Hiking Lake Chapala’s hills: a new trail guidebook makes it easier

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March 31, 2023

El Chante glider launch point — Want to see views like this? Senderos de México can show you how.

The northern shore of Lake Chapala has been called a paradise because of its ideal climate and beautiful environment, but for those of its inhabitants who enjoy hiking, this area is paradise twice over.

Why? You jump out of bed, walk a few blocks uphill and there you are at a trail head which takes you straight into a network of footpaths both easy and difficult, eventually leading to peaks offering spectacular views of the lake that those on the shoreline never see.

Cerro Viejo, Jalisco — View from the top of Cerro Viejo, 2,970 meters above sea level, the third highest peak in Jalisco.

Many kilometers of those trails have been laboriously traced, described and mapped by a nonprofit organization called Senderos de Mexico (Trails of Mexico) which is dedicated not only to cataloguing Mexico’s hiking trails but also to signposting and maintaining them.

After years of on-trail research, Senderos de Mexico has published the 144-page book, “Trail Guide for Chapala, Ajijic, Jocotepec, and Ixlahuácan de los Membrillos.”

This guide comes in both a Spanish and an English edition and contains 100 color photos as well as 26 maps featuring contour lines, hiking time estimates and levels of difficulty. Loose versions of all the maps are also included in a pocket inside the book.

The Trail Guide measures 12 by 17 centimeters (less than 5 by7 inches) and weighs only 142 grams, (5 ounces), small enough to slip into your back pocket, yet packed with useful features like how to find the trail head, GPS coordinates, as well as a detailed description of the trail and where to make crucial turns.

Outdoor writer John Pint — The writer with his trusty Senderos de México guide in his pocket.

To me this trail guide is gold, and this opinion was confirmed when I showed it to experienced lakeside hiker Kriss Gang. He flipped through the book.

“Ah yes, here’s El Chante Trail, and this is La Christina and…” he began. Suddenly his eyes sparkled. “Wait a minute — what’s this? Here’s a trail I’ve never been on! Mmm, very interesting… Say, can I buy a copy of this?”

I received my own copy of this extraordinary little book from Jose Luis Cortés, Senderos’ executive director.

“Next week, I’m going on one of the hikes described in our book. Want to join me?” he asked.

José Luis Cortés, Executive Director of Senderos de México.

I jumped at the chance. even though I already knew that Cortés is one of those people who automatically rise at 5 a.m. every morning, ready to start their day.

I was lucky enough to be able to sleep until 5:45 a.m., and then it was off to Lake Chapala.

When Cortés parked along a dirt road not far from the Tecnológico de Chapala, I knew exactly which trail we would be following.

“I’ve only done this hike once,” I told him, “but it instantly became one of my very favorites.”

trail to the Mesa de Ocote, Lake Chapala hills — A venerable old fig tree along the trail to the Mesa de Ocote.

In the Trail Guide this is route number 23: “El Caracol to the Mesa Del Ocote.” Thirteen years ago, I did it during the rainy season.

You start off walking for a long time through what feels just like a tunnel through a jungle. On all sides, you hear the songs of birds, and if you are lucky, one of them will be the melodious warble of the clarín jilguero (brown-backed solitaire), which to me resembles three flutes being played all at once.

In the tunnel, you brush past wild sage and maidenhair ferns, and when you come to an occasional gap in this gallery of green, you may catch a glimpse of a huge fig tree towering overhead.

You start out at 1,838 meters altitude, and every 15 minutes, you seem to enter a new ecosystem presenting you with new plants. At 2,114 meters for example, the agaves appear — at first, at a normal size, but the higher you go the bigger they get.

Senderos de México bike repair workshop in Jalisco — Senderos de México isn’t just about giving hikers a piece of utopia, they’re also a nonprofit doing a variety of good works, as these hardworking participants in a Senderos de México-sponsored bicycle-repair workshop for kids found out.

Then at 2,418 meters comes the big surprise. Somehow, it seems you have left Mexico and entered Canada!

All the green is gone. You are now in an oak forest with a canopy of leaves overhead and a carpet of leaves underfoot, but not a plant or bush to be seen in between.

