesecake Cookie-Bars:
Recipe adapted: littlespicejar.com (Canva)
Ingredients:
2 – (10″ x 15″) puff-pastry sheets (1 or 2 boxes) (hojaldre)
2 (8 ounce or 227 g) bricks of full-fat cream-cheese, room temperature (queso crema)
¼ Cup (61.3 g) sour cream, room temperature (crema)
NOTE: Mexican crema is not exactly like U.S. sour cream. To mimic the taste of sour cream, add a squeeze of lime to crema (as sour cream is more acidic) and a pinch of salt. I, however, prefer the taste and flavor of crema. But that’s a personal choice.
2 tsp. (8.67 g) vanilla extract* (extracto de vainilla)
Mexican brands noted for intense flavor: Villa Vainilla; Vainilla Totonac’s; Molina Vainilla.
*Best Mexican brands: Lala; Gloria; Alpura; Aguascalientes; Flor de Alfalfa.
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400F (204C).
Put a rack in the center of the oven.
Spray a 9“x 13” baking dish with cooking spray.
Next:
Take a sheet of puff pastry and lay it flat in the baking dish, pressing the extra pastry against the sides of the dish. Using a fork, poke holes all over the dough (to prevent it from puffing).
Bake the crust for 15 minutes.
Next:
Prepare the cheesecake filling:
Beat cream-cheese and 1 Cup of sugar for 2 minutes.
Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla, and mix until *just* combined, about 5-10 seconds.
Remove the crust from the oven.
NOTE: If it has puffed, let it sit for 5 minutes to deflate.
Next:
Spread the cheesecake filling onto crust.
Top with another sheet of puff pastry and gently tuck in.
With a pastry brush, brush half the melted butter onto the puff-pastry.
Next:
Combine remaining ¼ Cup of sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
Sprinkle the puff pastry with cinnamon sugar.
Drizzle the remaining butter over the top.
Next:
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the puff-pastry (on top) cooks through.
NOTE: Don’t worry if the crust puffed, it will release steam as it cools, or you can use a paring knife to poke a small hole so steam escapes.
Next:
Let cool for 20 minutes.
Transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely for several hours, or overnight, so the bars have a chance to set.
Slice the bars using a clean knife, wiping the knife after each slice, so the bars are cleanly cut.
Disfruta!
Deborah McCoy is the one-time author of mainstream, bridal-reference books who has turned her attention to food, particularly sweets, desserts and fruits. She is the founder of CakeChatter™ on FaceBook and X (Twitter), and the author of four baking books for “Dough Punchers” via CakeChatter (available @amazon.com). She is also the president of The American Academy of Wedding Professionals™ (aa-wp.com).
Cancún's Casa Maya hotel, built in 1980, has reopened after a major renovation. (TripAdvisor)
Meliá Hotels International on Saturday announced plans to invest over US $60 million in Mexico in 2025. The Spanish hotel group expects to nearly double its presence in Mexico to reach 14 hotels within the next three years.
During the reopening of Meliá’s Casa Maya hotel in Cancún on Saturday, company CEO Gabriel Escarrer said that nearly $50 million of this investment will support the remodeling of its Paradisus hotel in Cancún, with works planned to commence in June.
The lion’s share of the investment funds will go toward a major overhaul of the Paradisus hotel in Cancún, the company CEO said. (Meliá Hotels)
With the multi-million-dollar renovation, Meliá aims to make Paradisus “the best hotel in the destination by March 2027,” Escarrer said.
Mexico is Meliá’s second biggest investment market after Spain, with over $1.2 billion worth of property investment in the country. Quintana Roo state on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula represents 70% of this value, with a total of 3,000 rooms.
The Casa Maya hotel was one of the early hotels to be built in Cancun, in 1980, and the recently completed $26 million renovation was the result of a partnership between Meliá and the Mexican firm Grupo Protexa.
Around 1,200 construction workers helped to modernize the hotel, and it is expected to directly support 750 long-term jobs, as well as hundreds more indirect jobs.
The architect Álvaro Sans, who managed the renovation, said he aimed to respect the pre-Columbian elements of the original design while adapting the property to today’s needs.
