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Home , Biblioteca Vasconcelos, Guanajuato City, Oaxaca City, Papadzules, Piedra (Mexican cuisine), Poc Chuc

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Dive with manatees in Xcalak, climb & Towns &

an ancient pyramid at Muyil, shoot Cities the curl at Puerto Escondido, and eat your way from coast to coast. & Wildlife Nature Nature Adventure MEXICOWhere Nomads Go Need to Know to Need

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World Nomads’ purpose is to challenge Contents travelers to harness their curiosity, be Adam Wiseman WELCOME WELCOME 3 brave enough to find their own journey, and to gain a richer understanding of Essential 4 Spanning almost 760,000mi² (2 million km²), with landscapes themselves, others, and the world. that range from snow-capped volcanos to dense rainforest, ART & CULTURE 6 and a cultural mix that’s equally diverse, Mexico can’t be How to Eat Mexico 8 contained in a handful of pages, so we’re not going to try. The Princess of the Pyramid 14 Think of this guide as a sampler plate, or a series of windows into Mexico – a selection of first-hand accounts from nomads Welcome The Muxes of Juchitán de Zaragoza 16 who’ve danced at the festivals, climbed the pyramids, chased Beyond Chichén Itzá 20 the waves, and connected with the locals. Meeting the World’s Authority Join our travelers as they kayak with sea turtles and manta on Mexican Folk Art 24 rays in Baja, meet the third-gender muxes of Juchitán, CITIES & TOWNS 26 unravel ancient Maya mysteries in the Yucatán, and take a Culture : A Capital With Charisma 28 crash course in -making in . Whether you’re into & Art art, history, food, wildlife, or adventure, you’ll find plenty of Colonial Standouts 32 inspiration and enough practical information to get started Border Towns: The Real Story 36 planning your own journey. Underrated Mexico 40 Discover Mexico, World Nomads’ style! & Towns &

NATURE & WILDLIFE 44 Cities Exploring Mexico’s Megadiversity 46 Whale Bays & Turtle Beaches 50

Tijuana El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar ADVENTURE 52 Biosphere Reserve

Kayaking in Baja’s Loreto Bay 54 & Wildlife Nature Nature Chasing Waves on the West Coast 58 Mexico’s Best Diving & Snorkeling 62 Cenotes, the Jewels of the Yucatán 66

NEED TO KNOW 68 Adventure Climate & Weather 69 La Paz Where to Stay 70 Getting Around 72 Top 10 Safety Tips for Mexico 74 Querétaro MEXICO CITY Know to Need Festival Calendar 76 Biosphere A Local’s Guide to Social Etiquette 78 Reserve Essential Insurance Tips 79 San Cristobal de las Casas Our Contributors & Other Guides 80 Market in Puerto Escondido Juchitán worldnomads.com Mexico City de Zaragoza Get a Quote 82

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SEEK EXPERIENCES ESSENTIAL MEXICO Welcome Don’t miss out on these uniquely Mexican places, experiences, and adventures. Culture Get your & Art recommended dose of “Vitamin T” – tortillas, , and Commune with gray whales in Towns & Explore a Magdalena Bay Cities surrealist Images Carlos Sanchez Pereyra/Getty garden in Xilitla Sample sultry, Meet Witz, Quasarphoto/Getty Images smoky the Mountain in Oaxaca Monster, in Campeche & Wildlife Nature Nature Patricia Castellanos/Getty Images Patricia Adam Wiseman

Explore an Join the underwater fun at a lively Mexican festival Images S. Greg Panosian/Getty museum in Adventure Isla Mujeres

Donald Miralle/Getty Images Kayak on the Sea of Cortez, the “world’s aquarium” Need to Know to Need

Visit the Yucatán’s Cheer for your favorite fairy tale-pink masked wrestler at a Joe Hernandez/Unsplash Images Darryl Leniuk/Getty Joe Pilie/Unsplash lagoons Lilic/Getty Images Romana match

4 5 worldnomads.com Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images Ronaldo Welcome Culture Art & Art & Towns & Cities & Wildlife Nature Nature Mexican culture doesn’t stop at margaritas and mariachi. With more than 60 different indigenous groups, global

influences from Europe, Asia, Adventure ART & and the Middle East, and civilizations that date back thousands of years, it’s a colorful and diverse place that

CULTURE can’t be easily defined. From Know to Need rowdy, weeks-long fiestas to elegant colonial churches, “Parachico” dancers perform during the ancient Maya temples and Fiesta Grande de Enero in Chiapa de Corzo craft-brewing hipsters, Mexico offers endless variety.

6 7 worldnomads.com Street tacos CONNECT LOCALLY Matt Mawson/Getty Images

HOW TO Welcome EAT MEXICO When it comes to food, Mexico is many cuisines, not just

one. Each of its 31 states is proud of its characteristic tastes, Culture Art & Art ingredients, and traditions, although everyone agrees on the essential “T vitamins” – tortillas, tamales, and tacos. Writer Kendall Hill shares some of the highlights. & Towns & he chef and author Alejandro Ruiz is “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” – Cities giving me a crash course in Oaxacan alongside tango, Tibetan opera, and French Tcuisine. We have an afternoon gastronomy, the only other national cuisine together but I’d need months, possibly so honored. years, to grasp the complex cooking rituals The citation mentions Mexico’s unique of this southern Mexican state. crop-growing and cooking techniques,

Take a simple yellow mole, the chili- its utensils and, crucially, its amazing & Wildlife Nature Nature based sauce found all over Oaxaca but treasury of native ingredients. Corn, rarely prepared the same way twice. beans and chili all originated here. So did “On the Pacific Coast it’s made with tomatoes, sweet potato, turkey, pumpkin Yucatán custom of cooking pibil-style, in the ground, iguana,” explains Ruiz. “But in Oaxaca City (and its squashy cousins), avocados, and – Preparing is a messy dates back thousands of years. It’s still it’s beef or chicken. On the Isthmus (of it’s thought – cacao, which the Maya turned business. a popular tradition at weddings and big ), you’d have it with sun-dried into to create one of humanity’s In the little city of on the Yucatán celebrations such as Day of the Dead, shrimps.” And of course, cooks in each favorite foods. Peninsula, Hermelinda de la Cruz is up to though the tamales are made with chicken Adventure region would use a different chili to flavor But the strength of is In 2010, her elbows in corn dough (masa), stuffing or pork these days instead of the hairless their sauce. in its or mixed roots; the combined it with shredded suckling pig meat and dog of much earlier times. Mexican food is infinitely more complex bounty of pre-Hispanic Mexico with the UNESCO smothering the lot with earthy red achiote Other typical Maya foods include chaya, than the familiar export version of beans foods of its Spanish invaders and, later, named and a garlic- and tomato-spiked the spinach-like leaf hailed as a superfood and cheese. In Oaxaca alone there are eight those of Lebanese, Korean, Chinese, traditional masa gravy. Then she trusses the hefty, in the West but found here in humble

regions differentiated by climate, customs, Italian, and Caribbean immigrants. While Mexican food six-pound in banana leaves and preparations such as a cold “juice” and a hot Know to Need and ingredients. And Oaxaca is just one of researching a book on Mexican food part of the lowers it into a hole in the earth lined with soup sprinkled with Edam cheese, which the 31 United Mexican States, each with its I criss-crossed the country, meeting “intangible stones and embers. Yucatecans adore. own distinctive culture and food. professional and home cooks, learning “It’s much better for the flavor in the Salbutes are local tortillas stuffed with In fact, traditional Mexican cuisine is so regional food traditions, eating grasshoppers cultural ground,” de la Cruz assures me. “It’s more chicken, onion and lettuce (add refried exceptional in scope and heritage that, and ants and an entire taxonomy of chilis and heritage of smoky, especially with the achiote.” beans and you have ). Sopa de in 2010, UNESCO named it part of the tortillas. Here are some of the highlights. humanity” In the Maya homeland of Yucatán, the lima is with chicken, coriander