Passing through this stark but enticing woods, you arrive at a mirador or lookout point, that offers a gorgeous view of Lake Chapala, a view those couch potatoes down at the shore have never seen. It’s one of those special moments when you experience the joy of hiking.

For me this 3.7-km trail symbolizes the inclusion of Mexico’s five ecosystems within what I call “The Magic Circle” around the city of Guadalajara. In the space of a short hike, you can experience a diversity of flora, fauna and climate which, elsewhere in the world, might require days of travel.

Hiking Lake Chapala's hills — Proceeds from the sale of the books go towards the maintenance of trails that need it, like this one. (Photo courtesy of Brett Shinn)

The Senderos de Mexico Chapala Trail Guide is available at Diane Pearl Gallery in Riberas del Pilar, Jalisco, and via the Senderos de Mexico Facebook page. The price is 400 pesos (US $20). Money received from book sales goes for trail signs, trail maintenance and programs that Senderos carries out in indigenous communities, training people in everything from how to fix a bicycle to how to become a trail guide — the live kind, of course.

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.

Chamber of Deputies resorts to lottery to elect new INE chief

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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Mexico Deputy Santiago Creel at INE president selection process — Mexico Deputy Santiago Creel holds up the randomly drawn ballot that would give the INE president position to Guadalupe Taddei. She's the INE's first woman leader. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)(Chamber of Deputies)

A Sonora woman with links to the ruling Morena Party government has been elected as the new president of the National Electoral Institute (INE).

While she is the first woman to be chosen as leader of the autonomous elections oversight body, what perhaps makes Guadalupe Taddei Zavala’s election most memorable is the way in which she was selected.

Taddei will replace Lorenzo Córdova at the helm of Mexico’s electoral agency next week after her name was drawn out of a transparent lottery box in the Chamber of Deputies in the early hours of Friday morning.

If that sounds like an unusual way to appoint the country’s electoral chief, that’s because it is.

Party leaders decided to use sortition – also known as selection by lottery and selection by lot – to elect the new INE president and three new electoral councilors since none of the candidates had the support of the required two-thirds of lawmakers in the lower house of Congress.

An agreement between the parties that would have allowed that level of support for four consensus candidates never materialized. As a result, sortition was used to elect an INE president and councilors for the first time.

Chamber of Deputies in Mexico — After they were unable to reach a two-thirds majority for any candidates for the open positions, the Chamber of Deputies voted to use sortition, i.e., a lottery, to fill the slots. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

The Morena party, which along with its allies has a simple majority in the Chamber of Deputies, were likely happy to resort to drawing lots because the majority of the 20 candidates for the four positions – all of whom were nominated by a “technical committee” earlier this month – are close to their party, the newspaper El País reported.

Taddei, an experienced electoral official who formerly headed up the Sonora Electoral Institute, will begin her nine-year term next Tuesday. The fact that she is the first woman to head up the INE complies with a recent Federal Electoral Tribunal gender parity ruling.

President López Obrador, an outspoken critic of Córdova, expressed his approval of her election at his regular news conference on Friday morning.

“She’s an experienced woman. … She’s professional, honest, incapable of acting like the outgoing [INE] president,” he said.

Chamber of Deputies Mexico — National Action Party federal deputies documenting the state of the lottery box (*tómbola*) used to randomize the drawing of candidates. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

Taddei’s election as electoral chief comes five weeks after Congress approved a major electoral reform package that critics say will significantly weaken the INE and one week after the Supreme Court suspended the application of the reforms in question.

López Obrador, who put forward the so-called “Plan B” electoral reform package after more ambitious legislation was rejected, has been accused of attempting to seize control of the INE or make it more favorable to the ruling Morena party in the lead up to next year’s presidential and congressional elections.

That perception is likely to grow due to the fact that Taddei has family links to both the government and Morena.

A cousin of the soon-to-be INE chief is the government’s super delegate, or social programs chief in Sonora, a nephew was last year named head of the new state-owned lithium company, and a niece is a Morena deputy in the Sonora Congress.

Labor Party Deputy Magdalena del Socorro in Chamber of Deputies choosing INE leader by lottery — Labor Party (PT) Deputy Magdalena del Socorro supervises the lottery box containing lots representing each candidate for INE chief and INE ministers. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

While serving as president of the Sonora Electoral Institute, Guadalupe Taddei faced accusations from the opposition National Action Party (PAN) that she favored Morena and its allies during the 2021 electoral process in the state. She has denied claims of political partiality.

