Garambullo cactus fruits are one of the native ingredients that will be highlighted by six acclaimed chefs participating in the festival. (Wikimedia Commons)
Six award-winning chefs from all corners of Mexico will bring new flavors to the state of Guanajuato’s food scene during this weekend’s Endémico Festival.
Organized by the Guanajuato Tourism Ministry (Sectur), the festival takes over the best restaurants of San Miguel de Allende, León and Guanajuato on Nov. 10 and 11. For these two nights only, the participating chefs will create special dishes featuring endemic, or native, ingredients and dishes such as prickly pear cactus fruit, pasilla chili peppers, huitlacoche, cecina and of course, tequila and mezcal.
Guanajuato Tourism Minister Juan José Álvarez Brunel (center) with culinary industry figures at the October 25 announcement of the event. (Gobierno del Estado de Guanajuato)
“During Endémico, we will show off our roots and new culinary ideas, sharing both with the invited chefs and our renowned host chefs,” Tourism Minister Juan José Álvarez Brunel said.
Invited chefs hail from nationally and internationally recognized restaurants, including Corazón de Tierra in Ensenada and Arca in Tulum. Each night of the festival is expected to offer a completely unique dining experience, as chefs will alternate kitchens and cities.
When and where is the festival?
The Endémico Festival runs from Friday, Nov. 10 through Saturday, Nov. 11.
The culinary festival will take place in the cities of León, San Miguel de Allende, and Guanajuato. (Gobierno del Estado de Guanajuato)
Participating restaurants include Trattoria Terraza, Amatxi, Comedor Tradicional Hotel Alonso 10 and Hotel Villa María Cristina, in Guanajuato city; Casa Biznaga, La Vaca Argentina, María Luisa and Argentilia, in León; and Selina Rooftop, Florios, Maura Mesa de Sal Hotel Numu and Amatte Hotel, in San Miguel de Allende.
Which Guanajuato ingredients will chefs highlight?
Some of the featured ingredients that are locally grown or cultivated include: pasilla chilis, strawberries, nopal (cactus), xoconostle (prickly pear cactus fruit), escamoles (ant caviar), agave, huitlacoche (corn smut), chilcuague (gold root), garambullo (bilberry cactus fruit) and cajeta (goat’s milk caramel).
How can I attend?
Amatte Hotel, Numu Boutique Hotel, Florios and Selina Rooftop are the San Miguel restaurants that will host Endémico. (Shutterstock)
Each restaurant will offer a unique gastronomic experience and menus will vary according to the chef.
To attend the festival, reserve a ticket in person at any of the aforementioned restaurants. The tasting menu includes four courses and a drink pairing. Dinner seating begins at 7 p.m. and tickets cost 999 pesos per diner.
A love letter to Acapulco in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Otis, through images that capture its iconic history and beauty.
Back in the 1950’s, Acapulco was known as the beach resort where Hollywood royalty escaped, reveling by night in glitzy nightclubs like Tequila a Go-Go. Elizabeth Taylor married Mike Todd there, JFK and Jackie O honeymooned, Elvis and Rita Hayworth made movies, and John Wayne and Carey Grant owned Los Flamingos, where Frank Sinatra crooned.
During the 1960s and 1970s new hotel resorts meant the foreign and Mexican middle class could afford to travel and vacation there, and the population, tourism and economy soared. More recently, Acapulco has continued to thrive as a beach destination and has reclaimed its iconic status as a hotspot for A-lister celebrities. When the city was devastated byHurricane Pauline in 1997, it recovered and bloomed again. We know that Acapulco’s community is resilient.
The famous Acapulco skyline (Credit: Civilian Scrabble, Flickr)
This photo essay aims to capture some of the glamour, style, magic and history of this treasured Mexican resort and here at MND, we encourage our readers to pitch in with the recovery effort to aid Acapulco and the state of Guerrero in its hour of need.