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popsicles that come in exotic flavors such as guanabana (soursop) and – my favorite – the caramel custardy sapote. You’ll find their stores in every Mexican city. Frederik Trovatten/Unsplash Robert Landau/Getty Images Landau/Getty Robert

Oaxaca

“This is the dish that takes the most time,” Welcome Deyaniro Aquino says as she places a pot of estofado, a festive beef stew with plantain, apple, and pineapple, various chilis, and cinnamon, on the table at La Teca restaurant. “Sometimes there can be a whole cow cooking for 24 hours. And there’s a lot of love that goes into making Mezcaleria Culture

signage Images Omar Torres/Getty this stew too. You must be very patient and & Art do it from the heart.” At her tiny restaurant in Oaxaca City, Aquino recreates the food of her homeland Mezcal Tasting in Oaxaca in the , the narrow The sultry, smoky flavor of mezcal is increasingly waist of Mexico between the Pacific Ocean found in bars around the world, so it’s no surprise

and . Like all of Oaxaca travelers are flocking to Mexico to enjoy this liquor Towns & – and Mexico – on her menu there are straight from the source. Cities tamales, including a creamy, light one filled First, a primer. Both mezcal and come from the with tender corn, and various incarnations wondrous agave plant. Tequila is a distinct subset of mezcal, of tortillas including garnachas laden with but mezcal is not a type of tequila. If you’ve ever enjoyed a beef, onion, and and to go margarita loaded with Patron or Jose Cuervo, you’ve already Hand-made blue Elotes (grilled with the cumin-scented mole de camarron sipped mezcal – just the tequila variety of it. The difference corn tortillas corn) (shrimp). is in the distillation. Think of tequila as the more refined, & Wildlife Nature Nature Oaxacans place great stock in their food processed version of mezcal. being criollo – homegrown, endemic – so The upside of this rougher, less structured manufacturing is and fried tortilla pieces, and it’s wonderfully Michoacán dishes are rarely prepared the same way a much less consolidated industry (though this is changing, refreshing in the stifling Caribbean heat. In the birthplace of the avocado, it’s across its regions. But tortillas are typical too, as mezcal becomes more popular). Today it’s primarily Pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) are another generally agreed the good people of everywhere and always handmade, such a homespun affair, with small family-run operations in the Maya staple, most commonly found in Michoacán state make the country’s as the blue corn version topped with Mexican state of Oaxaca providing the majority of production. , tortillas dressed with spicy best . And also its largest – a zucchini flowers and mozzarella-like queso Adventure There are 150+ species sauce, boiled egg, and 3,788kg monster dip whipped up in oaxaqueño in Teotitlan del Valle. of agave plant, and each tomato. Mexico’s avocado capital of Tancítaro in Local markets offer the surest insights creates a distinct flavor profile Yucatán is also known for its mestizo 2018. Michoacán’s other great gift to world into regional tastes. At Oaxaca City’s when turned into mezcal. foods that meld not only Spanish influences cuisine is – the original pulled pork 20 de Noviembre market you’ll find salt My favorite way to spend an – such as yucateca, slow-cooked tortillas that are a staple of Mexican street mined with agave worms and chili, piles of afternoon? Pull up to a local mezcaleria (mezcal bar) to beef with achiote – but also Korean and food (antojitos). Carnitas buffs will happily garlic- and chili-coated grasshoppers, and Know to Need taste the different options Lebanese (thanks to laborers who came to explain the subtle differences between crisp tortillas layered with beans, Find – my top picks are espadin work on the sisal plantations last century). a costilla stuffed with rib meat, a buche inspiration avocado, , cheese, and pork lard – so añejo and tepeztate. With so You can thank the Lebanese for Mexico’s (pork belly) and a maciza (white meat). for your next popular they’re known as Oaxacan pizzas. adventure many choices, a thorough love of spit-roasted meats, especially the The Pacific state also gives its name to with Explore As Ruiz assures me, in Oaxaca, “it doesn’t quest to explore the varieties popular Yucatecan street food , the popular chain of ice-cream parlours La matter if you go to a fine restaurant or a can extend deep into the Omar Torres/Getty Images Omar Torres/Getty charcoal-grilled marinated pork. Michoacána, known for their frozen paleta market, you are going to eat very well.” night. Dan Pierson

10 11 worldnomads.com Welcome Culture Art & Art UNFORGETTABLE Lucha Libre

Our first taste of this unique sport was at a huge match in Mexico City. The Arena Mexico holds more than 16,000 guests and the matches

are over the top, with elaborate costumes and rivalries between Towns & fighters that span weeks. Cities

But our real love for Lucha Libre came via a much smaller match in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas. Compared to the Mexico City match, this one looked like a backyard street fight, but we immediately loved the authentic feel. The arena, normally a bullfighting stadium, was packed with local families and kids running up and down the stairs in

luchador masks too big for their heads. To fully get into the spirit, we & Wildlife purchased a couple of masks to show which fighter we were supporting. Nature

We stocked up on popcorn and beer and grabbed a spot on the wooden benches. The match was running late and the crowd was getting restless, so my partner looked into the dressing room tent to see what the delay was about. He was greeted by a dozen wrestlers, greasing up their bodies and squeezing themselves into their latex costumes. They

were thrilled to have a foreigner backstage, and even included him in Adventure some behind-the-scenes photos. But clearly they weren’t going to be starting any time soon. Never one to pass up an opportunity to perform, my partner donned his luchador mask and entered the ring. The kids playing on the ropes immediately saw this as a challenge. Within minutes, he had a dozen children hanging off each limb, determined to take down the big gringo with their merciless karate chops. He played

the part of melodramatic villain perfectly, falling theatrically to his knees Know to Need in defeat as the crowd cheered.

At last, the real show started. The next hour was pure slapstick comedy gold, with clearly missed punches sending the fighters reeling, and ridiculous characters like a fighter whose secret weapon was kissing his opponents into submission. But the memory I’ll cherish is of my partner Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Peter fighting off dozens of kids in his shiny silver mask. Christine Williams

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SHARE STORIES The Princess of the Pyramid Chelsea Gregory makes a one-of-a-kind connection at El Castillo, Muyil’s great pyramid. Welcome

