 Facts at a Glance
Full country name: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Area: 1,972,000 sq km (769,080 sq mi)
Population: 96 million (growth rate 2%)
Capital city: Mexico City (pop 20 million)
People: Approximately 80% mestizo (mixed European and Indian descent) and 10% indígena (Native Americans or Indians - including Nahua, Maya, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Tarascos or Purépecha)
Language: Spanish and over 50 indigenous languages
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant
Government: Democracy dominated by one party (PRI) at national level
President: Ernesto Zedillo
 Environment
Covering almost two million sq km (800,000 sq mi), Mexico curves from north-west to south-east, narrowing to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec then continuing to the Yucatán Peninsula. On the west and south the country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, with the Gulf of California lying between the Baja California peninsula and the mainland. Mexico's east coast is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula faces the Caribbean Sea. Mexico shares borders with the USA (to the north), and Guatemala and Belize (to the south-east).
Mexico is a mountainous country with two north-south ranges framing a group of broad central plateaus known as the Altiplano Central. In the south, the Sierra Madre del Sur stretches across the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. From the isthmus, a narrow stretch of lowlands runs along the Pacific coast south to Guatemala. These lowlands are backed by the Chiapas highlands which merge into a steamy tropical rainforest area stretching into northern Guatemala. The flat, low Yucatán Peninsula is tropical savanna to its tip, where there's an arid desert-like region.
 Arid landscape with compulsory cacti (9K)
Bridging temperate and tropical regions, and lying in the latitudes which contain most of the world's deserts, Mexico has an enormous range of natural environments and vegetation zones. Its rugged, mountainous topography adds to the variety by creating countless microclimates. Despite the potential for great ecological diversity, human impact has been enormous. Before the Spanish conquest, about two-thirds of the country was forested. Today, only one-fifth of the country remains verdant, mainly in the south and east. Domesticated grazing animals have pushed the larger animals, such as puma, deer and coyote, into isolated pockets. However, armadillos, rabbits and snakes are common, and the tropical forests of the south and east still harbor (in places) howler and spider monkeys, jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, anteaters, peccaries (a type of wild pig), deer, macaws, toucans, parrots and some tropical reptiles, such as the boa constrictor, though even these habitats are being eroded.
Mexico's climate varies according to its topography. It's hot and humid along the coastal plains on both sides of the country, but inland, at higher elevations, such as in Guadalajara or Mexico City, the climate is much drier and more temperate. The hot, wet season is May to October, with the hottest and wettest months falling between June and September over most of the country. The low-lying coastal areas receive more rainfall than elevated inland regions. December to February are generally the coolest months, when north winds can make inland northern Mexico decidedly chilly, with temperatures sometimes approaching freezing.
 History
Pre-colonial history
The first people to inhabit this land may have arrived as many as 20,000 years before Columbus. Their descendants built a succession of brilliant, highly developed civilizations which flourished from 1200 BC to 1521 AD. Of these, the Mayan and Aztec cultures are the best known.
Hernán Cortés landed on the coast near modern-day Veracruz on 21 April 1519 with 11 ships, 550 men and 16 horses. The local Indians were friendly and soon, in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, tales of 'towers floating on water' bearing fair-skinned beings were carried to Moctezuma II, the Aztec king. According to the Aztec calendar, 1519 would see the god Quetzalcóatl's return from the east. The Spaniards were well received in towns which resented Aztec domination and thus gained their first Indian allies. With 6000 Indians, they approached the Aztecs' island capital - a city bigger than any in Spain. Moctezuma invited them into his palace and the Spaniards promptly took him hostage. By 13 August 1521, Aztec resistance had ended. The position of the conquered peoples deteriorated disastrously, not only because of harsh treatment at the hands of the colonists but also because of a series of epidemics, caused by diseases brought by the Spaniards. The Indian population fell from an estimated 25 million at the time of conquest to a little over one million by 1605.