Acapulco Bay, 1930’s (Source; API Acapulco Port, Flickr)Jennifer Lopez alongside Reggaeton artists Wisin Y Yandel, shooting video in Acapulco (Cut the Cap Music Magazine)Quebrada cliff divers, 1960’s (Credit: Fotolia, Vilant)Eisenhower’s first visit 1959 (Credit: LIFE Mag)Entrance to the modern beauty, Encanto Hotel. (Wikimedia Commons)Fishing boats in the bay, Acapulco (Wikimedia Commons, jimmyweee)
Henrietta Weekes is a writer, editor, actor and narrator. She divides her time between San Miguel de Allende, New York and Oxford, UK.
Héctor Esrawe: a Mexico City based industrial designer that fuses furniture, interior architecture and museography into his design. (Alejandro Ramírez Orozco)
Héctor Esrawe is a Mexico City based industrial designer who fuses different trades into his design. His products range from furniture to interior architecture and museography, all created under a multidisciplinary dialogue that he has passed on to his design studio – Esrawe Estudio.
Multidisciplinarity, Esrawe Estudio and Héctor’s philosophy
Héctor Esrawe (Alejandro Ramírez Orozco)
Héctor founded Esrawe Estudio in 2003 and has operated it for almost 20 years now. Esrawe describes their design pedagogy as a “living process of dialogue, linking the users with their surroundings. It is all about feeling the evolution of design, which stems from an understanding of basic physical and emotional needs of a given moment, and in each context.”
Primarily, Esrawe Estudio is a multidisciplinary practice, fusing artisans, designers, architects, and artists together to develop furniture, interior design, exhibitions, museography, and other architectural solutions.
This seems to be what moves Héctor: being able to wander into different disciplines and stay awhile, finding spaces that can do more than simply add knowledge to his portfolio. Spaces that will stimulate his creative curiosity and nurture his work, consequently nurturing the world of design.
Héctor didn’t always know his study would be multidisciplinary but says industrial design is nothing without all of its parts. “In some ways, they are elements of curiosity that materialized and became tangible when I decided to study design. Almost a year before starting I didn’t know what I wanted to study … I found a profession that somehow incorporates all these different activities and has the possibility of visiting them all,” he explained.
Solsticio XL -XXXL. Brass with patina finish, blued steel or natural aluminum. (Alejandro Ramírez Orozco)
Variety of projects
Héctor’s creative restlessness and love for the chameleon-like nature of industrial design have led him to become involved in a variety of projects, such as design houses EWE, MASA, and VISSIO. These three aim to give a platform to Mexican collectible design. He is also a part of Xinú, a perfume brand, and Casa del Agua, which collects rainwater and filters it into alkaline drinkable water.
He described his participation in multiple projects as “discovering new muscles as I go.”
Héctor remembers when he was 18 years old and first dipped his toes into the world of industrial design. As he began to develop his creative and intellectual ambitions, he realized he was hungry for exploration.
“It’s like I opened an umbrella towards the areas that I would like to explore and these projects do that. I’ll be a businessman with Xinú. I’m an interior architect in my studio. I will explore and visit collectible editions with EWE and my limited edition collection. I’ll promote art with MASA,” he listed. “This way I come full circle from that 18 or 17-year-old kid who had the curiosity to explore all these fields, right?”
Teaching and good relationships
Héctor studied industrial design at the Universidad Iberoamericana and graduated in 1992. Five years later, he returned to be part of the faculty as a design professor. He taught from 1997 to 2003 and then became a part of CENTRO University as Design Director. He speaks positively about his time as a teacher and describes his relationship with his students.
“I broke the traditional classroom scheme… I’d bring in different people to the class, administrators, artists, and people I admire. So that [my students] would see that there was a world outside of design and that the design sector had to understand the different patterns in different professions and minds.”
He stopped teaching once his son was born, but nowadays he still teaches workshops and speaks at conferences.
When discussing feelings of success in his career, Héctor talks about the importance of the people he surrounded himself with as he first embarked on his professional career.
“I have been very fortunate about the people I have encountered along the way in my creative path. On a creativity level, at a learning level, at a mental level, and even in understanding what I did not want to do,” he explained.