’m in the ancient city of Muyil, on the edge a few moments she ascends back into the and capture his portrait with my camera. If I of a lagoon in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere in tree, and the jungle is silent again. leave now, I’ll arrive 30 minutes before the IMexico’s Yucatán peninsula. I had driven I can’t wait to share my experience site closes at 5pm. 30 minutes from Tulum down the 307 with another human, so I rush back to The gatekeeper greets me with a hug, Highway, pulled into the small dirt parking the entrance and tell the gatekeeper. and I ask if I can quickly take his photo and lot, paid the Maya gatekeeper 50 pesos “Saraguato! Veo un saraguato!” (I saw a ask a question: “What do you love about Culture Art & Art

and found myself wandering here. I’m howler monkey!) Despite my poor Spanish, this place?” He pauses and answers “This El Castillo Chelsea Gregory walking through thick jungle, discovering he nods. I can tell by the smile on his face place is sacred. The umbilical cord to the a civilization that had sown its roots here that my excitement is contagious. whole world.” more than 2,300 years before. “Regresar mañana, amiga. Gratis.” He has It gives me the chills. warm breeze cool the sweat on my brow. The crunch of my footsteps on the loose, invited me back tomorrow, free of charge. To my amazement he asks if I’d like a tour. After a moment he takes a deep breath and My heartbeat alabaster gravel of el Sacbe, the ancient The next morning, I wake up with plans to “Don’t you close at five?” I ask. says, “Bueno energia.” (Good energy). is thudding

“white road,” is the only sound I can hear spend the day by the crisp, cool water of an He smiles. “Not for friends.” I abandon my flimsy sandals, and leave Towns & against the constant buzz of insects. I ask open cenote. It’s my last full day in Mexico As we make our way back to the Castillo, my camera behind so my hands are free. in my Cities myself for the 10th time, “How on earth I am and I want to relax, finish my book, and soak he points out the local flora and fauna. We scale the remaining rocks and sit atop ears, but the only person at these ruins?” It’s 3pm up the sun. But sitting at the water’s edge, I We try to bridge our language barrier this structure, and I’m gifted with the most something on a Saturday and, aside from the group of can’t concentrate on the words I’m reading. with charades, hand gestures, and sound incredible view. The canopy of the jungle children leaving as I arrived, I have not seen My mind is back at the Castillo. I remember effects. He teaches me about the Maya hides all evidence of modern civilization tells me not another visitor. the palpable feeling of joy shared between sacrificial practices that were believed to – we are the only people in existence. I’m to be afraid

Swatting at the gnats dancing around my the gatekeeper and me, and I decide I must bring the spring rains, the feathers and gold transported through my imagination back & Wildlife Nature Nature I remember ears, I try to focus on the plaque that stands return, if only to thank him for his kindness they used to adorn themselves with, and the 2,000 years. the palpable at the base of El Castillo, one of the tallest arrival of Spanish that lead to The gatekeeper and I share the Maya feeling of pyramids in the Yucatán at 55 ft (17 m). I’m the downfall of this long-inhabited trade city. and English words for “breathe” and trying to envision the community that once Finally, we arrive at the Castillo. I thank “happiness.” We point out the birds we see joy shared called this place home when the silence is him and think the tour is over, but to in flight and listen for their calls. We talk between the disrupted by a primal roar. my amazement he asks, “Do you want about our birthdays and families at home. gatekeeper I’m frozen. My stomach lurches. Did I just to climb?” I’m speechless. I must have We watch as the sinking sun paints Adventure and me, and I hear a dinosaur? misunderstood him – surely I cannot climb everything with its golden hue. Overcome If you’ve never heard the call of a howler the pyramid. with emotion, I say “Gracias, Señor. Muchas, decide I must monkey, that is the closest comparison I can “Not for many people. But you are only muchas gracias. I will remember this return, if bring to mind. Though they only grow to be one. You have a good energy – I feel it. forever.” He thanks me in return. “Un regalo only to thank about 3 ft (1 m) tall, their howls can be heard You came back after yesterday. You tell the para mi, tambien. (A gift for me, too) Gracias, from a mile away. truth. We climb.” amiga. Suki, princess of the pyramid with Know to Need him for his My heartbeat is thudding in my ears, but I’m still incredulous, but follow as he the good heart.” kindness and something tells me not to be afraid. begins to ascend the stone steps. It takes He has gotten my name wrong, but I capture his I stand still and wait. 10 minutes to climb to the “room” near the hardly notice. Words don’t matter here, only After a few more calls, a furry brown arm top. He explains that he comes up here to connection. This connection is what I travel portrait with reaches through the greenery and behind it, Chelsea Gregory meditate sometimes. He invites me to close for, and this time I have found it. my camera a small brown face looks down at me. After my eyes and we meditate together. I feel the “Bueno energia.”

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sierra town of Huautla de Jimenez, where we talked about everything and nothing, The Muxes shamans taught me how to make becoming close enough after a few weeks ceremonial use of the psychoactive fungi to share confidences. “We need to tell and plants that grow there. you something,” Carmelita said, “it’s very of Juchitán I encountered cultures that were alive, important, and we hope you won’t feel that not in the donning-fancy-dress-for-the- we’ve misled you.” sake-of-tourist-pesos sense, nor in the form They had chosen the right day for it.

de Zaragoza of a historical hangover, but in ways that The power was off, and the dark had Welcome continue to shine a light on how we live – a confessional quality to it, though the Joseph Furey takes us to the Zapotec- and see ourselves – right now. caretaker had fashioned a contraption majority town where a third gender (muxe) Which is where the Zapotecs, the largest out of a bungee cord, metal coat hangers, indigenous group in Oaxaca, come in. The and three mismatched flashlights on full has been a fact of life for centuries. founders of a sophisticated pre-Columbian beam to pick out the features of Our Lady. civilization some 2,500 years ago, with the It made her look as if she were about to astonishing feat of engineering that is the be abducted by B-movie aliens. And by its Culture ancient city of Monte Albán to show for it, peculiar light, Elena and Carmelita took my & Art ome people travel to find themselves, the Zapotecs are still a force to be reckoned hands. others to lose themselves, and with, though this time for something more The story they told me was a remarkable Ssome simply to see what’s out benevolent than the amassing of power. one. They were muxes (moo-sheys), a there. It’s generally agreed, though, that “third gender” born male but living as whatever your perspective, to put it to The Zapotec muxes: women. “Which is how we are described

the test is a healthy thing. And there are neither male nor female by professors anyway,” Elena said. They Towns & few places better equipped to challenge I had been living for a month in Oaxaca were from the Zapotec-majority town of Cities your assumptions than Oaxaca, a state in City when I met Carmelita and Elena at the Juchitán de Zaragoza, which is a five-hour southwest Mexico, where a lot of people Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. drive away on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, have been doing things a little differently for In that time, though I was and remain a the narrow waist of land between the Gulf a very long time. badly lapsed Catholic, the church of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. And they To wax anthropologically for a moment, had seen more of me than my usual haunts were in the Oaxaca City to track down muxe