From the 16th to 19th centuries, a sort of apartheid system existed in Mexico, which fueled the power struggles driving events in Mexico during these years. Spanish-born colonists - known as peninsulares or, derisively, gachupines - were a minuscule part of the population but were considered nobility in New Spain (as Mexico was then called), however humble their prior status in Spain. By the 18th century, criollos, people born of Spanish parents in New Spain, had managed to acquire fortunes in mining, commerce, ranching and agriculture and, not surprisingly, they sought political power commensurate with their wealth. Below the criollos were the mestizos, people of mixed Spanish and Indian or African slave ancestry, and at the bottom of the pile were the remaining Indians and Africans. The catalyst for rebellion came in 1808 when Napoleon Bonaparte occupied most of Spain - direct Spanish control over New Spain suddenly ceased and rivalry between peninsulares and criollos in the colony intensified. On 16 September 1810 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a criollo parish priest, summoned his parishioners to church and issued his now-famous call to rebellion, the Grito de Dolores. Sporadic fighting continued until 1821 when Spain agreed to Mexican independence.
Twenty-two years of chronic instability followed independence: the presidency changed hands 36 times and large chunks of Mexican territory were lost to the USA. In 1845, the US congress voted to annex Texas. This led to the Mexican-American War, in which US troops captured Mexico City. At the end of the war, under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico ceded modern Texas, California, Utah, Colorado and most of New Mexico and Arizona to the USA. By 1862, Mexico was heavily in debt to Britain, France and Spain, who sent a joint force to Mexico to collect their debts. France, under the hawkish Napoleon III, decided to go even further and colonize Mexico, leading to yet another war. In 1864, Napoleon invited the Austrian archduke, Maximilian of Hapsburg, to become emperor of Mexico but his reign was brief.
Things were relatively stable under the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, who ruled for 33 years until 1911. With the slogan 'order and progress', he brought Mexico into the industrial age and kept it free of the wars which had plagued it for over 60 years, but peace came at a cost. Political opposition, free elections and a free press were banned, and control was maintained by a ruthless army. Widespread dissatisfaction with Díaz's rule led to strikes which precipitated the Mexican Revolution. The revolution was not a clear-cut struggle between oppression and liberty, but a 10-year period of shifting allegiances between a spectrum of leaders, in which successive attempts to create stable governments and peace were wrecked by new outbreaks of fighting. The basic ideological rift which dogged the revolutionaries was between liberal reformers and more radical leaders, such as Emiliano Zapata, who were fighting for the transfer of hacienda land to the peasants. The 10 years of violent civil war cost an estimated one and a half to two million lives - roughly one in eight Mexicans. After the revolution, political will was focused on developing or rebuilding the national infrastructure, such as rural schools, roads, hydroelectric stations and irrigation pipelines. The Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (the PRI) took power in 1934 (and still rules today), introducing a program of reform and land redistribution.
Revolutionary leader, Emiliano Zapata (6K)
Civil unrest next appeared in 1966, when groups of university students in Mexico City expressed their outrage with the conservative Díaz Ordaz administration. Discontent with single-party rule, restricted freedom of speech and excessive government spending came to a head in 1968 in the run-up to the Mexico City Olympic Games, and protesters were massacred by armed troops.
The oil boom of the late 1970s increased Mexico's oil revenues and financed industrial and agricultural investments, but the oil glut in the mid 1980s sent petroleum prices plunging and led to Mexico's worst recession for decades. Not surprisingly, the economic downturn led to an increase in organized political dissent on both the left and the right. Economic problems were not helped by the earthquake of 19 September 1985, which registered eight on the Richter scale, and caused more than US$4 billion in damage. Hundreds of buildings in Mexico City were destroyed, thousands of people were made homeless and at least 8000 people were killed.
Carlos Salinas de Gortari became president in 1988 after controversial elections in which it is widely believed he did not win the majority of votes. However, he gained popular support by appearing to have successfully renegotiated Mexico's crippling national debt and to have brought rising inflation under control. A sweeping privatization program and a burgeoning international finance market led to Mexico being heralded in the international press as an exemplar of free-market economics. The apex of Salinas' economic reform was NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect on 1 January 1994. Fears that NAFTA would increase poverty among the Indian peasants led to an uprising in the southern state of Chiapas by the Zapatistas. The day NAFTA took effect, a group of 2000 peasants shocked Mexico by taking over San Cristóbal de Las Casas and other regional towns, and demanding improved social justice for Mexico's oppressed Indians. The uprising precipitated a social upheaval in Chiapas, with peasants forcibly taking over hundreds of estates, farms and ranches. At least 145 people were killed before the rebels and the Mexican military reached a ceasefire. The rebels' leader, a balaclava-clad figure known only as Subcomandante Marcos, became a national folk hero.