“We opened the building to the sea, creating an amphitheater that connects naturally with the beach,” said Sans during the hotel’s relaunch on Saturday.
Escarrer, Meliá’s CEO, also shared details about the upcoming remodel of Paradisus hotel. The company plans to provide first-class gastronomic offerings, remodel its 800 rooms and deliver top quality experiences for conference groups while maintaining the hotel’s family-friendly atmosphere.
The CEO also emphasized the importance of sustainable development, stating aims to incorporate materials and technologies to help protect the environment, such as those that enhance energy efficiency.
Quintana Roo Gov. Mara Lezama speaks at the reopening of Casa Maya in Cancún on Saturday. (Mara Lezama/X)
Meliá currently operates eight properties in Mexico, with plans to develop new hotels in the popular destinations of Sayulita, San Miguel de Allende, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Although Meliá is a publicly traded company, it remains under family control, with the family holding over 51% of the shares.
The importance of public-private partnerships
Escarrer stressed the importance of working closely with Mexico’s state governments to develop its properties.
“The [Quintana Roo] governor has always been proactive in helping us in everything, in speeding up permits and guaranteeing legal security,” Escarrer said during the reopening of the Casa Maya hotel.
Quintana Roo’s Governor Mara Lezama highlighted the importance of hotel investments to strengthen the state’s tourism infrastructure, as well as to support job creation. She also emphasized the government’s commitment to promoting policies that strengthen the tourism sector, attract new investments and create opportunities.
“In this new stage of state tourism, sustainability is a priority, and we are proud that companies such as Meliá Hotels International share this perspective, promoting responsible actions that safeguard our natural resources and enhance the well-being of the local community,” stated Lezama.
Authorities maintain that many of the businesses closed in México state were linked to organized crime. (X)
Hundreds of barbers and beauty salon workers from México state took to the streets of Mexico City on Monday to protest against what they call abuses committed during Operation Atarraya, a large-scale anti-crime raid carried out Friday.
The demonstrators, who marched from the Monument to the Revolution to the National Palace, are demanding justice and the reopening of over 300 barbershops and beauty salons shut down by authorities.
Protesters allege that agents from the prosecutor’s office of México state (FGJEM) planted drugs in their establishments to justify the closures.
Executed on Feb. 7, Operación Atarraya(atarraya means a cast net) was aimed at dismantling criminal networks that allegedly used barbershops and beauty salons as fronts for drug trafficking, extortion and other illicit activities.
According to the FGJEM, more than 2,200 federal and state security agents raided 404 establishments across 20 municipalities, closing 312 of them. The municipalities included Ecatepec (population 1.6 million), Nezahualcóyotl (1.1 million) and Naucalpan (834,000).
Officials claim the operation was based on intelligence, citizen complaints and field investigations, with 84 court-approved search warrants executed.
Hundreds of beauty salon workers marched in Mexico City on Monday to demand that authorities let them reopen their businesses. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
These allegations fueled public outrage, leading barbers in Ecatepec to block the Morelos Highway in protest Monday. While that blockade was lifted mid-morning, traffic congestion persisted for hours.
Authorities maintain that many of the closed businesses were linked to organized crime.
Citing a constant flow of complaints from residents and community organizations, officials said they have evidence indicating that a significant percentage of barbershops in high-crime areas were used for illegal activities, including extortion and the sale of drugs and alcohol, even to minors.
Reports, officials said, suggest that some establishments served as meeting points for criminal cells and were connected to violent incidents, including homicides.
In response to mounting accusations, FGJEM announced an internal investigation into possible misconduct by its agents. Officials have acknowledged the existence of at least three cases where irregularities were detected and have urged citizens to report any abuses to (800) 702-8770 or [email protected].
The operation aims to intervene in establishments used by criminal groups for the promotion, consumption or trafficking of illicit substances, as well as for activities related to the commission of other criminal acts.
PwC is one of the Big Four — the world's four largest global accounting networks. (Shutterstock)
Mexico is set to be one of the world’s top 10 investment destinations in 2025, according to the results of a survey by professional services company PwC.
