Wanted to do a quick recap of the 5 weeks in Mexico as a whole. In short, it was absolutely incredible. I’d never been to Mexico before and really enjoyed my time in each city I stayed. And the tacos, damn I already miss the tacos. But I will certainly be back!
Something that kind of surprised me was the number of similarities I found between Mexico and the year I spent in India in 2018. Both countries come from very rich cultural histories that date back way further than most western civilizations, both are currently experiencing rapid development with large populations, and in both you see a very visible disparity between the rich and the poor. While the food is definitely different, they are both very delicious and spicy and they have a lot of the same fruits and vegetables. It’s also typically best served from a cart on the street rather than a proper restaurant. Oh and you can’t forget about the traffic, India still takes the cake there but Mexico City can certainly hold it’s own at rush hour!
There were several things I really loved about my time in Mexico, the first being the food. Oh the tacos, so many incredible tacos for such a cheap price. I’m now going on about 3 weeks without a taco and I really do miss them. I also really enjoyed getting the opportunity to improve my Spanish. I was actually surprised with how quickly it came back to me and I think if I had stayed in Spanish speaking countries for a couple more months I really would have been close to fluent. That will be a project for next Spring when I head to South America!
I also really enjoyed some of the unique cultures we experienced traveling around Mexico. Beyond the food, I really enjoyed the music (both cumbia and salsa), the unique art and also learning more about the ancient cultures of the natives, which many people are still rooted in today. Say what you want about the European conquistadors that came over and colonized Mexico, but one thing they did not do was kill the culture of the natives who were living here. In Oaxaca you would still hear people talk about Zapotec culture, hell people still speak Zapotec there, which I didn’t even know was a language. The fact that those cultures are still remembered and celebrated is really cool and very different from what you would find in the US if you were trying to learn about our Native American cultures (good luck, unfortunately they were all killed or relocated to a waste land that nobody wanted and sadly forgotten).
I enjoyed each of the 4 cities I spent time in, especially Oaxaca City and Mexico City. I could definitely see myself spending some more time there in the future if I can find a gig that allows me to work remotely. Puerto Escondido was great as well, we just had poor timing with the big storm that rolled through. I also enjoyed Tulum, it was a bit too touristy for me, but it was good to see that side of Mexico as well and it served as a good starting point for my first week in Mexico.
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