Cold front 19, the latest to hit Mexico, will bring precipitation and cold temperatures to northern and central Mexico. (CRISANTA ESPINOSA AGUILAR /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Cold front 19 will bring heavy precipitation to much of Mexico over the next few days, with snow forecast in high-altitude areas of the north and heavy rains in the south and center regions of the country.
According to theNational Meteorological Service (SMN), the mass of cold air is moving over the north and east of the country this Tuesday, interacting with subtropical low-pressure bands at its southern edge to bring very heavy rains (50-75mm) to Campeche, Chiapas, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán.
While the front will move across the center of the country, all of Mexico will be affected by the winter weather. (SMN)
Heavy rains (25-50mm) are also predicted for México state, Colima, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí; scattered showers are likely in Mexico City, Morelos, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Nayarit and Nuevo León.
The SMN warns that the heaviest rains could be accompanied by hail, lightning and strong winds, and may cause flooding in low-lying areas.
Meanwhile, the cold front will cause snow and freezing fog across mountainous areas of the north, particularly in the states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora, where temperatures could drop as low as -10 degrees Celsius. Temperatures around freezing are also predicted for high-altitude areas across the center and north of Mexico, with snowfall on peaks over 4,200 meters, such as Nevado de Toluca and Popocatépetl.
Wind gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour and waves 1-3 meters high are predicted for the Gulf of California, with potential tornado formation in most of Mexico’s western and central states.
Veracruz, which has already seen strong weather this winter, is set for high seas and large waves as as result of Cold Front 19. (Victoria Razo/Cuartoscuro)
Meanwhile, higher temperatures are predicted for the south of the country, with maximums of 40 degrees Celsius on the coasts of Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán and Oaxaca, and 35 degrees Celsius in Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán.
TheSMN predicts that similar conditions will continue over at least the next three days, with the “northerly event” in the northwest extending south and east to bring strong winds and high seas to the coasts of Tamaulipas and Veracruz and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
By Thursday, wind gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour and waves 1-3 meters high are predicted to develop around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and gusts of up to 50 kilometers per hour are forecast on the coasts of Tamaulipas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
Similar conditions seem likely to continue over the first days of the new year, as cold front 20 slowly advances over the northern Gulf of Mexico.
An estimated 6,000 migrants departed Tapachula on Christmas Eve, as a new caravan took its first steps towards the U.S.-Mexico border. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
A newly formed migrant caravan composed of an estimated 6,000 people spent Christmas Day marching seven hours under the hot sun, just north of the Mexico-Guatemala border.
Temperatures were above 30 degrees Celsius as the caravan members walked approximately 30 kilometers, heading towards the U.S.-Mexico border some 2,500 kilometers away.
With no proper shelter available, migrants had to sleep where they could. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
The caravan is reportedly the largest of this year, composed mostly of Central Americans, Venezuelans and Cubans. Some media outlets reported its total to be 7,000 people, while others said 8,000.
Its formation near Mexico’s southern border came just days before a high-level delegation including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials is due to meet in Mexico City with President López Obrador to address migration challenges and hammer out new agreements.
The sprawling caravan departed from the city of Tapachula, Chiapas, on Sunday morning with a 13-mile walk to the nearby ejido (communal property) of Álvaro Obregón.
Though it was Christmas Eve, there were no celebrations, gifts or family dinners. Instead, several thousand adults and kids hunkered down in a park, which was at least decorated for Christmas. Some set up tents; others slept where they could.
Some caravan members had their own food, such as Fanny Rivas, who made ham-and-cheese sandwiches for her husband and their 6-year-old, 2-year-old and 4-month-old.
Others received sandwiches and bananas from a Catholic church and local residents, and some children were lucky enough to get chicken to eat.
Many woke at dawn on Christmas Day to continue the journey northward.
Many of those on the long march north are young children. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
“It has been a horrible Christmas,” said Bertha del Cid, 32, of Honduras, to a reporter from newspaper La Jornada, while pushing her 3-year-old son in a stroller. “I have slept on the street. I have no money. It has been horrible,” she added, on the verge of tears.
In the space of two days, the group covered more than 40 kilometers, reaching Huixtla, Chiapas, where many spent Christmas night on a sports field.
It was a Christmas “like we have never spent,” said Honduran Karla Ramírez, who is traveling with 18 family members, including four minors. She did acknowledge that attempting the long walk to the U.S border was their choice.