In March 1994, Luis Donaldo Colósio, Salinas' chosen successor, was assassinated. His replacement, 43-year-old Ernesto Zedillo, won the election but with only 49% of the vote. With confidence in Mexico's political system and its adolescent economy at a perilous low, an economic crisis kicked in. Within weeks of Zedillo's swearing-in ceremony, there was a dramatic slump in the peso and prices in Mexico began to rise, leaving Mexico almost bankrupt and dependent on an emergency US$50 billion credit package from US and international financial bodies. Mexico had to put up its oil earnings - a key symbol of national self-reliance - as collateral for this aid. Despite this, Zedillo appears genuinely interested in democracy, presiding over a period in which opposition parties are finally being allowed to win provincial elections, and a culture of electoral scrutinizing is developing. The Zapatistas also operate within a democratic framework, choosing their internal hierarchy through free election. These ideological flourishes are periodically undermined by massacres and other guerilla-style activity, both by the rebels and by Mexico's militant police force.
There is no doubt that reform, both economic and political, is on Mexico's agenda. It is Zedillo's difficult task to relinquish the PRI's iron grip on power without letting a Mexico unused to political freedom degenerate into chaos. So far, the new found democracy is working and by all reports the Mexican Congress is the best in recent memory.
 Economic Profile
GDP: US$370 billion
GDP per head: US$4000
Annual growth: 2%
Inflation: 35%
Major industries: Manufactured products, oil, agricultural foodstuffs
Major trading partners: USA, Canada, Japan, Europe
 Culture
Mexicans have had a talent for art - and a love of bright colors - since pre-Hispanic times. Today, Mexico is covered with murals and littered with galleries of contemporary and historic art, which are a highlight of the country for many visitors. Mexican creativity is also expressed through the country's vibrant folk-art tradition. Pre-Hispanic art consists mainly of stone carvings, frescoes and murals, and ceramics.
Olmec sculpture (9K)
Huichol Indian beadwork mask (8K)
Mexican blankets (7K)
The arts were regarded as an important part of the national revival after the revolution, and Mexico's top artists, such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, were commissioned to decorate important public buildings with large, vivid murals on social and historical themes. Frida Kahlo, who married Rivera, painted anguished self-portraits and grotesque, surreal images which became hugely popular in the 1980s, decades after her death. Renowned Mexican writers include Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Ibargüengoitia and the 1990 Nobel Prize-winner Octavio Paz. In Mexico, Juan Rulfo is generally regarded as the country's supreme novelist. His novel Pedro Páramo has been described as 'Wuthering Heights set in Mexico and written by Kafka.'
Spanish is Mexico's predominant language, but Mexican Spanish differs from Castilian Spanish, the literary and official language of Spain, in two respects: in Mexico, the Castilian lisp has more or less disappeared, and numerous Indian words have been adopted. Around 50 Indian languages are spoken by about 5 million people in Mexico; 15% of these Indians do not speak Spanish.
Although Mexican governments since the revolution have been unsupportive of religion, more than 95% of the population professes to believe in Catholicism. While most of the indigenous people are Christian, their Christianity is usually fused with more ancient beliefs. Whole hierarchies of 'pagan' gods sometimes coexist with the Christian Trinity and saints. Since 1531, the most binding symbol of the Church has been the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe, who is regarded as a link between Catholic and non-Catholic Indian worlds.
`God's Dental Center', Pátzcuaro (15K)
Mexican cuisine is centered around three national staples: tortillas, fried beans and chili peppers. Tortillas are thin round patties of pressed corn or wheat-flour dough cooked on griddles. Beans (frijoles) are eaten boiled, fried or refried, in soups, on tortillas or with just about anything. Apart from an astonishing array of freshly squeezed fruit juices (jugos), which are readily available from street stalls, Mexico is also famous for its alcoholic beverages - mezcal and tequila in particular. Pulque is a mildly alcoholic drink derived directly from the sap of the maguey.
