The Maya Train has been fully operational since last December and has been carrying passengers to a number of tourist destinations in southeastern Mexico for two years now. However, in the words of one analyst, it's "a losing project." (@TrenMayaMX/X)
One year after becoming fully operational, and two years after it was inaugurated, the Maya Train is hemorrhaging funds and is likely to require government support for up to 20 years before it becomes profitable.
During the first nine months of 2025, total Maya Train income covered a mere 12.6% of its operating expenses, with the remainder coming from government subsidies and resources from a public trust fund.
🚆 Hace dos años, iniciamos nuestro primer viaje. Éramos una promesa ✨
🌱 Hace dos años, éramos el sueño de un pueblo. Y despertamos para vivir la aventura 🌄
💪 Hace dos años, parecíamos algo imposible. Y aun así, nacimos, avanzamos y vencimos la duda 🌿
According to the company’s January-September financial statements, the Maya Train — with operating costs of 3.068 billion pesos (US $170.6 million) — received 3.345 billion pesos ($186 million) in public funding. During this time, it earned only 387 million pesos ($21.5 million) in ticket sales, souvenirs and other revenue streams.
“From a financial standpoint, this is a losing project,” Iberoamericana University professor Gerardo Herrera told the newspaper Reforma, adding that though passenger traffic is rising, it is not rising fast enough.
“The government has no choice but to subsidize it since at the current rate it will take between 10 and 20 years to become profitable,” he said, pointing out that this could come at a cost of 25 billion pesos (nearly US $1.4 billion) over the next decade.
Railroad consultant Carlos Barreda told Reforma that the sustainability of the Maya Train subsidies is a concern, contrasting what he called “a high-cost, tourism-focused service” with the benefits of an urban transportation system that “generates real economic development in the community.”
“Such economic benefits have not materialized,” he said.
Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurated the Cancún-to-Campeche section of the Maya Train on Dec. 15, 2023, and the entire 1,554-kilometer-long railroad line was pronounced fully operational in December a year ago.
Conceived as a mega-project that would benefit tourism, the railway was built at a cost of roughly 500 billion pesos (US $27.8 billion), nearly four times the original estimate.
Also promoted as a project that would address the economic and social backwardness of southeastern Mexico, the train operated at a significant loss last year. Maya Train general director Óscar David Lozano reported that revenues in 2024 represented just 9.6% of operating costs, leaving the company US $133 million in the red.
Still, proponents urge patience, insisting that the financial success of the train hinges on freight operations that are set to begin either late next year or in 2027, even as critics continue to question the viability of the project and demand that the environmental damage be repaired.
The train has experienced various mechanical failures, delays, air conditioning problems and unexpected stops due to insufficient operational testing.
Initial reviews have also highlighted the inconveniences. Most Maya Train stations are located far outside the main towns and tourist areas, requiring additional time and cost for a shuttle or taxi to reach the final destination.
Bus services have proven to be less costly, more reliable and more convenient, particularly since bus stations are located in city centers.
Mexico only has internationally recognized control in the Gulf of California 12 nautical miles from either shore and the upper one-third of the body of water. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
The map might lend the impression that the Gulf of California is Mexican territory, but that’s not the case.
People may consider the Gulf of California to be as Mexican as mariachis and nopales, but legally, that mostly applies to the northern third of the Gulf, the “Alto Golfo,” where Indigenous fishermen have traditionally made a living. (Cuartoscuro)
In an essay titled “Geostrategic Importance of the Gulf of California: A Vision Towards the Historic Bay,” Naval Captain Carlos Alejandro Sans Aguilar suggests petitioning the International Maritime Organization to reclassify that area as a “historic bay,” a designation that would allow Mexico to treat it like land territory and enforce its own laws.
A “historic bay” is a body of water that a coastal nation claims as its internal waters, despite not meeting standard geographical criteria. The claim is based on the nation having traditionally and openly exercised continuous, long-term control with the implicit or explicit acquiescence of other nations.
The entire Gulf — an area of approximately 50,000 square nautical miles — is considered a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean and Mexico’s national waters only extend 12 nautical miles from its coastlines on either side of the 700-mile-long body of water.
The upper part of the Gulf — el Alto Golfo de California — is the only section designated as internal waters, meaning Mexico formally has control of only the northern third of the Gulf.
According to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the central and southern thirds are international waters.
The rationale for the author’s request is to rid the Gulf of foreign powers as well as organized crime gangs that use the waters for illegal activities, such as piracy, poaching, human trafficking and drug trafficking.
The essay argues that the current condition “undermines Mexico’s sovereignty and national security due to the implicit freedom of navigation and overflight.” The legal status of the southern two-thirds of that part of the sea “allows various socioeconomic activities to be carried out, without the Mexican State being able to do anything about it.”
One recent incident cited by advocates for this change is a U.S. spy flight that took place on Feb. 2.
A U.S. Air Force plane entered the Gulf from the Pacific Ocean and flew north about 370 miles before turning around and flying south along the same track.
In March, Deputy Gustavo de Hoyos presented legislation to reform Mexico’s Federal Law of the Sea and to petition for the reclassification of the Gulf as “a historic bay or inland sea,” while saying “the lack of absolute control represents a strategic vulnerability for Mexico’s foreign policy.”