“It is what we have to do” to get a better life, added Venezuelan Eduviges Arias. “This is an opportunity for us.”
Local police and the National Guard followed the group’s advance without intervening.
At the U.S.-Mexico border this month, U.S. authorities have recorded up to 10,000 illegal crossings on some days, leading to temporary closures at some crossings.
This year Mexico News Daily presented some interior designers who are creative, innovative and positioning themselves and their businesses all over Mexico.
Here is a list of our top three designers who you need to check out for your 2024 interior renovation project.
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 designs. 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.
Karima Dipp has opened three design store locations in San Miguel de Allende under the name Atemporal. This embodies Dipp’s approach, focusing on “all that is eternal and transcends time” when working on the design of a home interior. Karima’s work is celebrated for crossing cultural boundaries by collaborating with a diversity of artists, integrating design elements from Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Jeffry Weisman and Andrew Fisher of Fisher Weisman never expected Mexico to ignite their artistic and business pursuits to the level they have reached. Discover their inspirational expat story and work in our expanded video coverage, with an inside look into their exotic design world.
Fisher Weisman gallery space, showcasing design, Andrew’s fine art and jewelry (Courtesy: Erik Zavala)
RA diseño+arquitectura, founded by sisters Paola and Karla Rodríguez Arango, has gained recognition and industry accolades, having completed around 180 projects consisting of homes and apartments, restaurants, spas and other commercial projects for both Mexicans and foreigners.
Project Acapulco by RA diseño+arquitectura. (Courtesy)
Their work has expanded from Mexico City to Puebla, Cuernavaca, Valle de Bravo, Toluca, Acapulco, Querétaro, Morelia, San Miguel de Allende, León, Guadalajara, Mérida, Tulúm, Puerto Escondido and San Luis Potosí, and always reflects the regional environment, culture and work of the local artisans.
But how did this story of female success in a male-dominated environment begin?
The recreational yacht Bonanza is back in service, after two months at anchor following the destructive fallout from Hurricane Otis in October. (Carlos Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
The recreational yacht Bonanza resumed offering tours of the area of La Quebrada, Acapulco after being anchored for two months. The 410-passenger Bonanza was the only traditional yacht to survive Hurricane Otis, the Category 5 storm that devastated Acapulco and sank hundreds of boats in the surrounding waters.
The Bonanza gave two tours on Saturday, returning to its daily itinerary of sunset and twilight trips around Acapulco Bay. It will also offer a special tour to celebrate the New Year.
The Bonanza will take sightseers to see the world-famous cliff divers at La Quebrada. (clavadistaslaquebrada.com)
Before departing from the Paseo del Pescador on Saturday, the yacht received the blessing of Father Agustín Arvizon, who blessed the vessel with holy water in an onboard Mass before sending it off with its first passengers.
“This was a very complicated situation due to the damages the vessel suffered, but today, we are [again] at work to serve our visitors during this vacation season,” said Irma Reyes Tinoco, accountant for the Bonanza.
Reyes Tinoco also drew attention to the fact that the boat’s reconstruction was a team effort by its employees and operators, and that it was financed by private investment.
Most of the boats at anchor in Acapulco were destroyed by Hurricane Otis. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
“We had a very difficult time these past two months, but thanks to the provisions provided by the government, we were able to survive,” said employee Juan Carlos Palotzin during the inauguration on Saturday. The Bonanza provides direct employment to 60 people.
Recreational boat tours in Acapulco had already endured a slow recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bonanza was one of only two boat tours still operating before Hurricane Otis made landfall on Oct. 25.
The hurricane sank recreational yacht Acarey with 20 crew members on board, all of whom perished. The magazine Proceso reported that the boat’s owner obliged the crew to remain aboard the Acarey despite knowing that Hurricane Otis had reached Category 5 status. The Bonanza had eight employees on board the night that Hurricane Otis hit Acapulco, but all survived.
Acapulco saw a welcome return of tourists over the Christmas holiday, and is prepared to put on its annual fireworks show on New Year’s Eve.
While old standbys should always be on the list when visiting Mexico City, this vast metropolis is teeming with new projects that delight all the senses. 2023, like most years, has brought with it newly minted hotels, shiny new dining rooms, unforgettable cocktails and even a new museum dedicated to one of the city’s most famous architects.
