Debbie Mounts spent her childhood traveling around the world as the daughter of a Naval Pilot. This instilled in her a life long interest in learning about and working with different cultures. As a college sophomore she lived for 6 months in Bogotá, Colombia while attending the university there. After graduating with her BA in Spanish and MSW in community organization she began her career working for the California Migrant Education Program in Northern California. During the years she worked there she began visiting Mexico, first as a tourist and then to do research for her Doctorate which she received from UC Berkeley. Her research resulted in the ongoing Bi-National Migrant Project funded by the California State Department of Education. Debbie Mounts came to Mexico in 1989 as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Dr. Mounts is a former Dean of the California Institute for Clinical Social Work in Berkeley and Chair of the Education Department at the College of St. Teresa in Minnesota. She has taught at UC Berkeley, California State University, Hayward and Illinois State University. She currently resides full time in Mexico where she is now a naturalized citizen.
Her 16 years in Mexico have been filled with different yet interrelated activities: she has owned and operated a 5 star hotel, a Spanish language school, a Fair Trade shop and, most recently, an eco-lodge. Here, too, she has continued to move around! First spending one year in Mexico City, then 10 years in San Miguel de Allende, then migrating south to Oaxaca and last year moving to Coatepec, Veracruz, where she is determined to stay put!

Coatepec nestles in the cool, mist shrouded mountains above the hot, humid coastal area of the city of Veracruz. This quaint colonial town offers a peek into the evolving life of a small Mexican town. Since the early 1800’s this has been the center of the rich, shade grown coffee for which Veracruz is famous. These days, however, tourism centers more and more on the natural treasures of the region: waterfalls, river rafting, hiking, bird watching, and spectacular flower/orchid shows. Local folk are friendly and eager to show off their nature lover’s paradise.

Debbie has a commitment to work with her local community in its efforts to develop sustainable tourism in an as-yet unspoiled (and relatively undiscovered) corner of Mexico.

Submit a Comment - Suggestion - Request to this Editor

Email Address:

NOTE: If you want a response, please make sure to include your email address. Also, make sure that any anti-spam blockers you have are set up to allow mail from bellaonline.com! Otherwise our response won't be able to get to you.