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Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico
 
 
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Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico [Paperback]

Tony Cohan (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 24, 2007
Tony Cohan’s On Mexican Time, his chronicle of discovering a new life in the small Mexican mountain town of San Miguel de Allende, has beguiled readers and become a travel classic. Now, in Mexican Days, point of arrival becomes point of departure as—faced with the invasion of the town by tourists and an entire Hollywood movie crew, a magazine editor’s irresistible invitation, and his own incurable wanderlust—Cohan undertakes a richer, wider exploration of the country he has settled in.
Told with the intimate, sensuous insight and broad sweep that captivated readers of On Mexican Time, Mexican Days is set against a changing world as Cohan encounters surprise and adventure in a Mexico both old and new: among the misty mountains and coastal Caribbean towns of Veracruz; the ruins and resorts of Yucatán; the stirring indigenous world of Chiapas; the markets and galleries of Oaxaca; the teeming labyrinth of Mexico City; the remote Sierra Gorda mountains; the haunted city of Guanajuato; and the evocative Mayan ruins of Palenque. Along the way he encounters expatriates and artists, shady operatives and surrealists, and figures from his past.
More than an immensely pleasurable and entertaining travel narrative by one of the most vivid, compelling travel voices to emerge in recent years, Mexican Days is both a celebration of the joys and revelations to be found in this inexhaustibly interesting country and a searching investigation of the Mexican landscape and the grip it is coming to have in the North American imagination.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Novelist and memoirist Cohan takes on a travel magazine assignment to make "some trips around Mexico... see how the puzzle of old and new fit together [and] write about it." Traveling south from his San Miguel home, he passes through Vera Cruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas into the Yucatán. Readers familiar with the path may enjoy traveling with him; others will long for a minimal map, an organizing principle and some photographs. As Cohan drifts through Mexico, history (e.g., the founding of Tlacotalpan sometime between A.D. 900 and 1200) and contemporary events (e.g., the barricading of mountain roads by Zapatista insurgents) are revealed. Chats with taxistas and shopkeepers, visits with friends and artists, remarks about his own work and casual references to the famous among Mexico's tourist, exile and expatriate population dot the pages (John Huston gets four pages). Cohan's description of the book as "the Mexican postcard I'm always writing home" is accurate; but postcards work best for readers who can fill in the blanks with their own sense of where the writer is coming from. Perhaps readers of Cohan's previous, well-received account (On Mexican Time: A New Life in San Miguel) will be able to do so. (May 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Cohan updates and expands his portrait of life in Mexico from his previous books. This journey commences in San Miguel de Allende, where Cohan finds his beloved town overrun with overbearing Hollywood movie stars filming an action picture. Their intense hypertechnological activity overshadows the town's unique and vital culture, reflecting in its own way the continuing disruption of civilization by predatory northern neighbors. In further contrast to what he witnesses in San Miguel, Cohan encounters native Mexican filmmakers intent on recording genuine Mexican culture, not simply using the land as a stage set. He also demonstrates an encyclopedic knowledge of the long history of Hollywood filmmaking in Mexico. As Cohan travels from Guanajuato to Mexico City, to Oaxaca, and to the Yucatan, the sights and the people he encounters reflect intractable problems left over from repeated disastrous collisions with first Spanish and then U.S. forces. Cohan accurately and vividly describes the riotous extremes of politics, of geography, of wealth, of smells, and of colors that make up today's Mexico. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway (April 24, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0767920910
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767920919
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #778,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
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 (9)
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 (8)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Mexico, May 29, 2006
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Don't not buy this book as a travel guide. This is a book about the "state of mind" of Mexico and those drawn to it as much as it describes unique places in the country. The majority of American's knowledge and stereotyping of Mexico are nowhere near the charm, culture and people of Mexico when you meet them in their environment.

I first read Tony Cohan's "A New Life in San Miguel" where he moved in the mid 80s when living in Mexico in the devalued peso era was not very popular. Cohan described the charm of San Miguel to perfection. This book revisits San Miguel during the filming of a movie with Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas and relevant disruption this causes to his formerly quiet little town. In addition, his town is now overrun with American touristas, who he quietly dislikes and he also blames for runaway housing prices which helps to destroy his quiet little town's character.

An invitation to write an article of unique places to visit in Mexico leads to this book which is not a tourist guide but rather a description of these unique little towns and the effect on the soul of this expatriate American. To further this introspective traveling review, Cohan now goes through the year with minimal time seeing his wife Mosaka, an accomplished author and photographer in her own right who prepares books on Mexican Tile and Mexican color in design and architecture. Thus begins a yearly journey into the soul of Mexico and Tony Cohan.

Cohan visits many towns like Guanajuato, Xilitla, Jalpan, Oaxaca City, Xalapa, Tlacotalpan, Palenque, and Merida. All have their unique charm and geography. Many of these towns he compares to San Miguel twenty years ago before the arrival of the tourists. Some of my favorite stories are of the mountain villages with constant drizzle or chipichipi on the East Coast near the Caribbean Ocean and also the "son jarocho" music festival where Cohan studies the whole history of the music dating back to the early 1900s. But my two favorite stories are of Katanchel in the Yucatan jungle and Palenque. Katanchel is described as an enchanting place which a subsequent tragedy brings into perspective. Palenque is the site of a documentary filming of a famous Mayan ruin. Cohan weaves a great story of lovers, honeymooners, hippies and other members of society who check out into the jungle on their own quest.

This is an excellent internal perspective that Cohan shares with his readers. I strongly recommend that you read "A New Life in San Miguel" first and then the continuation of the journey in this book. There are many parts of this book to discuss but would be giving up the story. In many respects Cohan seems to be enjoying his life but struggling through his personal relationships and his love of Mexico which he doesn't want to see change.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Magical Mexico: Cohan Opens a New Door to Mexican Travel, July 24, 2007
By 
Christine Zibas "AnythngArt" (Just Outside Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico (Paperback)
Without having read any of Cohan's other books, discovering "Mexican Days" was like finding a new friend. I loved Cohan's writing, and more than that, I came away from the book having been truly inspired to return to Mexico. In the meantime, I have a whole list of new things to explore through the Internet and other books. Cohan has piqued my interest in a variety of topics: new Mexican artists to discover, details about Mayan history to flush out, new dishes to make, and a list of places to visit on my return.

As an expat, Cohan's approach to travel writing is among the best that I have found. His tastes and interests parallel mine; he writes about much of what I would like to explore myself, never getting bogged down. His infusion of personal friendships and meetings into his writing makes it feel like you are there with Cohan, as the ultimate insider.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves travel or Mexico. There is much to enjoy here. I really feel like Cohan has given me a new door into a country that I thought I knew. It doesn't get any better than that.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A poor follow on to "on mexican time", January 2, 2010
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This review is from: Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico (Paperback)
This is a book that was obviously written to cash in on the previous (and rather good) "On Mexican Time". This one fails on almost every front -- the prose is lurid and self indulgent, the content is all about the author, and not about the subject, and should the reader ever make it to the end he will be no wiser and only better informed insofar as it relates to Mr Cohan's personal life.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
son jarocho
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mexico City, San Miguel, Las Pozas, New York, Sierra Gorda, Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, Reverend Billy, San Francisco, Edward James, Calle Flor, Temple of the Inscriptions, Francisco Toledo, Once Upon, Puerto Vallarta, Breaking the Maya Code, Juan Carlos, Ambos Mundos, Oaxaca City, Vicente Fox, South America, Hacienda Katanchel, World Trade Center, Under the Volcano, San Diego, Latin American
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