Archive for the ‘mexico’ Category

Posted on October 4, 2009 - by MG

A Joshua Files Mexico Trip: Part 1 - Veracruz state

If reading ‘The Joshua Files’ has made you curious about Mexico and its rich diversity of attractions; ancient ruins in the jungle, old colonial towns, turquoise beaches, then here’s the perfect trip for you, exclusively researched by me!

Josh Garcia’s Mexico

Photo on left shows the sleepy old town of Tlacotalpan on the River Papaloapan, in Veracruz state.

Trip 1 - Veracruz State: Port of Veracruz, Tlacotalpan, Catemaco

It was here that Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors first arrived in 1519.As a native of central Mexico - the capital, Mexico City, I hadn’t visited Veracruz until 2001. During the summer of that year, urged by my late aunt Josefina, I took the family to see this unique part of the republic.

It was the state’s Caribbean heritage that my aunt thought would attract me. She was right. El Puerto de Veracruz (Port of Veracruz) has a strong hint of Cuba’s capital, Havana, although on a less grandiose scale. Tropical rhythms mingle in the main city square, dancers and singers rub shoulders with street vendors. It’s not unlike the Havana you’ll see in the opening section of the 1958 film of Graham Greene’s novel, “Our Man in Havana”.

“You must also visit the witches of Catemaco,” my aunt insisted. “And Tlacotalpan! It’s like going into the past.”

Mystic witches, watery towns that seem to be locked in a forgotten past, plus some of the most spectacular scenery you’ll see anywhere in the world - snow-capped volcanos, impossibly green terrain ripe with coffee, vanilla and banana plantations, the vertiginous surroundings of the Orizaba mountain range, spectacular ancient ruins: Veracruz is one of the most rewarding and unspoilt regions in the republic of Mexico.

Read the rest of this article including tips on getting there, where to stay and notable Joshua Files locations in Veracruz, featured in ‘Invisible City’ and ‘Ice Shock’.

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 9, 2009 - by MG

Dreaming of Lake Bacalar

Dreaming of Lake Bacalar

Originally uploaded by mgharris (Photo taken by David Harris)

There’s a freshwater lagoon in the south of Quintana Roo state in Mexico, that is twenty-seven kilometres long and boasts water of seven shades of blue, from aqua to midnight blue. The lagoon of Bacalar, or Lake Bacalar as it is also known, is mostly a wildlife reserve on one side, with limited development on the other.

I visited the lake with my family in Oct 2007 whilst travelling in the QR and Campeche region, collecting photos and sampling locations for ‘The Joshua Files’. At that time I’d written the first two books but not yet visited Becan or Chetumal, both of which feature in ‘Invisible City’.

Our day at the lake was particularly delicious. The water is like a giant freshwater pool, crystal clear water and a sandy base. We ate ceviche and fish tacos at the lakeside restaurant. The next day we came back with my cousin Oscar Raul, who I hadn’t seen for years. In the meantime he’d turned from a cheerful wannabe rock drummer college freshman into a chic geek with eyes on a European doctoral position. As the first serious geek in the family I had long ago recognised Oscar Raul as One Of Us. My sister Pili (BA geology MA theology, angling to do a doctorate too) and I frankly had been waiting many years for him to join us.

So, a happy reunion.

We drank Dos Equis lager and watched the sun go down. I stayed in the lake until dark with my two daughters. All day long I wished fervently that there was some way that I could write Lake Bacalar into ‘Joshua Files’. Lakeside houses, speedboats, jet skis…what’s not to love?

Well, in Joshua Files 3, ZERO MOMENT (out spring 2010in the UK) I found a way to set something pretty important to the plot in Bacalar. The story takes a turn in that direction in Joshua Files 4 too.

I have around 17,000 left to write of Joshua 4 and then *sob* there’ll only be one left.

Joshua 4 also features another incredible location that we visited on that amazing 2007 Mexico trip. More anon…
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Posted on March 29, 2008 - by MG

Papers Please…

 

Going to Brazil requires proper foreign stuff like getting a VISA (for me as a Mexican national) and an International Driver’s License based on the 1926 treaty. It’s all prewar and all, a little cardboard booklet in Pre-War Government Grey.

I have papers! Like you see in films when they say ‘Ihre papieren, bitte…’

Some exciting news re sales of “Invisible City” - the Nielsen BookScan data has been crunched and it’s officially the fastest selling UK children’s debut so far this year! Congratulations to Scholastic for their brilliant work selling and promoting the book and many thanks to everyone who’s read it, blogged about it and given it a terrific review on Amazon or elsewhere. Guys…it’s working!

see Pedro Almodovar Blog

Meanwhile I have found a way to fangirl one of my favourite movie directors, that Castilian genius, Pedro Almodovar. He has a blog where he’s blogging about making his forthcoming movie, “Broken Embraces”.

