Acapulco and Veracruz City

Selena's journey takes her to west coast and the east coast of Mexico. She travels from Mexico City to Acapulco on the four-lane lane highway Autopista del Sol.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSqD3jcdW9M

She arrive to Acapulco, in Guerrro state, one of Mexico most popular resort town,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acapulco
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QyLjwMcHB0

She watches the cliff diving
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSxWRHUwIV4
Her mother likes this singer from Guerrero
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TuCU6dHk8Y

She travels to Veracruz City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracruz_city
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvyBo6nbZGw

She drinks coffee in this famous place
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNiyElCcP7o

Famous singers from Veracruz are Yuri
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSUJTUImSP8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_LIFoRVCeI
and Natalia Lafourcade was born in the Veracruz state
www.youtube.com/watch?v=410cZw2YI0g


An Afro-Mexican singer from Veracruz is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lVezyvULQk

And the actress and film director, Salma Hayek, was born in the state of Veracruz.
www.imdb.com/name/nm0000161/

Selena end her visit in Xalapa, the capital of Vercruz, to see the Omlec head in their Museum
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIzhTR68RfA

Guadalajara

Selena and her group travel to Guadalajara, the second biggest city in Mexico. It's often described as the most Mexican city in the country. Welcome to Guadalajara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalajara
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqndi9lv0cM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk61u-YH3Nw

They visit the Catedral
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8SQMuGQOs
and Plaza Tapatia
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mb1BS6L1gE
 
The Mariachis first appear in Guadalajara
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CJWkffyKXE
and beautiful song with Mariachis
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO2vETJRq5U

and the city gave Mexico the sombrero, the famous wide-brimmed hat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYwqjCj6kgc

In November/December the city hosts the largest book fair in Latin America
www.fil.com.mx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EJxnEr5AkM

Not far from Guadalajara they have the plants for making the Tequila
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAOST4cGVw

Famous bands from Guadalajara are Sandoval
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOBvD161JUA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ut21XzoWNg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6f0uFeYYwU
and Mana
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyC8dy8qST8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkWeWDn25I
and the actress and singer Ximena Sarinana
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnCQlCqjvqo
and the rapper C-Kan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD4zxx-Ep64
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFnmxXa9jx8
and Espumas y Terciopelo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQfme6DdwU

The actor Gael Garcia Benel and the film director Guillermo del Toro were born in this city.

From Guadalajara Selena and her group travel east to Leon to attend the annual Balloon Festival
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_u-HvFCyA

Manzanillo and Puerta Vallarta

Mexico is famous for its beautiful towns on the Pacific Ocean. On her journey to find love Selena travels to these two resorts.

Welcome to Manzanillo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanillo,_Colima
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSBO-kfX0VE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0cKNokyGmM
A famous artist from the state of Colima is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYRuEZ6Z9z4


Welcome to Puerto Vallarta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Vallarta
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gq6X9ppmcc
and its Malecon, the boardwalk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFKPBeu4KZU
with the boy on the seahorse statue
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQVRC9ilH90
and the mermaid statue
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN5Vm1IL7Ic



While Selena doesn't visit the state of Sinaloa, Sheyla with her powerful voice is in the story. She is also an actress in Telenovas, that Selena's mother and brother like to watch on TV.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0rHSq4R7Mk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4XwNP71yc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoU0rGDTov4
She is also an actress in Telenovas (like Rafaela) which Selena's mother and brother like to watch.

Bandas from Sinaloa
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR5f59K8R5w
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WHh7gMJqV4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3IOdw5IowM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQWOAjSffHI

Paying tribute to a singer who died too early
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvPd26IACUs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFNmwH93gew
and to the Mexican-American Jenni Rivera
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVcy_lMClA0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAbUnmDKX1o

Mexico City

Mexico City appears in a few chapters in my novel. Some say it's the biggest city in the world with 30 million people. About a quarter of the people of Mexico live in the capital city of Mexico. It's one of the ancient cities in the world, used to be called Tenochtitlan. Welcome to Mexico City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_city
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9TdbcL_9lk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAK_uw6RCwU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3raj0J6iDJc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDBKvwaMavc

Selena hopes to study at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), the best university in Latin America
www.unam.mx/acercaunam/en/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA1Le1hjlms
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKDb_vA847Q