 Events
Mexico's frequent fiestas are full-blooded, highly colorful affairs which often go on for several days and add a great deal of spice to life. There's a major national holiday or celebration almost every month, to which each town adds almost as many local saints' days and fairs. Carnaval (Carnival), held late February or early March, the week or so before Ash Wednesday, is the big bash before the 40-day penance of Lent. Día de los Muertos is held on 2 November (when the souls of the dead are believed to return to earth), and is perhaps Mexico's most characteristic fiesta. Families build altars in their homes and visit graveyards with garlands and gifts to commune with their dead ancestors. Sweets resembling human skeletons are sold in almost every market.
Carnaval (20K)
 Facts for the Traveler
Visas: Citizens of many countries - including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and virtually all Western European countries - do not require visas to enter Mexico as tourists. However, they must obtain a Mexican government tourist card (tarjeta de turista), available from embassies or at border crossings.
Health risks: Cholera, dengue fever, hepatitis, malaria, polio, rabies, tetanus, typhoid. Air pollution in Mexico City is extremely high between December and May.
Time: Most of Mexico is on Central Standard Time (6 hours behind UTC). Baja California Sur and several other states in the northwest are on Mountain Standard Time (7 hours ahead of UTC) and Baja California Norte is on Pacific Standard Time (8 hours ahead of UTC).
Electricity: 110V, 60 Hz
Weights & measures: Metric (see the conversion table.)
Tourism: Estimated 16.5 million visitors per year
 Warning
In Mexico City, crime has reached critical levels, with marked increase in the level of violence. The most frequently reported crimes involve taxi robberies, armed robbery, pickpocketing and purse snatching, as well as a significant incidence of sexual assaults in crimes committed against women. Travelers to Chiapas should restrict their itineraries to the main tourist routes, maintain a high level of personal security awareness and contact their embassy in Mexico City before traveling to the sometimes violent state.
Tziscao village, on the Chiapas-Guatemala border (16K)
Currency: Peso
Relative costs:
- Budget meal: US$3-4
- Restaurant meal: US$8-12
- Budget hotel: US$8-15
- Mid-range hotel: US$15-30
Your costs will also depend on where you spend your time: Mexico's big cities and coastal resorts are much more expensive than rural areas. If you take in a mix of these places, budget travelers should be able to squeeze by on around US$25 a day. Traveling in reasonable comfort, staying at the better mid-range places and eating at the more expensive restaurants should cost around US$60 per day. You'll spend a lot more than this if you stay at luxurious hotels and hire a car occasionally.
It's best to bring US-dollar denomination travelers' cheques and some US dollars in cash. You can exchange money in banks or in casas de cambio. Note that bank exchange facilities are often only open between 9 or 10 am and noon or 1 pm. Exchange rates vary a little from bank to bank. Major credit cards are accepted by airlines, car rental places and more expensive hotels and restaurants. In heavily touristed areas such as Acapulco, Cancun and Cozumel, you can often spend US dollars as easily as pesos at hotels and restaurants (although the exchange rate will probably be awful). Note that the dollar sign is used to refer to pesos in Mexico so don't mix it up with US dollars which are usually marked US$ or USD.
Mexico has a 15% value-added tax but by law this tax must be included in quoted prices. Sometimes - usually in top-end hotels - a price is quoted without this tax. Tipping in restaurants in resort areas is equivalent to US levels - somewhere between 15% and 20%. Outside these areas, a tip of 10% is sufficient at mid-range or quality restaurants; in general, staff at smaller, cheaper places do not expect a tip. Expect to bargain at markets and with drivers of unmetered taxis. Treat haggling as a form of social discourse rather than a matter of life and death.
Mexico's climate varies according to the country's topography. It's hot and humid along the coastal plains on both sides of the country, but inland, at higher elevations (such as in Guadalajara or Mexico City), the climate is much drier and more temperate.
The hot, wet season is May to October. The southern coastal regions can be uncomfortably hot and extremely humid between July and September. Unless you want to do nothing but lie on the beach and avoid occasional downpours, it's best to avoid the southern coast of Mexico during these months - especially since July and August are also the peak holiday months for foreign visitors and the coastal resorts attract large numbers of tourists.
