Review: Pueblos Magicos by Chuck Burton
Despite living in Texas
for most of my life and spending four years parked on the Mexican border in Del
Rio, I am ashamed to admit I know next to nothing about Mexico and have never
ventured more than a mile inside its borders. I was really intrigued by the description
of this book and amazed that an American in his seventies would undertake this
venture alone. But it is clear that the author is no regular tourist. He’s honed
his skills after a lifetime of remote travel on the cheap, spending months
visiting countries around the world.
The name of the book
intrigued me, Pueblos Magicos. What are they? The government of Mexico
has designated close to 200 towns the status of Pueblos Magicos, or
Magical Towns. Most are off the beaten path and they were chosen for their cultural
“richness, historical relevance, cuisine, art crafts, and great hospitality."
According to the author the town ‘make you feel glad to be there.’
The author takes us to
62 of these towns, grouping them by his top ten and by region. As a thrifty traveler
who is fluent in Spanish, he travels by the most economical means, by bus. Most
are very rural and see few, if any international tourists. In each town, Chuck describes
the town, the markets, historical sites, sites of interest, the hotel or Airbnb,
restaurants and street food vendors. I was really amazed by the prices he paid
for hotels, often less than twenty dollars, and how cheap and wonderful the
food was.
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