Into The Arms Of America

Orozco murals in Guadalajara: Shock and awe

on October 10, 2019December 31, 2021 by Bas Guadalajara, Mexico

There are flames emanating from the dome of the Hospicio Cabanas in Guadalajara. A man is being consumed by fire. But instead of trying to save him, visitors are looking enthralled. Because this masterpiece is, of course, the dark work of painter Jose Clemente Orozco, in what has been come ... View Post

Pyramid of the sun in Teotihuacan, blurred

Mexico City

Pyramids of Teotihuacan, the lost civilization

on July 28, 2019January 1, 2020 by Bas Mexico City, Mexico

How can a city be left behind? What causes a metropolis to loose its inhabitants? Why am I standing in a desert between Mexican hills, between the pyramids of Teotihuacan, wondering where all the people have gone? The details are beautiful. The walls, so grey and hurt by pollution that they ... View Post

Mexico

Quick travel guide to Mexico

on September 10, 2019December 11, 2023 by Bas Mexico

Cosmopolitan traditional. Mexico is as contradictory and hard to describe as it is colorful. This land of many people, stretching from California to the southeastern beach resorts of Yucatan province, is a feast for the senses. From the frenetic pace of metropolitan Mexico City to the indigenous people in the ... View Post

Mexico City

Avenida Insurgentes, the artery of Mexico City

on September 20, 2019August 24, 2019 by Bas Mexico City, Mexico

Loud, dirty, cultural, green, educated, grand: Mexico City is so much and then even more. A metropolis that is hard to describe and hard to pin down. But walk with me an entire day the unusual walk along the Avenida Insurgentes Sur – the main artery of the city and ... View Post

Parque Central square in Juayua, El Salvador

Stories from the road

The art of doing nothing in small villages

on April 15, 2020December 31, 2019 by Bas

In whichever direction I look there are mountains. It is february in Guatemala and it ought to be colder. But instead me is enjoying the sun on a rooftop in volcano heartland, and for the first time in years I catch myself with the realization how much I really like ... View Post

Stories from the road

An ode to the chicken bus

on August 2, 2019August 24, 2019 by Bas

Nobody shouts. Nobody curses. The bus driver announces something in Spanish. My neighbor sighs. Again a breakdown. The driver's assistant, in his early twenties but already in a slightly corpulent physical state, starts to sweat even heavier. Takes off his shirt and knows some serious work is ahead of him. ... View Post