October to May is the most pleasant time to visit since it is fairly dry and still comfortably warm. December to February are generally the coolest months, but north winds can make inland northern Mexico decidedly chilly, with temperatures sometimes approaching freezing. The peak domestic travel periods are Semana Santa (the week before Easter) and Christmas/New Year, when facilities are often heavily booked.
 Attractions
Mexico City
Mexico City is a place to love and loathe. It has everything you might expect from the world's largest metropolitan area and second-largest city. Like mysterious ingredients added to a bubbling cauldron, the best and the worst of the country have been combined in the high valley where Mexico City sprawls. The result is a polluted and bustling cosmopolitan megalopolis of music and noise, brown air and green parks, colonial palaces, world-renowned museums and spreading slums.
The historic center of Mexico City is the Plaza de la Constitución, more commonly known as the Zócalo. The plaza was first paved in the 1520s by Cortés with stones from the ruins of the temples and palaces of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, the site on which Mexico City was built. Tenochtitlán was built in the middle of a lake, so many of Mexico City's older buildings and churches are sinking into the boggy ground on which they were constructed. Filling the entire eastern side of the Zócalo is the Palacio Nacional (National Palace), built on the site of an Aztec palace and formerly used to house the viceroys of New Spain. It is now home to the offices of the president, a museum and the dramatic revolutionary murals of Diego Rivera which chronicle Mexico's history. The Catedral Metropolitana, on the northern side of the Zócalo, was built by the Spaniards in the 1520s on the site of the Aztecs' Tzompantli or Wall of Skulls (a sort of altar on which the skulls of the sacrificed were placed). Just east of the cathedral are the remnants of the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs' principal temple, and the stunning museum which houses the artefacts discovered at the site.
Catedral Metropolitana (9K)
The Alameda, which was once an Aztec marketplace, is now a pleasant and verdant park. The streets around the Alameda are lined with colonial mansions, skyscrapers, lively cafés, restaurants, shops and markets. Other must-sees include the Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City's largest park, which is home to a handful of museums, amusement parks and the official residence of the president; the Basilica de Guadalupe, the church built on the spot where Mexico's patron saint was seen in a vision; the colonial houses of San Ángel; the Cuicuilco pyramid; and the canals of Xochimilco.
Plaza Garibaldi is where the city's out-of-work mariachi bands gather in the evenings, and the Zona Rosa is the highlife and nightlife district. The best moderately priced hotels are found in the areas west of the Zócalo and south of the Alameda. Excellent cheap food can be found in most areas of the city.
Only 50km (31mi) northeast of the city center lie the ruins of Mexico's biggest ancient city, Teotihuacán, which probably boasted 200,000 inhabitants at its peak in the 6th century. Teotihuacán was the capital of Mexico's first great civilization, and the remains testify to its pre-eminence. Travelers who can avoid the touts will be in awe of the Avenue of the Dead, the 70m (230ft) high Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Palace of the Quetzal Butterfly. Tula, the probable capital of the Toltec civilization, is 65km (40mi) north of Mexico City. The site is best known for its fearsome 4m (13ft) high stone warriors.
Teotihuacán (18K)
Some 85km (53mi) south of the capital is Cuernavaca, a city whose mild climate has attracted the wealthy and fashionable seeking relief from Mexico City since colonial times. Much of the city's elegance is hidden behind high walls and courtyards, but a number of residences have been turned into galleries, hotels and restaurants. The city is not for those on a tight budget but its luxuries make it a favorite place for visitors keen to enroll in Spanish-language courses. The old silver-mining town of Taxco, 180km (112mi) southwest of Mexico City, is a gorgeous colonial antique, and one of the most picturesque and pleasant places in Mexico. It clings to a steep hillside, has labyrinthine narrow cobbled streets, engagingly well-worn buildings and delightful plazas. The entire town has been declared a national historic monument.