“Mexico meets the standards of international law to justify this reclassification, as it has exercised effective sovereignty over the region for centuries, without objection from the international community,” the bill states, “and consolidating sovereignty over the Gulf will strengthen national security, the protection of maritime resources, and geopolitical stability in the region.”
The outcome of the new bilateral agreement allows Mexico more time to make its required water deliveries, though President Sheinbaum emphasized on Monday that Mexico is not handing over water that "we don't have." (@conagua_mx/X)
Mexico has committed to releasing more than 200,000 acre-feet of water to the United States starting this week, averting the threatened imposition of an additional U.S. tariff on Mexican goods.
The Mexican and U.S. governments announced on Friday that they had “reached an understanding on water management for the current cycle and the previous cycle’s water deficit under the 1944 Water Treaty.”
The third of five points in a “Mexico-U.S. Joint Communiqué on Water Distribution” states that “Mexico intends to release 202,000 acre-feet of water to the United States with deliveries expected to commence the week of December 15, 2025.”
It was unclear when the delivery of the 202,000 acre-feet of water would be completed.
The 2020-25 cycle of the bilateral 1944 Water Treaty concluded in late October with Mexico still owing the U.S. just over 865,000 acre-feet of water, an amount equivalent to almost 50% of the 1.75 million acre-feet of water it is required to send across the northern border every five years from six tributaries of the Rio Grande.
Mexico will need to make up the shortfall in the 2025-30 cycle of the treaty. Its capacity to meet its treaty obligations in the past five-year cycle was hindered by drought conditions that were particularly severe in the north of the country.
The understanding the Mexican and U.S. governments reached on Friday came four days after U.S. President Donald Trump noted in a social media post that “Mexico still owes the U.S over 800,000 acre-feet of water for failing to comply with our Treaty over the past five years.”
He wrote that “the U.S needs Mexico to release 200,000 acre-feet of water before December 31st,” before making one of his trademark tariff threats.
“As of now, Mexico is not responding, and it is very unfair to our U.S. Farmers who deserve this much needed water. That is why I have authorized documentation to impose a 5% Tariff on Mexico if this water isn’t released, IMMEDIATELY,” wrote Trump, whose administration has already imposed tariffs on a range of Mexican products.
After the tariff threat, Mexican officials engaged with Trump administration representatives in a series of meetings.
In a statement, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said that “in recent weeks, both countries have worked intensively and in coordination to establish a technical roadmap that improves management of the current [treaty] cycle and addresses the deficit from the previous cycle.”
In the same statement, which includes the text of the Joint Communiqué, the SRE said that “Mexico reached an agreement with the United States to strengthen water management in the Rio Grande basin under the 1944 Water Treaty.”
“The Government of Mexico emphasizes that it has not violated any of its provisions,” the SRE said, adding that “during a period marked by an extraordinary and unprecedented drought that has affected users in both countries, Mexico has made additional deliveries, always in accordance with the Treaty, water availability, and the operational and infrastructure limitations of the region.”
“… The actions taken over the past year demonstrate that Mexico is meeting its obligations according to actual water availability, without affecting the human right to water and food production, and will continue to do so under the Treaty and through binational cooperation,” the ministry said.
For her part, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins portrayed Mexico’s commitment to promptly begin transferring 202,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. as a significant win for American farmers.
The 1944 Water Treaty was among Secretary Brooke Rollins’ priority issues during a November agribusiness trade mission to Mexico City and Chiapas. (@SecRollins/X)
“President Trump continues to put American farmers first and is finally holding our international partners accountable to their obligations and commitments. Once again, America is being treated fairly,” she said.
“Farmers across South Texas have been reeling from the uncertainty caused by the lack of water. Now they can expect the resources promised to them, thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” Rollins said.
She thanked Mexico “for their willingness to abide by the treaty and return to good standing with their past obligations,” but added that:
“President Trump has been very clear: if Mexico continues to violate its commitments, the United States reserves the right and will impose 5% tariffs on Mexican products.”
Bilateral water negotiations are ongoing
The Mexico-U.S. Joint Communiqué also states that “both countries acknowledge the critical importance of water sharing obligations under the 1944 Treaty and their impact on our citizens, and reaffirm the need to increase engagement to improve timely management of water.”
It says that “a series of actions to meet the treaty obligations have been reviewed, including timely repayment of the outstanding deficit from the previous water cycle, in accordance to the 1944 Water Treaty.”
“The two governments are in negotiations and intend to finalize the plan by January 31, 2026,” the communiqué adds.
The fifth and final point of the communiqué reads:
“Both countries concur on the importance of continuing to work cooperatively within the framework of the 1944 Water Treaty and the CILA/IBWC. In the event of noncompliance, each country can act sovereignly, in accordance to its national interests, subject to its international treaty obligations.”
The acronyms CILA (Spanish) and IBWC refer to the International Boundary and Water Commission, a 136-year-old body that is responsible for applying the boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico and settling differences that may arise in their application.
Sheinbaum: Water deliveries to US won’t adversely affect Mexico
At her morning press conference on Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexico is not handing over water that “we don’t have” or whose delivery to the U.S. will affect availability for human consumption and agricultural purposes.