For its 28th annual Global CEO Survey, PwC surveyed 4,701 company leaders across 109 countries and territories in late 2024.
Mexico tied for eighth place in a survey of the world’s top investment destinations for 2025. (Shutterstock)
One of the questions the CEOs were asked was: Which three countries or territories, excluding your own, will receive the greatest proportion of capital expenditure from your company in the next 12 months?
One in 20 CEOs mentioned Mexico, making it the equal eighth most-cited country.
Three in 10 CEOs said that the United States was among the three countries where their companies will invest the most in 2025, making it the world’s top investment destination.
The top 10 global investment destinations, according to those surveyed, is as follows:
United States: 30% of CEOs cited the country as one of their company’s top three investment destinations in 2025.
As part of the ambitious Plan México economic roadmap presented last month, Mexico is seeking to boost domestic manufacturing production in order to reduce reliance on imports from China and other Asian countries.
PwC surveyed 75 CEOs in Mexico for its most recent Global CEO Survey. The company summarized their views in the Mexico chapter of its survey report.
The survey found that just 31% of CEOs in Mexico are confident that their company’s revenue will increase in the next 12 months. That percentage is seven points lower than the 38% of CEOs around the world who expect their companies’ income to increase this year.
A majority of Mexican CEOs see macroeconomic volatility, inflation and geopolitical conflicts as major challenges for their companies this year.
Many Mexican CEOs expect their companies to face challenges related to inflation and macroeconomic volatility this year. (Cuartoscuro)
Almost three-quarters of Mexican CEOs — 74% — said their companies were vulnerable to macroeconomic volatility, compared to a 70% overall result among the survey participants.
Inflation is trending down, but 62% of CEOs in Mexico said their companies were susceptible to higher prices, while 52% expressed concern about geopolitical conflicts, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Mexico's trade surplus with the United States increased 12.7% annually to $171.8 billion last year. (Shutterstock)
The value of Mexican exports to the United States exceeded US $500 billion for the first time ever in 2024, allowing Mexico to retain its position as the top exporter to the world’s largest economy.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that Mexico’s exports to the United States were worth $505.85 billion last year, a 6.4% increase compared to 2023.
The United States is easily Mexico’s largest export market, receiving over 80% of all Mexican products shipped abroad.
Mexico exports a wide variety of goods, including vehicles, auto parts, oil, electronics, metals, medical devices, fresh produce and alcoholic beverages. The value of Mexico’s exports to all countries around the world hit a record high of just over $617 billion last year, according to national statistics agency INEGI.
U.S. data shows that Mexico is the top automotive sector supplier to the United States, with a 38.5% share of the U.S. market for auto imports, more than triple the share of second-placed Canada. Mexico’s share increased to that record high level from 37.8% in 2023.
Mexico-US trade exceeds $800 billion; Mexico’s surplus up almost 13%
The Census Bureau data shows that two-way trade between Mexico and the United States was worth $839.89 billion in 2024, a 5.3% increase compared to 2023.
Mexico was easily the United States’ largest trade partner last year, ahead of Canada and China. Trade with Mexico accounted for 15.8% of the United States’ total trade with countries around the world, up from 14.9% in 2023.
Mexico spent $334.04 billion on imports from the United States, a 3.5% increase over its outlay on U.S. products in 2023. It was the second-largest market for U.S. exports in 2024 after Canada.
Mexico’s trade surplus with the United States increased 12.7% annually to $171.8 billion. Last year was the third consecutive year that Mexico increased its surplus with its northern neighbor.
Those tariffs — which were set to take effect last Tuesday — were paused for one month thanks to separate agreements Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached with Trump last Monday.
Sergio Ramos, one of soccer's most decorated players of all time, has been unveiled as a new signing for Monterrey CF. (Monterrey Rayados)
Spain’s Sergio Ramos, a FIFA World Cup and two-time European Championship winner, has been unveiled by Mexico’s Monterrey Rayados in one of the most surprising transfers in recent soccer history.
Ramos, who has won almost every major prize in global football, spent 16 years at Real Madrid before a two-year spell alongside Argentina’s Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain. Now aged 38, the center-back will ply his trade in Mexico for the 2025 season.
