Mexico

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Overview:

Covering almost 800,000 square miles, Mexico follows a northwest to southeast curve, narrowing to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec then continuing to the Yucatan 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 washed by the Gulf of Mexico, while the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula meets the Caribbean Sea. Mexico shares borders with the USA (to the north), and Guatemala and Belize (to the southeast).

The frenetic heart of the country, Mexico City sweeps out from the gigantic flag over the central Zscalo square. It's a city of speeding VW taxis, pollution and bustling marketplaces, countered by colorful Aztec dancers and panaderias with their freshly baked pastries, all mirrored in the fractured structure of the city - a legacy of recent earthquakes. In nearby Xochimilco, vividly decorated trajineras (large, flat gondolas) drift lazily past delicate floating terraces of flowers to the sound of mariachi music.

On the west coast of Mexico, the small fishing towns like Puerto Angel and resorts like Acapulco overlook the Pacific Ocean, while to the east, the white beaches of Cozumel and Cancun are known over the world for their enticing beauty.

Bridging temperate and tropical regions, and lying in the latitudes that 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.

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 Yucatan Peninsula is tropical savanna to its tip, where there's an arid, desert-like region.

Climate varies according to altitude. Coastal areas and lowlands are hot and steamy with high humidity, while the central plateau is temperate even in winter. The climate of the inland highlands is mostly mild, but sharp changes in temperature occur between day and night. Rainfall varies greatly from region to region. Only the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the state of Chiapas in the far south receive any appreciable amount of rain during the year, with the wet season running between June and September. All other areas have rainless seasons, while the northern and central areas of the central plateau are dry and arid. There is some snow in the north in winter. The dry season runs from October to May.

Population: 101 million
Capital City: Mexico City
People: Approximately 60% mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian descent) and 30% Amerindian (indigena - including Nahua, Maya, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Tarascos or Puripecha), 10% other
Language: Spanish
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant, 4% other

Culture:

Deeply rich and colorful, Mexico's vibrant culture is evident wherever you look. Its ancient civilizations have produced some of the most spectacular architecture ever built, while its modern proponents deliver some ground-breaking examples of contemporary design. 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.

The art of the colonial period was largely religious and Spanish in tone. The influence of indigenous artisans can be seen in the elaborate altarpieces and sculpted walls and ceilings that decorate the country's many churches. The arts were regarded as an important part of the national revival after the revolution. These days Mexico City and Oaxaca have thriving contemporary arts scenes, with artists like Luis Zarate and Rodolfo Morales leading the charge.

Mexican cuisine is centered around three national staples: tortillas, beans and chili peppers. Tortillas are thin round patties of pressed corn or wheat-flour dough cooked on griddles. Beans 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, 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.

With a range of settings from panoramic restaurants to intimate bars, Mexico City offers excellent music and assorted cuisine, with some of the best bars and restaurants located in hotels. Nightlife is very vibrant and exciting and features a large variety of top-name entertainers, international shows, jazz groups, rock groups, traditional Mexican music and dancing, Spanish flamenco dancers and gypsy violinists.

Handshaking is the most common form of greeting. Casual sportswear is acceptable for daytime dress throughout the country. At beach resorts, dress is very informal for men and women and nowhere are men expected to wear ties.

Mexicans regard relationships and friendships as the most important thing in life next to religion and they are not afraid to show their emotions. A large Mexican family always seems to find room for one more and a visitor who becomes friends with a Mexican will invariably be made part of the family. Visitors should always remember that local customs and traditions are important.

Sightseeing:

Acapulco

Maybe it's the romantic history of spice ships and pirates; maybe it's the golden beaches, tropical jungles and lagoons; or perhaps it's the high-rise hotels, glittery nightlife and famous daredevil cliff-divers that have made Acapulco the first and foremost resort town in Mexico.

The beaches are the big draw at Acapulco, and most are content to limit their sightseeing to a view of the sun slowly traversing the blue yonder. For variety there are museums, aquariums, a fun park, and the famous divers of La Quebrada, who plunge into the ocean swell from vertiginous heights.

Baja California

Baja has long been a hideout for revolutionaries, mercenaries, drinkers and gamblers, but these days visitors are attracted by more healthy pursuits like horse 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 rock pools.