💧”No es que estemos entregando más de lo que dice el tratado y tampoco estamos dando el agua eh que no tenemos o afectando al consumo humano y a la agricultura en México”, la presidenta Sheinbaum señala que con EU se logró un acuerdo para entregar el agua en más tiempo y en el… pic.twitter.com/5FcXo9Wc8q
The president of Mexico’s National Agriculture Council, Jorge Esteve, has raised concerns about the risk water deliveries to the U.S. pose to water availability for human consumption and agriculture in Mexico.
Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico is not delivering more water than is required under the terms of the 1944 treaty.
Sheinbaum indicated that the delivery of the 202,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. won’t be completed until next year, as she said it wasn’t possible to transfer such a quantity of water by Dec. 31, the deadline set by Trump in his social media post.
“An agreement was reached to deliver it in more time,” she said.
Sheinbaum also said that Mexican officials had pointed out to their U.S. counterparts that Mexico’s failure to meet its treaty obligations during the previous five-year cycle wasn’t due to a lack of will but rather a lack of rain.
Pujol, a world-renowned, low-key Mexico City fine dining restaurant in the tony Polanco neighborhood. Olvera made a name for himself here, with modern yet traditional Mexican cuisine made with garden-fresh ingredients. (Pujol/Instagram)
After more than a decade holding a prominent position on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Mexico City’s Pujol no longer ranks among the region’s top 50 for 2025.
Credited for bringing Mexican cuisine into the world of fine dining, Pujol, by Mexican chef Enrique Olvera, dropped from spot No. 24 in 2024 to spot No. 51, narrowly missing this year’s ranking.
Still, Olvera’s restaurant maintains its prestige in other ways. Along with Quintonil, Pujol is the only restaurant in Mexico to have received two Michelin stars in the guide’s first edition in the country, an accolade that both restaurants reaffirmed this year.
Since debuting on the list at No. 3 in 2013, Pujol’s influence on Mexican high-end cuisine is undisputed. Even though it wasn’t the first Mexican high-end restaurant in the country — Olvera built on earlier efforts by chefs like Patricia Quintana and Monica Patiño in the late 90s — it was Pujol that put Mexican cuisine on the global culinary map.
As chef Jorge Vallejo, co-founder of Quintonil, noted: “[Olvera] was a trailblazer for flipping the coin to do things differently and believing in the power of Mexican gastronomy.”
Which other Mexican restaurants made the regional list this year?
This year’s edition featured fewer Mexican restaurants than in previous years — the list included 12 in 2022. Still, a few newer names stood out in this year’s ranking. Here is the full list.
Quintonil Mexico City
Quintonil, also in Mexico City, came in as the region’s No. 7 best restaurant on this year’s ranking. Led by Vallejo and his wife Alejandra Flores, the dynamic couple met while working at Pujol under the leadership of Olvera.
According to the 50 Best, Quintonil “is fast becoming a classic.”
“Focused on fresh, local ingredients and traditional Mexican flavours and techniques weaved [sic] into modern preparations […] Quintonil brings a unique brand of creativity to the plate,” 50 Best remarked.
Coming in at No. 15, Alcalde in Guadalajara made the list for its local flavors that highlight Jalisco heritage.
“Alcalde makes diners want to return again and again with its menu, which is deeply connected to the natural rhythms of the land,” 50 Best said.
Villa Torél Ensenada
Located in Ensenada, No. 16 Villa Torél is the hyper-local farm-to-table restaurant of the Santo Tomás vineyard.
According to 50 Best, Villa Torél “is a restaurant with no fine dining pretensions, focusing instead on a short, well-thought [sic] menu served in a lovely venue, showing utmost respect to the producers and neighbouring Valle de Guadalupe food projects.”
Fauna Valle de Guadalupe
50 Best describes Fauna as “boundary-breaking cooking from Mexico’s most exciting culinary duo,” chef David Castro Hussong and pastry chef Maribel Aldaco Silva.
Located on the site of Valle de Guadalupe’s Bruma Winery, the restaurant offers Pacific-inspired plates like tuna fin and beef trotter tostada and sea snail with peanuts and shiitake mushrooms.
At No. 22, Arca is celebrated for a bar program that “works in symbiosis with the kitchen, crafting cocktails with all-natural ingredients and a lot of personality.”
Máximo Mexico City
Ranked No. 30, Máximo was also co-founded by two former Pujol employees: Eduardo “Lalo” Garcia and Gaby López. The restaurant earned a place on the list thanks to its blend of “refined French technique with locally sourced ingredients, Mexican elements and methodologies.”
Huniik Mérida
With only 16 seats, Huniik is the younger sibling of the restaurant Néctar by chef Carlos Roberto Solís Azarcoya. “Solís and his team present a 10-course tasting menu from the open kitchen that marries punchy Mexican flavours with contemporary presentations,” which, in the words of 50 Best, makes Huniik an important agent of new Yucatecan cuisine.
Rosetta Mexico City
Founded by chef Elena Reygadas, Rosetta landed at No. 39 for its innovative approach to traditional Mexican dishes. Even though it began with a strong Italian influence, Reygada’s restaurant has transformed into a cuisine more firmly rooted in Mexico. Rosetta now focuses “on presenting traditional dishes in a new light,” 50 Best said.
