I have been to Mexico several times now and each time was an unique experience. My visit to Mexico City was made with Friendly Tours and also included stays in Taxco and Acapulco. As usual, I did not want a structured tour with a tour guide ushering me on and off a tour bus. This tour included the air fare, hotels, porterage to and from the airports and transportation between the three cities.

When I arrived in Mexico City I was surprised to see what a huge city it actually is. I don't know what I had expected exactly, maybe some small, quaint village like we see in the Western movies. But it's a large metropolis and many of its residents are sophisticated and cultured.

The hotel was the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza and was near the Zona Rosa, which is a prime shopping zone. I was irritated by my luggage being lost yet another time on an international flight but was not as panicked as the first time that happened to me. This time, the luggage was delivered to me the following day. I've learned to not let that interfere with my plans and now I simply put a change of clothes into my carry-on luggage in case such a situation occurs again. I spent the first evening relaxing and writing post cards and made it an early night.

The following day I took an optional tour to Las Pyramides in Teotihuacan. Since I didn't want to rent a car, taking this tour was a good way to see some of the sights outside of the city. This archeological site was built around 100 BC so was not connected with the Aztec, Mayan or Incan civilizations. Whoever built these pyramids were from a very advanced culture, as they had knowledge of astrology and astronomy. No one really knows who they were or what happened to them.

They built two pyramids on this site--pyramids of the Sun and of the Moon. However, these pyramids were solid rather than open inside, as were the ones built by the Egyptians. The people who created the structures painted the sculptures and the designs they had cut into the Citadel using dyes they made from plants and insects. Some of this color still remains on the objects today.

I didn't climb to the top of the pyramids as some of those on the tour chose to do because it started to rain pretty heavily.

On this tour, we also stopped at a place where there were demonstrations as to how the Maguey Cactus is processed for pulque. This cactus is also called the Centennial Cactus or the Agave. Earlier civilizations used the lining of the leaves as paper and the spiny tips as needles. The juice inside is used for the pulque, which is very nutritious but also can have a slight alcohol content when it ferments. The roots of the plant are used for tequila. We were also shown how carvings are made from obsidian, a hard, black stone found in the area.

We then stopped at the Shrine of Guadalupe, where the Virgin was to have appeared hundreds of years ago. Since Mexico City is built on a lake which was filled in, the older buildings are now sinking. Two of the earlier shrines are now closed and this new one is huge enough to hold 22,000 standing people.

Of course, our bus also stopped at a silver shop and we were let out to shop for a short while. I'm sure that the owner of this shop had some sort of arrangement with the driver of the bus but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to look at some silver pieces. I'm an avid jewelry collector!

On my way back to my room after the tour had returned to the hotel, I chanced to meet up with a Mexican tour guide who was also staying at the hotel. He invited me to go with him and his friends to the Sunday afternoon bullfights. Even though I don't see anything "sporting" or "artistic" about killing animals, I decided that I wanted to experience this part of the culture, especially since I had the chance to go with people who were residents rather than tourists.

The guide was very kind to explain everything to me as it happened, which was like having my own personal tour guide. There were three bullfighters--Novellos--which means that they were just getting started in their careers. Evidently, during the summer months, the younger matadors are given a chance to show what they can do. On this day, two of the bullfighters won ears, which is a way of showing that they did a good job. The awarding of ears is technically decided by a judge but is actually greatly influenced by the crowd observing the bullfight.

I learned what distinguishes a "good" bull--bravery, aggressiveness, strength--and what to look for in the performance of the matador. The audience looks at the way the matador makes the passes, how close the bull comes to him as he passes the cape, how graceful his "style" is, how fearless he is, and whether or not he kills the bull with the sword instead of only wounding it so that the picadors and the bandarilleros have to do it.

Sometimes the bull is "dedicated" to the entire crowd and other times to only one person. If the bull is very brave, he is honored as he is removed from the ring. The matadors have sponsors or managers, as our athletes in the U.S. do, and they bargain with the ranchers as to which bull their matador will fight.

The next day I opted to take another tour because Mexico City is so spread out that it would be impossible to see everything I wanted to see by walking, as I have done in smaller places I've visited. This City Tour went to the Zocalo, which is the main plaza in town. The Cathedral of Mexico takes up one entire side of the square and is a beautiful sight. Many of the stones used to build it came from the main pyramid of the Aztecs, which was located on the same site as the cathedral.

