Category Archives: Mexico

Facing the Firing Squad in Style

Zur deutschen Fassung. On a friend’s blog, I came across this photo, depicting Captain Carlos Fortino Sámano, facing a firing squad in 1917, during the Mexican Revolution. Please don’t ask me any details about that revolution/civil war, because it’s even … Continue reading

Posted in Andalusia, History, Mexico, Military, Peru, Photography, Spain | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Random Thoughts (14)

If I am ever on a quiz show, my telephone joker will be the dude who wrote Wikipedia. Suki Kim has done impressive undercover reporting in North Korea, fooling both her employer, by pretending that she was a devout Christian, and of course the … Continue reading

Posted in Bolivia, Books, China, Colombia, Economics, Language, Life, Mexico, North Korea, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Technology, Travel, UK | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Random Thoughts (11)

Mohammad Mostafaei, the lawyer with whom I was arrested in Iran, has written a book. He says I am in it too, but I can’t read Norwegian, so I have to wait for a translation. Does anyone still remember José Echegaray … Continue reading

Posted in Books, France, History, Human Rights, Iran, Language, Law, Mexico, Military, Politics, Sports, Travel, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why I will return to Europe

Originally, I had planned to spend several years in Latin America to take the time to explore every country from Argentina to Mexico. As an advocate for constant change, I have however scrapped this plan and I will return to … Continue reading

Posted in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Easter Island, Ecuador, Europe, Life, Mexico, Peru, Photography, Religion, Travel, Venezuela | Tagged , | 69 Comments

Random Thoughts (9)

In Bolivia, I spoke with a lawyer about feminicidios, the killing of women by their partners, which carries a higher sentence than a “regular” homicide. Out of curiosity, I looked up the figure for Germany – and was shocked: 331 … Continue reading

Posted in Bolivia, Economics, Germany, History, Human Rights, Immigration Law, Law, Mexico, Military, Music, Poland, Politics, Romania, Russia, Travel, Ukraine, USA, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Film Review: James Bond “SPECTRE”

This film review doesn’t require a spoiler warning because the latest James Bond film SPECTRE doesn’t have a discernible plot anyway. It is more of an unorganized sequence of badly written and halfheartedly acted scenes. Like a car-boot sale trying to get … Continue reading

Posted in Cinema, Mexico | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Easily Confused (56) Republican debates

How Republican debates used to be: How Republican debates look now: Even I, as someone who is very interested in politics, have stopped watching these debates. There is nothing new to be learned from them, there is nothing of substance. … Continue reading

Posted in History, Mexico, Politics, USA | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

My Encounters with Mexican Literature

Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican writer, has the following quote attributed to him: Writing is a struggle against silence. Of his many books, I have only read Aura and I wish he had remained silent. Whenever I visit a country, I try to … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Mexico, Travel | Tagged | 11 Comments

An Airport is Born

Mexico City needs a new airport like it needs more people, but somebody managed to convince someone else that they needed to spend $9.15 billion (an amount which will of course double or treble, as with any other public procurement … Continue reading

Posted in Mexico, Travel | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Mexican Nazis

Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. During my upcoming travels in Latin America, I won’t need to worry about money. Whenever I will run out of funds, I can work at a college or university and teach German and European history. The demand … Continue reading

Posted in History, Mexico, Politics | Tagged , | 25 Comments