United Mexican States.
Jane said
Mexico is a country located in the Caribbean region of Central America and North America, bordering Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California in the north and Belize and Guatemala in the south.
The territory of Mexico can be roughly divided into the Mexican Peninsula, which accounts for most of its total area, and BAJA California Peninsula, which accounts for only a small part.
Mexico is a multi-ethnic and multicultural country, and it is the birthplace of the splendid evolutionary history of ancient American Indian civilization thousands of years ago.
/kloc-before Mexico's independence in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, Spanish colonists occupied this area for nearly three centuries.
Although the Spanish rulers were eventually driven out of Mexico, they left Spanish architecture and many other cultures with Spanish characteristics on this land. It is no exaggeration to say that Mexico is Spain's cousin in America.
Less than two centuries before the official founding of the People's Republic of China, the domestic situation in Mexico has been turbulent, and various peasant uprisings and ethnic disputes have led to successive years of civil war, which has continued in recent years.
However, this does not mean that you will risk your life to come here. In recent years, the domestic situation tends to be stable, and the tourism service industry has always been the leading income in Mexico, and millions of guests from all over the world come here every year.
However, you may notice that the Mexican Plateau in south-central Mexico is in an active seismic zone. There was a big earthquake in Mexico City earlier this year, but it didn't cause much damage.
However, the possibility that you can encounter this kind of thing is not much higher than winning the lottery, so if you think it is not dangerous to go to * * *, then it is just as safe to go to Mexico.
Travel summary
Mexico is the place where the history of early Indian civilization originated and evolved, so it has many historical sites and world-class museums of human history, art and culture.
In order to worship the gods of heaven and earth, ancient Indians built many pyramids in the depths of the jungle and on the mountains. These pyramids and the ancient cities where they lived were finally preserved by time and became a lot of precious national wealth in Mexico.
In Mexico, the density of museums is amazing. In a big city, you can walk for ten minutes and find the new museum sign. Even in a small village, you often have your own small exhibition room.
However, the large quantity here does not mean the low quality. The appearance of different museums can only be said to bring you extra surprises as a traveler.
Spending all your potential tourism spirit on historical sites and museums in Mexico will make you feel very right.
After you put all your energy into the museum, the next thing to do should be to go swimming at the seaside, bask in the sun and see handsome guys and beautiful women.
Mexico is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the long coastline has created many beautiful and charming beaches and seaports.
These beaches and ports have many tourist functions, such as swimming, surfing, diving, skydiving, watching natural dolphins and everything else you can think of.
In addition, these seaside towns are often crowded with young people, so various clubs and bars are very lively. Every day after dark, these places are often crowded with people. If you are a party fan, you can't miss it.
Mexico's urban style itself is also a big selling point.
From ancient churches to modern Latin American office buildings, the beauty of Spanish architecture in Mexico can be said to have reached a state.
Whenever you walk on the streets of Mexico, a good feeling often rises from your heart; Whether you believe in Jesus or follow Darwin's fans, you must feel the sound of human pursuit of beauty-perhaps more simply, you are completely surrounded by some unknown romance for a certain period of time.
Different travelers often find their own different stories in Mexico.
Some people will bring all the equipment to challenge the mountains in a wasteland ambitiously; Some people will sit on the pyramid wearing cool sunglasses and quietly watch the last ray of light when the sun goes down; Some people will take a whole case of beer and dance wildly with many friends in the club all night.
In other words, some people, like me, like walking in the street at night and listening to Mexican cheerful accordion music.
Then, what you need to do next is to take your luggage and walk into Mexico to find your own story.
Travel information
Be sure to bring a travel guide book and make full preparations in advance, because in Mexico, you will encounter more difficulties than just traveling, and there are even greater communication difficulties. The detailed details will be carried out in the following "Travel Difficulties".