Cascada de Basaseachi

The dramatic 806-foot Cascada de Basaseachi are the highest waterfalls in Mexico, and are especially spectacular in the rainy season - it's worth the bumpy three-hour drive and every footstep of the five-hour hike to reach the falls and back.

Chichin Itza

Fascinating Mayan city whose name means "the city of the water wizards," Chichin Itza reached its peak between 700 and 1200 AD, although it was inhabited for over 2000 years. It is located in the south of Merida in the state of Yucatan in the midst of fabulous natural surroundings where the deep blue skies contrast with the lush green vegetation. It is surrounded by underground rivers, natural wells and limestone that the Mayans used to construct their magnificent buildings and entire cities that are only just beginning to reveal the secrets of their founders' glorious past.

Its main attractions include El Castillo or the Pyramid of Kukulkan, a magnificent pyramid topped by a temple, while in the north of the archaeological zone stands the sacred Cenote, a silent witness to the numerous ceremonies performed by the Mayans. The Observatory or Giant Conch Snail is another of the buildings that is internationally renowned, since it was built to observe Venus, a planet that the Mayans identified with the God Kukulkan, the plumed serpent.

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 Cabaqas and its frescoes by Josi Clemente Orozco, the Plaza de los Mariachis if you're a masochist, and the twin handicraft-filled suburbs of Tlaquepaque and Tonala.

Mexico City

Mexico City is the world's third-largest metropolis (only Tokyo and NYC are bigger). Mexico's best and worst ingredients are all here: music and noise, brown air and green parks, colonial palaces and skyscrapers, world-renowned museums and ever-spreading slums. One could spend many months exploring all the museums, monuments, plazas, colonial buildings, monasteries, murals, galleries, historical remnants, archaeological finds, statuary, shrines and religious relics this encyclopedia of a city has to offer.

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. Centre of town is the shady, arcaded zscalo 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 Juarez.

Palenque

All those images of romantic Mayan ruins shimmering in the morning mist come true at the lost jungle city of Palenque. 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 700 AD when many plazas and buildings were constructed, including the elaborate Temple of Inscriptions pyramid crypt, the tallest and most prominent of Palenque's buildings. 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.

Puerto Vallarta

Nestled between palm-covered mountains, a river and an azure sea, full of cobblestone streets and whitewashed houses, and sitting in front of a gorgeous sandy beach, Puerto Vallarta is seriously picturesque. There are dolphins in the bay year-round, and humpback whales between November and March.

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 hold a grudge against its lively beaches, bars, restaurants and galleries.

Teotihuacan

The fabulous archaeological zone Teotihuacan lies in a mountain-ringed offshoot of the Valle de Mexico. Site of the huge Piramides del Sol y de la Luna (Pyramids of the Sun and Moon), it was Mexico's biggest ancient city and the capital of what was probably the country's largest pre-Hispanic empire.

The site's main drag is the famous Avenue of the Dead, a thoroughfare lined with the former palaces of Teotihuacan'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 Quetzalcsatl Temple, with its striking serpent carvings.

Heading north, the avenue passes the world's third-largest pyramid: the awe-inspiring 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. Teotihuacan's most famous mural, the Paradise of Tlaloc, is in the Tepantitla Palace, a priest's residence northeast of the Pyramid of the Sun.

Yucatan Peninsula

Cross the Rmo Usumacinta into Yucatan, 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. Yucatan 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 Chichin Itza, near the Yucatan state capital of Merida. 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, Cancun.

History:

It's thought that the first people to inhabit Mexico arrived 20,000 years before Columbus. Their descendants built a succession of highly developed civilizations that flourished from 1200 BC to 1521 AD. The first ancestral civilization to arise was that of the Olmecs (1200-600 BC), in the humid lowlands of southern Veracruz and Tabasco. Central Mexico's first great civilization flourished at Teotihuacan between 250 and 600 AD, to be followed by the Toltecs at Xochicalco and Tula. The Aztecs were successors to this string of empires, settling at Tenochtitlan in the early 14th century.

Almost 3000 years of civilization was shattered in just two short years, following the landing by Hernan Cortes near modern-day Veracruz on April 21, 1519. The Spaniards met their first allies in towns that resented Aztec domination. With 6000 local recruits, they approached the Aztecs' island capital of Tenochtitlan. King Moctezuma II invited the party into his palace and the Spaniards promptly took him hostage. By August 13, 1521, Aztec resistance had ended. The position of the conquered peoples deteriorated rapidly, not only because of harsh treatment at the hands of the colonists but also because of introduced diseases.