with 16 distinct ethnolinguistic groups – – the mezcal bars – had. friends who they suspected had been taken & Wildlife Nature Nature that is, 16 indigenous peoples with their My mother had recently died, and there by American sex tourists. “These own customs, traditions, and languages – the basilica is dedicated to Our Lady of Americans, they call Juchitán ‘Hoochie Oaxaca is one of the most culturally diverse Solitude, the Virgin Mary in mourning. Town’,” said Elena in disgust. places on the planet. The state largely owes Above the altar, center-stage, her effigy Now in their early 30s, my friends that diversity to its rugged topography – Though stands, a look of infinite compassion on her explained that they had been raised by their whose exposed peaks, plunging valleys, I’d been in face. I took comfort in her steadying gaze, grandparents, and had worn their current and dense colonies of cacti kept its Mexico long and placed myself beneath it every other style of dress from a very early age. “Many Adventure communities from mingling for hundreds enough for the morning. muxes can’t remember being anything else. of years – and considers the richness of its Grief works on people in disparate ways. There was never any question that I was heritage a great boon. mosquitoes It opens them up or closes them down, one,” Elena said. “Everyone knew. And they I got to know Oaxaca and its plethora to lose interest and Carmelita and Elena rightly saw in my were pleased. It is considered a blessing if of peoples well in the half-decade I was in me, I was wide eyes a willingness to talk. Always God gives a family a muxe.” based in Mexico. Between journalistic immaculately turned out, dressed like twins How modern, I thought. But I was wrong. Know to Need assignments, I was a doorman alongside far from in embroidered silk huipils, long skirts, and No surprise there: though I’d been in boxers at a bar in the state capital; informed shawls, their hair shining black, they would Mexico long enough for the mosquitoes a poor swimmer among the surfing about its join me at the back of the church, even to lose interest in me, I was far from backpackers and Huave fishermen though the pews there were rougher- informed about its southwest corner. The A muxe off San Mateo del Mar; and a sort of southwest hewn and as hard as railroad ties. They muxe has been a fact of Zapotec life since

performance artist Commons Wikimedia Lukas/Creative Mario Patinho sorcerer’s apprentice in the northern corner were patient with my halting Spanish as pre-Colonial times.

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“Local legend has it that St Nicholas and many were broader built, as indeed Ferrer, the patron saint of Juchitán, was the women generally are. When Zapotec TRIP NOTES carrying a sack of muxes,” Carmelita said. parents recognize a “feminine” quality in You can fly to Oaxaca City “He was supposed to distribute them their boy children, they are not just noticing from Mexico City with evenly across the country. But it tore when a soft androgyny – a burlier frame can be InterJet or Aeromar for under US $150 ($3,060 he got to Juchitán and they all spilled out.” a factor. MXN) return. Buses leave At Elena’s suggestion, I visited Salon Oaxaca City for Juchitán several times a day for Juchitán de Zaragoza: Cazorla, a club/dance studio that’s been Welcome as little as US $15 ($306 a center of muxe culture muxe-owned and -operated for 40 years, MXN). The Vela de Las The following week, I drove with Elena to where I discovered Oscar, its proprietor Auténticas Intrepidas Juchitán to see the fabled town for myself. and one of the founders of Las Auténticas, Buscadoras del Peligro happens every year in I found it in high spirits. Preparations were having a sly cigarette outside. But for a mid-November. under way for a four-day vela, a celebration blousy guayabera, he was soberly dressed of all things muxe, which is equal parts and, pointing at himself, he was keen to jamboree, pageant, and Mass (muxes are stress the variety of muxe life. Culture allowed to take communion in Juchitán, “There isn’t one kind of muxe. Some & Art though it would be denied them elsewhere). are born muxe, others become muxes. The vela, which has been held each They are chosen or they choose. Some November since the early ‘70s, takes its wear dresses, others just make-up. Some name from its organizers, Las Auténticas have relationships with men, some with Intrépidas Buscadoras del Peligro (the women. But they are not gay or straight,

Authentic Intrepid Seekers of Danger), a because they are not men or women – they Towns & group of muxe activists, educators, and are muxe. That is important. Muxes are Cities entrepreneurs who keep an eye out for venerated here. They are free to pursue their own. careers: teachers, nurses, hairdressers, Muxes make up about 5% of Juchitán’s party planners. They look after the elderly. population of 80,000, but they are much Homosexuals who like to dress in ladies’ UNFORGETTABLE more visible there than that suggests. clothes come to Juchitán because they are

Zapotec society is matrifocal. The men are persecuted in other towns. The more the The Night Nobody Sleeps & Wildlife Nature Nature mostly laborers, out of sight, in the fields merrier, I say, but strictly speaking, they are I wasn’t sure what to expect when we pulled into Huamantla, or on building sites, sometimes fishing not muxes.” . It looked, after all, like pretty much every other small, boats. Women are the public face of the Every day is Pride here, and whatever unassuming Mexican village I’d visited. But in mid-August each year, family, involved in day-to-day commerce, your sexual orientation or identification, the Huamantla comes alive after dark in a way I’ve yet to see elsewhere. running stores and market stalls. Muxes knowledge that there is a place on earth We were there for The Night Nobody Sleeps, an annual celebration do “women’s work” too, but, free from where all who live there are valued and during which locals pour onto the streets, decorating Huamantla with childcare obligations, they have more all who don’t are welcome is enormously intricate, vibrant sawdust “carpets” (or tapetes). Florals and religious Adventure freedom to explore their career options. heartening. imagery abound and glitter is a given. Men diligently sprinkle wood Many Juchitán households run on muxe I was sorry to make my apologies and shavings atop their pre-prepared stencils. (If you ask nicely – or incomes. Perhaps that’s why it’s considered leave the following morning, but work was better yet, look hopeful enough – they might even let you do the lucky to have one in the family. calling. I plan to return for this year’s vela; to honors.) Elena introduced me to a few of her see old friends, of course, but also to toast Over the course of the afternoon, we watched as the streets began

friends – some, like her, who looked, to Juchitán’s resilience. The town was almost to throng with domestic tourists, plus a handful of international Know to Need foreign eyes, quintessentially feminine, and leveled by an 8.1-magnitude earthquake visitors. By 1am, work had ceased, just in time for the procession. others who were more radical in the way – and 10 strong aftershocks – last year. Feel more For the curious few, the tapetes feel like the main event, but for the they presented themselves (who knew a The mayor said the buildings fell “just like when you devout onlookers, paying respects to the Virgen de la Caridad is travel, with what the evening is all about. Lauren Cocking bare chest, a shaved head, and a double dominoes”. But I’m told that it’s business Stories tutu would be a winning combination?). All as usual for the muxes. “Or unusual, as you The Night Nobody Sleeps is part of the Feria de Huamantla Wilbur E. Garrett/National Geographic/Getty Images were taller than the average Zapotec man, would say,” wrote Elena. and falls around mid-August.

18 19 Calakmul worldnomads.com in Southern SEEK EXPERIENCES Campeche

BEYOND Welcome CHICHÉN Culture ITZÁ & Art Far from the tourist track, the remote pyramids of the Yucatán Peninsula have ancient secrets to share. Lydia Jones deciphers their mysteries. & Towns & Cities

experience the Maya ruins through touch. be found everywhere among the Río Bec I want to climb, swim, row, absorb their group of sites in southern Campeche. Ienergy, ponder and stand in awe in jungle These sites were occupied from around that I have all to myself. For that, it’s worth 300 BC – their later pyramids follow the getting off the beaten track. style of in Guatemala, with mysterious

I have been to Chichén Itzá. It’s majestic, false doorways and mock temples that you & Wildlife Nature Nature but full of vendors and crowds, so I can’t feel can’t enter, all built for show, not use. its power. It took me five years of traveling I choose Balamkú first, the only site where in southern Mexico (after moving here from you can actually go inside the temple and England) to begin to feel the energy of the meet the monsters. The walk to the pyramid ruins and see the pattern of stone masks gives me the feeling of being an ancient and motifs. Now I’m hooked. jungle dweller – superstitious, and rather The various routes are named for their frightened. I can feel the jungle spirit that the Adventure architectural styles, but I’d like to take Maya believe in. When I get to the temple, you behind that to the mysteries of Maya the guard is as delighted to see me as I am thought. At first, the masks and motifs all to see him, out there in the dense forest with look the same, but they have different tales nothing but howler monkeys for company. to tell. Inside the pyramid, I’m alone with the

ancient ancestors. Three huge potbellied Know to Need Mountain Monster toads sit on a monster’s skull, on a long (Río Bec Route, Campeche) frieze across a narrow room. From the wide- I first met Witz, the Mountain Monster, at open maw of each toad emerges a seated, Chichén Itzá, although my guide identified cross-legged ruler. The monster mask has him as Chaac, the Rain God. Through my huge eyes and large teeth, and the bottom Michael & Jennifer Lewis/Getty Images Michael & Jennifer Lewis/Getty research, I discovered that Witz was to jaw is buried in the earth.