Despite its beautiful coastline of fine white beaches, peaceful bays and imposing cliffs, the interior of Baja is harsh and undeveloped and has always been a good place to hide. The peninsula has been a hideout for Magonista revolutionaries, mercenaries and drinkers looking for lairs during Prohibition in the USA. These days it is tourists who escape to Baja. Highlights include San Borja, a remote mission village founded by Jesuit missionaries; the Sierra de San Francisco near San Ignacio, a volcanic plateau containing extraordinary rock-art sites and recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage area; and the Sierra de la Laguna, a botanical wonderland at the southern tip of the peninsula where aspens, cacti, oaks and palms grow side by side and where mountain streams rush through granite canyons - a paradise for hikers.
The journey between Los Mochis and Chihuahua is one of the most scenic in Mexico. The railway goes through 88 tunnels and over 38 bridges as it cuts through small canyons in the Sierra Tarahumara and hugs the sides of towering cliffs. The railway is a considerable feat of engineering and, not surprisingly, took 90 years to build. The trip is a whirlwind of dramatic geological images, the best of which is Copper Canyon, deeper and grander than Arizona's Grand Canyon. Intrepid hikers can arrange to descend the 2300m (7544ft) deep canyon with guides from Creel or nearby Divisadero.
Copper Canyon Railway (8K)
Palacio de Gobierno, Chihuahua (15K)
Nestled beside the Río Caule between palm-covered mountains and the azure Bahía de las Banderas (Bay of Flags) is the picturesque, cobble-stoned, whitewashed city of Puerto Vallarta, a favorite of both the ultra-rich and the shoestring traveler.The city boasts white-sand, palm-fringed beaches, lively bars and restaurants and heaps of galleries and handicrafts. The city has mutated from a sleepy seaside village to an international resort so quickly that it is fashionable to deride its spoilt charms, but it's almost impossible to dislike its quaintness, southern beaches, immense bay and marine life. There are dolphins in the bay year-round, and pilot and grey whales between February and April. Locals insist that if you stand on the seafront in April, you can see giant manta rays leaping into the air during their mating rituals.
Guadalajara
Many of the features and traditions considered characteristically Mexican were created in Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico. They include mariachi music, tequila, the Mexican Hat Dance, broad-brimmed sombrero hats and the Mexican rodeo. Part of Guadalajara's appeal is that it has many of the attractions of Mexico City - a vibrant culture, fine museums and galleries, exciting nightlife and good places to stay and eat - but few of the capital's problems. Guadalajara is bright, modern, well-organized and unpolluted and has so many attractions and things to do that visitors never get bored. Highlights include the giant, twin-towered cathedral and the lovely surrounding plazas, the Instituto Cultural de Cabañas, the Plazuela de los Mariachis - where bands play all hours of the day and night - and the free samples handed out during tours of the Tequila Sauza Bottling Plant.
The first and most famous of the resort cities on Mexico's Pacific Coast was once the New World's gateway to the Orient, but today it's a fast-growing city of well over a million inhabitants with a schizophrenic mixture of high-rise hotels, designer shopping plazas and tri-lingual restaurants shielding a hidden city of auto-parts stores, polluted rivers and crowded apartments. The city is definitely not everyone's idea of fun, but most visitors to Acapulco are happy to laze on the city's numerous beaches, which offer equipment for just about every sport that can be done on or under the water.
Acapulco: resort city (10K)
The famous cliff divers of La Quebrada have been amazing visitors since the 1930s with their graceful finesse as they dive from the seemingly suicidal height of 45m (148ft) into a narrow crevasse, which appears to contain only enough water to wash their feet. Not surprisingly, the divers pray at a small shrine before flinging themselves into the void. You can get a great view of the divers from the bar of the El Mirador Hotel. For less crowded beaches, try the Pie de la Cuesta, 8km (5mi) northwest of the city center, which is a good alternative to the glitz of the city. There are great views of Acapulco's bay on the road to Puerto Marqués, 18km (11mi) southeast of the city. Just south of the Peninsula de las Playas is the so-called underwater shrine, a submerged bronze statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Cliff divers, Acapulco (16K)
This Spanish-built city of narrow streets has a special atmosphere - at once relaxed and energetic, remote and cosmopolitan. Situated in the rugged southern state of the same name, the city has a large indigenous population, and Indian markets meld with the city's superb colonial architecture. Not least of the city's attractions are the abundant local handicrafts and the conviviality of the local cafés. There are many fascinating places within day-trip distance of the city, notably the ruins at Monte Albán, Mitla, Yagul and Cuilapan, and the village markets and craft centers.
