First, a cry for help: anyone with suggestions for places to visit or things to do in Mexico related to candy, sweets, or desserts, please leave a comment or send me an email so I can consider adding it to my itinerary!  I’ll start things off by flying into Mexico City and visiting some of the archaeological and architectural sites. There are a number of famous candy stores in the city, and I’d like to stop in at a few of them and try out the candy, in addition to getting suggestions for other places to explore.

As the first country on my itinerary, Mexico is a little intimidating as it’s been years since I’ve spoken Spanish - and even then I was pretty terrible. I’m hoping to squeeze in at least a week’s worth of language lessons - probably in Guanajuato. Fortunately, Guanajuato lies relatively near two cities I’d love to explore: Celaya, famous for dulce de leche and Irapuato, the world capital of strawberries. I’d also like to take an excursion to the fairly distant Canel candy factory in San Luis Potosi, if I can arrange it!

Afterwards I plan to head to the Pacific coast and spend a few days relaxing, and maybe try my hand at surfing - San Blas and Punto de Mita are reputedly good places for this. In addition to the beaches, waves, and sun, the region is well-known for candied fruits, including coconuts, pineapple, tamarind, and banana. Yum!

From here I’ll make way south along the coast before heading east to Oaxaca. This well-known colonial city has a rich history of chocolate in food, drink, and candy. I’ve also heard rumors of candied grasshoppers! After Oaxaca comes the Yucatan where I’ll take in some of the Maya ruins and explore the rain forest before crossing the border into Belize. This is the region in which vanilla was first cultivated, so I may visit a vanilla farm or at least enjoy some vanilla flavored candy.

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