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SEEK EXPERIENCES

Calakmul is vast and remote and you’ll need Hormiguero, Campeche all day. In Xpujil, the Tikal-style towers are TRIP NOTES impressive, but you can’t climb the only Mountain Monster pyramid, while at Becán you can climb a Balamkú, Calakmul, number of them. Hormiguero, Chicanná, Becán, Xpujil, Dzibanché, Kinichná Cosmic Bird (Puuc Route, Yucatán) The Rio Bec route is in the “Puuc” in Maya describes the range of low jungle of the Calakmul Welcome hills south of Mérida, a dramatic contrast Biosphere (along its only with the level limestone plain of the rest highway), in the state of Campeche. Dzibanché of the Yucatán peninsula. These sites are and Kinichná are off the notable for ornate mosaics from 700 to 900 same highway in the AD. I’m standing on top of the Great Pyramid state of . of , the most elegant of Maya sites. I’m For remote Hormiguero and Calakmul, both in the admiring the view of the jungle, but my real jungle off the highway, Culture focus is the intriguing masks, just behind you’ll need a car. & Art me. I’m curious, and I want to get to the The entry fee to most bottom of these stone faces. of the ruins is US $2.70 Rainer Lesniewski/Getty Images Lesniewski/Getty Rainer ($55 MXN). Hormiguero I have already greeted with a smile my is free. Calakmul has a old friend Witz, who presides on top of the set of fees, US $2.45 ($50 The mask of Witz marks the pyramid Magician’s Pyramid. But how about the other MXN) per person for the first 32mi (20km) of the as a sacred living mountain. A deceased masks? They can’t be Chaac the Rain God, dirt road, which is private Towns & Cities Maya ruler did not die; he traveled. First because he has a down-curling nose, while land, US $3.45 ($70 MXN) he entered, through the Witz’s mouth, the most of these masks have up-curling noses to enter the Calakmul waters of the underworld, where he had to instead. biosphere and US $2.45 ($50 MXN) for the ruins. defeat its wicked lords before continuing Some researchers claim they could be UNFORGETTABLE The village of Xpujil is his journey up the mountain into paradise. the Cosmic Bird called Itzam Yeh, with a best for accommodation The toads helped each king complete “long lip,” rather than a snout. I think of it for all the sites. Avoid the Fiesta Grande de Enero

his journey. Toads are connected to the as a beak. The Cosmic Bird sits on top of rainy season (August- & Wildlife

During the first few weeks of January, the sleepy town of Chiapa Nature October) when the jungle underworld and their croak heralds rain, the World Tree, a manifestation of the sky is very humid and full of de Corzo bursts into life. leading to the renewal of the earth. god Itzamná. Could he be waiting there to mosquitoes. From here, I continue my journey to welcome the deceased king to the Upper Nominally a Catholic event in honour of the patron saints of the town, in practice the dances, costumes, and rituals have their roots Hormiguero to face the largest Witz of them World? I settle on that story of divinity and Cosmic Bird Route in the pre-Christian indigenous culture of the local Zoque people. all. If Balamkú is spooky, Hormiguero is immortality. Uxmal, Kabáh, , even more ghostly. I feel suspended in time, From here I’ll continue along the Puuc Xlapak, Labná, Kulubá Walking into town, I passed a steady trickle of parachicos – the dancers who make the festival such a vibrant event. Wrapped Adventure although only 12.5mi (20km) off the highway. Route to the charming, smaller sites of These sites are mainly The tracks through the forest are no more Kabáh, Sayil, Xlapak, and Labná, quietly on the Puuc Route in in colorfully striped ponchos, they wore strange wooden masks depicting the pale-skinned faces of the Spanish colonial than faint traces, and then suddenly I’m checking whether the noses curl up or Yucatán, about an hour south of Mérida. Kulubá governors, and distinctive, mushroom-like hats to imitate their face-to-face with the gigantic Witz gateway down and staring into the manic eyes of the is hidden in the jungle blonde hair. to the temple. The rest of the ruins are Cosmic Bird. If you have ever looked a bird of Tizimín, north of barely explored, heaps of stone swallowed in the eye, you’ll know what I mean. Then I’ll Valladolid. By the time I reached the town square, the trickle had become

up by nature. I can feel, in my bones, the make a detour to Kulubá, east of Tizimín. It’s The entry fee for Uxmal a flood of several thousand, and I was soon swept along by it. Know to Need ancient Maya fear of death, the desire for not on the Puuc route, but it has the same is US $11 ($223 MXN); Accompanied by brass bands and mariachis, the parachicos for , Labná, and danced energetically. Women in traditional dress walked rebirth, and the ever-present threat of the masks of the Cosmic Bird. Although it’s Xlapak, US $2.45 ($50 alongside them throwing confetti, and fireworks were set off jungle. set among the cattle ranches of northern MXN). Sayil and Kulubá alarmingly close to the crowds. If you want a similar experience, but Yucatán, it still has that jungle magic I found are free. Uxmal offers a few hotels and

Robert Frerck/Getty Images Robert Every so often, they would charge into one of the handsome conveniently on the highway, try Chicanná. on the Río Bec route. It breathes the ancient Santa Elena cheaper eco The other sites have smaller Witz masks. Maya message of eternal life. cabañas. colonial buildings which line the streets. The smaller the space, it seemed, the more intense the dancing. Max Serjeant 22 23 worldnomads.com

LEARN SOMETHING NEW Folk art is never

native tribes who speak myriad languages. anonymous Meeting the With her father, she traipsed through the but rather, most remote parts of Mexico with her always made camera slung in front of her. She visited by an artist, World’s Authority villages where Spanish was never heard and foreigners never seen, and she took simply one astonishing photos of celebrations and whose name on Mexican rituals, 20,000 in all, which today serve as we do not Welcome an invaluable document of native culture, religion, and daily life. know. Folk Art In one village, she became intrigued by a Dr. Ruth Lechuga blouse embroidered with brilliant flowers. Maxine Rose Schur tells us about the She bought it, and later she told me, “That remarkable woman who single-handedly blouse had me asking many questions. Who made it? How did they make it and collected 10,000 works of art. Culture why?” It was followed by thousands more & Art purchases – objects people had made by hile traveling in Mexico City, I hand and that held great meaning for them. heard about a woman named Ruth I felt I had Lechuga who was the world’s 10,000 Objects = 10,000 Stories W entered a authority on Mexican folk art and had an I was feeling somewhat guilty asking so

astonishing collection of 10,000 objects in dreamlike many questions of Ruth. She looked frail as Towns & Jorge Vértis / Artes de Mexico Jorge Vértis