A few very nice hotel options opened in Mexico City this year including two that we covered in a more extensive piece: Volga and a revamp of what is now the Hotel San Fernando in Condesa. Volga’s ambiance is more for the young, jet-setting crowd, with dance music pumped through the sound system and a hip rooftop hang space where you can have a drink and get a breathtaking view of the city. Once inside the sleek black marble and earth-toned rooms, however, you can easily leave the party behind and chill. Formerly a ho-hum hotel in a gorgeous Art Deco building, the Hotel San Fernando was revamped this year into adorable home-away-from-home apartments with a great bar downstairs and breezy rooftop patio just steps from Parque México in Colonia Condesa.
Colima 71
Colima 71 is now one of the few hotels with over a dozen rooms in the heart of the Roma. Located in a building redesigned by Alberto Kalach, best known as the architect of the José Vasconcelos Library, its rooms are more spacious than you’d expect in a former elementary school – almost every category has a small outdoor patio or balcony. An all-day barista will keep you fueled in the main lobby if you want to work, or you can take advantage of the honor bar for an end-of-the-day mezcal or whiskey. If you are a member of SoHo House you were probably particularly excited this year when they opened up their first location in Latin America in a Baroque mansion in Colonia Juárez with a luxurious pool and tequila bar for the kind of high-society socializing that the brand is known for.
This city’s food and drink scene is an ever-evolving landscape of locations – the good ones stick around and the others are usually sloughed off pretty quickly. Any list is only the tip of the iceberg and of course very subjective. But here’s one anyway. The city can always use more good pizza, so I was happy to see the folks from the restaurant Sartoria open Pizzeria della Madonna. Located in Roma Norte, the pizzeria works with a wood-fired oven and serves interesting pie combinations like mushroom ragu with artichokes, black olives and Italian ham or black and white truffle cream, guanciale and cacio e pepe cream. As you can expect from its owners, who also own wine bar Bottega next door, Pizzeria della Madonna has an extensive international wine list. The restaurant’s casual but hip ambiance makes it a great date night spot.
If you hanker for an excellent bagel with lox or made-from-scratch pastrami sandwiches, Mendl Delicatessen opened this year to much fanfare and with a throwback décor reminiscent of the delis of old. In a similar nostalgic vein, the team from restaurant Cicatriz opened Ojo Rojo Diner this year, complete with swivel bar stools and 1950s-inspired mint green decor. The Patty Smith Melt is divine and you won’t find another root beer float in the entire city. Blaxicocina in Narvarte has brought soul food to Mexico City, with a fried chicken and chorizo hash with ancho-corn cream sauce that beautifully represents the Southern-meets-Mexican flavors on the menu.
For libations, NIV wine bar popped up in March with an extensive list of top-quality wine from around the world and small plates like hummus and mixed olives that will keep you fueled through a few good bottles. Winning a spot on this year’s 50 Best Bars in North America list was newcomer Rayo Bar, which opened its buzzy, modern rooftop bar this past spring. They serve some of the city’s most interesting and solidly Mexican cocktails with a well-rounded list of local spirits that go beyond just mezcal and tequila. Rayo incorporates endemic flavors like palo santo, guava and hoja santa bitters in its list of ten handcrafted cocktails that you can taste before you order from glass stopper bottles that arrive at your table along with a small welcome snack.
There’s much more to the city than just eating, drinking and sleeping on high thread count sheets though. This year saw the opening of the Casa Museo Pedro Ramírez, which honors the late, great architect of the Museum of Anthropology, the Estadio Azteca and the New Basilica of Guadalupe with a tour through his former home, a look at the plans and documents he used to create his masterpieces and a peek into his daily life.
The Yayem travel brand, which started as an app for exploring local haunts and hangouts around the world, opened a coworking space in a stunning Colonia Roma mansion that makes going to work every day a pleasure. The space hosts mezcal tastings, taco tours and other activities for its members and non-members alike. Finally, the new Bomboti shop and gallery in Polanco is the combined effort of a local interior design firm and visual artist for Mexican-made art or household goods. It has a vast collection of luxury ceramics, local and international fashion and decadent design pieces for yourself or a lucky recipient.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.
Mexican workers will enjoy a bumper twelve national holiday days in 2024, thanks to the upcoming presidential elections. (Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock)
Mexican workers will enjoy nine public holidays and up to five unofficial holidays in 2024, thanks to the extra two days’ leave for the elections in June and transfer of power in October.