Lonely Planet just updated and published the eighth edition of its Mexico volume late last year. Judging from personal actual combat experience, its overall efficiency is quite good, and the estimation of various transportation and accommodation maps and other materials is very accurate. You can make plans according to the contents written in the book before going out.
Other useful travel books include the Mexico Book of LET'S GO series and the Mexico Book of Moon series.
If you used to use LET'S GO series or MOON series guidebooks before, you can consider continuing to use their Mexican booklets, because each series has its own different information typesetting format, which will be extra help for traveling in strange countries and continuing your accustomed reading style.
It should be noted that all tourist materials will be written in Spanish and English, because Spanish is widely used in Mexico and everything is expressed in Spanish.
The specific countermeasures will be detailed in the following "Travel Difficulties".
In addition, when traveling in Mexico, various places will provide quite a lot of tourist information, so if you need more detailed tourist information, you might as well ask for it from the local hotel or tourism bureau after you arrive there.
Tourism climate
First of all, I would like to remind you that most parts of Mexico, especially the central and south-central parts, belong to plateau areas, and the altitude is often more than 2000 meters, so you must make a correct and suitable plan for your physical condition and travel plan before going out.
Because Mexico's geographical location is very close to the red area of the earth, the climate in many areas can be said to change little throughout the year, especially in the Mexican Plateau in the south-central part, where the hottest is 30 degrees in summer and the coldest is 10 degrees in winter.
However, BAJA California Peninsula and many coastal areas in the western United States are as hot in summer as in winter. Anyway, if you go to the seaside, there is no need to consider the temperature. Remember one sentence: offshore is extremely hot all year round.
It is relatively simple to estimate the local temperature in Mexico by the following methods: First, depending on the altitude of the region, the temperature in the plateau is often low, especially in areas surrounded by mountains, where the temperature difference between day and night is greater, and some areas with extremely high altitude will be very cold in summer; Plain areas at lower altitudes are often wet and hot, and there is no difference between winter and summer. The main difference between summer and winter will only be that summer is hotter.
In addition, May to September every year is considered as the summer and rainy season in Mexico. During this period, many plain jungle areas often have rainy days and the weather will be sultry.
So I personally prefer to travel to Mexico in winter.
In short, the best way to judge the climate is to look up information, through books or the internet, which is not a difficult thing.
Travel difficulties
The biggest difficulty in traveling in Mexico is the language.
Spanish is the common language in Mexico. It is no exaggeration to say that if you speak English in Mexico, 95% of the people you meet can't understand what you are saying, 99.5% can't talk to you in English, and 99.95% of Spanish is beyond your understanding.
In other words, you will lose most of your listening and expressing skills.
So before you leave, you must summon up courage and calmly analyze all possible situations and countermeasures. The more prepared you are, the easier it will be to travel in Mexico.
It's best to teach yourself some Spanish first, and at least read through the common Spanish introduction at the back of the reference book (it doesn't matter if you don't understand it).
When you enter Mexico, remember to bring a pen and paper.
When you encounter difficulties, first try to express yourself slowly in English, pay attention to smiling, and it is best to speak a few words of Spanish casually (it doesn't matter if you don't involve it) to let the other person feel your friendliness and closeness.
Many times this first move will not achieve any effect, but it is a good foreshadowing, don't omit it.
Next, you'd better find out the place name and direction you want to ask from the information and skills around you (skills and skills are marked in Spanish), and then show them directly to the locals. Most locals know that you are asking for directions, and then they will mumble a lot of Spanish, and pay attention to the direction of their fingers. Although I don't know anything, I know the general direction.
In addition, paper and pens are also helpful in many cases. Spanish is a language quite close to English in Latin, and some words are written very close. If you write English on paper, sometimes the local people will understand.
Note that it doesn't matter if you ask a person what you can't ask. You can also ask the second person because not everyone can know where it is.
In a word, you should keep calm. Most Mexicans are friendly.
Besides, in places where there are travel agencies or tourism bureaus, there are usually some people who can speak a little English, so you can try to ask them any questions.