The new species of gecko, a kind of lizard, is endemic to Mexico and officially called Phyllodactylus ngiwa. (CONANP)
Scientists have confirmed a new species of gecko endemic to the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, a major biocultural region spanning the states of Puebla and Oaxaca, environmental authorities reported last week.
The nocturnal lizard — now officially named Phyllodactylus ngiwa and commonly known as the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley gecko — was first documented in 2020.
It required years of further study to verify that the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley gecko is a distinct species from the Upper Balsas gecko (Phyllodactylus bordai). (CONANP)
At the time, images captured by community biological surveillance and monitoring brigades were believed to show the Upper Balsas gecko (Phyllodactylus bordai), a visually similar species.
Subsequent research confirmed the new animal was distinct.
Academics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) conducted molecular, morphological and climatic analyses under a project funded by the Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation.
Fernando Reyes Flores, director of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, said in a press release that the confirmation followed years of coordinated work involving scientists, technicians and community brigades.
The early photographic records were shared through the iNaturalistMX platform, triggering further interest.
Because the research involved the collection and handling of wildlife within a protected natural area — one that was declared a mixed heritage site by UNESCO in 2018 — the scientists obtained permits from the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP).
The findings were published in November in the journal Zootaxa.
CONANP said the discovery strengthens conservation and habitat management strategies in the reserve, which was decreed a protected area in 1998.
Every motorcycle journey should end in a destination as charming as Tonalá, Jalisco. (Charlotte Smith)
I arrived in Tonalá, Jalisco, with a backpack and the kind of expectations that come from guidebooks and well-meaning friends who promised a town brimming with treasures. They were right, but not in the way I had imagined.
I’d pictured myself bargaining over ceramics, debating one vase against another, maybe leaving with a fragile object wrapped carefully in newspaper. Instead, my hands stayed empty, and my heart was full in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
‘Wind in your face and a road stretching ahead’
Motorcycles exist for the times you need a little throttle therapy. (Charlotte Smith)
The journey there set the tone. My boyfriend and I rode the motorcycle from Puerto Vallarta, taking the back road because these trips are my kind of therapy. There’s something about wind in your face and a road stretching ahead that slows your thoughts, stretches your attention and sharpens the senses to details you may miss in a car.
We stopped along the way, drawn to fields of wildflowers swaying like dancers, roadside fruit stands where mangoes smelled like summer captured in a peel and tiny villages that appeared out of nowhere. Each pause felt intentional, even if it wasn’t. Riding a motorcycle forces you to engage visually, physically and emotionally. You can’t glide past life unnoticed.
We arrived in Tonalá in no rush and with no agenda, which was perfect as we soon found the town demanded nothing from us either. Tonalá greeted us quietly, with no shouting, no hand-painted signs clamoring for attention, no chorus of vendors urging purchases. It seemed as if the town trusted its own allure, confident that anyone meant to be enchanted would be.
And enchantment is exactly what it offered.
“The rhythm of the town began to reveal itself’
We entered the main street, where the rhythm of the town began to reveal itself. Sculptures lining the pavement like sentinels. Towering clay figures of warriors and animals, iron creatures with curling tails and sun faces, arranged as if in ceremonial pride. Every corner offered a small surprise, whether a mosaic tucked into a wall, a painted utility pole or a tiny wrought-iron bench that looked both modern and centuries old.
Balconies dripped with bougainvillea. Walls shifted from sea green to apricot to a yellow that could only exist at sunset. Every doorway had character. Some were bold, others shy, like neighbors peeking from behind curtains.
Tonalá is famed for its artists and artisans and the work they create. (Charlotte Smith)
We wandered, allowing the town to guide us. At one corner, an artisan heated a strip of metal until it glowed orange, shaping it with calm precision, his movements deliberate, almost meditative. A workshop spilled into the street nearby, tools clinking in a steady rhythm.
A grandmother strung tiny clay bells across her knees, her hands moving like wind through tall grass. Children darted between stalls, distributing supplies and sweets with equal care. The choreography of life itself was mesmerizing, each person absorbed in their work, their motion, their craft.
‘Tonalá exists for those who notice’
I spent 45 minutes watching a man paint a single spindle on a chair. One spindle. Every stroke was deliberate and patient. I wanted to ask why he spent so long on this small detail, but something about the moment suggested it didn’t need explanation.
Tonalá exists for those who notice, who linger and who allow themselves to be absorbed by its textures and rhythms. Sunlight filtered through beaded mobiles and woven lanterns, scattering fractured rainbows across walls and pavement. The air carried the aromas of tortillas sizzling on griddles, roasted peanuts and coffee being ground behind small, unmarked doors. A faint, elusive sweetness hung in the air, something I wanted to chase down but never quite did. Every sense was engaged.
We ate from food carts, stopping because they looked appealing rather than out of hunger. I balanced an icy, collapsing cup in one hand and my helmet in the other, and my boyfriend laughed at my precarious juggling act.
We wandered down alleyways simply because they seemed intriguing, pushed open wrought-iron gates to peek into hidden courtyards and encountered nothing but curious glances and gentle smiles. Curiosity was the currency here, and we spent it freely.