Ramos is Spain’s most-capped international player. (Sergio Ramos/Instagram)
The Spanish defender should feel right at home in Mexico, as the Monterrey team features not one, but three former teammates. Sergio Canales played alongside Ramos at Real Madrid, while Oliver Torres and Argentina’s Lucas Ocampos both played at Ramos’s boyhood football club, Sevilla.
“I thank them for the welcome,” Ramos explained to the Spanish newspaper El País, before revealing that he had turned down significant offers from Europe, the United States and Saudi Arabia’s highly lucrative Pro League. “Rayados gives me…balance, with a lot of ambition to grow and with the option of playing national and international competitions, such as the Club World Cup.”
Prior to his signing with Monterrey, Ramos had been out of contract with Sevilla, playing his last game on May 26, 2024. In Mexico, he will wear the number 93, a reference to his 93rd-minute winning goal against Atlético Madrid in the 2014 UEFA Champions League final.
Sergio Ramos Goal vs Atletico Madrid UEFA Champions League Final 2014
Ramos shot to international superstardom as part of the 2008-2012 Spanish national team, considered by many to be the greatest international side of all time, winning three back-to-back championships in Europe and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He is Spain’s most capped player, representing the country internationally for 16 years throughout 180 appearances.
President Claudia Sheinbaum submitted the constitutional reforms to Congress on the 108th anniversary of the Mexican Constitution. (César Gómez/Cuartoscuro)
Last week, on the 108th anniversary of the Mexican Constitution, President Claudia Sheinbaum submitted two constitutional reforms to Congress to eliminate reelection and nepotism in all public offices.
As of today, consecutive reelection is only forbidden for the presidency and state governors.
Signs in Guerrero calling for Governor Evelyn Salgado, the daughter of Guerrero’s former governor Félix Salgado, to resign. (Dassaev Tellez/Cuartoscuro)
While Sheinbaum did not give further details about the proposals, she said that one would entail “the non-reelection to any elected office.”
The second one, she announced, mandates “that no family member may immediately succeed another in the case of an elected position” to prevent nepotism.
From Querétaro, where Mexico’s Constitution was signed in 1917, Sheinbaum celebrated the progress of those initiatives “to recover and expand the nationalist sense of the 1917 Constitution.”
En Querétaro, conmemoramos 108 años de nuestra Constitución. Hoy enviamos al Congreso dos reformas: no reelección y no al nepotismo. Somos una nación libre y soberana; reafirmamos: cooperación, sí; subordinación, no. pic.twitter.com/KPwQvkgGsK
Speaking at Querétaro’s Teatro de la República, Sheinbaum claimed that during the so-called “neoliberal period” from 1982 to 2018, the Constitution lost its social and nationalist vision. She said that nearly 500 reforms led to the privatization of public assets and natural resources, subordinating the country’s development to external interests and dismantling a significant portion of the welfare state.
The new proposals follow other initiatives like the controversial judicial reform approved days before López Obrador left office in September 2024, which subjects the election of judges and magistrates to a public vote and reduces the number of Supreme Court ministers from 11 to 9.
Other López Obrador proposals included restoring Mexico’s passenger rail system, guaranteeing government pensions for seniors and disabled Mexicans and reestablishing Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) as public companies, among others.
Joshua Greene with a sample of water purified by the constructed-wetland filter. (All photos from John Pint)
I’m sitting in the town of Casa Blanca, Jalisco, population 600, with local activist Juanita Ramírez, as we find ourselves surveying the wetlands in the area. On the floor next to me there’s a mountain of colorful ears of corn that need shelling.
Ramírez is telling me about the Santiago River, one of Mexico’s biggest, which flows just 644 meters north of the center of Casa Blanca.
Juanita Ramírez and Joshua Greene chat in Casa Blanca, a small town near Lake Chapala.
The Santiago River
“When I was a girl, we loved that river,” she relates, dreamy-eyed. “Everyone from the village went for a stroll there on Sundays. My father fished in it and that’s where I learned to swim. Yes, it’s true: I learned to swim in the Santiago River!”