The Government Palace, which contains the President's office, is along one of the other sides of the square. It has many beautiful murals depicting the different states and cultures of Mexico. I had forgotten that Mexico City is at a high altitude and was reminded of that when I tried to run up some of the steps in this Palace and quickly became out of breath.

Along the third side of the square are the City Hall offices and the fourth side has hotels and shops. In the square I noticed many poor people peddling booklets, little dolls, baskets, and other trinkets. There were also many children there begging for money or food. Here in Mexico, school is mandatory but uniforms are required, so many of the poorer children cannot afford to attend. I was really upset by seeing the poor, who were usually Indians or natives who had not mixed with the Spanish who took over the land.

The tour also stopped for a short while at the Plaza of the Three Cultures, which is in the district that was hardest hit in an earthquake that had happened three years prior to my visit. New buildings and housing developments sustained the most damage because they were poorly constructed.

The remainder of the tour was mainly just to show us various sights around the City as we passed in the bus rather than to stop at places that we could enter and learn about. This is a very noisy city, with car horns constantly being blown and sirens screaming down the streets. The sounds can be unnerving if you are not familiar with large cities. I made it another early night because I had to get up fairly early to leave on the bus to Taxco.

This bus trip was an excruciating experience, to say the least. Most of the people on the trip were congenial Latins and spent the time talking and laughing, which was nice but prevented any possibility of dozing on my part. Also, the guide on the bus talked the entire 3 1/2 hours to Taxco! Part of this bus group was simply taking a day trip to Taxco, which included a stop for lunch for them. Several of us who were continuing on to Alcapulco decided to use this lunch break time to shop for more silver items on our own rather than being driven around to pre-arranged shopping sites.

The square in Taxco is small and very quaint--a beautiful cathedral, the Iglesia de Santa Prisca, faces one side, as usual. This cathedral had huge gold altars that were purchased by Juan de la Borda because he had become so rich by the age of only 36. The streets are narrow and paved with marble and the houses look just like what I had imagined for a small town in Mexico.

When we met up with our group again, we were taken to a location where we took cable cars up a mountain to our hotel, the Fiesta Monte Taxco. The rooms had a beautiful view of the valley and town below but were sort of rustic by comparison to the ones in Mexico City. We had another bus ride to look forward to early the next morning so retired soon after dinner. The electricity had a bad habit of waxing and waning, so it was impossible to watch television for entertainment. Oh well, the view made up for any inconvenience.

The next morning it was again on to the cable cars for a trip down the mountain. It was a fairly long trip into Acapulco and became steadily more hot and humid as we descended to sea level.

The hotel here was the Fiesta Americana Condesa and is right on the beach. It was enjoyable to have a meal at a restaurant looking over the water, watching the colorful parasails go by, pulled by speedboats on the water.

The next morning I went to the pier to catch a boat for a harbor cruise which was to sail out into the ocean for the passengers to experience a solar eclipse that was to occur that day. The boat trip was very enjoyable and offered a respite from the hot sun on the beach. During the eclipse, a small boat pulled alongside ours and the couple onboard offered cooked shrimp to anyone on the larger boat who wanted to purchase a snack. I was tempted but thought I'd better stick to restaurant food--probably a good decision because I've never become ill on any of my foreign travels.

My last morning I had decided to take a City Tour and expected to again be loaded into a bus full of people. Instead, this "tour" consisted of me and four others who were driven around in a sort of unair-conditioned land rover. Much before the tour ended, I was passing out from the heat!

We were shown Las Brisas and La Princessa, which is a sort of honeymoon resort where every room comes with a private pool and a jeep. Las Brisas is an unbelievable resort on the other side of the mountains that surround the city.

The most impressive thing we did on this tour was to visit the cliff divers in Quebrada. I was fascinated by the seemingly fearless way the divers plunged off of the rocks into the water far below them. Better them than me!

I resolved to return to Mexico City at some future time because there are so many historic and artistic sights here that I did not have a chance to visit in the short time I was there. The people of this country are welcoming, warm and fun-loving and I would love the opportunity to bask in the warm Mexican sun for a longer period of time.

My next trip to Mexico was a short visit to Cancun. I had been here years previously but since that visit there was quite a bit of damage done from a hurricane and much of the beachside had been rebuilt.