‘The light itself was magical’
You don’t need to buy anything to have a good time in Tonalá. The experience itself is magical. (Charlotte Smith)
By mid-afternoon, I realized we hadn’t entered a single store. The shopping bags I imagined filling had stayed folded in my backpack. We hadn’t bargained, debated or chosen. Yet we had collected far more than any container could hold. We had watched life unfold in its small, magnificent details. We had seen artistry not just in objects but in the hands, eyes and intentions of those creating them. We had witnessed patience, care and joy.
The light itself was magical. Slanting through hanging glass ornaments and woven lanterns, sunlight transformed ordinary spaces into stained-glass dreams. Shadows bent and stretched — part of the art, choreographed by the sun. The town seemed obsessed with texture and colour, which spilled over into every detail.
By late afternoon, we perched on a cracked stone bench, sharing a snack, watching the light soften over the plaza. The town, which had felt like an art gallery, a stage, a secret garden all at once, began to exhale.
Colors deepened and streets glowed, and we felt the quiet satisfaction of wandering somewhere that demanded nothing from us except attention.
‘Tonalá is a marketplace, but it’s also a muse’
We left Tonalá with no purchases. We bought no vases, trinkets or beaded bracelets, but we carried back something far richer: We carried the memory of a town that exists on its own terms, rewarding patience, curiosity and the willingness to observe. We carried the warmth of people creating and living attentively. We carried the freedom that comes from riding a motorcycle along a winding back road, where every turn brings the unexpected and the world feels immediate, alive and intimate.
These rides aren’t just transport for me. They’re a meditation. They’re a reminder that moving slowly with attention and curiosity allows you to feel a place in ways no checklist or itinerary could.
Everywhere one looks in Tonalá, there always something interesting. (Charlotte Smith)
Tonalá is a marketplace, but it’s also a muse. It rewards those who pause, who look closely and who let themselves be absorbed by its rhythms. We’ll return, with luggage next time, ready to choose a fragile treasure. But we’ll also do what we did on this visit.
We’ll ride that back road again, a single motorcycle between the two of us, stopping wherever the day calls us, and we’ll let the town reveal itself slowly, corner by corner, detail by detail.
Tonalá doesn’t insist on your attention, but it’s endlessly generous to those who notice.
Charlotte Smith is a writer and journalist based in Mexico. Her work focuses on travel, politics, and community. You can follow along with her travel stories at www.salsaandserendipity.com.
From jamoncillos to the classic apple salad, these are the iconic Mexican treats to enjoy this Christmas. Try them all this holiday season! (Fer López/Pexels)
My mother is a very devoted Catholic. Every year when I was growing up, just before December 12, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, my mother insisted we visit the Basílica de Guadalupe to give thanks for another year of health and abundance — or anything my sister and I wanted to be thankful for, as 8- and 10-year-old girls.
Even though we had to get up super early — around 4 a.m. —to avoid the crowds, I remember looking forward to it. Especially because my father always bought gorditas de nata and other seasonal treats for us after Mass.
In honor of that warm childhood memory, here’s our digest of the best Mexican treats to enjoy this holiday season. Although no one can resist acrunchy churro with a nice cup of hot chocolate, these Christmas treats will also make your guests sparkle with joy. Try them all this year!
Buñuelos
Crispy, crispy buñuelos are a must among the Mexican Christmas treats during the December holidays. (Sandra Perdomo/Cuartoscuro)
Buñuelos are the kind of Mexican Christmas treats that feel like home during the holiday season. Sprinkled with sugar and with an unmissable aroma of cinnamon, you can enjoy these crunchy wonders with honey and a tall glass of milk. Grandmothers and aunties usually give these to children before the gift-giving moment on Christmas Day, just after everybody stops singing the classic posada songs.
Although originally from Egypt and Morocco, asdocumented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this crispy dessert migrated with the Spaniards to colonial Mexico. Today, no Mexican can fathom Christmas without a pile of enormous buñuelos waiting for them at the dinner table. I usually savor the moment with the dear memory of my grandma’s smile.
Borrachitos
No, no one will get drunk if they eat the entire borrachito box. (DIMAPRO)
Borrachitos, translated as “little drunks,” inherited their name from the touch of liquor with which they’re traditionally prepared in the central state of Puebla. These soft, creamy candies are famous nationwide for their various flavors, ranging from strawberry, pineapple, lime and even rompope.
As is the case with most of Mexico’s traditional candy, these Christmas treats date back to the colonial era, when European flavors encountered ancient Mesoamerican cuisine. Borrachitos were created in convents, where nuns tended to experiment with everything they had at hand.
Today, you can find them practically anywhere in the Bajío region, so treat your holiday guests with this fine Mexican delicacy. And, yes, children eat them too.
Jamoncillo
In Mexico, even sweets have pre-Hispanic traces. (Cristina Zapata Pérez/Wikimedia Commons)
Despite what the name suggests, no, jamoncillo has nothing to do with ham. Or meat, whatsoever, in fact. This delicious Mexican sweet with a creamy, smooth texture is associated with the cobblestone streets ofSan Miguel de Allende and Morelia. An iconic sweet that’s widespread throughout the Bajío region, this delicacy is made from cow’s or goat’s milk — and lots and lots of sugar.