Today Ramírez is 71. A generation has passed, and the Santiago now has the dubious honor of being listed among Mexico’s top four most polluted waterways.
“Today,” she says, “The river is a pestilence. It stinks! the air around it is full of flies! Not even the animals can drink its waters!”
The river is polluted by industrial waste from hundreds of factories and the raw sewage of hundreds of communities. Juanita’s town, however, is no longer among them.
Casa Blanca’s constructed wetland has been operating successfully for four years.
“It all started in 2013,” Juanita told me, “when we learned that a rock pulverizing plant was going to open right next to our town. Now in those days, I worked in Guadalajara and one of the things I loved most in life was relaxing at home on the weekend, sitting in the breeze before an open window. Now the air would be full of rock dust… Do you know what that does to your lungs?”
Healing the Santiago
Word spread and interested outsiders came to help the community of Casa Blanca in their fight. One of them was Joshua Greene, an anthropologist who also happened to be a member of an organization called Ríos Vivos.
“After a hard struggle,” Greene told me, “the people of Casa Blanca won their battle against the pulverizing plant. In the process, we had all become friends and I knew they were concerned about the fact that their sewage was going straight into the river. Unfortunately, they, like most Mexican communities, expected the government to resolve their problems.”
“‘The government is not going to help. The cavalry is not going to save you,’ I told them. They were all surprised when I suggested that they themselves could build a plant, if they were willing to.”
Locally purified bottled water from a nearby spring is sold cheaply in Casa Blanca.
Whereas successive federal administrations have built expensive sewage treatment plants all over Mexico, many of them have been shut down after a year or so because local governments couldn’t afford the cost of maintenance, much less pay the salary of a technician to run the place.
Instead of this, Joshua Greene proposed that Casa Blanca use a low-tech constructed wetland system to filter wastewater. This system consists of two parts: a large septic tank where solids can settle, followed by a flat rectangular hole a meter deep and the size of a large swimming pool, filled with lemon-sized chunks of the light volcanic rock called tezontle, ubiquitous in Mexican colonial construction.
This extremely cheap rock is brittle and filled with holes. Inside of every one of these holes live bacteria that devour human waste and break it down. This does a fairly good job of filtering raw sewage that flows into the constructed wetland. To complete the job, reeds and certain flowers are planted in the bed of tezontle. These absorb pollutants, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals, complimenting the tezontle’s work.
From the far end of the constructed wetland flows grey water that could be used for all sorts of purposes such as watering avocado trees.
Once touted as “Mexico’s Niagara,” the El Salto Falls on the Santiago River are now smelly and toxic.
Maintenance of the system requires periodical pumping out the big septic tank and regular pruning and weeding of the plants that grow in the constructed wetland.
Casa Blanca’s filtration system has been working for four years and working well. Their success has inspired nearby communities to follow suit and at the time of this writing the town of Ojo de Agua, eight kilometers away, is building its own constructed wetland. Until now this village had been pouring its sewage directly into a little cove on Lake Chapala, the same cove where they all go to fish and swim. But that is about to end.
“To help carry this out,” says Joshua Greene, “Ojo de Agua has received help from the Rotary Club of Chapala and the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation, and we soon hope to have five communities around the lake filtering their sewage through constructed wetlands.”
Greene estimates that there are 18 constructed wetlands already built in Jalisco and two more on the way. “Let’s hope,” he says, “that word will spread, and that all the rest of Mexico will follow suit.”
John Pint has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
Jalisco's sleepy yet luxurious Costalegre turned out to the perfect setting for a Chinese New Year celebration to remember. (All photos by Meagan Drillinger)
The infinity pool at Casa La Huerta, inlaid with a shimmering mosaic serpent, was the perfect place to usher in the Year of the Snake. From the hilltop terrace, Careyes spread before us in a cinematic sweep: jungle folding into cliffs, cliffs tumbling to the Pacific and somewhere down there, the promise of a ceremony that would carry us into the night. But first, we had a legend to hear.
