| About
Mexico |
|
Full
country name: Estados Unidos
Méxicanos
Population: 100,350,000 (growth rate
1.53%)
Area: 1,958,200 sq km (758,866 sq
mi)
Capital city: Mexico City (22 million
people)
People: Approximately 60% mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian
descent) and 30% Amerindian (indígena - including Nahua, Maya,
Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Tarascos or Purépecha)
Language: Spanish and 59 indigenous
languages
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant
 Government:
Federal republic
Head of state: Vincente Fox Quesada
Major industries: Food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron
and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer
durables, tourism
Major trading partners: USA, Canada,
Japan, Germany |
Mexico is a traveler's paradise,
crammed with a multitude of opposing identities: desert landscapes, snow-capped
volcanoes, ancient ruins, teeming industrialised cities, time-warped colonial
towns, glitzy resorts, lonely beaches and a world-beating collection of
flora and fauna. The bursting megalopolis of Mexico City is a one-hour
flight from the tropical rainforests and Mayan villages of Chiapas. Up
along the northern border, Mexico's tumult of heritages merge with the
air-conditioned cultures of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Mexico's profusion of people and landscapes reflects
the country's extraordinary history - part Amerindian, part Spanish. One
look at this country is enough to remind visitors that there is nothing
new about the so-called New World. Despite the considerable colonial legacy
and rampant modernization, almost 60 distinct indigenous peoples survive,
largely thanks to their rural isolation. This mix of modern and traditional,
the clichéd and the surreal, is the key to Mexico's immense popularity
as a travel destination, whether your passion is throwing back margaritas,
listening to howler monkeys, surfing the Mexican Pipeline, scrambling
over Mayan ruins or expanding your Day of the Dead collection of posable
skeletons.
Warning
Crime in Mexico has reached
critical levels, particularly in Mexico City. There's been a marked increase
in the level of violence and a significant incidence of sexual assault
in crimes committed against women. The most frequently reported crimes
involve taxi robberies, armed robbery, metro robbery, pickpocketing and
purse snatching. Credit-card fraud and ATM robbery are also prevalent.
Travelers to Oaxaca and 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 these sometimes violent states. Popocatépetl's volcanic activity
should also be monitored. |
| |
| Information for Traveler |
|
Visas:
Citizens of many countries - including the USA, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, Japan, Argentina, Chile and virtually all Western European countries
- do not require visas to enter Mexico as tourists. However, if they are
staying longer than 72 hours, or are traveling beyond the Border Zone
or certain exempted areas, they must obtain a 180-day Mexican government
tourist card (tarjeta de turista), available from embassies or at border
crossings (US$18).
Health risks: Malaria, Chagas' disease,
cholera, dengue fever, filariasis, hepatitis, rabies, tetanus, typhoid.
Air pollution in Mexico City is extremely high between November and February.
Water must be purified or boiled.
Time: Most of Mexico is on Central
Standard Time (six hours behind UTC). Baja California Sur and several
other states in the northwest are on Mountain Standard Time (seven hours
ahead of UTC) and Baja California Norte is on Pacific Standard Time (eight
hours ahead of UTC).
Electricity: 110V, 60Hz
Weights & measures: Metric |
| |
| Weather |
|
Mexico
is enjoyable year-round, but October to May is generally the most pleasant
time to visit. The May-September period can be hot and humid, particularly
in the south, and inland temperatures can approach freezing during December-February.
Facilities are often heavily booked during Semana Santa (the week before
Easter) and Christmas/New Year, the peak domestic travel periods.
Mexico's climate has something for everyone: it's hot
and humid along the coastal plains, and drier and more temperate at higher
elevations inland (Guadalajara or Mexico City, for example). Try to avoid
Mexico's southern coast between July and September - the resorts are decidedly
soggy and jam-packed, as July-August is also the peak holiday months for
foreign visitors. |
| |
| Events |
|
Mexico's
reputation for full-blooded festive fun is well founded: just about every
month sees a major national holiday or fiesta, and every other day is
a local saint's day or town fair celebration. Carnaval
(Carnival), held late February or early March in the week before
Ash Wednesday, is the big bash before the 40-day penance of Lent; it's
particularly flagrant in Mazatlán, Veracruz and La Paz. The country's
most characteristic fiesta is the wonderfully macabre Día
de los Muertos, held the day after All Saints' Day on November
2. The souls of the dear departed are believed to return to earth on this
day, and for weeks beforehand the country's markets are awash with the
highly sought-after candy skulls and papier-mâché skeletons
that find their way into many a visitor's souvenir collection. December
12 is another big day on the Mexican calendar, celebrating the Day
of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the country's major religious icon.