We decided that we wanted to stay in town rather than in a tourist resort on the beach because we wanted to be able to walk to the markets, shops and restaurants rather than to have to pay for a longer cab ride. My cousin and I were able to find a good price on a package that included air fare, hotel, and porterage to and from the airport. We both know how to speak Spanish so weren't concerned about having a tour guide. Also, most of the people working in the hotels and restaurants speak English well enough to understand if you want to order food or pay your bills.

Our hotel was in the downtown area, Hotel America. Our flight was a short one, as we were flying from Florida, and we arrived in time to go to a place we had read about. It is a restaurant/bar in the downtown section called "Pericos" (Av. Yaxchilan 71) and we were not prepared for that experience. The waiters dress as Mexican bandits and run around the restaurant shooting the patrons with water pistols. The seats at the bar are saddles. As is true of many places in Mexico, it was not air-conditioned. There was a good Mariachi band playing the night of our visit and there was no cover charge, which was another drawing card, as many of the clubs frequented by tourists charge a cover to enter.

When we had enough of the boisterousness, we found a reggae club that was recommended to us in the downtown area called "Cats." This turned out to be one of our favorite places because we both love reggae music. One interesting thing that we discovered is that the clubs here in Cancun don't have closing hours as do the restaurants. They will remain open as long as there are people wanting to enjoy the music and drinks. We made it a fairly early night as we were tired from our trip.

The next morning we had a relaxing breakfast and walked to the open-air market that was near the hotel. We both love to shop in this type of market because you can bargain with the owners of the little booths and usually can get a pretty good price for the things you want to purchase. Don't accept the first price quoted in these markets; you are expected to bargain for your purchases.

After our morning shopping, we sought an air-conditioned place to have lunch. If you take a trip to Mexico in the warmer months, as we did, you must pace yourself and take frequent "breaks" to rest and drink liquids. This must have rejuvenated us because we went right back to the market! We then conformed to the typical Spanish custom of taking a siesta time because we had plans to check out some of the more touristy spots beachside that night.

Our experiences there served to reinforce our initial impulses to stay away from such locations in favor of seeking out the restaurants and clubs frequented by the locals. Our first stop was a place called "Senor Frog's." Don't expect a pleasant dining experience at this place unless you're used to eating in the middle of a circus tent! There was an extremely noisy reggae band playing and the waitresses were constantly adding to the melee by the shrill blowing of whistles. Actually, we discovered that these "waitresses" were called "shot girls" and they poured shots directly into people's mouths and blew the whistle the entire time they poured the shots. Then they would grab the person's head and shake it around as if they were mixing up the drink they had just poured. When we told our waitress that we were interested only in a glass of wine instead of a complete dinner, we were made to relinquish the table we were seated at and shown to a bleacher section closer to the band.

We quickly found a more pleasant place down the street from "Senor Frog's" called "Carlos 'n Charlie's" (Kukulcan Blvd.). Again, this place is not air-conditioned but is a tropical atmosphere; it also has delicious food. The tourist places are heavily populated with tourists from Canada, the US, and Germany and, as we were seeking a more typical Mexican experience, we returned to our favorite places downtown following our meal.

The next day we decided to take a boat trip to Isla Mujeres. We took a taxi to the docks, where we purchased an Express ticket. Since we had not had breakfast before leaving for this excursion, we found a small restaurant after we landed at Isla Mujeres and ordered breakfast. This is a much smaller place than Cancun and the people in the shops and restaurants do not usually speak English, so we were able to take advantage of this to practice our Spanish.

My cousin wanted to rent a bicycle or scooter but I discovered small, covered golf carts and was persuaded to rent one of these instead, as it provided respite from the hot Mexican sun. This turned out to be one of our better decisions!

Isla Mujeres is a beautiful island with many opportunities for diving and fishing. Neither of us were interested in diving at that time so just enjoyed "speeding" around in our electric cart, stopping to photograph the tropical scenery.

We discovered an ancient Mayan temple at the end of the island. We spent an enjoyable time on this island, which was a peaceful contrast to the noise and bustle of the tourist spots in Cancun. This is an excellent day trip from Cancun, whether you choose to dive or simply "hang out," as we did.

