Myths and legends spell a bewitching destination

[icymist]

Hexes and blessings are muttered in the same breath in the Los Tuxtlas region, where witchcraft is a way of life.
BY DAI HUYNH
Houston Chronicle
CATEMACO, Mexico - The witch is cloaked in a black gown with a Chinese yin-and-yang sign, representing the moon and sun. Dark and light.

Through lace curtains, a shaft of light casts an eerie glow onto the altar. A spindly, wooden red devil dominates the table, towering over the potbellied Hindu elephant deity Lord Ganesha and statuettes of Merlin, Buddha and Shiva.

This is the room where Ignacio Cobix casts spells of life and death, love and spite.

His timber house is a block from Lake Catemaco, where Mexicans come for boating, fishing, bird-watching and spiritual cleansing. Like neighboring San Andres Tuxtla and Santiago Tuxtla, Catemaco is shaped by virescent volcanoes and magic realism. Here, hexes and blessings are muttered in the same breath.

Read the article