Public Holidays:
January 1 - New Year's Day
February 5 - Constitution Day
February 24 - Day of the Flag
March 21 - Anniversary of Benito Juárez's birth
March/April - Good Friday-Easter Sunday
May 1 - Labor Day
May 5 - 1862 victory celebration
September 16 - Día de la Independencia
October 12 - Día de la Raza
November 20 - Día de la Revolución
December 25 - Día de Navidad |
| |
| Money & Costs |
|
Currency:
Peso
Baja California, Monterrey
and the Yucatán Peninsula's Caribbean coast are pricey, but elsewhere
you can expect to get away with spending around US$20-35 a day, particularly
in rural areas. Throw in a few luxuries like traveling in reasonable comfort,
staying at better mid-range places and eating at more expensive restaurants,
and you'll need more like US$60. Stay at luxurious hotels and hire a car
occasionally, and the sky's the limit.
It's best to bring US-dollar denomination traveler's
checks and some US dollars in cash. You can exchange money in banks or
in casas de cambio. Note that bank exchange facilities are often only
open between 9am and 3 or 4pm. Major credit cards are accepted by airlines,
car rental companies and more expensive hotels and restaurants - but take
extra care when using them, as credit-card fraud and theft is rife in
Mexico. In heavily touristed areas such as Acapulco, Cancún and
Cozumel, you can often spend US dollars as easily as pesos at hotels and
restaurants (although the exchange rate will probably be awful). Note
that the dollar sign is used to refer to pesos in Mexico; prices in US
dollars are usually marked US$ or USD.
Mexico has a 15% value-added tax (IVA) which by law
must be included in quoted prices. Sometimes - usually in top-end hotels
- prices are 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 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. |
| |
| Getting There &
Away |
|
Most
visitors to Mexico arrive by air. Around 30 Mexican cities receive direct
flights from North America and Canada, and there are relatively cheap
connections to the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America. From Europe
you can fly to Mexico City and Cancún. Aeroméxico and Mexicana
are the largest Mexican airlines. There's a departure tax of approximately
US$17.
Travelers can cross into Mexico by road from the USA
at one of the 40 official crossing points. Most cross-border bus services
travel from Texas. There are 10 border crossings between Mexico and Guatemala,
and fairly frequent bus services between border points and Guatemalan
towns. Frequent buses also run between Belize City and Chetumal. Trains
run from San Diego to Tijuana, El Paso to Ciudad Juárez and Del
Rio to
Ciudad Acuña.
The more adventurous might like to travel between the
great Mayan ruins at Palenque and Tikal (Guatemala) by the jungle routes,
via riverboat and back-country bus. The busiest and easiest route is via
a short boat ride on the Río Usumacinta between Frontera Corozal
(Chiapas) and Bethel (Guatemala); this route also squeezes in a visit
to Yaxachilán and Bonampak. The other routes link Benemérito
de las Américas (Chiapas) and Sayaxché (Guatemala), and
La Palma (Tabasco) and El Naranjo (Guatemala). Travelers should check
the security situation in Chiapas with their embassy before attempting
these crossings. |
| |
| Getting Around |
|
Flying
still represents good value for money in Mexico, especially considering
the long, hot bus trip that may be the only 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. The majority of domestic air connections go through Mexico City.
Buses are the most common mode of public transport and
bus routes are extensive. Long-distance buses are fairly comfortable,
air-conditioned (bring a jumper!) and acceptably fast. Local rural buses
tend to be ancient, decaying, suspensionless models grinding out their
dying years on dirt tracks. Combis, colectivos and peseros are minibuses
used for local transport. Note that highway robbery is a real risk in
Mexico, especially at night on isolated stretches of highway.
