Articles tagged with "Mexico"
Mexico suits unhurried travel well, and a large community of older North Americans already lives there part of the year. The planning that pays off is about elevation, walking surfaces and how many places you try to see.
Mexico is unevenly accessible in a way that is largely predictable: newer buildings and the capital's transport are better than the reputation, and five hundred year old streets and archaeological sites are not adaptable. Planning is mostly a matter of knowing which is which.
Mexico has an Afro-descendant population with its own music, dance and food, concentrated on the Costa Chica of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Half of what a visitor needs to know is where it is; the other half is which side of a state line it is on.
Mexico has a festival calendar worth building a trip around, and two of its dates will make accommodation in the best places impossible to find on short notice. Several move with Easter, so last year's date is not a date.
Mexico is warm, formal in small ways that are easy to get right, and considerably more varied than a resort or a capital suggests. Most of what a visitor needs is a short list and a slower pace.
Mexican food is regional to a degree that surprises people who know it only through one border cuisine. Oaxaca, Yucatan, Puebla and the north are effectively different kitchens, and the street is where most of the best of it is.
Both of the easy things to say about safety in Mexico are wrong. The restriction is a specific list of states with specific exceptions inside them, and none of the places most visitors go is on it. What does reach ordinary travelers is theft, unlicensed taxis, and a paperwork rule with no…
Mexico has one of the best intercity bus networks anywhere and a large domestic flight market, so covering distance is easy. The decisions that matter are which class of bus, which road, and which car you get into.
Most Mexico trips combine somewhere hot at sea level with somewhere high and cold after dark. The list below assumes that, and it puts the document rule first because it is the one with consequences.
Mexico takes cards readily in the places visitors stay and runs on cash everywhere else. The things that cost people money are avoidable and are mostly about which currency a transaction is settled in.