She visited the National Museum of Anthropology
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fldeoMd8pCM

and the Palace of Fine Arts & Statue of Independence.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNg2tQS3HA4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcCb0u8tAjs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzHcaNyhV2s

Mexico's tallest building, Torre Mayor & Bolsa Mexicana
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8QNCCgionM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2k4gTBdZ0

Floating Gardens
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovs-LJTXBTw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJNygP28_0k

Food in Mexico City
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzpGiYAA4oE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5nRMz1pCuE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu6txiOhDb0

She prayed in the famous religious place in northern Mexico City
www.youtube.co/watch?v=gHCNLFr3mpA
and the famous song about it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt-tVJMx2Gs

Bands and singers from  Mexico City are Zoe, alternative psychedelic band
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJqlA_HTEU8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHev-8Z2nHM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU0LljxpHIk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmiyA5kg6eI

Rio Roma, Latin pop duo who are brothers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X3PPuF_yOE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jirj0OjI-M

rock bands like Camila, Cafe Tacuba & DLD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xftFxCYQTdk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=biUYbAk-S1w
www.youtube.com./watch?v=98Akpf1ph2o
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dapgfO59ar8

RBD & their Maite Perroni
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YJcVokANJk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2fU28Pehdc

Hello Seahorse and Danna Paola
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNDlwHW92OY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgOAfK7RJ20
 
Jesse & Joy, brother and sister pop duo, and Julissa
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2hM9CLAMu4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftK4NTrSbEw

Thalia and Edith Marquez
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kanyeO5uoNo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0wxSToBznA
Sasha Sokol
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_7lbza6cUA
and Lucero
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO2vETJRq5U
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAGNlkPLGvA

Juan Gabriel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O4CLgXvbjU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPRXDLfzkeg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5Bo4YdgH4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Fjtp51kdU

And Jose Jose with his romantic ballads
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRwOqQ6xvsg

Pop bands: Sentidos Opuestos,  OV7, Kabah

Munich

Munich appears twice in my novel. Both Helga and Petra's friends go to Munich to help Petra. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg,  and the capital and the largest city in the southern state of Bavaria.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX8Bz1lFslI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H06TFwvBe4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=spcSEizChyE

The world biggest beer festival, with 6 million visitors, is held in Munich every October
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcg0d90Tce0
and its famous beer hall where Helga gets clues about the magical glasses.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfjwdwqAU7Q

Hegla visits Munich's main gathering place, the central Marienplatz
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP2NgoELvg8

and checks out the food in Munich
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0iPhCVSIOY

Munich is the main city for book publishers and one of the world's biggest book publisher, Bertelsmann AG, is located there. They control Penguin Random House.
www.bertelsmann.com

Other famous companies located Munich are BMW and Siemens.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXIlqGMCosY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAFFfiUZQ0Y

One of Europe's best soccer clubs is Bayern Munich
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXHvNyAkijU

One of the most famous castles is located south of Munich. It appears in Disney's movie about Cinderella.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJyeearNNk

One of Petra's favourite indie rock bands is Sportfruende Stiller from a town near Munich.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4uXGzFZjqw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZC7JY6ziI
and a wonderful version of their song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=09c5LTo7Iz8

Bettina Monch was born in Munich, now living in Vienna.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqNX635v6y0

And the classical composer Richard Strauss was born in Munich.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rzDXNQxjHs

Guilin and Taiwan

Shui Ying and Liang are back in Shanghai, working and saving money for a trip to Guilin, one of China's most beautiful places.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBEl4RsnoCU

They take a cruise on River Li.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbLw15gUnN0


A singer from the province of Guangxi
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqjgLbKZ1h0


Many people are searching for Shui Ying and her story connects to a family living in Taipei, Taiwan's largest city.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz5rT84QWjY

They travel to Baishawan Beach on the nortern coast of Taiwan where they find a message from Shui Ying.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzm-ZVxOytY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHhbF_NJAo


Ang Lee from Taiwan won the Oscar for best film director twice.
www.imdb.com/name/nm0000487/

And I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with this author from Taiwan
http://web.mit.edu/ccw/li-ang/biography.shtml

Some of the great Chinese singers were born in Taiwan, like Teresa Teng
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1IqrSsouRs&list=HL1393269147
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N72dsXD2GdM
Jay Chou
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ1-ITdNqKg
S.H.E.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr5fNKK2FaA
Rene Liu
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gy-3I2odt8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZUCRq88ss
Rainie Yang
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mebzXfWi87E
and Tsai Chin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owt09C8OUGA

A two songs from Malaysian by Chinese singers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2L0d31BvZ8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YERQJroBaNU
appearing in the storyline.