Upon our return to the hotel, we again did the siesta thing before setting out for dinner. We had been given a recommendation by a shop owner in the market about a good restaurant in the downtown area and it turned out to be our most excellent dining experience. The restaurant is "Rosa Mexicano" and it serves traditional recipes of Mexico. Try the Chilies Relleno if you enjoy the typical Mexican hot, peppery cuisine.

This part of Mexico is definitely a tourist spot but there are some enjoyable, typical Mexican places among the hype if you have the patience and perseverance to seek them out. Usually, if you explain to a local person that you are looking for the places not frequented by tourists, they will be glad to steer you to other locations. On the other hand, if you are looking for a colorful place to spend a whirlwind, more festive few days, this is the place for you.

The following year brought another trip to Mexico--this time to Cozumel Island and Playa del Carmen, via the Big Red Boat (the SS Majestic). Cozumel is the largest island in the Republic of Mexico and is about 30 miles southeast of Cancun. As with Cancun, although Spanish is the official language, English is spoken in most shops and restaurants.

We sailed from the Port of Tampa and boarded around 2PM, heading straight for the free buffet. Our cruise was advertised as being a family cruise and there were certainly lots of children aboard. There were many structured activities for them, however, and they were kept busy most of the time during the sailing. After the obligatory life boat drill and Bon Voyage party, the planned activities began. We chose to go to a Wine Tasting "workshop," where the most helpful thing I learned was that evidently red wine gets into your bloodstream more quickly than does white or rose! This could come in handy one day!

Following this activity, my trusty traveling companion (my cousin, as usual) and I retired to our room to rest and get ready for dinner. Our cabin was on the deck where the main lobby is and was near both the stairs and the elevator. Guess it could have been worse--near the disco or the casino!

Our dinner was delicious, of course, and afterwards we went to the evening show, which turned out to be a comedian-juggler. We made this an early night and went back to our cabin after attending another small session, this time about how to identify star constellations. There are usually excellent entertainers on these cruises, some of whom do this as their full-time employment and others who do it only on an occasional basis.

Not being early risers, we had chosen the Late Meal service. My cousin was battling sea sickness the next morning, so she wasn't able to go to the wonderful breakfast spread. I attempted to convince her that the best remedy would be to sit out on deck in the fresh air where she could see the horizon, but she was not having any of that. This remedy was also recommended by our waiter and by others aboard. The Majestic was not one of the larger ships of the Big Red Boat line and so the crossing to Mexico was probably a little more rough than it would have been otherwise. My cousin felt better about midmorning, however, and we attended the discussion about shopping in Cozumel.

We both decided that we did not want to take any of the pre-packaged tours but would prefer to venture off on our own. Again, we both speak Spanish and felt comfortable exploring without a guide. If we had taken the tour to Tulum and Xel-Ha, both of which we intended to see on our own, that would have taken up the majority of our one day ashore and we wanted to see Cozumel and do some shopping there in the markets as well. Needless to say, the personnel on the ship were not encouraging to us because they wanted to sell us their own tours. At one point, we thought they were not going to allow us to get on the tender ashore unless we took one of their recommended tours.

There are many activities planned for adults as well as for children on the Big Red Boats and it is possible to be entertained during the entire sailing. This ship had a casino, of course, but there were many other interesting things to do such as a tour of the ship's bridge, listening to a reggae band, taking line dance lessons, swimming in the pool, shooting skeet, etc.

For those who enjoy getting dressed up in formal clothes, the Captain's Cocktail Party was the big event that second night on board. We opted not to do that because the purpose for the trip for us was total relaxation. After our dinner, which was excellent French cuisine, we visited the casino and watched the comedian, who was the entertainment in the lounge.

I found the sailing all day and night to be a bit much and was impatient to get ashore and do some exploring in Cozumel. If this had been a longer trip, I would have found myself very bored because eating six or eight times a day is not terribly important in my scheme of things. We were both glad to arise the next morning with the ship docked off of the island and we were ready to catch the first tender ashore to Playa del Carmen.

Near the docks where the tender is moored is a street with several bus companies so we picked one, paid $2.50 each and got a ride to Tulum. At the end of this bus ride, we got a taxi in to the ruins for another $2.50 each. These were great bargains because those on board who had taken the formal tour had paid around $40 to see the exact same thing. The admission to Tulum was free on the day we arrived there and we were lucky enough to be able to find our own private guide to the ruins for only a $10 charge each. He knew a lot about the history of the ruins and the Mayan civilization.

