All communication relies on a code of sorts, a combination of symbols, sounds or gestures that — once there is a common ...

The avocado has long been a staple of Mesoamerican culture, and not just in ancient kitchens. For instance, Mayan belief maintains that the dead would eventually come back as trees, leading some ...

The Tortilleria Semilla Co-op models respect for working environments and ancestral cooking methods as they aim to grow and inspire others.

This story appears in the October 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. In the mangroves off the east coast of Central America, at the edge of the Mesoamerican Reef, the world is divided in ...

Q: Were you scared to be in the path of a 30-foot whale shark? A: Fear is a good thing when working with wild animals. Whale sharks aren’t harmful to people. The worst thing is you might get bum ...

There are Mesoamerican deities in the mix, but also the Virgin of Guadalupe. The exhibition has high-tech elements that give it both depth and edge. Francisco Ortega-Grimaldo’s “Titans ...

In Oaxaca, Mexico, a young Javier Villatoro would wake up at 5 a.m. to the smell of nixtamal. The boiled mixture of water, corn and minerals like limestone or ashes was left to rest overnight.