Newyork Hotels

In my experience, bed and breakfasts are one of the best ways of experiencing a new place. In many cases the rates can be quite reasonable although there is an increasing number of high end luxury bed and breakfasts and inns, many of whom may end up charging several hundred dollars per night as well. At some of the more budget-oriented B&Bs you can get a simple, yet usually comfortable room, often with unique d

Share This

Where divergent religious customs merge

Daniel Perez Gonzalez was a beautiful baby. His parents Flor and Jorge thought so; my wife Arlene and I agreed. Few are able to share our certainty, though, because we were among the very few to see him alive. Daniel was born in a hospital in Oaxaca (wa-HAW-kah), a city of about 400,000 inhabitants high in Mexico’s Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range. I welcomed him into the world along with Arlene, our then 13-year-old daughter Sarah, and Daniel’s grandmother Chona. From the womb, the nurse passed our newest extended family member into three sets of anxiously loving arms—Chona’s, those of his big sister Carmela (Sarah’s closest friend in Oaxaca), and then Sarah.

We have a long and colorful history together, my Jewish family in my previous hometown of Toronto and my devoutly Catholic family in Oaxaca. Chona is our comadre and matriarch of her family. Not six months earlier she and her grandchildren had shouted Mazel Tov at Sarah’s Bat Mitzvah in Toronto. Over the years we have raised many a glass of mezcal (Oaxaca’s version of tequila) at milestone birthdays including quince a

Share This