I spent more than a month in Mexico - what a great country to start the trip in! The sheer variety of life there could be overwhelming: colonial churches stood near pre-Columbian ruins; poor farmers and rich American-schooled politicians shared cities; a wide blend of settings from beaches to deserts, mountains to rain forests; the clean cobble-stoned streets of San Cristobal contrasting with the grittiness of Mexico City. Sure, my debit card stopped working, and I fell victim to one of the many maladies that have long plagued travelers, but I also was cared for by distant relatives and spent my first three weeks bonding with my Abuelita. These entry describes my impressions of the cities I visited in Mexico - I hope it is helpful to someone planning a similar trip.

First of all, I highly recommend Mexico as a travel destination. It’s a large country and you need some time to explore it, but it also has pretty much everything you’d want in one country: beaches, cities, ancient ruins, delicious food, and tons of candies. I’m a little embarrassed for not coming here sooner.

Mexico City: A giant mess of traffic, pollution, noise, and crazy taxi drivers. I spent most of my time visiting relatives, but did make it out to a swanky club one night (just as expensive as American clubs!) and spent some time in the Zocalo (main square) seeing places important to both Mexican and my own family’s history - the office my great grandfather worked in is just a few jewelry stores away from the balcony Mexican presidents give speeches off of. A crazily slow bus to Teotihuacan was an interesting experience, although I’d recommend trying to get a direct bus and skipping the police checks, midday town parades, and millions of speed bumps that slowed our local bus. The ruins themselves are one of the most fun to climb, and the surrounding stark, boiling hot environs are quite different from the rain forest most other ruins I saw are located in.

Celaya: A tiny town that almost no one visits. Some interesting churches and best of all, free cajeta tastings! We got lucky and visited during the buildup to Easter, with a giant festival going on one evening and the streets packed with vendors and churchgoers. It was possible to buy everything from pottery to taffy, cotton candy to balloons, and all for a fraction of the Mexican City price. People were friendly and I don’t think I saw a single other tourist the entire time I was there.

Morelia: My favorite city in Mexico! It was certainly helped by the timing, as I visited during Easter and every day the streets were alive with festivals, plays, dance demonstrations, or parades. It was all great fun and the cathedral is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. Plus, the town has a whole museum dedicated to candy - you can’t beat that!

Puebla: Although I enjoyed the opportunity to try camote for a second time (that so-called “candy” made of sweet potato) Puebla didn’t interest me like the other cities I traveled to. There are some ruins near Cholula, but as they’re still underground beneath a colonial church, a visit isn’t as interesting as to Teotihuacan or Monte Alban. The main square in Puebla is pleasant and I loved walking through the market, where some streets stank of fish and raw meat and others sold pictures of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and children on their First Communion - and of course there was a street dedicated to candy. That being said, nothing I saw in Puebla struck me as being distinctive to Puebla ONLY, and if I was doing the trip again I could safely strike it from the list of cities visited.

Oaxaca: I spend loads of time here! I was staying with Eugenia and Victor Martinez - two distant family members who treated me with the greatest kindness, even as my good luck ran out and I had to keep extending my stay, day after day. Staying with musicians definitely had its benefits - often I could hear Victor practicing these amazing guitar riffs from my apartment.

Oaxaca itself is an old city with giant cathedrals and ornately decorated houses, and a nice green Zocalo where saxophone and marimba musicians cross paths with balloon sellers and beggers. There’s a friendly vibe to the town, and I think it’s a good place for Spanish lessons - mine were quite cheap and high quality! The cuisine is delicious here, but I have to admit I preferred the chocolate and mole to the crickets.

San Cristobal de las Casas: Another city I loved, this place was tiny with little cobbled streets, brightly decorated trucks, indigenous shawls and skirts with embroidered green and blue flowers, and a lot of “adventure tourism” activities. A horseride to San Juan Cholula was a highlight (especially the incredible church - Mayans prayed on the floor covered with pine needles, incense, candles, sacrificed chickens, and Coca Cola products) while I discovered that biking UP mountains is actually not much fun. I’d recommend a stop here for pretty much any trip to Mexico.

Palenque: The ruins were great. The town itself is worth missing, and I was out of there as soon as I could arrange it.

Chetumal: The busses to Chetumal all arrive at the terminal in the middle of the night. I had to sleep on a bench for my first 3 hours in the city while I waited for the sun to rise. This unpleasant start probably didn’t help the city out any. I am ambivalent about Chetumal as a travel destination. It has lovely walks along the water, big boulevards and grassy parks, and a top-notch museum on Mayan culture (complete with a section on math for geeks like me) but the city is incredibly poorly equipped for tourists - no good budget hotels or hostels, no tour agencies or activities of interest, and the boulevards, grassy parks, and walks along the river were all empty of people and activities. I think going a few hours north to Tulum would have been worth the stop.

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Anyways, that just about sums up my trip to Mexico. Travel highlights were Morelia, Celaya, and San Cristobal, while Palenque and Chetumal were the proverbial “low-lights.” Don’t listen to me though, find your own way there!

I’m currently living it up in Granada, Nicaragua, where I think I’ve stayed through about three rotations of backpackers at my hostel already. I love it here - the people are friendly and the town is beautiful, plus for the travel trifecta the mangoes are cheap and delicious. I decided to base myself out of here to explore Nicaragua, so expect a fawning entry or two about Granada in the future! I also will post about my time spent at a dental clinic in Xela, Guatemala, and of course the candy situation for surfers and scuba divers on the coasts of El Salvador and Honduras. This morning I shadowed the candy makers at a store in a tiny little town near Granada while they made coco rosada and cajeta - let’s just say the operation won’t be FDA certified any time soon! As always, the comments and questions are appreciated.