MEXICO

Did You Know?

Color televisions were invented by Mexican engineers.
Mexico City is the oldest city in North America and it is sinking at the rate of 10 inches per year.

Capital: Mexico City
Independence: 24 August
Currency: Peso (1 MXN ~ 0.046 USD ~ 3.40 INR)
Religion: Christianity
Language: Spanish (de facto)

Mexico, the land of three lands, and officially known as the United Mexican States is among the top 10 most visited countries in the world. It is called the Land of three lands for a reason. Mexico lies on the Tropic of cancer, which divides the country into three different land types. The hot land, the temperate land, and the cold land. This makes Mexico an ecologically megadiverse country meaning the natural habitat is just on the peak.

Lucky Dip

Mexico is not just a megadiverse but also is ranked 7th in the world for UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Mexico houses almost 12% of the world’s biodiversity. It ranks second in the mammal species along with the most reptile species in the world. Mexico is the 6th most visited country in the world. This surely ensures that Mexico must have something remarkably awesome that travelers love to see or should I say *Sea*. LOL!

Mexico attracts most of its visitors due to the huge shorelines. Sunbathers love to spend time on the shore and get their bodies tanned. The large shores are also the playground of some surfers, scuba divers, and enthusiasts who love water sports.

The country is majorly known for the eco-archaeological parks and historic monuments fading back from the pre – Columbian era. Mexico is a country where the Maya Civilization was established. Therefore the remains of the Mayan colony, like the Maya temple – which is shaped like a pyramid, and the Mayan Port City are something you shouldn’t miss.

Mexico has rich water sources like lakes, seas, and rivers but apart from that, the main attraction is some naturally formed sea caves. The Sea caves of Dos Ojos Cenote are said to be 82 kilometers long and to date 24 sinkholes have been discovered. Gand Senote is one such limestone sinkhole in these caves which is also one of the major tourist attractions.

Culture and Cuisine

Mexico refects a cultural complexity with the traditional Spanish culture and the upgrade in the culture after the Mexican revolution. It is all complex and jumbled up, while some follow the Spanish culture, others follow the updated version known as the Mexican Culture, some tribal races also follow the Mayan culture and believe it to be the origin of Mexico in the first place.

Mexican people are considered artistic, similarly as the Europeans are considered romantic. Painting, sculpting, designing, photography, literature, cinema, food, music, and sports are some of the many specialties of the Mexicans. While the architectural designing can be traced back to the ruins of Mayan Civilization, the music can be looked upon through a glimpse of a traditional Mariachi Band playing in some ceremony.

Football has been an all-time favorite sport of Mexico. To be precise Mexico has also hosted the FIFA world championship cup twice to date. Bullfight is also one of the important sport played here.

How can I forget to describe the prominent Mexican cuisine? Tacos, Tamale and Chilaquiles are already the trademarks of Mexican food. But did you know, from all the foods discovered in the world, Corn and Peppers were discovered in Mexico? Al pastor is a dish that is a fusion of Lebanese and Mexican foods, wherein a taco is filled in with spit grilled pork. Basically it is a lamb meat shawarma, where the lamb meat is replaced with pork and the Fita bread is replaced with tacos.