Other difficulties, such as visas for food, clothing, housing and transportation, will be explained in detail in this novella.
Travel safety
Safety can be said to be one of the main concerns of many people when they go to Mexico.
Many people intuitively think that Mexico is a big slum, dirty and messy, where everything bad will happen.
In fact, Mexico is indeed a developing country, not rich, and many people's lives are at a low level.
However, you will agree that most Mexicans are kind and simple by nature.
From another angle, for example, I personally think that the law and order situation in Mexico is similar to that in China, and it is better in some aspects.
However, the security situation in Mexico is indeed in a bad state (compared with neighboring countries, the United States and other countries).
The details that need to be paid attention to are as follows: Try to avoid walking in places with few people in the city, especially at night, and whether there are underground passages and subways. And there are often drunken gangsters blocking the road; Go out with as little cash as possible, just bring enough for the day; It is best not to carry credit cards and checks with you, because gangsters will take you to the ATM to force you to withdraw money; Never expose "wealth", especially jewelry, necklaces, gold and silver jewelry; Always lock your personal property.
In addition, there will be specific preventive measures that you should pay attention to in specific cities, which will also be described in the following merits and demerits.
It is strongly recommended that you carefully read the column about Mexican public security warning in the travel manual before you travel. As long as you take preventive measures, you won't encounter too much trouble.
However, if this happens to you, please don't make any resistance. Most Mexican gangs are only interested in your finances. As long as you hand over the financial gangsters, it won't be like that.
To tell the truth, there is no need to be scared all the way. Many times, you will find that your worries often exceed the actual situation.
Stay in Mexico for a few days, and you will have your own judgment on the law and order in Mexico.
In a word, take precautions and you will come back safely from Mexico.
Travel health
In Mexico, the first thing to remember is never to drink raw water. In other words, you should only drink bottled mineral water and other packaged drinks.
In addition, you may suggest that you pay attention to all kinds of snacks in the street in your travel book. However, as a traveler, you can't help yourself in front of colorful Mexican street snacks. Therefore, the author's suggestion is that according to your actual health status (which will be explained in the specific city strategy later), carefully observe the health status of the stalls before making a decision.
To tell the truth, the authors of these meritorious books grew up in capitalist countries with extremely developed sanitary conditions, and it is inevitable that their views on sanitation are different from those of Mexicans or China.
I think we should put it this way: how to eat food stalls in China and how to eat street stalls in Mexico.
I believe that if you are a frequent traveler, you will be familiar with all aspects of personal hygiene.
What we should pay attention to in other places is what we should pay attention to in Mexico. To tell the truth, Mexicans pay more attention to cleanliness.
Remember to take some common medicines before you go to Mexico. If you have a personal doctor, friends in America suggest talking to your doctor before you leave.
In Mexico, if you need to see a doctor, it is often expensive, and you may not find a doctor who can speak English in a small place.
In addition, it is also recommended that you pay attention to know whether there is appropriate international travel medical insurance before you leave.
In addition to acclimatization, altitude sickness and hyperthermia, which are easy to occur in Mexico, are also something you should pay great attention to as a traveler.
The Mexican plateau in central and south-central Mexico is vast, and the elevation of many places is above 1500 to 2000 meters. If you have had altitude sickness before, I suggest you take emergency measures.
The eastern plains of Mexico, Baja California Peninsula in the west and all offshore areas are hot all year round, so travelers should be prepared for heatstroke prevention and cooling.
Another thing to point out is that the sun in Mexico is very strong, so you need to prepare for hats, sunglasses and sunscreen.
For other epidemic diseases that need to be prevented when traveling in Mexico, please refer to your reference book for details.
Travel budget
Directly speaking, traveling in Mexico is 3-5 times more expensive than traveling in China and 3-5 times cheaper than traveling in the United States or Europe, so it is in the middle zone.