The three new electoral councilors elected by sortition early Friday are Jorge Montaño Ventura, Arturo Castillo Loza and Rita Bell López Vences.

Montaño, an electoral crimes prosecutor in Tabasco, has expressed support for the federal government’s electoral reform, while Castillo, a sociology teacher, said in an interview during the candidate selection process that he was in favor of austerity at the INE, a position in line with López Obrador’s support for cuts to the electoral authority’s budget.

López Vences, who has a master’s degree in constitutional law, has served as an electoral councilor in her home state of Oaxaca.

Mexico Deputy Santiago Creel — Federal deputy Santiago Creel about to open Taddei’s sealed ballot.(Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

PAN national president Marko Cortés said on Twitter that the election of the new INE officials by sortition was “a severe blow to our democracy.”

The party said in a statement that it would challenge the appointment of Taddei and Montaño due to what Cortés described as their “clear links” to Morena.

“We acknowledge that Guadalupe Taddei Zavala … has electoral experience, but we also point out that it’s completely unacceptable that the person who seeks to preside over our electoral umpire is clearly linked to Morena,” the PAN said.

With reports from El Economista, El País, El Financiero and Reforma

5 detained in connection with deadly Ciudad Juárez fire

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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Posters outside Ciudad Juárez detention center — Protesters hang posters outside a Ciudad Juarez detention center where 39 migrants were killed in a fire on Monday. (Photo by Graciela Lopez Herrera/Cuartoscuro.com)

Five people detained in connection with the deaths of 39 migrants in a fire in a Ciudad Juárez detention center have been placed in custody.

A judge ruled that the five suspects – three immigration agents, a security guard employed by a private company, and a Venezuelan migrant accused of starting the blaze – must remain in preventive detention as they await trial. The accused face charges of homicide and causing injury.

An additional security guard suspected by authorities has not yet been detained.

Emergency responders outside immigration detention center — According to reports, migrants set fire to mattresses after being informed they would be deported. (Photo by Juan Ortega/Cuartoscuro.com)

The arrests came after a fire broke out late Monday at a provisional detention center run by Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM). The 39 men killed were migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Venezuela.

The detained Venezuelan citizen, identified as Jason “N,” is accused of setting mattresses alight after he and other migrants learned they were going to be deported or moved to another INM facility. Jason “N” was not seriously injured in the fire, federal security minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said Thursday.

A video posted to social media showed that the male migrants being held in Ciudad Juárez were left in a locked section of the detention center while the fire raged. A security guard and an INM agent appear to evacuate the building without unlocking the door to the section where the migrants were detained.

In addition to the 39 deaths, around 30 other migrants were injured in the blaze.

The five suspects – four men and a female INM agent – are being held in a state prison in Ciudad Juárez and will face another preliminary hearing next week.

President López Obrador asked Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero to personally attend to the case and pledged that those responsible for the tragedy won’t go unpunished.

With reports from Milenio, El Heraldo de Juárez and Reporte Indigo.

Unemployment in Mexico reaches historic low

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Cat Rainsford

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March 31, 2023

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Vendors in Mexico City — Informal workers, like street vendors, make up over half of the labor force in Mexico. ( Moisés Pablo Nava / Cuartoscuro.com)

Mexico’s unemployment rate hit a historic low of 2.7% in February, according to figures published today by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

The INEGI’s National Employment and Occupation Survey (ENOE) shows that unemployment in February was a full percentage point lower than the same month in 2022, and 0.1% lower than in January this year.

A strong peso and low unemployment rate are positive signs in Mexico’s post-pandemic rebound (Depositphotos/Photo by kmiragaya)

Underemployment – the number of people who do not work enough hours – was also down to 7.4% in February, compared to 9.2% in February 2022.

These figures are despite the fact that Mexico’s economically active population (of working age) grew by 1.7 million people over the previous year. It reached 60 million people in February 2023, of whom 58.3 million were actively employed.

Mexico’s unemployment rate has been steadily declining after spiking at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, employment in the informal economy remains strong.