Gear side table. Cast polished bronze or cast aluminum with patina finish. (Alejandro Ramírez Orozco)
First career steps and Mexican identity
Growing up in Mexico has influenced the way he understands the world of design and his work within it immensely. Aside from the highly stimulating Mexico City, which he called his “emotional axis” and his “creative platform,” Héctor is drawn to the craftsmanship and mastery of Mexican artisans.
“This is where my work has located itself,” he explained. “With this admiration towards artisan dexterity and the understanding of generating new languages and new possibilities. (…) With the profound heritage we have, and profound I mean not only in the level of what we recognize, what is seen and sometimes even a little stereotyped.”
“There is a dexterity and artistic depth that we still have much to learn from,” he said.
After graduating from UIA, he founded a small design firm called DIMO alongside a friend.
“It was one of the first Mexican high-design stores. (…) It had a special dynamic because people weren’t used to consuming design, especially not Mexican design. There was a series of judgments around what could be done or what could be achieved,” he said. “There was an ignorance, in some cases even a dislike or disdain for things that were made here.”
When asked how Mexican identity fits within his work, Héctor answered: “What I do is Mexican because a Mexican does it. I’m not looking to indulge in the expected expression of mexicanidad which comes from a stereotype. For me, what I take from mexicanidad has to do with the techniques I use, the material, the trade, and the dexterity. I search to transform the expression and to generate new possibilities that stem from those characteristics.”
Héctor’s pride and legacy
Recently, Héctor has transitioned towards limited edition collections. These works are what he is most proud of at the moment, and he enjoys the change of pace. “I wanted to focus on closer contact, changing the velocity in doing things more one-on-one, more personal,” he said, underscoring his need to connect with his design on a more intimate level.
Thanks to this creative shift, he recently signed a contract with a New York gallery to exhibit his limited collection in March. He intimated that it’s especially exciting as it’s a gallery that was on his list of places where he “one day aspired to exhibit his work.”
“I’ll tell you how it goes!” he told us excitedly.
When it comes to his legacy, Héctor seems unbothered. “I honestly don’t have that ambition,” he said. “I think the challenge I had when I was an 18-year-old kid was I didn’t understand why we got design from all over the world but there was no Mexican design in the world. And my goal was to… put the voice of Mexican design out there. I think it’s [a goal] that will always continue to be. … It’s not my epitaph, and it’s not what defines me, really.”
“Maybe what defines me is perseverance, the non-conformism, the not assuming. But I don’t have the ambition to be remembered. My ambition is to keep opening that door, and the excitement of what I’m doing while I’m alive,” he concluded.
Montserrat Castro Gómez is a freelance writer and translator from Querétaro, México.
Samuel García's request for leave from his position as Nuevo León governor was approved in late October, and he says he will formally register for the 2024 nomination on Sunday. (Samuel García/X)
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García said Monday that he will formally register his intention to seek the 2024 presidential election nomination of the Citizens Movement (MC) party this Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in Guadalajara, García also said he was considering launching his presidential “pre-campaign” in the Jalisco capital, where fellow MC Governor Enrique Alfaro is in office.
Governor of Jalisco Enrique Alfaro (left) with Samuel García at the former’s fifth annual report in Guadalajara. (Samuel García/X)
He said that Alfaro – who presented his fifth annual report on Monday – gave him “the great idea” of launching his pre-campaign in Guadalajara on Nov. 20.
“I’m going to speak with [Guadalajara mayor and gubernatorial aspirant] Pablo Lemus and the [MC] team in Jalisco to see whether we’ll decide to open the presidential pre-campaign here in Guadalajara,” the governor said.
García, whose request to take six months leave as governor to contest the presidential election was approved by Congress in late October, said he didn’t know whether former foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard intended to seek the MC presidential candidacy. Ebrard finished second to Claudia Sheinbaum in the ruling Morena party’s candidate selection process, and was recently cited as an “external” option for MC by MC leader Dante Delgado.
“I don’t know what Marcelo’s going to do. … The idea is that I’m going to register as the sole pre-candidate and then tour all of Mexico” García said.