Mexico and Chiapas

My third novel is set in Mexico. It's the story of Selena, a young woman from the state of Chiapas, and her journey to find love  The novel travels to places in Mexico, introducing readers to Mexican food, songs and literature, folklore and history. It also travels to North America, South America and East Asia. This novel is written also for the 120 million Mexicans and 35 million American Mexicans. Welcome to Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico
www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Q6a1ACYUc

There are many flights in the novel, many on AeroMexico
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUuH3KOUDGU

Selena lives with her family in Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico. Welcome to Chiapas, part of the Maya homeland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiapas
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDg3axrjtpU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxqnPi73aME

She is from the Maya people 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=86F10IrvVus
and in my mind she can look like this young woman from Chiapas
http://nvi.mx/miss-earth-chiapas-2014/
http://nvi.mx/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOCIEDAD-2_redimensionar10.jpg

and has the picture of Juana Ines de la Crus on her desk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV7-lkJTnoU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_e48zsTURI

Chiapas is home to the famous Maya ruins, Palenque.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA2EeLHy6jA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GGzCBmQ91c
Watch the beautiful dresses and women in Palenque Festival
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvjZr1s1C-8

And it is known for its coffee. Here is the route of Cafe.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXoyyLXNU_Y

and for its Marimba Music
www.youtube.com/watch?v=suoTnCejMAo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1w47_DR2kY

She lives near the city of Tapachula.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapachula,_Chiapas
watch below Scotiabank at 0.20, it's part of the story
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXV_un9wV9Y
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzY2pcBN50o
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc2sEN8d_3U

Selena  is a Chiapanecas dancer.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVeSNLkmbGs

And she reads poems and novels by Mexican authors like Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes,  Laura Esquivel and Jennifer Clement. She follows the quotes "Deserve your Dream" by Octavio Paz, and "For me, love is the most important force. It moves the universe" by Laura Esquivel. Famous poets who were born and grew up in Chiapas are Jamie Sabines and Rosario Castellanos.

And she likes to eat the Chicatanas (flying ants).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWyR5UETH9g

She goes to the beach of Puerto Madero (Puerto Chiapas) which is walking distance to her home, and watches the cruise ships coming and going
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKJkD02-Qs

She takes her guests to visit the Aqua Azul Waterfalls
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKGrCElqD5k
the city of San Cristobal
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAzJ2lSHj8E
and Chiapa's biggest city, Tuxtla Gutierrez
www.youtube.com/watch?v=va_PWI13WVo

She goes to the Suchiate River running between Chiapas and Guatemala. Guatemala is also part of the Maya homeland.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryYwNbtesoE
and listens to this song from Guatemala
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9cCPQVPv8o
and to the song by Reyli Barba who was born in Chiapas.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUinZg5MC5U

Meet the dogs of Mexico in my novel
http://dogingtonpost.com/meet-the-dogs-of-mexico/#.UrI_NVfNmSp

Great mexicans and Mexican-American singers are

Priscila Romero from Los Angeles
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rnyNIhOMZk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j2HH2A1pH8
Jesus Adrian Romero (that's how Selena celebrated her Quinceanera of being 15) from Sonora and currently in Monterrey
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMATl0X3mMI
and Yuridia and Yahir are also from Sonora
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hyw_lWRjSM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt1DAfbDXus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9_fIOkHYaM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5oOkhUMFCs

Carla Morrison from Baja Califorina, grew up in the US
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfik2FRhck
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH4UNbIGviQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bru23vud_c
Zoe modren version to the most famous Mexican song, written in 1940 by teenager Consuelo Velazquez.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSELNSslBVk
and Reik the band from Baja California
www.youtube.com/watch?v=snFhcHHdzT0
Ana Gabriel from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, now in Miami
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP2q3tiSXyk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeW20PiI5XU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvE-VABrTyk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMa7y-7iFYM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb0Z5pxtd7w
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr6RzMi4L3o
and the late American-Mexican Selena who inspired the name of the heroine.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCczNyVXRZ8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUJHGC6PQ9w