The specific amount of various expenses will be explained in detail later in this book. Here are a few examples for readers to feel.
The following prices will be calculated in US dollars, excluding any transportation expenses and shopping.
Less than $20/day: This is a huge challenge.
First of all, this kind of budget is unrealistic in big cities. For example, a bed in a youth hotel in Mexico City costs $0/2 per night.
In other cases, this price means that you will stay in the hotel's Datong store, eat only simple things outside every day, don't go anywhere to charge, go out and take the cheapest subway or minibus, do your own laundry, and spend most of the time in a state of "zero consumption".
If you don't really want to abuse yourself, it is strongly recommended that you don't treat yourself like this. Many good museums and historical sites can't go because they are not free (except Sunday). Poor diet will lead to difficulties in the gastrointestinal system, especially in new places that don't adapt to the environment.
30-50 USD/day: This standard is still a bit tight in big cities, but it is more than enough to live in a small place.
At this price, you will stay in a hotel's Datong store or a very cheap small hotel, eat simple Mexican food outside every day, go out by subway minibus, occasionally go to some museums or historical sites, occasionally participate in some cheap travel agency projects, wash clothes in the laundry outside, and find a bar for a while at night.
This price is more suitable for single or thrifty travelers.
50-80 USD/day: This price is enough for you to enjoy life in Mexico.
You can choose to stay in a small hotel with Mexican flavor, air conditioning and cable TV, eat rich Mexican meals (soup * staple food * dessert * drinks) outside every day, take a taxi outside, visit several different museums every day, participate in some peripheral tourism projects of local travel agencies, and spend money freely at night.
This price is more suitable for single individuals and couples who are relaxing on vacation.
Above $ 120/ day: Life is so beautiful.
You can choose to stay at the Holiday Inn downtown and overlook the Catholic Church opposite the hotel from the sky at night. Choose a luminous dinner restaurant accompanied by a Mexican band when eating; Take a taxi in front of the hotel and take part in the multi-day tour provided by the hotel.
You can do whatever you want at this price in Mexico.
In Mexico, transportation and shopping are actually two big spenders, generally accounting for more than half or even more of the travel expenses, so don't make too conservative estimates when budgeting. Fresh things often make you dare to take out your wallet regardless of the price.
In addition, prepare some extra emergency expenses and measures, and unexpected things often happen when you go out.
Mexican cuisine
Mexican culture is like a blooming flower, attracting Americans, and even being picked by Americans and put in their colorful cultural vases.
In the southwestern United States, Mexican culture is more infectious.
Let's start with Mexican food.
Mexicans cannot live without corn and pepper.
Corn tortillas, corn porridge, corn soup, tacos, corn jiaozi, corn spring rolls ... countless.
Corn can be compared to the essence of Mexican culture, and this comparison is not excessive.
Because corn was planted by Indians, the ancestors of Mexicans.
So far, food made from corn is still ahead of Mexicans.
Except corn, Mexicans can't live without peppers for every meal.
They like to slice tomatoes, parsley, onions and peppers, roll them in tortillas, and even sprinkle Chili powder when eating fruits.
There is a kind of food called Damares, which is very similar to China's zongzi. It is wrapped in banana leaves or corn leaves. The stuffing inside is corn flour mixed with meat, spices and peppers. After cooking, it has the fragrance of tender leaves, sweet, spicy and fragrant.
There is also a kind of tortilla made of cheese, meat and pumpkin flowers, which is boiled with lard.
These popular Mexican foods have always been loved by Americans.
Popcorn was also introduced to America by Mexicans. Now it is sold in the United States from supermarkets to small grocery stores, which are loved by adults and children.
There are also "Dake" like spring rolls (meat stuffed in tortillas and fried with cream), delicious corn sausages, tender corncob and other Mexican-style fast food that have become popular on the streets of the United States.
Mexican food and condiments are famous for their fragrance and spicy taste, which can stimulate appetite. For example, their "ground" sauce, mainly corn with minced meat and various spices, has an appetizing effect.