The runner-up in the contest to represent Morena in 2024, Marcelo Ebrard, may decide to compete against García for the Citizens Movement nomination. (Gob MX)
“Mexico is many Mexicos. I want to get to know the country, find out what is needed and contribute all we have from our experience in Nuevo León for a new Mexico,” he said.
Poll results currently indicate that Sheinbaum will win the June 2, 2024 election, but both Gálvez and the Nuevo León governor have expressed confidence that they have what it takes to win over the Mexican people.
“Soon, very soon, I will be the favorite candidate of Mexicans,” García said in an X post directed to Gálvez last Friday. “This is just starting,” he added.
Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite internet company, appears to have won a multi-million dollar contract from Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). (Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock)
Elon Musk’s interest in Mexico isn’t limited to building a Tesla gigafactory in Nuevo León.
Starlink, the satellite internet service of Musk’s spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX, has been operating in Mexico for some time, and now appears to have a lucrative contract with the federal government to provide connectivity in rural areas of the country, according to Reuters.
Part of Starlink’s chain of 1,000 satellites visible in the night sky. (Archive)
Starlink on Oct. 18 won a tender from the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to provide internet services through December 2026, the news agency said on Monday. Its reporting was based on a draft contract and another CFE document it saw.
The value of the contract is between 887.5 million pesos (US $50.6 million) and 1.77 billion pesos (US $101.3 million), Reuters said.
A bid made by Starlink beat those of two other companies because it “offered the best conditions in terms of price,” the CFE document said.
According to the draft contract, Starlink’s obligation is to provide infrastructure for CFE’s rollout of internet access in rural Mexico. President López Obrador has made the provision of internet connectivity in isolated areas a priority of his administration.
The agreement between Starlink and the CFE began last month and concludes Dec. 31, according to the draft contract which was slated to be formalized on Oct. 20. Reuters said that neither a representative for the internet service nor the CFE immediately responded to its inquiries as to whether the contract had indeed begun.
Starlink has already collaborated with the Mexican company GlobalSat on the delivery of internet services to residents of rural areas. The latter has won two CFE contracts and has been using Starlink antennas since February.
Musk, the world’s richest person, announced in March that Tesla would build a large electric vehicle plant – a gigafactory – in Santa Catarina, a municipality just west of Monterrey that borders Coahuila.
He confirmed last month that the plant would be built, but indicated that he was hesitant to “go full tilt” on the project due to current global economic conditions and uncertainty.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García said in September that Tesla and its suppliers would invest US $15 billion in the northern state, with about $10 billion of that amount expected to go to the gigafactory.
Volkswagen saw a 100% increase in sales over October 2022, as Mexico recorded a 16th consecutive month of year-on-year growth. (Volkswagen México)
More than 110,000 new cars were sold in Mexico in October, the strongest performance for that month since 2018.
The 112,261 light vehicles sold on the domestic market was a 12.2% increase over October 2022. It brought total sales so far this year to nearly 1.1 million, according to data from the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry and the national statistics agency INEGI.
The arrival of Chinese brands, including JAC, has bolstered the domestic market in Mexico. (JAC)
Despite this growth, October’s sales were down 4.9% from September, and slightly below estimates by the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA).
However, AMDA president Guillermo Rosales said that this was partly due to Mitsubishi having yet to release sales figures for the month and that AMDA expects these gaps to shorten once these are included.
Industry experts also noted that October’s car sales were up 4.8% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019, and marked 16 consecutive months of year-on-year increases. Total national automobile sales for 2023 are expected to reach 1.3 million.
The industry hit a peak in 2016, but declined for several years afterwards, exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent supply chain disruption.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike in the United States has adversely affected the Mexican autopart industry – although sales of new cars have not declined . (UAW/X)
Since 2021, however, domestic car sales have been recovering steadily, boosted by the strong performance of Mexico’s automotive industry and the arrival of affordable, new Chinese brands to the market.
Despite inroads by new manufacturers, traditional brands Nissan, General Motors and Volkswagen still lead the way as Mexico’s most popular brands, accounting for around 41% of total light vehicle sales.