Driving in Mexico is certainly not for everyone: you
should know some Spanish, have basic mechanical aptitude, large reserves
of patience and access to cash for emergencies. However, it can be just
about the only way to get to some of the most beautiful and isolated towns
and villages, although you need to be forgiving of road conditions.
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. Thanks to the government's privatization
of Mexico's railways, most of the country now lacks a passenger train
service. The exceptions are special tourist-oriented lines such as the
Copper Canyon line from Chihuahua to Los Mochis and the Tequila Express
from Guadalajara to Tequila. |
| |
| Attractions |
|
Mexico City
Mexico City is a place
to love and loathe, with everything you'd expect to find in the world's
third-largest metropolis (only Tokyo and NYC are bigger). Mexico's best
and worst ingredients are magi-mixed in this polluted and bustling megalopolis
of music and noise, brown air and green parks, colonial palaces and skyscrapers,
world-renowned museums and ever-spreading slums.
The city's historic center is the Plaza de la Constitución,
or Zócalo. The plaza was paved
in the 1520s by Hernón Cortés, using stones from the temples
and palaces of the Aztec city of Tenochtitl?n he'd destroyed, and on which
Mexico City was built. The original Aztec city was on an island 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 and a museum devoted to the life of Benito
Juárez, but most people come here to see Diego Rivera's fabulous
murals, which chronicle Mexico's history.
The Aztecs' sacred precinct stood on the huge site now
occupied by the Catedral Metropolitana,
on the northern side of the Zócalo. The cathedral was built between
1573 and 1813 on the site of the Aztecs' tzompantli (an altar of sorts
on which the skulls of the sacrificed were placed). Just east of the cathedral
are the remains of the Templo Mayor,
the Aztecs' principal temple. Much of the site has been excavated, revealing
the temple's multiple layers of construction and the extraordinary bloodiness
of the rituals that took place there. An excellent museum displays artifacts
discovered during the excavations.
Less than a 10-minute walk away is the Alameda,
once an Aztec marketplace and now the city's largest downtown park. The
streets around the Alameda are lined with the city's most interesting
buildings, including colonial mansions, lively cafes, restaurants, shops
and markets. Other must-sees include the Bosque
de Chapultepec, Mexico City's
largest park and home to museums, lakes, a zoo and the official residence
of the president; the Basilica de Nuestra Señora
de Guadalupe, the church built on the spot where Mexico's patron
saint was seen in a vision; the colonial houses, cobbled streets, fabled
craft market and Rivera-Kahlo related sites of San
Ángel; and the ancient canals of Xochimilco,
jammed with day-glo pleasure boats on weekends.
The Zona Rosa is
the city's major highlife and nightlife district. Condesa and Roma to
the south of Zona Rosa also serve up good food and entertainment. 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, particularly from street stands and comedores.
Teotihuacán
Some of Mexico's best attractions
are only a day trip from Mexico City. If there is any 'must see' in this
region it has to be Teotihuacán, just 50km (31mi) northeast of
the capital. Teotihuacán was Mexico's biggest ancient city and
the capital of the country's largest pre-Hispanic empire, boasting 200,000
inhabitants at its peak in the 6th century. If the hawkers don't get the
better of you, a day here can be a mind-blowing experience.
The site's main drag is the famous Avenue
of the Dead, a monumental 2km (1.2mi) thoroughfare lined with
the former palaces of Teotihuacán's elite. To its south is the
pyramid-bedecked La Ciudadela, believed
to have been the residence of the city's supreme ruler. Enclosed within
the citadel's walls is the Quetzalcóatl
Temple, with its striking serpent carvings.