Don’t miss your chance to have jamoncillos this Christmas withcafé de olla or rice atole, the perfect pairing to counteract their intense sweet flavor.
Gorditas de nata
If you find gorditas to be too dry for you, do not miss the iconic concha de nata this holiday season. (Regina Rodes/Wikimedia Commons)
Gorditas de nata can be found for sale in the atrium of almost any church in Mexico, especially during the Christmas season. Traditionally made with wheat or corn flour, these seasonal treats come in all varieties, both sweet and savory. While savory gorditas are eaten year-round, sweet gorditas are more common during the December festivities, especially gorditas filled with nata.
As a child, I remember that gorditas seemed too dry to eat on their own, so I always ordered champurrado — chocolate-flavored atole — or hot chocolate to go with them. Either made the perfect pairing due to the treat’s subtle tinge of cinnamon.
Christmas apple salad
Apple salad simply tastes like Christmas in Mexico. (Recetas Nestlé)
Although this Mexican holiday adaptation of Waldorf salad originated in New York, Mexicans cannot conceive of Christmas dinner without our ensalada de manzana.
The original Waldorf salad recipe includes nuts and celery, but Mexicans added raisins, cherries, peach, pineapple or melon and replaced the mayonnaise with sweetened condensed milk. Just delicious!
Besides being incredibly easy to prepare, this holiday dish works well as both an appetizer and dessert in Christmas dinners. It’s that versatile — and everyone loves it.
Coming soon to a protected wildlife sanctuary near you? Hopefully not.
In a bold new move defying geography, hydrology, and basic common sense, the federal government announced that the long-canceled Texcoco Airport project will be reborn — this time in Xochimilco, where officials claim “the ground seems way less swampy if you squint from a helicopter.”
The announcement came after Lake Texcoco’s rising waters fully reclaimed the remains of the former airport site. “Nature clearly wants Texcoco back,” said project spokesperson Jorge Daniel Fonseca, standing knee-deep in newly formed wetlands once home to terminal foundations. “So we’re heading to Xochimilco, where water is just a theoretical concept now.”
A concept image of the new Xochimilco Axolotl International Airport.
Landscape architect Iñaki Echeverría, leading the Lake Texcoco restoration, nodded supportively. “We’re turning Texcoco into a thriving wetland while turning Xochimilco into a thriving tarmac. It’s perfect symmetry,” he said, ignoring the sound of fish splashing nearby.
Government engineers remain undeterred, presenting ambitious plans to replace Xochimilco’s longboat rides with “aeronautical trajineras” powered by repurposed jet engines. “The good news is, if it floods, we’ll just call it a ‘traditional’ airport,” one planner said cheerfully.
Locals in Xochimilco expressed mixed feelings. Some welcomed the development, hoping the airplanes might “at least scare away the mosquitoes.”
As part of the sustainable vision, officials promised to name the new site Xochimilco Axolotl International Airport (Take Two) and ensure it’s “completely future-proof” by sitting on at least six layers of reinforced optimism and environmentally friendly heavy metals.
Meanwhile, birdwatchers at Texcoco continue celebrating the return of thousands of migratory species to the newly restored wetlands. “It’s beautiful,” said one, “though we can’t help but wonder where those birds will go once the new flight path runs right through their old home.”
When asked about potential flooding in Xochimilco, an anonymous official responded confidently: “Come hell or high water, it’s probably dryer than the last place we picked.”
How did Cholula Hot Sauce turn from a brand hardly known outside Mexico into a global superstar? Clever marketing and a flavor profile that's unique among its competitors. (Zoshua Colah/Unsplash)
You don’t even have to read the label to know what it is — that distinctive wooden cap is all it takes to identify Cholula Hot Sauce. What many don’t know is the story of how this small bottle of Mexican salsa picante went from a simple tequila chaser to an $800 million product and the third-most popular hot sauce in the United States.
While the rise from a national brand to Cholula’s global presence today may seem an overnight success, it was actually 100 years in the making, involving family cooks, tequila titans, baseball stars and an advertising strategy that would eventually conquer palates from Austin to Amsterdam. This is the story of how authentic Mexican flavor, wrapped in sustainable beechwood and backed by brilliant marketing, built a global hot sauce empire that proves good taste knows no borders.
Cholula Hot Sauce uses chile de árbol and piquín hot peppers to create its distinctive flavor. It also uses less vinegar than many other hot sauce brands. (Wikimedia Commons)
The legend behind the label
According to the Cholula lore, Camilla Harrison was working as a cook for the Cuervo family — as in Don José Antonio de Cuervo, the tequila titan. One day, the story goes, while experimenting in the kitchen, she came up with a locally infused version of sangrita, the red peppery sauce generally used as a complement to the agave spirit.
Her mixture of citrus juices, piquín and árbol chili peppers, vinegar and spices captivated the Cuervo family’s taste buds, enough that the family bought the rights to Harrison’s creation, standardized her recipe and produced the sauce at factory scale to sell as a versatile table condiment.
No documented evidence exists to confirm whether or not Señora Harrison received any financial compensation, though local lore speculates it’s her caricature on the label. It’s possible that by the time the sauce hit Mexican shelves in the mid-20th century, she was no longer alive — that is, if she ever existed at all.