Informal labor made up 55.5% of total employment in February 2023, a 0.9% increase from February 2022. Notably, the proportion of men in informal employment dropped slightly during this period, while the proportion of women in informal employment jumped, from 53.7% to 56.4%.

Of those who found formal work in the previous year, 60% did so in the services sector. (Depositphotos/Photo by Kasto)

Although these informal figures include those working in subsistence agriculture, a similar trend was observed in non-agricultural informal employment, which rose from 28.5% to 29% overall, and from 28.1% to 29.7% for women.

Of the 2.29 million people who started new jobs since February 2022, only 23% entered the formal economy. This is concerning given that those employed in the informal economy are more economically vulnerable and generally lack social security.

Of those who found formal work, 60% did so in the services sector, particularly in trade. 35.6% entered the industrial sector, mostly in manufacturing, and the remainder took up work in the primary sector.

Overall, Mexico’s economy has maintained a steady recovery from the pandemic.

With reports from El Financiero

Free public high-speed WiFi coming to Riviera Maya hotspots

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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Since the pandemic started, more workers than ever have been able, or been required, to work remotely. — Free high-speed internet on the beach? Quintana Roo's government and provider GigNet have signed an agreement to implement this in parts of Cancún, Tulum, Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen. (Tulum Circle)

GigNet, a Wi-Fi provider with a regional broadband network from Costa Mujeres to Tulum, has partnered with the State of Quintana Roo to bring high-speed wireless internet to some of the state’s most popular tourism hotspots.

Signed by Quintana Roo Tourism Minister Bernardo Cueto Riestra and President of GigNet Mexico, Mark Carney, during Mexico’s national tourism fair this week, the agreement seeks to promote technological development in the tourism industry across the Mexican Caribbean.

Cancun International Airport — Cancún International Airport recorded traffic of over 30 million passengers last year. (Arkadiusz Warguła/iStock)

In the first phase of the agreement, GigNet will install public high-speed Wi-Fi zones in the Cancún hotel zone, Playa del Carmen’s 5th Avenue, Puerto Morelos city hall and Tulum’s coastal area, eventually covering additional tourist areas of the Mexican Caribbean. According to reporting in the Cancun Sun, the project could be operational as soon as next month.

According to the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council, 64% of tourists who visit the Mexican Caribbean are under 39 years of age, and technology plays an important role in attracting younger demographics.

Using their phones to look for routes, restaurants, shops and activities during their travels, this new generation of tourists wants to stay connected during their trip. This is also true of digital nomads moving to the area who require high-speed access to the internet for their work.

At a press conference in Cancún, Carney said that GigNet “truly believes the quality of life of the Mexican Caribbean has all the elements to attract investment, businesses, and now – with access to GigNet high-speed internet – tech entrepreneurs and established technology companies seeking to relocate to this attractive business environment.”

GigNet believes that the Riviera Maya could become the Silicon Valley of Latin America, and lure big companies like Amazon or Google to establish operations in the region.

“One of the most important elements in making this vision possible is access to reliable high-speed internet, which, until recently, was the only missing piece,” Carney said.

The company’s says it is also going to promote social benefits like online learning, improved medical services, remote work opportunities, a diversified economy and access to public services.

Digital nomads have helped boost digitalization in other parts of the country – as in Mexico City, which in 2021 won a Guinness World Record for being the most connected city in the world.

With reports from The Cancun Sun, Business Wire and La Jornada Maya

Fibra Monterrey buys industrial real estate portfolio for US $662M

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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property from Zeus industrial real estate portfolio bought by Fibra Monterrey — The properties included in the industrial real estate portfolio are located in 11 states. (Courtesy)

Real estate investment firm Fibra Monterrey signed a purchase agreement with real estate developer Finsa and Walton Street Capital México to buy Zeus, a 46-property industrial portfolio in northern Mexico. The properties are located in 11 states and comprise 822,000 square meters of construction plus 882,000 square meters of land for development.

The agreement, worth US $662 million, is the second largest industrial real estate transaction made in Mexico, after Fibra Uno purchased a 74-unit industrial real estate portfolio for US $841 million in 2019.