Heading north, the avenue passes the world's third-largest pyramid: the
awe-inspiring, 70m (230ft), 248-stepped Pyramid
of the Sun. The pyramid was originally painted a suitably sun-drenched,
bloody red. The avenue terminates at the Pyramid
of the Moon, flanked by the 12 temple platforms of the Plaza
de la Luna. Nearby are the beautifully frescoed Palace
of the Quetzal Butterfly, the
Jaguar Palace and the Temple
of the Plumed Conch Shells. Teotihuacán's most famous
mural, the Paradise of Tláloc,
is in the Tepantitla Palace, a priest's residence northeast of the Pyramid
of the Sun. The site has a museum to help make sense of it all; bring
a hat, water and your walking shoes.
Baja California
With Tijuana as its frontier
post, Baja is the epitome of 'south of the border'. 
The peninsula is renowned for its long coastline of fine white beaches,
peaceful bays and imposing cliffs, sharply contrasting with the harsh
and undeveloped interior. Baja has long been a hideout for revolutionaries,
mercenaries, drinkers and gamblers, but these days visitors are attracted
by more healthy pursuits like horseback riding, surfing and whale-watching.
Highlights include Loreto, with its
Spanish mission history and offshore national park; the extraordinary
pre-Columbian rock-art sites of Sierra de San
Francisco, near San Ignacio; La Paz,
the laid-back capital of Baja California Sur and known for its equally
gorgeous beaches and sunsets; and the hiking paradise of Sierra
de la Laguna, a botanical wonderland of coexisting cacti and
pines, palms and aspens set beside granite rockpools.
Chihuahua-Pacífic Railway
Mexico's most scenic railway
connects Los Mochis on the Pacific coast with Chihuahua in the country's
arid inland. The route takes 14 to 16 hours, and includes several stops
in the fabled Barranca del Cobre (Copper
Canyon) - actually a group of 20 canyons, and all up four times larger
than the Grand Canyon. The 655km (406mi) train line passes through 86
tunnels and over 39 bridges as it cuts through the Sierra Tarahumara's
sheer canyons, hugging the sides of towering cliffs and offering dizzying
glimpses of river beds far below.
The views are stunning, particularly between Creel and
Loreto; they're generally best on the right side of the carriage when
heading inland (east) and on the left when heading to the coast (west).
Stops along the way include the attractive colonial town of El
Fuerte; Divisadero, with
excellent views down into the 2300m (7544ft) depths of Copper Canyon;
Areponápuchi, teetering right
on the canyon's edge; Creel, a base
for hikers and the regional center for the local Tarahumara people; and
the Mennonite hub of Cuauhtémoc.
Puerto Vallarta
Cobblestoned and whitewashed Puerto Vallarta
is one of the centralPacific coast's best-known beachresorts. Nestled
beside the Río Caule,between palm-covered mountains and flanking
the azure Bahía de las Banderas (Bay of Flags), the city boasts
a setting as ridiculously picturesque as its idyllic white-sand beaches
and red-tiled houses of white adobe. The city has mutated from a sleepy
seaside village into an international resort so quickly that it is fashionable
to deride its spoilt charms, but it's almost impossible to dislike its
lively bars,romantic restaurants, mushrooming gallery scene and bustling
marine life. There are dolphins in the bay year-round, and humpback whales
between November and March. 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 traditions
considered characteristically 'Mexican' were created in Guadalajara, the
country's second-largest city. Guadalajara can be held responsible for
the mixed blessings of mariachi music, tequila, the Mexican Hat Dance,
broad-brimmed sombrero hats and the Mexican rodeo. Part of Guadalajara's
huge appeal is that it has many of the attractions of Mexico City - a
vibrant culture, fine museums and galleries, handsome historic buildings,
exciting nightlife and good places to stay and eat - but few of the capital's
problems. It's a bright, modern, well-organized and unpolluted place,
with enough attractions to please even the pickiest visitor. Highlights
include the giant, twin-towered cathedral
and the lovely plazas that surround it, the Instituto
Cultural de Cabañas and its frescoes by José
Clemente Orozco, the Plaza de los Mariachis
if you're a masochist, and the twin handicraft-filled suburbs of Tlaquepaque
and Tonalá.