But the Cuervo family’s decision to name their sauce not after their city but an ancient one would prove to be marketing genius.
Sacred geography, secret recipe
This pyramid at Cholula, Puebla, has the distinction of being the world’s largest pyramid, though not the tallest. Using the name for the hot sauce gave the product a sense of gravitas that distinguished it from other brands. (Diego Delso/Wikimedia Commons)
The choice to name the sauce “Cholula” rather than “Chapala” wasn’t accidental. Mexico’s 2,500-year-old city of Cholula lies at the base of Popocatépetl volcano, the longest-inhabited city in North America and home to the largest pyramid in the world by volume.
The city today is known for churches, sopa Cholulteca and this little bottle of hot sauce that actually comes from Jalisco. How did that happen?
From a brand psychology perspective, naming your sauce “Cholula” taps into an ancient Mexican archaeological and cultural powerhouse. This distinction far surpasses the usual playfulness of bottled sauce brands, the name signaling history, continuity and something more serious than your average hot sauce. This broader implied link between regional cuisine and deep-rooted traditions aligns well with the consumer search for “authentic” Mexican flavors in global markets.
In other words, Cholula’s symbolic geography gives this tiny bottle of hot — and not overly so — sauce instant credibility in a crowded marketplace.
For popularizing Mexico’s traditional dishes with her successful 1972 book, “The Cuisines of Mexico,” author Diana Kennedy received Mexico’s highest honor awarded to foreigners, the Order of the Aztec Eagle. (Mexico City Museum of Popular Art)
The book has been largely credited with changing how the English-speaking world viewed Mexican food. Tex-Mex chefs like Stephan Pyles and Robert Del Grande became household names in the ’80s, defining the flavorful cuisine as a trendy alternative to an otherwise bland American diet. To top it off, the number of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. more than tripled between 1970 and 1990, according to Pew Research.
This perfect storm of factors caught the eye of the Cuervo company, which saw a clear path to commercial success.
When Cholula Hot Sauce launched in Austin, Texas in 1989, it quickly spread throughout the U.S. via supermarket chains. Twenty years later, Cholula would emerge as one of the country’s leading hot sauce brands; by 2020, its annual retail sales reached approximately US $96 million. This success is owed, in part, to McCormick & Company’s acquisition of Cholula Hot Sauce in the same year.
From baseball diamonds to pizza boxes
Cholula’s marketing genius lay in understanding American culture beyond just taste buds. The company seized upon baseball as a promotional tool, running a prominent “Order of Cholula” campaign with New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard around 2017, in which he discussed using the sauce as part of his routine.
Significant investment in baseball sponsorships also included a multiteam ‘Cholula Flamethrower’ MLB program that combined in‑stadium and on‑air exposure, placing the sauce at concession stands. The widespread presence throughout “America’s favorite pastime” led to the creation of the Cholula Porch space at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Park in Arlington.
The Order of Cholula - Hero
A Cholula marketing campaign in the late aughts centered around then New York Mets star pitcher Noah Syndergaard marketed Cholula to American millennials as a passionate lifestyle choice and raised the hot sauce’s visibility in the U.S.
These sports partnerships helped move Cholula from a niche Mexican‑restaurant condiment into a broader part of American food and fan culture — although not without some friendly competition from a brand from the U.S. South.
David vs. Goliath: Taking on Tabasco
The Cholula and Tabasco brands compete for the same condiment real estate — on diner counters, in stadium condiment offerings, on brunch tables and in supermarket aisles — but they occupy distinct spaces in terms of origin, flavor and brand personality.
Cholula is marketed by McCormick as a Mexican hot sauce with medium heat and a rounded, food-first flavor profile meant to “go on everything,” supported by strong placement in North American restaurants and grocery chains.
Tabasco, produced by the McIlhenny Company on Avery Island, Louisiana, is framed as a foundational American brand, known for its sharp, vinegar-forward, fermented chili taste and its longtime use in hospitality, airlines and home kitchens worldwide.
Both use hot peppers as their base, but the fundamental difference lies in flavor philosophy: Tabasco ages mashed peppers and salt in white oak barrels, then blends them with vinegar, which dominates the taste. Cholula’s approach prioritizes the peppers themselves, so you instead taste the piquín and árbol peppers, not the vinegar or the wood.
McCormick explicitly positions Cholula as a premium brand that can compete in the same spaces where Tabasco traditionally dominated, offering different flavor experiences but solving the same basic consumer need: a trusted, everyday hot sauce that enhances rather than overwhelms food.
A global phenomenon
Today, Cholula has official distributors across Europe, with dedicated sales managers within United Kingdom and German distribution networks. Major British retailers like Tesco stock it alongside traditional favorites. British consumers specifically seek it out as an alternative to vinegar-heavy sauces, wanting “developed and well-rounded pepper flavor without a searing hot punch”— a perfect example of why Cholula succeeded where other hot sauces couldn’t.
Market research now lists Cholula among the major players in the European hot sauce market, with the U.K., Germany, France and the Netherlands emerging as leading consumers. The scramble for hot sauces in Europe highlights a broader cultural shift, as demand for Mexican cuisine and spicier condiments moves these flavors from niche products into everyday pantry staples.