Volkswagen showed particularly strong growth, increasing its sales by more than 100% from October 2022, according to the AMDA.
While the strike by auto workers in the United States does not appear to be affecting car sales in the Mexican market, it is having an impact on the auto parts manufacturing sector, with order losses of up to US $780 million.
With the conclusion of this year's Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Mexico has finished third overall, with a record medal haul. (Cuartoscuro)
For the second straight Pan American Games, Mexico finished in third place behind the United States and Brazil — but this year the Mexicans did it with a team record of 52 gold medals.
The 19th edition of the games, a huge, quadrennial competition for nations in the Americas the year before the Summer Olympics, concluded on Sunday in Santiago, Chile.
Mexico’s artistic swimming team won gold at the games. (Conade/X)
Over 18 days, Mexico stood out like never before, relying on a mix of veteran and young athletes to get the job done, with eight gold medals in diving and six in taekwondo.
Its contingent of 475 athletes in 35 sports tied Mexico’s best overall showing ever, matching third-place finishes in Mexico City in 1955 and at the previous games in Lima, Peru in 2019.
And with its 52 gold medals, Mexico easily broke its previous high of 42 in the 2011 games in Guadalajara.
With the team standings based on the number of gold medals, Mexico was behind only 17-time winner United States (124) and Brazil (66), and ahead of some nations it has often finished behind: Canada (46), Cuba (30) and Argentina (17). In all, nearly 7,000 athletes from 41 nations competed.
Mexico took home a total of 142 medals from the Pan American Games this year. (Conade/X)
In total, Mexico ended up with 142 medals – 52 gold, 38 silver and 52 bronze. The United States had 286 total and Brazil 205.
Before the competition, officials with Mexico’s National Commission of Physical Culture and Sports (Conade) and the Mexican Olympic Committee (COM) had predicted around 33 gold medals for Mexico’s relatively young and untested delegation.
“It’s very nice to be part of this historic performance,” said Alejandra Valencia, who won three gold medals in archery. “It’s great preparation for many, and it helps us get to the Olympic Games in great shape.”
The Summer Olympics are scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 11, 2024 in Paris.
Mexico’s women’s soccer team beat Chile, winning a gold medal. (Conade/X)
Highlights for Mexico in Chile included a gold medal in women’s soccer, with Rebeca Bernal scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over the host team in the final. Bernal, 26, plays for CF Monterrey in the Liga MX Femenil.
Mexico also pulled off an upset in the semifinals, beating Argentina 2-0 on a pair of goals by Lizbeth Ovalle, a 24-year-old midfielder from Aguascalientes who plays for Tigres UANL in the Mexican women’s pro league.
Another highlight for Mexico was its gold medal in artistic swimming (formerly synchronized swimming), won by a mere 0.6638 points over the United States. Mexico also qualified for the Paris Games, which one player called “a dream that we have pursued for years.”
Texas-born pro golfer Abraham Ancer, 32 took gold in golf. (Conade/X)
Also for Mexico, Texas-born pro golfer Abraham Ancer, 32, won the gold, 34-year-old racquetball player Paola Longoria won the 11th PanAm gold of her career, and Beatriz Briones and Karina Alanís won the 500 meters in tandem canoeing. In the bronze medal match in men’s soccer, Mexico beat the United States 4-1.
Military helicopters search for bodies in Acapulco Bay on Nov. 2. Relatives of hundreds of people who were at sea when the hurricane hit say their loved ones are still missing. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro.com)
The recovery from Hurricane Otis, which devastated Acapulco when it made landfall on the Guerrero coast on Oct. 25, was a dominant topic at President López Obrador’s morning press conference on Monday. Here’s what you need to know.
100 people dead or missing
There are 100 dead or missing as a result of the storm according to the government. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
López Obrador said that the confirmed number of hurricane fatalities was 47, with 53 additional people classified as missing.
The death toll is one fewer than the number reported by the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office (FGE) on Sunday. López Obrador didn’t explain the reason for the discrepancy.