I almost swooned with pleasure to read that he’s been writing in the ‘Las Mananitas’ hotel in Cuernavaca and to see from his photos that he’s been to Tepoztlan. Both are small towns outside Mexico City, around a hour’s drive away through tree-covered mountains, and both places where we’ve spent wonderful times with friends and family.

I was also delighted to read about his recollections of “Night of the Iguana”, a film I also admire. Of the monologue at the end where Deborah Kerr’s character movingly and naturally speaks of the one moment of (questionable) intimacy in her entire life, Almodovar writes:

“When a character has captured our attention and decides to tell us something intimate, something he has never confessed to anyone, there’s nothing better than letting the actor act. There are no digital effects, no frantic editing that can compare to the intensity of an actor’s face.”

I always try to achieve that cinematic moment in what I write. Robert McKee said that if there’s one message he’d telegraph to movie producers it’s this: MEANING produces EMOTION.

As in; not explosions, special effects, car chases etc; but that moment where you see on the actor’s face the sudden tumbling of the lock’s mechanism, the realisation, admission, confession.

Now in my case I’d like the car chases and the visual thrill too, thanks very much, but when the moment of meaning arrives, what I’m thinking about is the look on an actor’s face.

So - another blog to follow. Yay!

Posted on March 22, 2008 - by MG

Looking for inspiration: Remedios Varo

Some writers like to have a vague idea where they’re going when they write and make it up as they go along, some writers like to spend a great deal of time with the plotting and planning.

I’m one of the planners. I’ve tried it the other way - with me it tends to produce plot structures that lack sufficient impact at the key points. So now, I plan.

But a story also has needs to have some magical, organic quality; something that feels as though it crept in by itself, wasn’t calculated into the mix from the start. Even if actually, it was…

Every writer has their own way of factoring in that magical bit. I suspect we all discover it on our own. Mind-altering substances might do the trick, but that’s a bit risky…

My own ‘method’ came from the realisation that even working to a structured plot, there was still room for movement. So even my ‘finished’ plot plans are in fact only about 85% of the way there.

The last 15% has to be found during the writing. And with me, it is always inspired from outside.

It seems to be something about understanding what makes you tick and connecting something in the story with that.

Without getting too psychoanalytical, we all have something deep down that we really care about and drives us.  Some people are very self-aware; they know what this is…the kind of people who care deeply about politics or religion…are probably going to write books that reflect their thoughts on that.

But if lie me you’re generally vague and mixed-up, it’s a bit more complicated!

However, by accident, I did find the way to extract this magic final 15%. And so far it has worked every time.

I’m not telling though! Nope; that’s going to be my secret.

Here’s a clue though, one thing that inspired me today, in finding the some of the magic 15% for Joshua book 3.

It’s a picture by Remedios Varo, a Mexican artist, a surrealist painter of fantastical works. A close friend of mine in Mexico City introduced me to her work when we were teenagers. I remember a very happy afternoon we spent together in the Museum of Modern Art in Chapultepec looking at these paintings…

The painting above is called Naturaleza Muerta Resucitado which translates as ‘Natural Death Resuscitated’.

Posted on March 19, 2008 - by MG

With the Bohemians - A huevo!

Alonso, Mario, Hector and Pablo of the OU Mexican Society

After Mass last week I overheard two people talking in the shop near church. Their accents gave them away as Mexicans, so I introduced myself as a fellow Mexican. Oxford has a few Mexican graduate students nowadays and over the years I’ve got to know a few of them, which has been a wonderful way to meet Mexican people who are a) much younger than me and b) not related to me!

Pablo invited me to listen to him and some friends playing ‘trova’ at a ‘Bohemian Night’ at Exeter College MCR. ‘Trova’ are soft, latin-american modern folk songs, often with political sentiments. So I sneaked out of the house last Saturday and joined the Young People in the MCR.

Listening to them play, I was transported back to my childhood when my  uncle Jose Luis (’Pepe’) and some student mates (my mother called them ‘the boys’) of his came to Europe travelling, back in the 1970s. Like Pablo and his pals, they also brought guitars and songs from old Mexico. I was a very impressionable young girl at that time and decided that an intrinsic part of being attractive as a latino male was undoubtedly the ability to sing and play guitar.

I was glad to see that these guys lived up to that stereotype. Like Pepe and ‘the boys’ back in the day, these guys had an impressive command of old Mexican songs by Agustin Lara and Jose Alfredo Jimenez, rancheras, trova songs, ballads…and that was before they began riffing with the audience in English, covering the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, The Eagles,  Don Mclean and Radiohead.

(A highlight was when they played “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles and then without changing the guitar riffs at all - because it’s exactly the same tune - went straight into the older Mexican jarocho song ‘La Bamba’.)

Very bohemian! And quite satisfyingly Mexican, too. Viva Mexico!

I might be going to talk to the Oxford University Mexican Society about ‘The Joshua Files’. Yes, I did tell them, many times, that it’s a children’s book…

 (NB ‘a huevo’ is Mexican slang for saying ‘too right’. And like most Mexican slang, it is probably rather crude…)