In life I think that it is very easy to pick up little bits of information and take them as fact. Then we use these facts to form images and expectations in our heads that aren't always anything like the reality. Most of the time we don't get the full picture until we can actually experience something and only then can we realise how far away from the truth our titbits of knowledge really were.
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| Lovely Mexico City |
Before I went to Mexico this is exactly what happened. Sure, I sell a lot of Cancun at work; I know Mexico is where you go if you want the Caribbean white sands and sunshine but don't want to pay insane Caribbean prices; and I love tacos as much as the next person, but when it came to knowing anything significant about Mexico I was pretty much clueless. I'd read my guidebook, I know the travel agent spiel but at the end of the day I didn't understand Mexican culture or know anything about it. Over two weeks in Mexico expectations I didn't even knew I had were broken down and, yea, some did still ring true - after all not everything we hear about a place can be preconceived nonsense! So much of Mexico blew me away and through meeting the people and visiting a few different places I feel like I have a much better understanding of Mexico, and the complex and varied history and culture behind it.
Ready for some myth busting? Let's go.
Expectation 1 : Mexico is dangerous, you won't feel safe
One of my biggest worries when going to Mexico was would I be safe. You hear all kinds of stories about the drug cartels (who hasn't heard of El Chapo?!) and my mum is full of horror stories having grown up in Venezuela. Imagine my surprise when the entire time I was in Mexico I felt completely and entirely safe. Obviously a feeling of safety to a certain extent comes from being sensible and not putting yourself in dangerous situations, don't go out late alone, don't go down that dark alley that may or may not be a short cut; but it wasn't like we were being ridiculously safety conscious either. We did go out at night and walk around, we did go to areas the generally only the locals go, and yes, one day I did walk around with my big camera out like a massive tourist - but I never felt like it would be a bad idea to do any of this. Maybe it was because I was travelling with a guy who everyone thought was Mexican, but I heard much of the same feedback from other travellers in Mexico as well.
Expectation 2 : Mexicans hate foreigners, especially Americans
Trump, the wall, colonialism. Mexicans would have enough reasons to distrust and resent foreigners and I'm sure some of them do, but all the Mexicans I met were just so friendly and hospitable. Everywhere we went people were happy to chat and didn't try to rip us off too much - part of the fun is haggling after all! One thing that struck me was how proud of their country a lot of Mexicans were, they were so keen to tell you about their city and their culture and generally educate the curious foreigners.
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| Mexico, more than just Cancun |
Expectation 3 : Mexico isn't somewhere to go for culture
This is a typical comment from customers who pooh pooh the idea of Mexico because they see it was purely a resort holiday destination. It definitely can be, there's no denying Cancun has resort written all over it and when that resort has 9 restaurants, a spa, multiple pools...well there may be no reason to leave for the entire stay. But if you think like that you are seriously missing out.
Mexico has a serious amount of history and culture if you are willing to go beyond the resort doors. Mexico City has to be the epicentre of culture and history and some of Mexico's most famous and finest sites can be found in the area. For art lovers the city has the huge Palacio de Bellas Artes and the legacy of Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera lives on all over the city. You could spend a good few days exploring the long and complex ancient history of Mexico in the Museum of Anthropology and then take the short drive out of the city to Teotihuacan and marvel at remains of an ancient civilization from the top of the temples of the Moon and Sun. And that's just from Mexico City! The whole of Mexico oozes culture, and not all of it is ancient history either.
In Puebla we experienced a more light-hearted side of the culture when we went to see a Lucha Libre wrestling match. I have never seen anything like it and I had so much fun really getting into the spirit of the event.
In Oaxaca we went to a Mezcal factory, an import part of a cultural education in Mexico!
Even if you are just staying in Cancun and aren't going to go as far as Mexico City or anywhere else in Mexico then there is still plenty right on your doorstep and it's definitely worth taking a day trip to Chichen Itza, Mexico's most famous archaeological site and probably my favourite of the sites I visited.
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| Teotihuacan Archaeological Site |
Expectation 4 : Mexican food is going to be all tacos and guacamole
Everyone knows what Mexican food is, nachos, burritos and tacos are never that far away in any big city, but I am always interested to see how true to life the food we eat at home is compared to in-country. A lot of Mexican food was actually pretty similar to what I'd had before but there was so much more variety than I've ever been exposed to in the UK. Tamales for breakfast, taqitos from a street vendor, more moles than I ever thought I'd taste...it turns out Mexican food is incredibly diverse. My only complaint would be how corn based everything was, after the first week I was completely corn-ed out and had to take a break, but when the corn is so fresh it's hard to say no for long!
As well as noticing what foods were similar to the Mexican food I've had at home, it was also interesting to note the differences. Nachos aren't really a thing in Mexico, and nor are burritos (except in very specific areas), some of my favourite Mexican treats aren't so Mexican after all!
One of my food highlights was definitely the cooking course we did in Oaxaca at Casa Crespo it was so fun going to the market to pick up ingredients and then heading back to the restaurant to cook up a feast. I never thought I'd be making fresh tortillas and stuffing spicy peppers but that's what I found myself doing that afternoon, and everyone knows that cooking is that much more rewarding when you can feast on the fruits of your labours afterwards!
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| Breakfast Mexican Style |
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