Dr. Ruth Lechuga in her bedroom Cities her apartment. realm where a feather and had to walk with an oxygen I knew I had to see her. the humblest tank rolling beside her. But my questions Though she was elderly and ill, when I seemed to energize her and her voice called her, she invited me right over. object grew stronger with the passion she felt for ceremony. Once I had to wear the mask walls were painted a deep rose pink and I was greeted by her caregiver, served possessed its the beautiful things in her apartment. And, and dance with it as a condition of my at first, I thought they were decorated with delicious Mexican coffee, and asked to wait own unique indeed, there were many. Her collection purchase. The mask was smelly with sweat white lace. But upon entering, I saw they a few moments. When Ms. Lechuga arrived, spread out on every possible inch – along from the previous dancer, but putting it on were covered floor to ceiling with Day of & Wildlife Nature Nature she greeted me in perfect English and told spirit the floors, the walls, the closets, and on made me understand in a visceral way that the Dead skeletons in a wide variety of me a bit about herself. Her name had been every conceivable surface. the mask was not merely a work of art but dress: tuxedos, Marilyn Monroe costumes. Ruth Deutsch and she came to Mexico in I was enchanted by everything: a row an instrument for expressing aspects of the At the back of the room, Ruth pointed out a 1939 at the age of 18 with her family, Jewish of pretty little dolls made from corn human spirit.” shelf of tiny dioramas showing how death refugees from Nazi Austria. husks, tortoise and horn combs in fanciful comes as murder. She picked up a small “I knew nothing of Mexico nor the shapes (mermaid, mariachi, owl and Reflections on life and death box depicting a tiny man being shot at an

TRIP NOTES Adventure Spanish language,” she said, “but when I bird), metal trays and boxes painted with Ruth guided me through her vast collection, ATM window. “Amusing,” she said. saw a mural by Jose Clemente Orozco in conquistadors, and masks of angels, devils, even the curious little figurines fashioned Then, she looked at me with a sly grin. Visit the Ruth Lechuga Folk Art Collection the city’s Palace of Fine Arts, it sparked a animals, and smiling surreal creatures. from chewing gum. In one room, she “You know, Death thinks it’s laughing at me at the Franz Mayer lifelong curiosity about Mexican culture. It Pottery bowls and urns of every size and introduced me to her teenage grandson, but when I lie in bed here and look about Museum in Mexico was not so much the subject matter as the shape were lined up like a small army. I felt who was busy cataloging her enormous my room – I laugh at Death.” City, which holds ’s colors. That night I dreamt in yellows and I had entered a dreamlike realm where the collection of regional embroideries. But Ruth died less than a year later. Today largest collection of

reds. Such an intense emotion made me humblest object was witty, surprising, and after two hours, I worried about tiring her her collection is housed in Mexico City’s decorative arts. Know to Need realize that this was a completely different possessed its own unique spirit. and so began to make my farewell. Franz Mayer Museum. It’s the perfect Address: Av. culture that could not be understood “I have never bought an item without “You cannot go yet,” she exclaimed, space, granting Dr. Lechuga the wish she 45, Centro Histórico, through European eyes.” insisting on meeting its maker and learning “You must see my bedroom!” had confided in me: , 06300 From that moment on, Ruth began a its purpose.” Ruth declared, “For example, So I followed Ruth slowly down a “I want the collection to be useful, to Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10-5, Saturday quest to learn about Mexican culture. This Bull-horn comb if I bought a mask, I wanted to meet the long hallway and when we reached her demonstrate this country’s many roots. This and toy carousel and Sunday 10-7.

was no easy task, as Mexico has dozens of carved from a gourd dancer who had worn it in the sacred Artes de Mexico bedroom, I stood in bewilderment. The is the real Mexico.” Closed Monday.

24 25 worldnomads.com Jose Girarte/Getty Images Welcome Culture Art & Art & Towns & Cities & Wildlife Nature Nature

Mexico’s interior is dotted with pueblos mágicos (magic towns)

recognized for their historical Adventure and cultural significance. Rustic fishing villages and CITIES laid-back surfer communities edge its coasts. Along the US

border, towns with dubious but Know to Need often undeserved reputations & TOWNS offer a unique mix of American and Mexican culture. And the vibrant sprawl of Mexico City is Guanajuato an adventure in itself.

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MEXICO CITY:

A CAPITAL Welcome WITH CHARISMA With a population of nine million people (add in Greater Culture

Mexico City, and we’re talking 21.2 million), Mexico City’s & Art vastness can feel overwhelming. Where should a traveler even begin? Local Lauren Cocking shares her tips.

sk 10 different people for their time in Mexico City though, it’s that there’s Towns & thoughts on Mexico City and no way you can do everything in one trip, or Cities Ayou’ll get 10 different answers, so even one lifetime. But you can try. impossible is it to put together a cohesive, comprehensive overview of the massive Start with the food megalopolis that is the Mexican capital. I It’s the main attraction in the capital and didn’t take to it instantly. It’s big, it’s chaotic, while the Polanco, Roma, and

and it can all be, honestly, a bit much. But neighborhoods are known for some of the & Wildlife Nature Nature it grows on you, getting under your skin best restaurants in the country, skip the Starcevic/Getty Images Starcevic/Getty Coyoacan district until one day you look up and realize that, “elevated” dining scene and instead eat actually, it feels like home. street-side, perched on plastic stools. Tacos, First-timers, with no connections in , , tamales (and a few dishes the city, typically beeline for the well- that don’t start with ‘T’) are sold morning, peace and quiet of the central plaza. photo ops that go beyond Roma, this is the established, central neighborhoods of noon, and night, right across the city. Eating And while you’re in the vicinity, hop from (quieter) place to be. Roma and Condesa. It’s understandable. unites, so just look for the stands with a long Coyoacán to neighbouring Xoco, to take I can’t not mention the trajineras in the Adventure They’re overflowing with amenities and line of locals waiting to be served and you’re advantage of a daytime screening of [insert floating gardens of . You’ve accommodation, and offer proximity to good to go. arthouse film that takes your fancy here] at probably heard of them, and taking a ride some of the best art galleries, restaurants, the Cineteca Nacional. through the canals of the capital does make and bars in the capital. They’re fun and Move on to the art I always like to namedrop the UNAM for a fun afternoon. Don’t believe the hype photogenic places to be, replete with Art There’s no The Coyoacán neighborhood is an obvious Campus to potential visitors too, because about the Isla de las Muñecas (Island of

Deco architecture and some of the best way you can bet, famed for being the one-time home of what better way to make myself seem Dolls) though – it sounds creepy-cool but in Know to Need street art in the capital. I always send people do everything Frida Kahlo, and it was always my favourite cultured. But in all seriousness, it’s a place reality you won’t get to see much. Learn how there if it’s their inaugural visit, although in one trip, place to escape of an afternoon. Skip with a fascinating, revolutionary reputation to Travel I also gently suggest they venture into Sundays though, when it gets busy as hell, (be sure to check out the Central Library Avoid the tourists Responsibly or even one on your the nearby Juárez neighbourhood for hot and go midweek instead. That way you can and its Juan O’Gorman murals, as well If you’d rather go somewhere with fewer next trip chocolate and tamales, too. lifetime. But enjoy your , coffee, or mayo-and- as the sculpture park), as well as being tourists, then Santa María la Ribera should If there’s one thing I quickly learned in my you can try cheese-smothered elotes in the relative something of a hotspot for urban murals. For be next up. While there’s generally little

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Street tacos Trajinera boats in Xochimilco’s canals Orbon Alija/Getty Images Jon Lovette/Getty Images Jon Lovette/Getty Welcome UNFORGETTABLE Learning to Make Mezcal Thanks to the coordinating efforts of Oaxaca Food Walks, we slid from the bed Palacio de Culture Bellas Artes of a pick-up at Lalocura Mezcal Distillery & Art in Santa Catrina Minas for a tour of the property. In the driveway, a leather-

ic/Getty Images Starcev skinned man under a tattered Stetson hacked towards an agave’s heart, the piña.