Finsa head Sergio Argüelles González, left, and Fibra Monterrey Director of Operations and Acquisitions Javier Llaca García marked their deal at an event on Wednesday. (Courtesy)

Twenty-seven developers and investment trusts participated in the selection process. Sixty percent were national companies, with the remaining 40% coming from abroad. According to the newspaper El Economista, a key factor was Fibra Monterrey’s reputation in the market.

The Zeus portfolio was developed and acquired with funds from Development Capital Certificates (CKD), a structured private equity security that’s traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).

Developed by Mexico in 2009, they are designed to raise sources of capital for Mexican companies and projects involved in sectors such as infrastructure, real estate, business and mining, among others.

“For a second time, we have achieved a successful sale with CKD capital. We are excited about the good results that we have attained during a key moment for Mexico, when nearshoring is so relevant for the country,” Sergio Argüelles González, president of Finsa, said.

He stressed that this agreement proves the “good performance and liquidity of the Mexican real estate market,” and said that with the sale, “the three stages of this type of vehicle conclude: investment, stabilization and divestment.”

Last week, Fibra Monterrey reported it signed a syndicated loan for up to US $300 million and a revolving credit line that would allow it to complete the acquisition of the Zeus portfolio.

Finsa now seeks to take advantage of the nearshoring wave to develop a new fund that will boost the company’s growth in Mexico over the next few years.

With reports from El Financiero and El Economista

51,000 turn out for Billie Eilish in Mexico City

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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Billie Eilish on stage — The artist performed a show to tens of thousands of fans at Foro Sol, Mexico City. (@Biltracking/Twitter)

Pop sensation Billie Eilish gave an electrifying performance at her rescheduled Mexico City concert in Foro Sol stadium on Thursday.

The 21-year-old was forced to postpone her concert on Wednesday after a severe rain and hail storm in the city, although she and her brother Finneas provided an intimate 20-minute acoustic set to thank fans who braved the weather.

Billie Eilish in the rain at Foro Sol — Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas entertained the crowd after the cancellation of the concert on Wednesday night. (@CesarTheSecond/Twitter)

The Mexico City date of her “Happier Than Ever” world tour was canceled as a precautionary measure.

Some fans to the general admission show had reportedly camped outside the entrance to the circuit for up to 48 hours to ensure that they would be in the front row.

The 51,000 people who packed into the stadium Thursday night for the rescheduled show were treated to Eilish’s signature whispers and ethereal vocals that made her the first 21st-century artist to score a No. 1 single.

Draped in a Mexican flag, the Californian said she was exhausted from the rigors of touring but felt happy to be back performing in Mexico.

“I feel familiar. I’ve only been here once, but I feel like I know them, that we’re old friends and we’ve met again,” she told the crowd.

As is tradition, she ended her set with her multi-platinum selling hit “Bad Guy”.

Eilish will appear at the Pa’l Norte festival in Monterrey later Friday before heading to Arena VFG, Guadalajara on April 2.

With reports from Reforma

Transportation protesters block highways out of Mexico City

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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Trucks block a section of highway — The protests caused traffic blockages for much of the morning on Friday. (Twitter)

Protesters blockaded a number of key roads from Mexico City earlier today, affecting traffic leaving for the Semana Santa (Easter) holidays on the Mexico-Querétaro, Mexico-Pachuca, and Toluca-Atlacomulco highways.

The organization had originally said that the blockades would be canceled, but traffic reports this morning showed that the action had gone ahead at the last minute.

A truck blocks a highway in protest of police extortion — Protestors were upset about extortion by members of the police. (Twitter)

The protesters are from the Organization of Merchants, Carriers and Civil Associations of México state. Members are concerned about working rights and extortion by local police.

“What we ask for is justice, that they take care of us as carriers, that our rights not be trampled on,” said one.

According to federal highways agency Capufe, the protesters gathered at kilometer 20 of the Mexico-Cuernavaca highway, the El Dorado toll booth on the Toluca-Atlacomulco highway, and at the Tepotzotlán toll booth on the Mexico-Querétaro highway. Authorities said that traffic on at least two lanes of the Mexico-Queretaro highway was flowing freely as of Friday morning.

Protesters told the newspaper El Universal that they were prepared to open up access to all the roads they had blocked, and they claimed that it was only through the blockades that they got the attention of authorities.