Every year, under the soft glow of lanterns and a sky speckled with constellations, the mystics, creatives, and well-heeled devotees of Careyes gather for the Chinese New Year festival. It’s an unlikely tradition for this remote stretch of Mexico’s Costalegre, but then again, Careyes has always been a place where the unexpected thrives. The air was thick with anticipation and just the faintest wisp of incense as long-time resident Niki Trosky raised a glass and began to tell the story.
Careyes was transformed into a sea of red lanterns to welcome the new year.
According to this lore-in-the-making, the Careyens — this elusive, almost mythical tribe of artists, eccentrics and bon vivants — believe in the ritual shedding of the past to welcome the promise of the New Year. And in the Year of the Snake, the transformation is all the more potent. It’s a time of renewal, of discarding old skins, of stepping into the next great adventure with uncoiled energy. As the story concluded, a procession began, slithering down the moonlit path towards the sea.
“It is the beginning of a New Year,” said Giorgio Brignone, the son of Careyes founder Gian Franco Brignone. “The Chinese wisdom and the Chinese knowledge of the human being is an interesting story. Chinese New Year is the beginning of a cycle. It’s a renewal.”
Flaming torches led the way, casting flickering shadows on the colorful walls and bougainvillea-laced archways. We followed the hum of conversation, punctuated by the rhythmic sound of drums from somewhere ahead. And then, as we turned the final bend, the scene unfolded like a fever dream.
The beach had been transformed into a tableaux of decadence. Lanterns rocked in the breeze and long tables set with red linens stretched towards the surf. The sand glowed with the light of hundreds of flickering candles. The air carried the scent of star anise and ginger. Fire dancers twirled, their golden arcs tracing shapes against the night. A snake — larger than life, its eyes glowing — wove its way through the revelers before ultimately sitting like royalty at the head.
Right on cue, the snake appeared to welcome in the new year. (Diana Maria Navas)
Careyes is known for its parties that stretch until dawn and become the stuff of whispered legend, from DJs mixing until dawn on New Year’s Eve to Semana Santa polo matches and the art-and-music-filled bohemian beach energy of the Onda Linda festival. But this particular celebration has a certain alchemy. The blend of East and West, tradition and whimsy, structure and complete surrender, makes it wholly unique.
The tradition dates back nearly 40 years when one of Careyes residents, Andres Yanomé, asked the community founder, Gian Franco Brignone if he could bring the tradition of Chinese New Year to the beaches of Careyes. It was 1986, the Year of the Tiger, and Brignone, a Tiger himself, happily agreed. The inaugural celebration was such a hit that it carried on year after year, with elaborate pageantry and parties honoring each of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The Chinese New Year ceremonies have continued to honor the residents whose zodiac symbol is being celebrated that year with the presentation of handmade ponchos sewn by local artisans.
“It’s something special that means something for the community to get together,” Brignone added. “We are celebrating something much stronger than New Year’s Eve. We’re changing a cycle.”
Beyond the revelry, the days leading up to the festival are a whirlwind of polo tournaments, sunset dinners at private villas, and locally sourced pop-up shops selling everything from Chiapas textiles to artisanal jewelry. The people who come here — designers, musicians, spiritual seekers and the occasional member of European nobility — aren’t interested in an ordinary vacation. They’re here for magic.
Dinner might be expensive, but the environment at the Costalegre makes it worthwhile.
And magic doesn’t necessarily come cheaply. At roughly 4,400 pesos per person for the beach dinner and celebration, it’s an investment. But this year’s all-inclusive ticket encompassed a buffet-style dinner from LA-based Chef Aaron Melendrez, an open bar, and an evening full of music, fireworks, dancing and tradition.
As the clock edged towards midnight, the fireworks began. A riot of color exploded over the Pacific, reflecting in the waves. The music dials up, the snake sheds its skin, the sky erupts in color, and we all raise a glass to a changing future.
Careyes’ Chinese New Year ceremony is celebrated annually. Next year’s celebration, the Year of the Horse, will be held in mid-February 2026.
Meagan Drillinger is a New York native who has spent the past 15 years traveling around and writing about Mexico. While she’s on the road for assignments most of the time, Puerto Vallarta is her home base. Follow her travels on Instagram at @drillinjourneys or through her blog at drillinjourneys.com
