Mexico, so near and yet so foreign, exotic, and unknown. Few travelers are prepared for the reality they find when they set foot in this, at times, surrealistic country. The colors, aromas and contrasts surprise them all. You will find something magical around the exotic flower and fruit markets, the chile stores and the street vendors’ stalls, the bakeries and chocolate mills with their incredible aromas, and the bands playing at the local kiosks. You may go to a tianguis (“market” in old Nahuatl language) where you will find it difficult to believe what you see: the diversity of flowers, live animals from goats to turkeys, squash flower used to prepare soups, jeans and traditional costumes, imported electronic watches and pre-Hispanic utensils, parrots, snakes, edible grasshoppers, and effigies of our Lady of Guadalupe side by side with Batman and Nintendo’s latest games.

One of the most famous icons of Mexico is a royal golden eagle fighting with a rattlesnake on top of a nopal cactus. According to the legend, the Aztecs were looking for this particular place and, after several years of wandering through Mexico, they found it on Lake Tenochtitlan in 1325, on the same spot where Mexico City now stands. The eagle and snake symbol proved so powerful that it became Mexico’s coat of arms, it has been used on every coin minted in Mexico since 1821, and it is the official seal of the President and of every branch of government.

Mexico is a blend of Indian and Spanish cultures that clashed in the 16th century to give form to a new people and country. The country was first called New Spain until it gained its independence from Spain in 1821. From then on it has been Mexico. But there are several countries within Mexico, each with its own characteristics, traditions, and customs and, to some extent, language, cuisine and music.

Since Mexico lies mostly in the tropics, the factor that most influences the climate is the altitude from sea level. The coastal regions are hot and humid, including the rain forests of the southeast. Tampico, Veracruz, Cancun, Acapulco, and Villahermosa lay in this region. As you climb you encounter mild and temperate regions in towns like Orizaba, Guadalajara, Cuernavaca, and Aguascalientes. You keep on climbing and you reach the cold climate zones of the high sierras with cities like Chihuahua, San Cristobal, and Toluca.

There are more than fifty ethnic groups in Mexico. Each one is like a little country inside a bigger one, intermeshing but not really forming a homogenous entity. There are places where you will need and interpreter to make yourself understood, even though your Spanish is perfect. You may go to the Yucatan Peninsula and find out that most of its population still speaks Maya as well as Spanish. In San Juan Chamula, a few miles from San Cristobal de las Casas in the southwestern state of Chiapas, you may visit the local church and watch the Indians perform centuries old rituals along with Christian prayers.

In the towns bordering lake Patzcuaro in the state of Michoacan, the Purepecha Indians honor their dead on November 1st in a centuries old ceremony that possesses a haunting quality far more profound than Halloween. And there is the market at Juchitan in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a town ruled by Zapotec women who wear long skirts and are arrogantly proud of their heritage. A visit to the local market is an unforgettable experience to the senses.

As you travel through the country you will find that the cities are different from each other. You may visit the easygoing seaport city of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico where music from marimbas and harps enliven the evening atmosphere. Once there you may continue your journey to Tlacotalpan on the Papaloapan River; it’s a small town where every house is painted in a different color. Farther south on the Caribbean there is the cosmopolitan resort of Cancun, so different from everything else. And to the north there is bustling Monterrey that prides itself of hard work, excellent roasted goat, and superb beer. Here the business atmosphere is quite different from other industrial cities and a handshake is as good as a legal contract.

Much of the traditions of Mexico known worldwide originated in the western state of Jalisco: tequila, mariachi strollers and the charrocharro -the first cowboy in the American continent whose secrets were passed on to the untamed north when the whole land from Texas all the way to California was a part of Mexico. Still today many Mexicans head north and have made Los Angeles the third largest enclave of Mexicans after Mexico City and Guadalajara.

