Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

February is all about the number two, and 2/22 is a palindrome too! Guadalajara is Mexico City's chief rival. As such, it has an exquisite collection of churches, including this neo-Gothic one dedicated to the Holy Sacraments. Construction took 75 years, and it's not even a cathedral. Be sure to see tomorrow's post.[2007]

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Fewer haircuts than ever in 2020: Pre-Covid cuts in Tijuana, Mexico, and Sumpter, South Carolina. Home-bound cuts (two underage barbers) in Chesapeake, Virginia. Covid-Era cuts in Helena, Montana; Cape May, New Jersey; and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Eighteen states to go until Geographically Yours has been shod in each of the 50 states! [2020]

El Rosario, Michoacán, Mexico

♫ These Are a Few of My Favorite Things ♫ ~ Welcome Signs: Welcome signs may glow with local character, exude national ambition, or, in this case, compliment the international community for establishing a biosphere reserve. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. See also: Geographically Yours Welcome. [2008]

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Plazas are typical of Mexican urbanism. Here, one of Guadalajara's neighborhoods boasts a plaza whose elements fit the model almost perfectly: (1) an ornate fountain, (2) a canopy of shade, (3) a brigade of whitewashed tree trunks,(4) a residential littoral, (5) an adulatory statue, and (5) an assemblage of people setting the re-set button. [2008]

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

This is how el salón de uñas presents itself from the outside looking in. It may also give you a clue about the Mexican aesthetic. [2020]

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Traditional societies around the world are waking up to the human rights of the LGBTQ population. So, maybe they are not so traditional after all. Maybe a new, more inclusive generation is taking over the world, as this crepe paper mural in Mexico suggests. It's amazing what you can do with a rainbow. [2020]

Huépac, Sonora, Mexico

In Sonora, even as late as the 1980s, the ranching landscapes and their vaquero creators hadn't changed for a century. Then, Mexico's economic model changed, liberalization began, and NAFTA took over. Development and modernization followed. [1988]

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Does anyone else think these high-rise apartments look like corn cobs? Plant that idea in your head: You could build an apartment building that looks exactly like an ear of corn with an apartment in every kernal. Now think how cool it would be to make it look like an ear of Indian corn! [2020]

Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

Along the frontier that divides Mexico from the United States, there are 50 border crossings, including three in Nogales. Here is a view of one of them taken over three decades ago before the current era of fortification and militarization. [1988]

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

If this is Plaza Santa Cecilia, then this must be Santa Cecelia herself! Sure enough: The harp is a giveaway since we all know that she is the patroness of musicians. Walk from her statue to the Arco de Tijuana, and you will have covered almost 2000 years of history. Cecelia was born in the second century and the arch was built in the twenty-first century. [2020]

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

If you want to have some fun learning about human evolution, look up the Aquatic Ape Theory. It may be that many of our distinctive features as humans came about because we adapted to shoreline environments rather than remaining in the trees like other apes. Could that also explain why we are still so drawn to the seashore? [2016]

Mexico City, DF, Mexico

To quote Wayne Gerard Trotman: “Some people are silently struggling with burdens that would break our backs." Great landscapes make us think about our place in the world. [2008]

Mexico City, DF, Mexico

Today, the Zócalo is the ceremonial heart of Mexico City and the nation. It is a huge open-space resource that is used for the celebrations of Mexica and national culture, political protests (in front of the national palace), and recreational nonsense that means nothing to anybody. [2008]

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Tombolo: a bar of sand connecting an island to the mainland. Sand simply accumulates in the wave-energy shadow of the island. The tombolo here at Land's End is accessible only by boat, but it does present a pleasant place to play for a day. [2016]

Angangueo, Michoacán, Mexico

The pots shouldn't be prettier than the plants! But, because they are, these crocks may be on their way to  a porch or patio near you: from potter to porter to pickup to border and on to a corner to be sold by a foreigner to an American gardener. [2008]

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Faux Animal Characters: Being blue makes this monkey special. With others of his ilk, he constitutes the welcoming committee at the Guadalajara Zoo. The sculptures are as playful as the reality they represent. Thanks, Sergio Bustamante. [2008]

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Faux Human Characters:  Here's a Mexican gentleman who is supposed to be so irresistible that you will just have to stop and dine. Bandanna and hat: Is it really fashionable to wear them together?[2016]

Las Palmas, Jalisco, Mexico

Give up screens for a week and you'll be making things like this, too. Screens? Flat surfaces on which images appear electronically. They have become ubiquitous. Ubiquitous? Occurring everywhere. How addicted are you? [2008]

Naco, Sonora, Mexico

Here's to St. Martin de Porres and the barbers who cut my hair in 2018: in Naco, Mexico, and Key West, FL; Hobbs, NM, Kill Devil Hills, NC, and Seaford, DE; Port Royal, SC, and Quebec City, Canada; Flint, MI, Elk City, OK, and Mary Esther, FL, where I got my hair cut off on the Mary Esther Cut Off. St. Martin de Porres? He's the patron saint of barbers! [2018]

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Today, we have a multiple choice question. You get to pick two from the above display. Recommended (especially for Sagittarians named Lucas): (1) Dream-It-Plan-It-Do-It, (2) No-Pain-No-Gain. [2016]