We learned that only the nobles lived within the walls of the city, with the lower class living outside in "palapas." They were allowed to come inside the walls to trade and to worship or to take part in the ceremonies. Only the nobles lived in the stone houses and their immediate relatives lived in palapas in one section of the grounds inside the walls. They buried their dead under the foundations of their houses.

The guide told us that when the Spanish arrived, they exterminated all of the educated people, which pretty much wiped out the entire upper class because the lower classes were not taught how to read or write. The Spanish also burned all of the books and other written material so that the history of this culture was lost forever. The Mayans who are living today can speak the language but cannot read the hieroglyphics on the stones of ruins located and excavated. They are the descendants of the class that was spared by the Spanish invaders.

The Mayan calendar consisted of 18 months of 20 days each, with 5 extra days in June or July. The unlucky few born on these days were those chosen to be sacrificed. They were educated and well prepared because they were believed to be messengers from the earth to the gods.

The ruins of Tulum are on a high cliff overlooking the Caribbean and the site is absolutely beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed the individual guide we had for the exploration of the site. When we had soaked up all the beauty we could from this ancient place, we got another taxi and bargained with the driver to stop at Xel-Ha on the way back to Playa del Carmen. He agreed to wait for 30 minutes there but ended up giving us much more time. Our guide at Tulum had explained to us that the initial X on many of the words like "Xel-Ha" made the word feminine rather than masculine in gender.

Xel-Ha is a beautiful place off the road between Tulum and Playa del Carmen. Water from the Caribbean mixes with fresh water coming from an underground spring. There are rock formations under the water with exquisite tropical fish swimming all around. A walkway has been built around the site so that visitors can observe these fish in action. There is also an area for snorkeling; one can bring his own personal gear or rent it there at Xel-Ha.

On our return to Playa del Carmen, the skies had let loose with a drenching downpour, so we took refuge in a shop to wait it out. How convenient! We took the ferry out to Cozumel Island and headed for a place that had been recommended by personnel on the ship. It is located in a restored mansion and is called "Los Cinco Soles." This store has very unique items for sale but we were more interested in the restaurant located in the garden, "Pancho's Backyard."

Afterward, we walked along the main street along the waterfront and shopped in the stores there. We found a little cantina and stopped for more margaritas and snacks. There are also carriages for hire here (but sometimes it is difficult to find a free one when a cruise ship is in port) and an artisan market, which we were not told about by the cruise line. The things in this market were of better quality than the touristy items in the shops along the main street. We were able to find beautiful blankets and pottery there. We also found a local grocery store and stocked up on hot sauces and tequila for people back home.

At 10PM we struggled onto the last launch back to the ship from Playa del Carmen, ate even another snack and turned in for the day. The next day was again a full day of sailing back to the coast of Florida, so we occupied ourselves by reading out on deck, grazing on the buffets, and attending the Disembarquement Information session. The last night aboard, we had a special dinner, complete with champagne, and attended the Las Vegas Review.

These three trips to Mexico were each unique, in that we were able to see many different parts of the country, meet people from each part and sample the food and customs there. I much preferred the trip to Mexico City et al but others may enjoy more canned entertainment, such as are found in places like Cancun or Cozumel. Even in those places, however, there are surprises to be found if you are not reluctant to explore off the beaten track. Those are the very best adventures and make great memories of your trips to foreign places.

rec.travel Library Mexico:This site contains a small selection from the rec.travel newsgroup. The soc.culture.mexican FAQ is also housed here.
soc.culture.mexican FAQs:Visitors to this site can browse the short documents that answer basic questions about Mexico and its people. All answers are not in English, however, so you may also be able to practice your knowledge of the language.
Mariachi:This is the website for the University of Guadalajara and contains information about art, geography, tourism, and religion of Mexico. It is a Spanish language site.
Cancun Online:Travel can be booked online at this site, where there is a listing of hotels, restaurants, entertainment calendars, and train schedules.
Network:This index contains links to sites that are organized by country or by topic.
Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico:Lonely Planet's travel planning site for visits to this beautiful country.
1000 Travel Tips:This site gives you down to earth practical advice and honest assessments of Mexico's major tourist attractions.