The FGE said Sunday that the body of a young girl, Angelly “N,” had been found in a community near Acapulco after an “exhaustive” search, and thus increased its death toll to 48.
One of the leaders of a group of Acapulco residents who departed the city on Sunday to travel to Mexico City to protest the government’s disaster response claims that authorities are not acknowledging the true human toll of the hurricane.
Ramiro Solorio, leader of the PAN political party in Guerrero, also helped lead the Mexico City march to demand more disaster relief resources. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro.com)
“The government wants to minimize the tragedy and hide the number of deaths, missing people and victims,” said Ramiro Solorio, who has been active in local politics in Acapulco for years.
According to the El País newspaper, doctors have said that many hurricane-related deaths at hospitals haven’t been included in the official death toll, while the relatives of hundreds of people who were at sea when Otis made landfall say they are unaccounted for.
Government aid reaching residents
López Obrador said that an average of 40,000 food packages are being distributed on a daily basis to residents of Acapulco and the neighboring municipality of Coyuca de Benítez.
A Welfare Ministry agent works with a homeowner to quantify damages left by Hurricane Otis. (Facebook/Secretaría de Bienestar)
He also said that 50,000 hot meals are being served every day at community kitchens set up by the military. The distribution of 250,000 packages of household goods, including a bed, a stove and a fridge, has begun, López Obrador told reporters.
The government announced a 20-point recovery plan for Acapulco and Coyuca de Benítez last Wednesday.
Damage census continues
López Obrador said that the Welfare Ministry had visited 172,102 homes to assess damage as of Sunday night.
According to the recovery plan, all households will receive 8,000 pesos (about US $450) to purchase paint and cleaning supplies. Owners of houses that were damaged by the hurricane will receive an additional 35,000-60,000 pesos depending on the severity of the damage.
At least 35 Acapulco hotels to reopen by March or April
Hurricane Otis damaged around 80% of Acapulco’s many hotels. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
“We’re going to make a joint effort so that at least 35 hotels are operating by March or April of next year,” López Obrador said a day after holding discussions with Acapulco hoteliers.
The reopening of the hotels will allow the 2024 Tianguis Turístico — Mexico’s largest tourism trade fair — to go ahead in Acapulco next April.
López Obrador said that Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest person and the owner of the Calinda Beach Hotel, is among the Acapulco hoteliers who committed to reopening by April. He also praised Slim for the assistance he has provided in the wake of the disaster.
Approximately 80% of Acapulco hotels sustained damage when Otis made landfall as a Category 5 storm in the early hours of Oct. 25. The repair bill is likely to be in the billions of dollars.
Some hotels are set to open much sooner. López Obrador said that the owner of the Las Brisas Hotel is expecting to have 75% of rooms open in December.
José Medina Mora, president of the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex), said last week that the organization he heads will help tourism sector workers find temporary jobs in other destinations around the country.
Destroyed yachts in Acapulco Marina. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
With luck, a good number will be back working in Acapulco during Semana Santa, the week leading up to Easter Sunday, which is March 24-30 next year.
Declaring a disaster in 47 Guerrero municipalities was a “mistake”
“There was a mistake, the [national] Civil Protection coordinator accepted it,” López Obrador told reporters.
A notice appeared in the federal government’s official gazette last Thursday to formally make a “natural disaster declaration” in 47 Guerrero municipalities. However, a “clarifying note” was subsequently published, reducing the number of severely affected municipalities to two.
López Obrador said Monday that only Acapulco and Coyuca de Benítez qualified as disaster zones.
“The hurricane basically [affected] these two municipalities,” he said.
The president reported that military-run community kitchens are providing 50,000 hot meals a day in Acapulco (Facebook/Sedena.
López Obrador reiterated that “there is no limit” to the amount of money the government will spend to support victims and “rebuild economic and tourism activity” in Acapulco.
The government plan outlined last week has a 61.3-billion-peso (US $3.5 billion) budget, but Coparmex said last week that it believes between 200 and 300 billion pesos will be required.