The Cholula Effect has spread beyond the plate, showing how genuine cultural products can transcend borders and make the world a more flavorful place, one wooden cap at a time.
Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog or follow her on Instagram.
Humpbacks like this one are among the most commonly sighted whales seasonally in Los Cabos. (Visit Los Cabos)
What a difference a century makes. In the 19th century, the Pacific Coast of Baja California Sur (BCS) was a hunting ground for whalers. Indeed, some of the most notable early immigrants to what is now Los Cabos were deserters from whaling ships who married into local families. As historian Pablo L. Martinez pointed out in his “Guia Familiar de Baja California, 1700-1900”:
“In the southern tip (of the Baja California peninsula), most of the immigrants were fugitives of the whale fishing ships who escaped from the terrible life they endured aboard such ships. Nowadays, the regional inhabitants call them pirates, which is not correct. Many years ago, six young fellows deserted their whaling ship. They were of the following family names: Hastings, Collins, Leggs, McClish, Gavarine and Robinson.” Others bearing surnames like Green and Ritchie followed.
Virtually every type of tour boat in Los Cabos offers daily whale watching excursions during the winter season. (Visit Los Cabos)
By the late 20th century, however, there had been a sea change in attitudes and a nascent whale watching industry had taken root in Los Cabos. Rather than being hunted, whales were now protected by law and even the season during which tours could occur was regulated.
How long does whale watching season in Los Cabos last?
Yes, that season has arrived. The 2025-2026 whale watching season in Los Cabos begins on Dec. 15 — meaning that’s the day when local tour operators can officially begin taking out tourists aboard boats to see whales — and runs for a full four months, until April 15. The whales themselves, which typically feed in Arctic waters during the summer months before heading south during winter to breed in shallow water coves around BCS, have been seen in local waters since early November, and may be gone by April.
But the dates for whale watching season remain the same regardless and it’s now a big business locally, with tens of thousands of tourists participating in some type of whale watching experience each year.
When are the peak months for viewing?
No guarantees are given when it comes to whale watching tours. The whales do what they want. But from January to March, the peak of whale watching season, it’s a rare tour that doesn’t see some of the whale species that transit Los Cabos this time of year, which include blue, bryde, fin, gray, humpback, minke, orca and sei whales.
Gray and humpback whales are the most commonly sighted, however, and humpbacks are the most memorably photogenic, thanks to their propensity for spectacular breaching behavior, in which they lift nearly the entirety of their up to 40-ton bodies out of the water before splashing down.
What are the restrictions for tour operators?
Rest assured: whales aren’t harassed by tour operators, even though nearly every tour boat in the Cabo San Lucas marina has the proper permits to offer daily whale watching excursions, as do some from the Puerto Los Cabos marina in San José del Cabo. But legal restrictions ensure that all boats remain a certain distance from the whales (60 to 80 meters, or about 200 to 250 feet, depending on the boat’s size), and do nothing that might frighten or annoy them.
A humpback breaches spectacularly near a zodiac boat filled with whale watchers in Los Cabos. (Cabo Adventures)
Of course, the whales are unfamiliar with such regulations and can occasionally come up for air much closer to boats. But Los Cabos is not Magdalena Bay, where gray whales will sometimes approach tourists for more intimate interactions.
Still, Los Cabos is a remarkable place for whale watching — as many as 5,000 whales transit the area annually — even for those who aren’t on tour boats, as enormous cetaceans can often be seen from coastal restaurants or golf courses, like those captured on-air during the recent World Wide Technology Championship.
Swimming with orcas in La Ventana
Whale watching in Los Cabos is a bucket-list activity of the first order, but hardly the only seasonal one within a couple of hours of drive time. This year, for example, BCS became the first state to legalize swimming with orcas, although only in La Ventana, a small town about 30 miles southeast of La Paz on the Gulf of California, or as it is known locally, the Sea of Cortés.
This type of tourism is restricted, too, with the zone off La Ventana for orca encounters encompassing 110,000 hectares and the number of boats capped at 24 daily, now through this summer, when presumably restrictions will evolve based on how the pilot program for this season goes. Tours and round-trip transportation from Los Cabos are available via companies like Cabo Adventures, although due to the travel time, it bears noting that this is at least a six-hour time commitment.
Swimming with whale sharks in La Paz
For years, swimming with whale sharks — not actually a whale, but a massive plankton-eating shark and, at up to 30 tons, the world’s largest fish — has taken place off the coast of BCS’ capital city, La Paz, and has also been a bucket-list vacation activity for tourists. But due to declining numbers of the species regionally, these tours were suspended in February 2023, and again from January 2025 through the completion of last season (whale shark season runs annually from October through May).
The activity has reopened, however, for the new season after enough whale sharks were spotted in November to meet the threshold for tours to commence. But conservancy remains a priority for what is, after all, an endangered species, so there’s always the possibility that these tours are suspended again, something visitors should keep in mind before booking too far in advance.
Swimming with whale sharks season is open in La Paz … at least for now. (Go La Paz)
Here, too, there are legally mandated requirements for boats and group size (no more than 36’ in length and 5 per group, respectively), and for distance, with swimmers obliged to stay at least six feet away from the body of whale sharks, and for their own safety, at least 10 feet away from the tail.
Chris Sands is the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He’s also a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily.
