In 2025, Mexico News Daily once again covered plenty of “hard news” and “bad news” stories.
But as we have done since MND was founded more than 11 years ago, we also reported numerous stories that made us laugh, brought a smile to our faces, warmed our hearts and even left us scratching our heads in bewilderment.
Now, as we approach the end of the year, it’s time to look back at the amusing, uplifting, inspirational, heartening, gratifying, strange, surreal and “only in Mexico” stories that MND published this year.
We start today with a compilation of articles we published between January and March.
Look out for our “México Magico” compendiums for the other three quarters of the year in the coming days.
México Mágico: A look back at MND’s weird and wonderful stories in the first quarter of 2025
“Se compran colchones, tambores, refrigeradores, estufas, lavadoras, o algo de fierro viejo que vendan?”
The year was still young when we reported that one of the iconic sounds of Mexico had celebrated its 20th birthday.
Which sound? That of a 9-year-old girl’s voice blaring from an old pickup truck that’s cruising the streets of Mexico City in search of used items, including mattresses, fridges and washing machines.
Here’s to another 20 years of this whimsical slice of Mexican popular culture!
There was additional cause for celebration in January when the global culinary platform TasteAtlas ranked the Mexican torta No. 8 in its list of the Top 100 Sandwiches in the World.
Chowing down on a stuffed torta at a street food stand in the capital as car horns honk and the “se compran” recording rings out — now that’s an iconic CDMX experience.
In the first month of the year, we also heard about the wildest animal rescues of 2024 in Mexico City, where an alligator, a peacock, a porcupine and a wolf were among the creatures saved from mistreatment.
Meanwhile, wild spending was the order of the day in the northern border state of Coahuila, where an extravagant 15th birthday celebration was held. The price tag for the pachanga? A cool 65 million pesos!
Back in the capital, Donald Trump made an unexpected appearance on the streets on the very day he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Except, we should note, it wasn’t Trump himself, but rather a piñata likeness of the president, which ended up going up in flames outside the U.S. Embassy.
In addition to Trump’s return to the White House, many Mexicans found cause for disgruntlement in the film “Emilia Pérez,” which portrays the leader of a Mexican drug cartel as a redeemed figure. Some dissatisfied moviegoers even sought a refund after watching the controversial film.
Also courting controversy in early 2025 was Fabián Cháirez, the Mexican artist behind a controversial 2019 painting of a nude Emiliano Zapata wearing high heels and a pink sombrero atop a horse. In February, he continued to push boundaries with an exhibition in Mexico City of nine large-scale oil paintings depicting Catholic figures such as angels, nuns and cardinals in intimate and ecstatic interactions.
Cháirez’s detractors might find singer-songwriter Macario Martínez’s melodies more suited to their sensibilities. In early 2025, Martínez, a street sweeper in Mexico City at the time, was catapulted to fame when his song “Sueña lindo” became a viral sensation. His musical career subsequently went from strength to strength, allowing him to leave his broom behind.
Among the other out-of-the-ordinary stories we covered in the first quarter of the year were those about a lion on the loose in México state; the smuggling of eggs across the Mexico-U.S. border; mystery giraffes seen roaming in the Coahuila countryside; an attack on a wax statue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and the naming of a México state neighborhood in honor of the political project initiated by ex-president AMLO.
We also looked back at the funniest “Saturday Night Live” sketches about Mexico, reported on a Valentine’s Day opportunity to name a cockroach after your noxious ex, and covered President Sheinbaum’s ingenious response to Trump’s plan (at the time) to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
The Exploding Hammer Festival: Guanajuato’s wildest Carnival tradition
In addition — and in case you missed them — we also published stories about a unique festival in Tabasco, at which attendees end up covered in flour, eggs and water; Guanajuato’s raucous Exploding Hammer Festival; and an archbishop’s call for Catholics to not dress Baby Jesus dolls as supporters of the Club América soccer team. Say what!?
We hope you enjoyed reading our quirkier stories this year, and perhaps found a few here that you missed. We’re already looking forward to another year of weird, wonderful and distinctively Mexican stories in 2026!
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