Acapulco
White-sand beaches, high-rise
hotels, nightlife that glitters and the divers of La
Quebrada - these are the postcard images of Acapulco, the granddaddy
of the Pacific coast's resort cities, where tourism has been the number-one
industry since the 1950s. Head inland and the city's schizophrenic side
makes an appearance - trash-filled streets, crowded sidewalks, congested
traffic, down-at-heel shops and dowdy  apartment
buildings. Most visitors are happy to ignore the city's daily grind, choosing
to laze on the city's numerous beaches, shop at the many plazas or dine
at all those restaurants with trilingual menus.
The famous cliff divers of La Quebrada have been amazing
visitors since the 1930s, gracefully plummeting from the seemingly suicidal
height of 45m (148ft) into a narrow crevasse that 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 catch
a great view of the divers from the restaurant of the Plaza Las Glorias
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 but can sometimes have
dangerous waves. 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.
Oaxaca
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,Oaxaca has a large indigenous population, flourishing markets
and some superb colonial architecture. Not least of Oaxaca's attractions
are the abundant local handicrafts and the conviviality of the local cafes.
Center of town is the shady, arcaded zócalo
and the major landmark is the Iglesia de Santo
Domingo, the most splendid of Oaxaca's many churches. The city
also has a clutch of worthy museums, exploring Oaxacan culture and the
lives of famous former inhabitants such as Benito Juárez. There
are many fascinating places within day-trip distance of the city, notably
the Zapotec ruins at Monte Albán,
Mitla, Yagul
and Cuilapan.
Yucatán Peninsula
 Cross
the Río Usumacinta into Yucatán, and you enter 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, tropical
forests, peerless snorkeling, seaside resorts, quiet coastlines and raucous
nightlife. The region's famous Mayan sites are particularly impressive
at Uxmal and Chichén
Itzá, near the Yucatán state capital, the attractive
colonial city of Mérida (home of the hammock). The coastal state
of Quintana Roo attracts plane-loads
of sun-loving tourists to its islands and white-sand Caribbean beaches,
particularly Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and, party central, Cancún.
The stunning cliff-top ruins at Tulum,
overlooking a palm-fringed beach and turquoise sea, attract their fair
share of visitors too.Puebla
The Spanish colonial flavor is particularly piquant
in the old city of Puebla, 125km (77mi) east of Mexico City. Despite the
ravages of the 1999 earthquake, Puebla is home to more than 70 churches
and a thousand other colonial buildings, many of them adorned with the
city's famous hand-painted tiles (azulejos). The town's towering cathedral
is considered one of the country's best proportioned, blending
severe Herreresque-Renaissance and early baroque styles. Local indigenous
influences can be seen in the prolific stucco decoration of the Capilla
del Rosario in the Templo de Santo Domingo
- a sumptuous baroque proliferation of gilded plaster and carved stone
with angels and cherubim popping out from behind every leaf. Puebla is
also known for its regional cuisine, celebrated and imitated throughout
Mexico; try the mole poblano, spicy chocolate sauce usually served over
turkey or chicken.
Not too far from Puebla are two other colonial gems.
Some 85km (53mi) south of the capital is Cuernavaca,
a retreat for Mexico City's wealthy and fashionable citizens since colonial
times, thanks to its spring-like climate. Much of the city's elegance
is hidden behind high walls and courtyards, but a number of residences
have been transformed into galleries, hotels and restaurants. Those on
a tight budget may find Cuernavaca a bit of a squeeze, but the little
luxuries go down a treat with visitors who stay on to enroll in a Spanish-language
course.
The old silver-mining town of Taxco,
180km (112mi) southwest of Mexico City, is one of the most picturesque
and pleasant places in Mexico. The gorgeous colonial antique clings to
a steep hillside, its maze of narrow cobbled streets spooling into leafy
plazas lined with engagingly distressed buildings. The entire town has
been declared a national historic monument.
Álamos
This tranquil little town
in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental has been declared a national
historic monument - for very good reasons. Back in the 18th century Álamos
was a silver boom town of gorgeous mansions and haciendas, but by the
1920s it had declined into a forgotten backwater. An injection of expat
norteamericano funds gave the dilapidated ghost town a much-needed facelift,
and today Álamos' Spanish colonial buildings have been beautifully
restored. Much of the architecture has a Moorish influence, thanks to
the Andalusian artisans who originally built the city.