Mexico normally celebrates seven official public holidays per year, which are treated as mandatory rest days in the Federal Labor Law. Anyone who works on these days must be paid a double wage. In 2024, these days will be celebrated on:
Monday Jan. 1: New Year’s Day
Monday Feb. 5: Anniversary of the 1917 Constitution
Monday Mar. 18: Birthday of President Benito Juárez
Wednesday May 1: International Workers’ Day
Monday Sep. 16: Independence Day
Monday Nov. 18: Mexican Revolution Day
Wednesday Dec. 25: Christmas Day
Additionally, Sunday, June 2 will also be treated as a mandatory rest day for federal and local elections, as will Tuesday, Oct. 1, for the Transfer of Federal Executive Power, when the new president will be inaugurated.
Children across Mexico will return to school on January 8, 2024. (José Vargas/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico also celebrates an additional five unofficial holidays, which some companies, banks and public universities choose to give their employees and students as days off. In 2024, these dates will be:
Thursday Mar. 28 and Friday Mar. 29: Easter Thursday and Good Friday
Friday May 10: Mothers’ Day
Saturday Nov. 2: Day of the Dead
Thursday Dec. 12: Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Mexican public school students have been on vacation since Dec. 18 and will return to classes on Jan. 8. The official Easter school vacation runs for two weeks from Mar. 25, and the school year ends on Tuesday, July 16. Summer vacation usually runs for six weeks in July and August.
The meteorological phenomenon of inversion means polluted air is trapped over the city. (Edgar Negrete/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico City authorities warned of the risk of air pollution in the capital on Tuesday due to inversion, a meteorological phenomenon that traps contamination.
The Mexico City Atmospheric Monitoring System (SIMAT) said on the X social media platform that inversion at a height of 3,050 meters would remain throughout the day.
The Mexican capital is home to tens of millions of motorists. With exhaust fumes trapped by the thermal inversion, much of the gases remain hanging over the city. (Shutterstock)
According to the United States National Weather Service, a temperature inversion, or thermal inversion, is “a layer in the atmosphere in which air temperature increases with height.”
SIMAT said that inversion “causes an extreme condition of atmospheric stability,” noting that there is “no movement of air” during the phenomenon and that “contaminants accumulate during hours, increasing their concentration and the risk to health.”
According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, “an inversion can prevent the rise and dispersal of pollutants from the lower layers of the atmosphere, because warm air above cooler air acts like a lid, preventing vertical mixing and trapping the pollution material at the breathing level.”
Despite the presence of inversion in Mexico City, as of midday Tuesday authorities hadn’t issued a formal air quality alert. Three such alerts have been issued this year, all in the first quarter.
The United Nations declared Mexico City to be the most polluted city on the planet in 1992.
While air pollution is still a problem at times, the situation in the capital and surrounding areas has improved significantly over the past three decades.
The former national airline is officially back, despite bad weather forcing a delay. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The new state-owned commercial airline Mexicana de Aviación began operations on Tuesday with the inaugural flight departing the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) near Mexico City shortly after 8 a.m.
But the flight didn’t go as planned: it was supposed to land at the new airport in Tulum, Quintana Roo, but instead touched down in Mérida, Yucatán, due to poor weather in the Caribbean coast resort town.
The return of Mexicana has been a key policy in President López Obrador’s administration. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Heavy cloud cover in Tulum affected visibility and forced the aircraft to reroute to the Yucatán capital, where it landed just before 10:30 a.m. Poor weather has affected other flights headed for and departing Quintana Roo on Tuesday morning.
Later on Tuesday, the Mexicana plane left Mérida after refueling and landed in Tulum just before 12:30 p.m.
Mexicana’s take-off from AIFA was broadcast live at President López Obrador’s morning press conference.
“Mexicana de Aviación is flying again,” López Obrador said of the revived airline, which was Mexico’s flag carrier until it ceased operations in 2010.
Mexicana originally operated between 1921 and 2010, before collapsing under mismanagement. The ‘new’ airline is operated by the Defense Ministry, having licensed use of the Mexicana brand. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
“This is an emblematic airline and during the government [of former president Vicente] Fox it was privatized. It was a public company and it was given to people close to Fox in one of those favors that were done with electoral purposes,” he said.
“… The important thing is that this airline from Mexico is being rescued after acts of corruption and these handovers of public assets to private individuals,” López Obrador said.
