Layer upon hidden layer revealed its different incarnations La Rosa, a house in the historic centre of Mérida, capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán, exudes a sense of the past and reflects its historical surroundings. It is something its owner, architect Lucía Rios Santos, was keen to see safeguarded when she and her husband came to renovate it. “Every room offered a space that had a history to tell. We felt that the story must be rescued and preserved,” she says. She tells the tale of its construction during the 1940s: “A man called Cristobal Duran, Don Boxol to his neighbours, bought the ..read more

Rising sea levels and fierce storms threaten Quintana Roo’s coastline, and with it the ribbon of beach resorts and timeshares José Escalante looks out over the mile of fine, white sand leading up to the Mayan ruins perched on a bluff over the turquoise Caribbean. A few fishing boats have been pulled up on Tulum’s Playa Pescadores, one of the world’s most photogenic beaches. Tourists pose as the sun fades over the Yucatán peninsula behind them. All seems well in paradise. But Escalante is weary. He is selling the six beachfront hotels he co-owns in this booming Mexican tourist destination and h ..read more

One of Latin America’s most colourful capitals comes alive through its dancehall rhythms, gritty cinema and tasty tacos At a community dinner in Santa María la Ribera – one of Mexico City’s first suburbs, built in the late 1800s just west of the old centre – I met a European contortionist. He was in his 70s and used a wheelchair. Circus work had first brought him to the country decades ago, but then he’d never left. “I feel more alive here,” he told me. This is the city’s seduction: extremes of existence can happen all on the same street corner, and render life more vivid. The Slovakian expat ..read more

Ted Cruz has provoked an outcry after the Republican senator from Texas left the state for a trip to the sunny Mexican tourist resort of Cancún, as millions of his constituents endured deadly power outages and freezing temperatures. Cruz was spotted waiting for, then later boarding, a flight to Cancún on Wednesday night.  A day later, after the images went viral, he returned to Texas Ted Cruz flies to Cancún as millions of Texans freeze in the dark Ted Cruz can't escape Mexico vacation memes ..read more

Recreating the fish tacos he ate for breakfast in Baja California takes our writer back to his hot, dusty 1,000-mile cycle down the peninsula In early 2006 I arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, on a circuitous route from New York to Rio de Janeiro by bicycle. To the south lay the 1,000-mile-long Baja California peninsula, protruding between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. Lugging a heavy bicycle through a desert peninsula has its moments. Searing heat, countless cactus-induced punctures, unforgiving truck drivers and sleeping rough. But one of my fondest memories from that ride through Baja r ..read more