When you cross the Río Usumacinta into Yucatán, you are crossing into the realm of the Maya. Heirs to a glorious and often violent history, the Maya live today where their ancestors lived a millennium ago. Yucatán has surprising diversity: archaeological sites galore, colonial cities, seaside resorts and quiet coastlines populated mostly by tropical birds. There are impressive Mayan sites near Mérida at Uxmal and Chichén Itzá. The coastal state of Quintana Roo, with its islands and white-sand beaches, attracts sun-loving tourists.
Chichén Itzá (7K)
Akumal, Quintana Roo (24K)
 Off the record: A sacred cactus
 Off the Beaten Track
Santa Rosalía
Aficionados of industrial archaeology will find Santa Rosalía, the former French company town in the central desert of Baja, some 50km (31mi) east of San Ignacio, worth exploring for the ruins of its massive copper-smeltering operation. It also has unusual residential architecture and a church designed by the famous Eiffel, of Tower fame. The prefabricated church was originally intended for a destination in West Africa but somehow ended up being shipped to Mexico. The French left their legacy in other ways as well: the bakery here sells the biggest baguettes in Baja California.
Yucatán coast
The beaches along the Yucatán coast between Cancún and Tulum are some of the most beautiful in the world. Xcaret has both tumbledown Mayan ruins and a beautiful inlet or caleta, filled with tropical marine life. Bring your snorkel. A few meters inland is the cenote, a limpid pool in a limestone cave, which is also an excellent place for a swim. Yal-Ku Lagoon, one of the best spots for snorkeling, is not even signposted; you may have the beautiful crystal-clear waters to yourself.
The 245m (800ft) high Basaseachic Falls are the second-highest waterfalls in the world (the biggest drop is at Angel Falls in Venezuela). Located 140km (87mi) northwest of Creel, it's worth the one-hour drive and every footstep of the almost one-hour hike to reach the falls. Creel is also a good base for reaching the smaller Cascada Cusárare, 22km (14mi) south of the town.
Surrounded by emerald jungle, Palenque's setting is superb and its Mayan architecture and decoration are exquisite. Evidence from pottery fragments indicates that the site was first occupied more than 1500 years ago, flourishing from 600 to 800 AD when many plazas and buildings were constructed, including the elaborate Temple of Inscriptions pyramid crypt. The best time to visit this sweltering, breezeless complex is in the early morning when a humid haze rises and wraps the ancient temples in a mysterious mist. Only 34 of almost 500 extant buildings have been excavated, and all were built without metal tools, pack animals or the wheel.
The new town, where most hotels and restaurants are clustered, is about 7km (4mi) from the archaeological zone and shuttle buses trundle the route every 15 minutes. Palenque is easily accessible by bus, depending on the state of military play in Chiapas. There is a bus and ferry connection from Guatemala's Tikal via the border town of La Palma, linking two of Central America's most impressive Mayan sites.
 Activities
The locals' general lack of interest in outdoor activities doesn't stop growing numbers of intrepid gringos from trekking off into what Mexicans probably consider absurdly rough country. Trails around the Copper Canyon and Baja California are among the most popular. Sport fishing is especially popular off the Pacific coast and in the Gulf of California. Snorkeling and diving are popular on the Yucatán Peninsula, in Baja California and in some Pacific coast resort areas. Inland, there are many balnearios, bathing places with swimming pools, often centered on hot springs in picturesque surroundings. Surfing is popular on the Pacific coast. Some of the best surf spots are Punta Mesquite and Santa Rosalillita in Baja California, Bahía de Matanchén near San Blas (which claims the world's longest wave), Ixtapa and Puerto Escondido (with the 'Mexican Pipeline'). A number of Mexico City-based organizations conduct hiking and mountain-climbing trips on Mexico's volcanoes, including Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl, Pico de Orizaba, Nevado de Toluca and La Malinche.