It is believed that the blockades will be fully dismantled before the end of the day, though there are delays as a result of the protests. Police say they are working to resolve the dispute.

With reports from El Universal and Infobae

AIFA cargo terminal has a busy first month of operations

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MND Staff

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March 31, 2023

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A China Airlines plane leaves AIFA — A Chinese cargo flight departs Felipe Ángeles International Airport earlier this month. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

Despite only beginning to receive cargo earlier this month, operations at the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) have reached a level of moving 2,000 tonnes and 12 aircraft per week.

The figure is equivalent to 624 flights and 104,000 tonnes of cargo per year, as the México state airport establishes itself as the primary cargo destination for imports in the capital.

First cargo flight to land at Felipe Angeles International Airport, Mexico — The first cargo flight to land at AIFA, was a DHL plane from Cincinnati, Ohio. The logistics company will run the route six days a week, DHL Express México officials said. (Photo: Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

The enormous facilities – which have capacity for up to 300,000 tonnes of cargo per year – measure the same as 48 soccer fields. There is also space for an additional 36 warehouses, which officials are optimistic will be required when AIFA is designated as the primary cargo terminus later this year.

Airport officials anticipate to be prepared for this change in June – when cargo operations are expected to cease at the Benito Juárez International Airport (AICM), Mexico City’s main airport and the busiest one in the country, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transport.

The new customs facilities – the first built in Mexico for 12 years – are now operational, allowing the military (who are tasked with customs and excise at ports of entry) to quickly process arrivals.

DHL, AeroUnion, and Awesome Cargo became the first cargo airlines to officially announce operations from AIFA at the end of 2022, and all three are now regularly scheduling flights between Mexico City and the north of Mexico. U.S.-Canadian hauler Cargojet recently joined the list of operators.

The airport, in the town of Zumpango, in northern México state, is taking advantage of new transport links designed to accommodate large numbers of passengers and cargo more comfortably than at AICM.

“In the AICM, we already have a load saturation that may not be seen right now; perhaps we will endure it until 2024, but in a few years, it would no longer be manageable,” said Carmen Sánchez, commercial director at Aaacesa, the construction specialists tasked with building the infrastructure that will facilitate the move from Benito Juárez to AIFA.

AIFA’s location — near Pachucha, the state capital of Hidalgo — allows for better haulage once cargo arrives when compared to the congested roads in the center of the capital, says the government. Recent upgrades to existing ring roads also mean that the México state capital Toluca is easily accessible by road.

Mexico has seen high levels of commerce post-pandemic, with 2022 recording the highest levels of foreign direct investment since 2015.

With reports from El Pais

The lure of the late Luis Barragán, Mexico’s superstar architect

By

Bethany Platanella

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March 30, 2023

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Gilardi House in Mexico City designed by Luis Barrigan — A striking hallway leads to a swimming pool inside Luis Barragán's Gilardi House, built in Mexico City between 1975 and 1977. (Luis Barragán Foundation)

A friend of mine and I recently visited Casa Gilardi in Mexico City’s leafy and tranquil San Miguel de Chapultepec section. Casa Gilardi was the final project of Mexico’s lauded architect, Luis Barragán. He completed it when he was 80 years old.

The house is hard to miss, with its bright pink facade contrasting greatly with the otherwise muted pastel dwellings that line the street. A giant jacaranda in full blossom erupts from what appears to be the roof, which, upon further inspection, is actually a courtyard separating the living quarters from the indoor pool.

Architect Luis Barragan — Luis Barragán, was the first Latin American to be awarded the Pritzker Prize, considered by many to be the “Nobel Prize for architecture.” (Wikimedia Commons)

In the true style of Barragan, colors play an important role, and their shades dramatically shift according to the dancing rays of the sun. It’s a true masterpiece, and this is coming from someone with little to no appreciation or understanding of architectural genius.

More memorable was the passing comment that my friend, Mexican through and through, made as we entered the house with a group of about 18 rather trendy and noticeably eager visitors.

“I’m the only Mexican here.”