Mexican food is known as a world-famous dish, which goes hand in hand with French food and Chinese food.
Now Mexican cooking has penetrated into the kitchens of thousands of families, which shows that Mexican diet has a far-reaching impact on American society.
Mexico is an ancient civilization in Central America. In addition to numerous historical sites, its beautiful scenery in the Caribbean is even more desirable, and its food is even richer.
Because it was ruled by Spain and influenced by ancient Indian culture, the dishes were mainly sour and spicy.
Pepper has become an indispensable food for Mexicans.
It is estimated that there are more than 100 kinds of peppers produced in Mexico, with colors ranging from fiery red to dark brown. As for the spicy degree, the thinner the body, the higher the spicy degree, which can be used as the standard for selection.
Breakfast in Mexico can be described as "waking up". All kinds of food are mainly spicy, and even muffins are made of Chili.
Authentic Mexican dishes are mainly peppers and tomatoes, with sweet, spicy and sour flavors. More than 90% of the sauces are peppers and tomatoes.
Mexican food is divided into appetizers, soups, main courses and desserts, among which soups are light to highlight the sour and spicy characteristics of main courses; Mexican food does not stick to table manners, and can only be eaten with hands, which fully embodies the characteristics of its national hearty heroism.
Millet is one of the staple foods of Mexicans and one of the indispensable ingredients of Mexican cuisine, and there are countless non-staple foods made by millet, such as Taco (corn tortilla) and Nachos (corn shortbread).
Among the dishes with corn as the second priority and fresh fish as the main food, the fish in butter sauce is smooth and delicious, and the big corn is refreshing and sweet.
Ink salad is very strange. Its ingredients are cactus and miscellaneous vegetables, which taste similar to cucumber. With orange sauce, the entrance is refreshing, and with an ink cocktail, it is even more refreshing.
Mexican tequila
Tequila means a lot to Mexico.
The leaves of agave can be used to make paper, while the flowers of agave are very sharp and are said to be used as weapons.
Today, the most important function of tequila is to make tequila.
Tequila brewed from agave leaves is a specialty of Mexico.
Tequila has a high alcohol content, so there will be some spicy and sweet feelings lingering on the tip of your tongue and lingering in your throat. Friends who love to drink may wish to have a try.
Mexico is an ancient civilization in Central America. In addition to numerous historical sites, its beautiful scenery in the Caribbean is even more desirable, and its food is even richer.
Because it was ruled by Spain and influenced by ancient Indian culture, the dishes were mainly sour and spicy.
Pepper has become an indispensable food for Mexicans.
It is estimated that there are more than 100 kinds of peppers produced in Mexico, with colors ranging from fiery red to dark brown. As for the spicy degree, the thinner the body, the higher the spicy degree, which can be used as the standard for selection.
Breakfast in Mexico can be described as "waking up". All kinds of food are mainly spicy, and even muffins are baked with Chili. Authentic Mexican dishes are mainly peppers and tomatoes, which are sweet, spicy and sour. More than 90% of the sauces are peppers and tomatoes.
Mexican food is divided into appetizers, soups, main courses and desserts, among which soups are light to highlight the sour and spicy characteristics of main courses; Mexican food does not stick to table manners, and can only be eaten with hands, which fully embodies the characteristics of its national hearty heroism.
Millet is one of the staple foods of Mexicans and one of the indispensable ingredients of Mexican cuisine. There are countless non-staple foods made by Xiaomi, such as Taco (corn tortilla) and Nachos (corn shortcake).
And a portion of millet is the second, and fresh fish is the main course. Fish in butter sauce is smooth and delicious, and rice is refreshing and sweet.
Chinese ink salad is very strange, with cactus and miscellaneous vegetables, and tastes similar to cucumber. With orange sauce, the entrance is refreshing, and with an ink cocktail, it is even more refreshing.