The human race has become complacent. Once upon a time pestilence was something to worry about, but a few decades of relatively mild epidemics – and the discovery of medical fixes to keep them at bay – led most of us citizens of the 21st century to believe that pestilence and plague were things of the past.

Dr. Margarita Ibarra is a member of the Nephrology Department at Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil. Since the appearance of Covid-19, her life has changed drastically.

Finding good books in English is difficult in the best of times, but it becomes a major headache when a pandemic has you under siege.

Finding good books in English is difficult in the best of times, but it becomes a major headache when a pandemic has you under siege.

A new book titled “Ancient West Mexico in the Mesoamerican Ecumene” –  written in excellent English – presents the first study of the archaeology of the whole of West Mexico, from the earliest to the latest cultural periods, by a single author. It is also unique in that it is far more than a simple compendium of excavations and artifacts.

Jalisco’s famed Río Caliente boils to the surface in the Primavera Forest and flows into La Vega Dam. It then flows back out as the Ameca River and meanders all the way to Puerto Vallarta (230 kilometers away), entering the Pacific Ocean at a place called Boca de Tomates, or “The Mouth of the River, Where the Tomatillos Grow.” (The tomatillo, by the way, is a green-purple member of the tomato family and important for making green salsa in Mexico.)