A strong security presence
López Obrador noted that 20,000 soldiers, marines and National Guard officers remain on the ground in coastal Guerrero, where they are assisting the recovery efforts and providing security.
The number of National Guard personnel permanently deployed to Acapulco is set to double to 10,000. The resort city — described by The Washington Post as Mexico’s murder capital in 2017 — has been plagued by crime and violence in recent years.
Looting was a widespread problem during the first days after Otis hit Acapulco, but the situation has improved, and some of the city’s restaurants and bars reopened over the weekend.
Mérida, the two-time winner of the American Capital of Culture award, offers a rich history and delicious Yucatecan cuisine. But there are also beautiful beaches nearby. (Canva)
The captivating “White City” is on its way to becoming a top tourist destination for a sunny seaside vacation in 2023. A two-time winner of the American Capital of Culture award, Mérida attracts millions of visitors with its rich history, unique architecture and delicious Yucatecan cuisine. The city is also a perfect base for exploring nearby cenotesand ancient Maya ruins.
While Mérida is not on the sea, it is the central travel hub for southeast Mexico, with gorgeous white sand beaches close by. The phrase “Mexican beach destination” may bring to mind images of Playa del Carmen, Cancun, or Tulum along the Caribbean coast, but the Yucatán seaside has plenty to offer too.
Much of the state’s coastline is considered a designated nature reserve, with plenty of flora and fauna to keep nature lovers interested. A warm climate and calm waters make the beaches on this list safe and enjoyable for all ages. In this article, we aim to shed light on the underappreciated treasures of the beaches near Mérida and why they’re definitely worth a visit.
Pig Beach
More than just a beach, this is a sanctuary where the smallest beachgoers reign supreme. Just 31 miles from Mérida, Pig Beach is a secluded paradise home to a unique and utterly charming community of pygmy pigs. These miniature swine have carved out their niche in this coastal haven, becoming the unexpected stars of this stretch of shoreline.
As you set foot on Pig Beach, you’ll quickly discover that its residents are more than happy to become your beachside companions. The pygmy pigs have an innate charisma, and seem to revel in the attention of beachgoers. Their curiosity and playfulness make them the ideal subjects for those Instagram-worthy selfies that capture the magic of the moment.
Progreso Beach offers visitors a delightful escape from the bustling city. Its long and welcoming boardwalk, known as the Malecón, is one of its defining features. (Canva)
Progreso
Less than a 30-minute drive from Mérida, this is one of the most popular beach destinations in the region. Progreso Beach offers visitors a delightful escape from the bustling city. Its long and welcoming boardwalk, known as the Malecón, is one of its defining features. Strolling along this picturesque promenade, you’ll find a myriad of restaurants, cafes and shops where you can savor the local cuisine or pick up souvenirs. The beach boasts white sands that stretch as far as the eye can see, creating a tranquil environment perfect for sunbathing or leisurely beachcombing.
San Crisanto
San Crisanto’s tranquility is all the more enhanced by its lack of large-scale tourism infrastructure. Whereas some basic amenities exist, you won’t find the crowds and commercial development that characterize more well-known beach destinations. This makes San Crisanto a haven for those who appreciate unspoiled natural beauty.
The charming fishing village is just a little over an hour’s drive from Mérida and is the perfect place to get away from it all. If you’re looking for an even more rustic experience, you can rent a cabin perched right on the seashore or dedicated camping area to immerse yourself in the beauty of the coast overnight.
The town’s main attraction is its American flamingo population – the only one of its kind in mainland North America – which has chosen the Celestún estuary as a feeding and resting point. (Canva)
Celestún
The perfect dose of luxury and wildlife awaits in this eco-tourism wonderland an hour and a half away from Mérida. The town’s extraordinary landscape is part of the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve World, a protected area of 59,139 hectares that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Celestún also has a wide selection of hotels and beachfront restaurants where you can sample fresh seafood and traditional Yucatecan cuisine.