What makes Mexico so different? GuadalajaraThe people, of course, their character molded by climate, religious beliefs, and traditions all of which are plentiful in Mexico. The old Spanish colonial cities like Queretaro, Guanajuato, Puebla, Morelia and Tlaxcala contrasts with cosmopolitan Guadalajara and Monterrey, and these in turn with the bustling border towns of Tijuana, Juarez and Reynosa; each one of them has its own breed of people who sing to different tunes and eat different food. Even in Mexico City you will notice that affluent youngsters from Las Lomas on the north listen to different music and use different slang than the also well to do youngsters from El Pedregal to the south of the city.

Food is a major issue in Mexico. Just consider that this is the land of birth of tortillas, tamales, tacos, enchiladas and world famous salsa. Ancient Mexicans gave the world the following staples: the tomato (they called it jitomate meaning red tomato- from the Nahuatl “tomatl”), tomatillo or green tomate, vanilla (from Vainilla in Spanish), chiles of all colors, shapes and strength (later exported the world over), chocolate (xocolatl), avocado (ahuacate), beans, corn, and the succhini. There are traditional dishes now enjoyed in many parts of the world: tamales, gorditas, chiles rellenos, pozole and red snapper Veracruz style. Even the ubiquitous chewing gum originated in Mexico; it is known as chicle a name given by the Aztecs and later mass produced as Chiclet’s Adams in the United States.

Each region of Mexico has its unique cuisine. bizcochoThere is “pozole” in Jalisco, “mole” in Puebla, black beans with pork in Yucatan, “chiles rellenos” in Mexico City, “gusanos de maguey” (worms from the maguey plant) in Hidalgo, “cabrito” or goat in Nuevo Leon, and ants eggs from Tlaxcala. To quench your thirst try “agua de Jamaica” with its bittersweet taste or “agua fresca” with tamarind. If you have “panuchos” in Yucatan you must try “agua de horchata” made with rice flour, vanilla and sugar. Pulque goes well with “barbacoa” while everything else goes with mezcal from Oaxaca or Tequila from the heartland. Chocolate was the drink of the Aztec nobility and is still enjoyed throughout the country with rolls called "bizcocho" or “pan dulce” or with “churros”.

To understand Mexico you will need a lifetime. But perhaps you may enjoy a crash course listening to the shoeshine man, the taxi driver, the local priest, or the flower merchant. Each person in Mexico will passionately talk about his or her country with gusto and great pride. Fiestas are a local pastime where piñatas, an old Mexican tradition, are broken, and everybody joins in singing traditional ranchero songs.

At birthday parties nobody sings “Happy Birthday to you”; instead everybody will sing “Las Mañanitas” ... “These are the little morning songs that King David used to sing to beautiful girls. Now we sing them to you. Wake up my love, wake up. The sun is already up, the birds are singing and the moon is gone”. You’ll then be invited to share the tamales and hot chocolate. It is up to you to enjoy this unique experience.

Diverse cultural influences have shaped Mexican civilization. Sophisticated pre-Hispanic native cultures such as the Olmecs of the Gulf coast with their compelling stone sculpture, the Teotihuacan muralists, the artistic Mayans militaristic Toltecs and the Aztecs left magnificent legacies of art and architecture. The birth of modern Mexico began with the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors in the early 16th century.

Today, almost 80 per cent of contemporary Mexicans are descendants of both native and Spanish cultures and are called mestizo. More than 50 native groups include Nahua, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya, Purepecha, Trahumara, Huastec, Mayo, Yaqui and Otomi Indians accounting for fewer than 10 per cent of the population. Whites of European descent account for the other 10 per cent.

Nothing is most sacred to any Mexican than family; it is the foundation on which life is built. The man is the head of the family; the woman is the mother and revered as such, and in many parts of the country she is the boss. Elders are honored and children are taught to respect adults.Mexico is a festive country

Mexican social life commonly centers on family get-togethers, be it Christenings, weddings, birthdays, saintdays, funerals, or “fiestas” to celebrate the patron saint, a good harvest, or anything else that comes in handy.

Mexico is a festive country. No matter what problems are currently afflicting its inhabitants, the people have managed to come back –like the mythical Aztec sun.

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