I didn’t even need to scan the crowd before nodding my head in agreement. That undeniably perky North American accent pierced my eardrums from every single angle. We’re simply everywhere, front row and center.

pop star Dua Lipa visiting Museo Luis Barragan in Mexico City — Even pop star Dua Lipa has been hit by Barragan fever; she visited the Museo Luis Barragán last year while doing concerts in Mexico City. (Dua Lipa/Instagram)

But I knew this would be the case. Because…Barragán.

When did Barragán fever sweep the expat art nation?

Aside from the architect’s celebrity status within Mexico itself, he was the first Latino to win the Pritzker Prize in 1980. And a quick Google search reveals a long-term love affair between the New York Times and Barragán’s revered role in contemporary architecture.

The artist Jill Magid’s tenacious and ongoing attempt to access his archives (held under lock and key by the Swiss furniture company Vitria) was chronicled in her documentary “The Proposal,” released in 2018 at the Camden International Film Festival, .

And with the country’s surge in expat popularity during the pandemic, it’s no surprise that the foreign creative crowd would flock to the doors of what has effectively come to be known to internationals as Mexico’s version of Frank Lloyd Wright.

And for good reason. His work, like all good art, gets you thinking. By toying with varying hues, light, angles and the flirtatious interplay between design and nature, Barragan’s masterpieces promote a lifestyle threaded with intimacy and tranquility, one that must have had an especially high appeal to people fleeing the chaos of Covid-19.

Barragán also designed public spaces, like the Faro del Comercio in Monterrey, Nuevo León. (Wikimedia Commons)

Nor is his clear and obvious respect for the surrounding nature lost on the viewer. Like the aforementioned jacaranda, he worked boldly with Mother Nature’s elements by incorporating them into his projects, and often used her geography as his focal point.

So who is the mysterious man behind Mexico’s structural gems?

Barragán was born in Guadalajara in 1902. He earned a civil engineering degree but bolstered his knowledge with the skills he needed to dive into an architectural career. Throughout his 20s and early 30s, Barragán traveled throughout France, Spain and Morocco, where his penchant for Mediterranean and North African design would make a lasting impact.

In 1936, he moved to Mexico City, where he stayed until his death in 1988. Considering himself a landscape architect, Barragán’s draw to nature and landscapes stemmed from a deep devotion to religion and beauty.

His private life is just that, private, and while there are speculations as to his sexuality, it’s difficult to track down concrete evidence of any value.

And perhaps that’s apropos for an introverted man whose life was seemingly dedicated to the honing of his untouchable craft.

Torres de Satelite in Mexico state — The Torres de Satelite in Naucalpan, México state. (Wikimedia Commons)

If you find yourself in the World Design Organization’s World Design Capital of 2018, here is a list of Luis Barragán’s properties that are open for public perusal:

Casa Pedregal (formally Casa Prieto Lopez, designed in tandem with Diego Rivera): Av. de Las Fuentes 180, Jardines del Pedregal, CDMX. To set up an appointment, email [email protected]
Jardines del Pedregal: Calle Fuentes, Agua y Cráter, Pedregal, CDMX. Entry is free during the park’s opening hours.
Casa Barragán (his former house and studio): Gral. Francisco Ramírez 12–14, Ampliación Daniel Garza, Miguel Hidalgo, CDMX. Reserve entry ticket ahead of time on the website.
Casa Gilardi: General León #82 entre Rafael Rebollar y Tiburcio Montiel, Ampliación Daniel Garza, Miguel Hidalgo, CDMX. Reserve entry ahead of time on the website. Cash payment only.
Casa Cuadra San Cristóbal: Look familiar? This sweeping private ranch hosted a Louis Vuitton photoshoot in 2016. Located at Cda. Manantial Ote. 20, Mayorazgos de los Gigantes, 52957 Cd López Mateos, Municipio Atizapán de Zaragoza, México state. Accessible only by private tour. To schedule, contact The Traveling Beetle at [email protected]
Capilla de las Capuchinas: Miguel Hidalgo 43, Tlalpan Centro I, 14000, Tlalpan, CDMX. Call for opening hours: +525555732395
Bethany Platanella is a travel and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. With her company, Active Escapes International, she plans and leads private and small-group active retreats. She loves Mexico’s local markets, Mexican slang, practicing yoga and fresh tortillas. Sign up for her (almost) weekly love letters or follow her Instagram account, @a.e.i.wellness.