From the 16th to 19th centuries, a sort of apartheid system existed in Mexico. Spanish-born colonists were a minuscule part of the population but were considered nobility in New Spain (as Mexico was then called), however humble their status in their home country. By the 18th century, criollos (people born of Spanish parents in New Spain) had acquired fortunes in mining, commerce, ranching and agriculture, and were seeking political power commensurate with their wealth. Below the criollos were the mestizos, of mixed Spanish and indigenous or African slave ancestry, and at the bottom of the pile were the remaining indigenous people and African slaves. 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 Spanish-born colonists and criollos intensified. On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a criollo parish priest, issued his call to rebellion, the Grito de Dolores. In 1821 Spain agreed to Mexican independence.

In 1845, the US congress voted to annex Texas, leading to the Mexican-American War in which US troops captured Mexico City. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico ceded 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 decided to go one step further and colonize Mexico, sparking yet another war. In 1864, France invited the Austrian archduke, Maximilian of Habsburg, to become emperor of Mexico. His reign was bloodily ended by forces loyal to the country's former president, Benito Juarez, a Zapotec from Oaxaca.

With the slogan 'order and progress', dictator Porfirio Diaz (ruled 1878-1911) avoided war and piloted Mexico into the industrial age. Political opposition, free elections and a free press were banned, and control was maintained by a ruthless army, leading to strikes that prefigured the Mexican Revolution.

The revolution (1910-20) was a 10-year period of shifting allegiances between a spectrum of leaders, in which successive attempts to create stable governments were wrecked by new skirmishes. The 10 years of violent civil war cost an estimated 1.5 to two million lives - roughly one in eight Mexicans. After the revolution, political will was focused on rebuilding the national infrastructure. Precursors of today's Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (PRI) took power in 1934, introducing a program of reform and land redistribution.

Civil unrest next appeared in 1966, when university students in Mexico City expressed their outrage with the conservative Diaz 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 deflated petroleum prices and led to Mexico's worst recession in decades. The economic downturn also saw an increase in organized political dissent on both the left and right. The massive earthquake of September 1985 caused more than 4 billion dollars in damage. At least 10,000 people died, hundreds of buildings in Mexico City were destroyed and thousands of people were made homeless.

President Carlos Salinas de Gortari began his term in 1988 after very controversial elections. He gained popular support by renegotiating Mexico's crippling national debt and bringing 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 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), effective January 1, 1994.

In March 1994, Luis Donaldo Colssio, Salinas' chosen successor, was assassinated. His replacement, 43-year-old Ernesto Zedillo, was elected with 50% of the votes. Within days of President Zedillo's taking office, Mexico's currency, the peso, suddenly collapsed, bringing on a rapid and deep economic recession. Among other things, it led to a huge increase in crime, intensified discontent with the PRI and caused large-scale Mexican immigration to the US. Zedillo's policies pulled Mexico gradually out of recession. Despite a hiccup caused by international economic factors in 1998, by the end of his term in 2000, Mexicans' purchasing power was again approaching 1994 levels.

In the freest and fairest national election since the Mexican Revolution, National Action Party (PAN) presidential candidate and former Coca-Cola executive Vicente Fox beat Zedillo's hand-picked successor, PRI candidate Francisco Labastida in 2000, ending the PRI's 71-year reign; however, it remains the chief opposition party. President Fox has sought to emphasize Mexico's role as a world player, and has strongly supported the US since the events of 9/11; security has been tightened on the northern border.

Expenses:

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. Major credit cards are widely-accepted but take extra care when using them, as credit-card fraud and theft is rife in Mexico. In 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; 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 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.

ATMs are very common in Mexico, and are the easiest source of cash. You can use major credit cards and some bank cards, such as those on the Cirrus and Plus systems, to withdraw pesos from ATMs. The exchange rate that banks use for ATM withdrawals is normally more in your favor than the 'tourist rate' for currency exchange.

Support During Your Placement:

We will be available to give you any support, advice, or guidance you may need with any issues. There will always be an emergency number for you to contact. Our aim is to ensure that you have a happy and successful experience during your stay in Mexico.

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