“This airline will be managed by the Olmeca-Maya-Mexica [state-owned, military-run] company, which is going to manage airports, the Maya Train railroad and Mexicana de Aviación,” he said.
López Obrador has used the military for a wide range of non-traditional tasks during his presidency, leading to claims that he is militarizing the country. The president rejects such assertions.
Mexicana’s maiden flight was operated by the army on a military-owned aircraft. It took off from one army-built airport and was headed to another before being rerouted to Mérida.
From “consideration” to take-off in just over a year
In May 2021, López Obrador said that there was a proposal from “Mexican investors” to revive Mexicana and that the government would “help” to get the airline back in the sky, albeit without using public money for a “rescue.”
The private sector plan never eventuated, and in October 2022 – just 14 months before today’s inauguration – AMLO confirmed a media report that the government was considering the creation of a state-owned commercial airline to be operated by the army.
“The economic viability analysis is being done. … There are a lot of places that can’t be reached by plane because they’re not served by the current airlines,” he said at the time.
Olmeca-Maya-Mexica chief José Gerardo Vega Rivera said Tuesday that Mexicana will operate flights to and from 14 airports in the following states: México state (where AIFA is located), Baja California, Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Yucatán.
Among the routes the airline will fly are ones between AIFA and the following cities: Tijuana, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Mérida, Mazatlán, Campeche, Chetumal and Tulum.
The new Tulum airport, another major government infrastructure project, was chosen as the inaugural destination, although bad weather forced a diversion to Mérida. (Mara Lezama/X)
Vega said that flights from AIFA to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; Uruapan, Michoacán; Huatulco, Oaxaca; and Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca, will commence at a later date.
“Mexicana will continue increasing its capacity in order to provide quality and affordable service with high standards of safety, efficiency and comfort, always under the premise of serving Mexico and contributing to the development of the country and the well-being of the population,” he said.
The El Financiero newspaper reported that the only tickets currently being sold on the Mexicana website are for flights to and from nine airports: Tijuana, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Mérida, Mazatlán, Campeche, Chetumal, Tulum and AIFA.
The Mexicana website was out of action for an extended period on Tuesday morning, but was back online shortly before 11 a.m.
The airline, which will allow passengers to travel with up to 25 kilograms of luggage without incurring additional costs, doesn’t have any current plans to fly to international destinations.
The inaugural flight
Speaking at AIFA on Tuesday morning, Mexicana director Sergio Montaño highlighted that passengers on the airline’s first flight paid 1,558 pesos (US $92) for an AIFA-Tulum round trip.
He said that other airlines charge an average of 2,309 pesos (US $136) – or 48% more – for the same trip.
“The price was spectacular,” Miguel, one of 147 passengers on the Tuesday morning flight, said in an interview.
Mexicana offers discounted tickets to flyers, opening up Mexico’s air travel market to a new sector of the population. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
“… We need these options, we’re very happy. We saved around US $250, about 4,000 pesos,” said Miguel, who was traveling with three family members.
The first Mexicana plane to take off was a Boeing 737, but the airline will also operate two smaller Embraer 145 aircraft during its initial phase of operations.
“Mexicana is recommencing flights with new generation planes, including aircraft with a shorter wingspan in order to increase connectivity to airports where large planes can’t operate,” Vega said.
If you’re on a quest to understand Mexican humor – or at least to find the best Mexican memes to share with your friends – we’ve got you covered! Here’s this week’s curated collection with a translation, background, any relevance to current events, and hopefully, a good chuckle.
Meme translation: *January 1st* “Afternoon, do you have any bread?” “Yes, but it’s from last year!” “Me:” “the baker:” What does it meme? In many places in Mexico, bread is bought at one’s neighborhood bakery. This means that you likely count the baker as, if not a friend, at least an acquaintance…someone you’d wave to on the street and likely make a bit of friendly banter with. To be sure, these kinds of short interactions are why I believe Mexico deals much less with a society-wide loneliness problem: you basically have to see and interact with other people to get anything done! So if you happen to stroll into your local panadería at the start of the year, you are now armed with a joke.
Meme translation: “This kid came for bread and my parents made him decorate the bakery hahaha!” What does it meme? Speaking of panaderías – and most local shops, for that matter – lots of them put up decorations for the holidays. And because Mexico is a country where particularly older adults feel pretty okay asking younger people to do things for them (and have a reasonable expectation that they will), it’s possible a trip to a local establishment could get you roped into some impromptu decorating!