The pale yellow cores piled up, awaiting a slow cook beneath super-heated rocks. & Towns &

A Oaxacan distiller herded us towards Cities agave burning in a stone-lined pit. The heat processes the starch within the agave and produces sugars. Reaching for a roasted piece cooling at the edge, I sampled it. I thought of leafed tobacco: vegetal, chewy, and sweet. Next, we approached three

wooden fermentation vessels where & Wildlife microscopic yeast ate the sugar, converting Nature it to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The bubbling liquid released a fruity, bubble appeal to the northern neighborhoods of impressive buildings which fan out from the gum aroma. The liquid tasted boozy, with Mexico City, this is the exception which central square, aka the zocalo. It also means hints of molasses and nutmeg. proves the rule, and became my go-to you can mosey over to Parque Alameda, barrio when I fancied something different. the most peaceful people-watching spot Fire raged beneath a small, copper still (Full disclosure: that something different you’re going to get right in the heart of Latin boiling pachuga (fermented agave juice) Adventure usually involved hanging out at the America’s most densely populated capital and vaporizing the alcohol. There was no electricity. There was no stainless steel. Biblioteca Vasconcelos, whose shelves – city. While away a few hours doing not very You can’t Cool spring water in a copper bowl sat atop like a space-age Harry Potter set – seem to much, and then pay a visit to my two favorite the still, condensing the rising alcohol vapor float in mid-air. My other go-to library is the buildings in Mexico City: the Palacio de leave without and directing it into a wooden chute. Clear little-visited, mural-tastic Biblioteca Miguel Bellas Artes and the Torre Latino Americana having spirit dripped into a clay pot: the mezcal

Lerdo de Tejada in the centro histórico.) skyscraper. Whiz up to the glass-walled, stopped by was born. To the west, blue leaves of agave Know to Need 41st-floor bar of the latter for an impressive the sinking spiked up from the ground, which gradually Don’t miss the historic center view out over the shimmering tiled roof of rose towards the mountain ridge awaiting cathedral near the sinking sun. Smoke-shattered sunlight Give yourself an afternoon in the historic the former. the central upon horse-turned mills, earthenware jugs, center. While rough and ready at times, There’s really nothing that compares to and oxidized copper: the place and process you can’t leave without having stopped living in Mexico City. Like I said, it gets under square, aka

Joe Pilie/Unsplash remained pleasantly entrenched in a time by the sinking cathedral and the cluster of your skin. the zocalo long gone. Sam Kazmer

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COLONIAL Welcome STANDOUTS All over Mexico, you’ll find towns with gorgeous historic Culture

centers filled with ornate Baroque buildings and elegant & Art plazas. Our nomads share a few of their favorites.

Guanajuato you can expect world-class performances

If you’re considering travel to Central Mexico, across dance, drama, puppetry, and more. Street scene, Towns & you’ve almost certainly added San Miguel Across the city, San Cristóbal Cities de Allende to your itinerary. It’s a great little abounds, and other wonderful examples of Images THPStock/Getty de las Casas town – but allow me to make the case for 17th, 18th, and 19th-century masterpieces Guanajuato, a UNESCO World Heritage Site include the Teatro Principal, Plaza de la Paz, and hidden gem tucked away in San Miguel’s and the iconic yellow Basilica cathedral. Xilitla the perfect setting for the Edward James shadow. It’s largely devoid of the crowds of Guanajuato’s streets are perfectly In Mexico, nature is very much a part of Sculpture Garden.

international tourists you’ll find in other, more strollable, and right upon your arrival by car or the architecture, and nowhere is that more With more than 30 structures across 20 & Wildlife Music will Nature popular Mexican cities, yet still packed with follow your bus, you’ll understand why; much of the traffic evident than Xilitla’s Las Pozas. acres of jungle, deciding where to focus is, a full slate of interesting opportunities ripe every step, is routed through the cavernous tunnels Located in San Luis Potosí’s share of the at first, overwhelming. To fully experience for exploration. Set up on a hill is its most running under the city, which leaves the Sierra Gorda mountain range, Xilitla is a Las Pozas, I had to let go and let myself be famous attraction: the largest collection of leading streets largely empty of vehicles. pueblo mágico (magic town) that served as transported to another world. The jungle has in the Western Hemisphere. The you past On my first visit, that kind of aimless a hub of Augustine missionary activity in the started to reclaim some of the sculptures, Museo de Las Momias features more than the famous exploring brought me to my favorite place mid-1500s, but the pride of Xilitla lies just the but the moss and vines only enhance the 100 entombed specimens, and is well worth Teatro Juarez, in Guanajuato: the local baseball stadium, city limits. illusion. Inspired by fantasy works like Adventure a visit, especially if you use it as an excuse where on a a short 20-minute walk from downtown. Las Pozas attracts visitors from all over the Alice in Wonderland, the garden is home to fortify yourself with a michelada (beer and Head here on a sunny afternoon for a game, country who come to marvel at its whimsical to sculptures such as Hands of a Giant, the tomato juice cocktail) beforehand. near-nightly complete with cold beer and chicharon (fried fusion of nature and art. In the 1940s, British House on Three Floors, and, my personal Less ghoulishly, Guanajuato is also home basis you pig skin, it’s delicious, trust me) sandwiches poet Edward James went to Mexico in favorite, Stairway to the Sky. Between the to Cervantino, one of Mexico’s premier can expect filled with avocado, hard-boiled egg, and hot search of a place to build his own “Garden gorgeous natural setting and my happiness

cultural festivals. Even if you miss the main world-class sauce. Colorful houses rise on a hill above of Eden” where he could pay tribute to his at being immersed in surreal art, I didn’t Know to Need event itself, held every October, that creative, performances the outfield, making a dramatic backdrop to love of surreal art. Having fallen in love with even care when the staircase wound me youthful vibe extends daily into the central across dance, the sporting action. the fantastical work of surrealist Salvador around several stories only to lead absolutely Jardin de la Union, where students sip coffee A five-hour bus ride from Mexico City, Dalí while living in Spain, I knew I had to nowhere. Alex Wittman by day and cerveza by night. Music will follow drama, Guanajuato is my favorite city in Mexico. For see this grand homage for myself. The wild your every step, leading you past the famous puppetry, and a taste of bohemian, laid-back university life, mountain rain forest, stunning waterfalls, and Campeche Teatro Juarez, where on a near-nightly basis more this is the place to go. Dan Pierson crystalline natural pools around Xilitla were Standing on the thick fortified walls that