The town’s main attraction is its American flamingo population – the only one of its kind in mainland North America – which has chosen the Celestún estuary as a feeding and resting point. Celestún’s flamingos are said to be the pinkest in the world: locals say that their waters have a remarkable concentration of carotene, the pigment that turns the birds pink. You can catch a glimpse of these charismatic birds in their natural ecosystem by booking a boat tour with a local guide.
Sisal
Steeped in history and pirate lore, this beach village 38 miles from Mérida is a captivating step back in time. The iconic Sisal Fort, located opposite the town park, was built by the Spanish to monitor and protect the peninsular coast from pirate attacks at the end of the 16th century. In 1845, a three-meter-high lighthouse was built on its roof, giving the fort a quaint touch.
While the pirate days are long gone, the beach’s beauty remains, making Sisal a place where history and nature come together. The town lies within a unique biosphere, the El Palmar reserve, which covers almost 48,000 hectares and is home to hundreds of species of birds and aquatic life, including crocodiles, migrating ducks from Canada and flamingos.
Yucatán’s beaches offer an enticing variety of options, each with its own unique charm. Whether you’re looking for relaxation, wildlife encounters, or a step back in time, Yucatán’s coastal paradises have something for everyone. When planning your visit to the Yucatán, be sure to explore these nearby gems, just an hour and a half or less from Mérida. With its sunny climate and broad range of options, Yucatán promises an unforgettable beach vacation in 2023.
Restaurants are slowly reopening in the city, after Hurricane Otis caused widespread destruction eleven days ago. (Juan Becerra Acosta/X)
Twelve days after Hurricane Otis devastated the Pacific resort town of Acapulco, bar and restaurant owners are reopening their doors.
Although they admitted to local media that business has been slow, both owners and staff expressed their determination to bring life back to Acapulco’s once-thriving tourism scene.
Before the arrival of the hurricane, Acapulco was a thriving tourist destination. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/X)
“Acapulco is a place of celebration, where [many] generations have had a great time, and we cannot let it be like a cemetery,” Martín Andrade, legal representative of several local bars, told El Universal newspaper. “We have to get back up and put our heart into it.”
Hurricane Otishit Acapulco as a Category 5 hurricane on Oct. 25, surprising forecasters by strengthening rapidly over 12 hours from a tropical storm to the strongest hurricane to ever hit the Mexican Pacific coastline. It caused an estimated US$15 billion in damage throughout the city of 1 million, cut all power supply and communications and leftaround 100 people dead or missing.
Electricity and water services were finally restored to the region late last week, encouraging some businesses to start offering basic menus, drinks and music again.
“The staff have already been out of work for more than a week and need to generate some kind of income from their day-to-day employment, since there has been little support from authorities,” Andrade said.
Rallies in support of Acapulco’s reconstruction have taken place in Mexico City. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
“It’s very difficult for the population to get food…but people need to earn something to buy what they can,” he added.
In the small town of Coyuca de Benítez, considered the second most affected by the hurricane and located just west of Acapulco, businesses were also starting to reopen over the weekend.
Residents who spoke to local media praised the community for its positive reaction to the disaster, and for not giving into the looting that was seen in some parts of Acapulco.
“We had a few days of chaos, but now everything is returning to normal,” one business owner told Excelsior newspaper. “We kept our composure, we lined up to buy tortillas, to buy rice… the idea was that everyone would get some, that we would not be left with a shortage.”
A huge community effort has helped some measure of normality to return to life in Acapulco and neighboring Coyoca de Benítez. (Jose Andres/X)
Business owners echoed those in Acapulco who said that reopening was essential to restoring their livelihoods.
“The economy has to be reactivated on its own initiative because there is no other way to get ahead, here, those who work have enough to eat and those who don’t will be forgotten by government aid,” one restaurant owner said.
While the Red Cross and military have been distributing basic supplies in the region, President López Obrador has been criticized for his administration’s response to the disaster, and for a recovery budget that is deemed inadequate.
But despite the tragedy, Acapulco is determined to come out smiling. “Acapulco is a party and we need you to have fun tonight and forget about everything we’ve been through,” the singer of the group Descarga told a small audience at the weekend. “Acapulco will shine again, thanks to you.”