Álamos' narrow cobblestone streets are lined
with colonial mansions, concealing courtyards lush with bougainvillea.
You can get to see inside several of these old mansions too, as they've
been converted into hotels and restaurants. The whole town has a distinctly
peaceful, timeless feel. Sunday evenings in particular are reserved for
that traditional pastime of strolling and people-watching on the Plaza
de Armas.
Álamos is on the border of two very different
ecosystems of desert and jungle. Hordes of nature-lovers swoop on the
place because of its 450 species of birds and animals (including some
endangered and endemic species), and more than 1000 species of plants.
Horseback riding, hiking, swimming and dining in opulent colonial mansions
are also on the Álamos menu. The obvious souvenir to buy while
in town is a bag of brincadores, or Mexican jumping beans, as Álamos
is the jumping bean capital of the world. Actually they're seed pods,
not beans, and they jump because they're inhabited by moth larvae.
Pátzcuaro
Pátzcuaro boasts
some particularly stately colonial architecture, but the town's major
claim to fame is its candlelit Day of the Dead
celebrations on November 2. The local Purépechas' celebrations
have an especially magical quality and notably pre-Hispanic undertones.
Graveyards are lit with candles, decorated with altars of marigolds and
filled with traditional dancers and musicians.
Pátzcuaro has a handsome core of lovely colonial
buildings, churches and fine plazas, its streets climbing steeply to Our
Lady of Good Health in the east of town. Plaza
Vasco de Quiroga, the city's beautifully proportioned main
plaza, is one of the loveliest in Mexico, flanked by trees and arcaded
17th-century mansions. Several mansions are devoted to the display and
sale of the region's notable handicrafts, including copperware, straw
goods, musical instruments, gold-leaf lacquer ware, hand-painted ceramics
and lace. The town's market is also a good place to pick up local crafts
and textiles.
Pátzcuaro is a five-hour bus trip west of Mexico
City in the western central highlands. It lies 3.5km (2mi) from the southeast
shore of neighboring Lago de Pátzcuaro,
which is ringed by traditional artisans' villages and has four island
communities. Isla Janitzio in particular
comes alive (so to speak) with its famous Día de los Muertos parade
of decorated canoes.
San Cristóbal de las Casas
This handsome colonial
town in the pine-clad Valle de Jovel is surrounded by the classic Mayan
villages of the Chiapas highlands. It's a delightful place and a magnet
for travelers who want tolearn a little Spanish, absorb the bohemian atmosphere
and enjoy the lively bar and music scene. Since 1994 San Cristóbal
has been caught up in the Zapatista struggles. Regional crafts play a
large part in the town's tourism, and dolls depicting the black balaclava'd
Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos are as typical a souvenir here as
the region's renowned Tzotzil textiles.
San Cristóbal has a fine plaza and a swag of
churches, the most beautiful of which is Santo
Domingo with its pink baroque facade and golden interior. Horseback
riding is popular in the surrounding hills, and other pursuits include
discovering traditional Maya medicine, stocking up at the local weavers'
cooperative, sampling delicious organic coffee at the Coopcafé,
visiting the nearby indigenous villages and drinking in the amazingly
clear highland air. |
| |
| 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
and developed. Sport fishing is especially
popular off the Pacific coast and in the Gulf of California. Snorkeling
and diving is wonderful in Mexico,
particularly at Caribbean coast resorts like Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen,
Cozumel, Punta Allen and Banco Chinchorro. On the Pacific coast, try Puerto
Vallarta, Zihuatanejo, Acapulco and Huatulco. 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 between
San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, Bahía de Matanchén,
Ensenada, Mazatlán, Manzanillo and the 'Mexican Pipeline' at Puerto
Escondido. Los Barriles is Baja California's windsurfing
capital, and further south Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo can be good
too. Veracruz state is the epicenter of the country's white-water
rafting industry. A number of Mexico City-based organizations
conduct hiking and mountain-climbing
trips on Mexico's volcanoes, including Iztaccíhuatl, Pico de Orizaba,
Nevado de Toluca and La Malinche. |
| Mexico Map |
|
|