Iztaccíhuatl (17K)
Toluca market(21K)
 Getting There & Away
Most visitors to Mexico arrive by air and there are relatively cheap connections to Canada, the Caribbean, the rest of Latin America and the USA. Aeroméxico and Mexicana are the largest Mexican airlines. There's a departure tax of approximately US$12 if you purchase your air ticket in Mexico.
Travelers can cross into Mexico by road from the USA at one of the 20 official crossing points. US buses connect with Mexican buses at the border. There are three border crossings between Mexico and Guatemala (road and rail). There are also a couple of little-known and relatively hair-raising jungle routes via back-country bus and riverboat. One leaves from Guatemala's Tikal area and enters Mexico at Corazal, the other comes from Fores in Guatemala's El Petén to Tenosique in Tabasco. Both terminate at Palenque in Chiapas. Travelers should check the security situation in Chiapas with their embassy before attempting this crossing. There is one road border crossing point between Mexico and Belize near Chetumal and Corozal.
 Getting Around
Flights in Mexico are no longer particularly cheap, although flying still represents good value for the money, especially considering the long, hot bus trip that may be the alternative. In recent years, the large airlines have left many of the domestic routes to smaller carriers. However, these start-up airlines and their timetables are particularly volatile; new ones are founded and older ones flounder at an alarming rate.
Buses are the most common mode of transport and bus routes are extensive. Long-distance buses are fairly comfortable, air-conditioned and acceptably fast. Local rural buses tend to be ancient, decaying, suspensionless models grinding out their dying years on dirt tracks. Combis, collectivos and peseros are minibuses used for local transport.
US driving licenses are valid in Mexico, and driving a car can be a good way to get to some of the most beautiful and isolated towns and villages, although you need to be forgiving of road conditions. In Mexico City, car use is restricted to lessen air pollution: the timetable for car use is based on the last digit of the license plate (eg if your license plate ends with the number 5 or 6, you cannot drive on a Monday; if it ends with 7 or 8 you cannot drive on Tuesday, etc).
Car and passenger ferries connect Baja California with the Mexican mainland; ferries also run between the mainland and the Caribbean islands of Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. Mexican railways have a checkered reputation. Trains are usually cheaper than the bus, but vary between relatively comfortable and downright unsafe.
 Recommended Reading
- Sons of the Shaking Earth by Eric Wolf is a wonderfully readable introduction to Mexican history.
- Mexico by Michael Coe is a learned, well-illustrated and not over-long account of the great cultures of ancient Mexico.
- Aztecs by Inga Clendinnen is a fascinating, thought-provoking and vividly dramatic look into the heart of Aztec society.
- Time among the Maya: Travels in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico by Ronald Wright follows the author's travels in Mayan territory as he investigates the ancient Maya and their conceptualization of time.
- History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo is an eyewitness account of the Spanish arrival by one of Cortés' lieutenants.
- History of the Conquest of Mexico by William Henry Prescott remains a classic, even though published in 1843 by an author who never went to Mexico.
- Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans by Alan Riding is an excellent guide to understanding modern Mexico and its love-hate relationship with the United States.
- So Far From God: A Journey to Central America by Patrick Marnham is a vivid account of a trip from California, through Mexico to the badlands of Central America. The title comes from the saying `Poor Mexico! So far from God, so close to the United States'.
- The most highly-regarded works of Carlos Fuentes include Where the Air is Clear and The Death of Artemio Cruz, both indictments of the Mexican Revolution. Other popular novels include Terra Nostra and The Old Gringo.
- Jorge Ibargüengoitia's black comedy thrillers The Dead Girls and Two Crimes offer a view into the Mexican psyche.
- The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz, a celebrated poet and essayist, is a probing examination of Mexico's myths and the Mexican character.
- European novelists have long been attracted by Mexico: interesting works include Malcolm Lowry's dipsomanic classic Under the Volcano, Graham Greene's 1930s travelogue Lawless Roads and his great novel The Power and the Glory; Aldous Huxley's Beyond the Mexique Bay and D H Lawrence's burdensome The Plumed Serpent, which is intent on asking all the big questions about Mexican life.
 Lonely Planet Guides
 Travelers' Reports
|
Money & Costs
When to Go
On-line Info