Meme translation: “How I’ve always wanted to look during winter.” “How I always wind up looking.” What does it meme? It’s true: every year I do my best to look like a cool and breezy blonde version of Anne Hathaway. But most of the time – at least in my house – I look like the dude below. Why inside, you ask?
Why? Because there’s no indoor climate control, of course! 55 degrees outside is 55 degrees inside, with most dwellings sealed from the outside about as well as a treehouse is. So if you’re friolenta (cold-natured) like me, you’re probably bundled up under several layers for most of the winter. (I also recommend finding sunny spots in your house and sitting there to warm up like a napping cat.)
Meme translation: “Me alone at the company Christmas party because I’m the owner, the employee, and the everything.” What does it meme? Ah, the lament of the freelancer. This was me for years, though thankfully this year I’ve finally got a full-time job!
The couple weeks before Christmas can be a lonely time for freelancers in Mexico as we watch our traditional employee friends and family members attend lavish Christmas parties (usually called “posadas,” though they’re not the traditional religious kind) put on by the companies they work for, complete with three-course meal and so many raffled gifts that a good half of people walk away with something.
The woman pasted into the scene above, by the way, is Peruvian TV star Laura Bozzo, who was especially famous in the late 80s and 90s for having a Jerry Springer-type talk show. That particular expression of hers is just priceless, and has made for great meme fodder for a while now.
Meme translation: “Ready for Christmas” “Merry Crisis” What does it meme? Is it just me, or has the theme worldwide in humor this year been a kind of resigned nihilism?
“Crisis” is the same word in English and Spanish, and pretty much everyone knows the phrase “Merry Christmas” in English. If you’re going to have a crisis, you might as well try to enjoy it, I suppose!
Meme translation: “When you re-read a romantic book that you loved as a teenager.” What does it meme? Oh, how our notions of romance change through the years! This meme format has been used for quite a few things, but this is one of my favorites. It makes me think very particularly about a book so many of my high school students in Querétaro were carrying around in the mid-aughts, Twilight (in Spanish it’s called Crepúsculo), one of the few competitors with their Blackberries for their attention during free time. “Oh, you have to read it Ms. Sarah, it’s so good!” my students would tell me.
I never did read it, though it was impossible not to absorb the basic storyline via osmosis. An immortal, ancient being who “falls in love” with some high school chick? Yikes.
Meme translation: “Now that I have kids, I finally understand that scene in Return of the Jedi when Yoda is so tired of answering Luke’s questions that he just dies.” What does it meme? This one is dedicated to the parents out there whose kids are suddenly out of school for a very long Christmas vacation and are looking to be entertained even though their parents (you) are still working.
All we want for Christmas is a nap, amiright?
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.
Dec. 22: People enjoy a Pablo Montero concert in the Zócalo in Mexico City. (EDGAR NEGRETE LIRA/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Take a visual tour of Mexico – where it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, from Mexico City to Xalapa – with this selection of pictures from the week.
Xalapa, Veracruz
Dec. 17: A Christmas parade of “illuminated branches” in Xalapa, Veracruz. (FOTO: YERANIA ROLÓN/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Zacatecas, Zacatecas
Dec. 18: Families of missing people protested at various government offices in response to the new “census” of disappeared people released by the federal government. (EDGAR CHÁVEZ /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Chilpancingo, Guerrero
Dec. 18: The San Mateo Christmas and New Year’s Fair in Chilpancingo opened with a traditional parade and a wrestling match. (DASSAEV TÉLLEZ ADAME/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Piedras Negras, Coahuila
Dec. 19: The exodus of migrants continues through Coahuila towards the Eagle Pass border crossing to seek asylum in the United States. (CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Salvatierra, Guanajuato
Dec. 20: Families of one of the victims of the Dec. 17 Christmas party massacre in Salvatierra, Guanajuato held a vigil and protest. (DIEGO COSTA/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Mexico City
Dec. 20: Christmas piñatas for sale in the the Mercado Jamaica in the capital. (GRACIELA LÓPEZ /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca
Dec. 22: Dozens awaited the arrival of the first interoceanic passenger train at the Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca station. (CAROLINA JIMÉNEZ/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
All we want for Christmas is a nap, 