32 33 worldnomads.com Indigenous woman Taxco de CONNECT LOCALLY selling crafts in San Alarcón Cristóbal de las Casas

surround Campeche’s historic center, gazing economy, and overall safety. Despite having out into the Gulf of Mexico, I can almost fool more than a million residents, the historic myself into seeing the British pirate ships that center of the city still has a small-town feel. once laid siege to the city. The walls – and You can drink in traditional cantinas, shop in a pair of nearby forts – did their job, and working markets like Mercado La Cruz, and today the heart of Campeche is a UNESCO engage with hospitable queretanos who World Heritage Site. It’s home to wonderfully still find foreigners a relative novelty. My first

preserved Baroque churches, shady plazas week in Querétaro, I managed two of the Welcome where time appears to stand still, and 18th three when, after realizing I was a foreigner, and 19th-century pastel-shaded houses the chicken stall owner gifted me four coffee that look like they’ve been plucked from the cups for my new home. I drink coffee in pages of a Gabriel García Márquez novel. my mug every morning, buy chicken from Despite its history, Campeche, the capital of Fernando every week, and am grateful to live the state of the same name and located on in Querétaro every day. Alex Wittman the western flank of the Yucatán Peninsula, Culture is not stuck in the past. Modern sculptures Taxco de Alarcón & Art Joseph Sorrentino/Getty Images line many of the narrow, cobbled streets and Taxco is blessed with both magnificent Kryssia Campos/Getty Images lively seafood joints are strung along the colonial architecture and stunning natural malecón, the city’s waterfront promenade. geography. The two combine to make it one Shafik Meghji of the most picturesque cities in Mexico, I head uphill to the El Cristo statue. The to while away the hours. Known to locals Querétaro yet surprisingly it does not yet draw huge spectacular views begin as soon as I emerge as Jovel, the city is also an ideal base for is often Querétaro numbers of tourists. from of the warren of narrow streets, and exploring the nearby indigenous Towns & Officially named Santiago de Querétaro, referred to as Built with the wealth of the local silver as I climb they get better and better. Most Maya villages of San Juan Chamula and San Cities but called simply “Querétaro,” this town is the “pride of mines, its inhabitants used their riches to eye-catching is the Santa Prisca church, with Lorenzo Zinacantán. Shafik Meghji proof the original spirit of Mexico thrives in Mexico” for its build opulent whitewashed mansions for its ornate towers and colorful dome. Framed its geographic heart. I moved here because high quality themselves. These weave around the steep by the folds of the surrounding hills, it looms Mérida I wanted to experience the real Mexico, contours of the hillside on which the city is dramatically over Taxco’s historic streets. Mérida’s position on the Yucatán Peninsula of life, strong unlike the version cultivated for tourists in built, before stopping abruptly at the cliff-like Max Serjeant gives it a tropical Caribbean atmosphere

other parts of the country. While researching economy, and edge of the valley below. which contrasts with most of Mexico’s & Wildlife Nature Nature potential cities to live in, I failed to find much overall safety To fully appreciate the city’s grandeur, San Cristóbal de las Casas colonial cities. With its palm trees and information about Querétaro. That lack of Set at 7,200ft (2,200m) above sea level and humidity, it reminds me more of or guidebooks and blog posts only made me surrounded by misty, pine-covered hills, San San Juan than Mexico City. want to move here more. Cristóbal de las Casas is one of Mexico’s In many ways, Mérida symbolises the Querétaro’s relative anonymity is a bonus most attractive cities. Its historic center is hybrid nature of Mexico. On the one hand, to visitors, too. In the rush of tourism to filled with cobbled streets, mansions with the Maya population of the region has nearby , travelers red-tiled roofs, and ornate churches, some ensured that its people’s dress and food Adventure somehow overlook Querétaro. It’s dating back to the 1500s. have a clear indigenous influence. On the surprising, since Querétaro’s historic city Among the highlights is the Baroque, pale other, the architecture of its center feels very center is a prime example of the magnificent pink Santo Domingo de Guzmán church, Spanish and it has firmly embraced European colonial architecture that made its neighbor whose candle-lit interior is an evocative culture. Its streets are lined with sculptures, a must-see destination. Every day, I walk out place, regardless of your religious beliefs. and it’s home to museums, art galleries and

my front door and into the shadow of Templo Beyond its colonial architecture, San even an opera house. Know to Need de . If I’m ever lost in the city, I Cristóbal is the cultural hub of the southern Being the closest colonial city to the simply look for the crimson dome – freshly state of , and its bustling markets resorts of Cancún, it does attract large painted the week I moved in – and follow it offer an array of local crafts, most notably groups of visitors. The crowds are smallest home. some exquisite textiles. Much of the center between June and September, making this a Querétaro is often referred to as the “pride Las Pozas is pedestrianized, and there are scores of good time to visit – as long as you don’t mind

Quasarphoto/Getty Images gardens, Xilitla of Mexico” for its high quality of life, strong vaguely bohemian cafes and bars in which the increased humidity. Max Serjeant

34 35 worldnomads.com Popotla CONNECT LOCALLY

THE REAL STORY:

BORDER Welcome TOWNS The towns and states along the US-Mexico border have

a reputation for danger. Former drug-war correspondent Culture Art & Art Joseph Furey exposes the truth behind the hype.

Given the scaremongering that has cross-border tech hub with serious

accompanied recent calls for The Wall to cultural cred, has paid off. On the southern Towns & be built along the US-Mexico border, one side of “the busiest border crossing in Cities might be forgiven for thinking that the the world”, it sees itself as San Diego’s towns south of that line must be no-go strategic partner, not its poor relation. Its zones, with nothing to offer the traveler downtown pasajes, once boarded-up, now but villainy and violence. But the truth is a teem with murals, studios, galleries, and more complicated beast. independent stores; and I guarantee that Rebeca Anchondo/Flickr Creative Commons Rebeca

Take a peek behind “the tortilla curtain” there’s no city of remotely comparable & Wildlife Nature Nature and you’ll encounter a wealth of food, art, charm where you can eat and drink so well and culture that it’s hard to believe you for less. tried living without. But as a former My perfect Tijuanense day would of Rosarito, a 35-minute drive south of state drug-war correspondent, whose patch involve: a “Black Harder” (a local , is Popotla, a cheerfully anarchic Mexico’s second-largest state, Sonora is was all 1,954mi (3,145km) of the border, specialty made with sole marinated in squid fishing village that sits in the shadow of also its least explored – and its border I know only too well the area has its ink), washed down with a mezcal cocktail; Baja Studios, the oceanside movie lot that area is where the merely undiscovered challenges. With that in mind, I can catching a Latin American arthouse flick was built by Twentieth Century Fox for the takes a startling turn for the peculiar, if Adventure recommend the following destinations in at Cine Tonalá; getting ringside for a little filming of Titanic. Seafood stands and raw not downright alien. Covering close to good conscience, but with a caveat – if Lucha Libre wrestling at the Auditorio bars pepper the beach. Don’t leave until 2,760mi² (7,150km²), and one of the driest you break the law in Mexico, the law may Municipal de Tijuana; and then cheering you’ve eaten your bodyweight in pismo places on earth, the El Pinacate and Gran not prove to be your biggest problem. on the Zonkeys, the local basketball team and pata de mula clams, kumiai oysters, Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve and (which take their name from the donkeys and live sea urchin. A nudge further south World Heritage Site is a place of high – and

Tijuana, Baja painted like zebras that still mournfully Tijuana, like a is K-38, aka El Morro, a year-round surf low – drama, a combination of dormant Know to Need Popular with American debauchees during line the city’s streets, waiting for someone lot of Mexican spot, one of the more testing and most volcanic landscape and active sand dunes the Prohibition era, and recently blighted from 20 years earlier to ask to be border towns, consistent waves around. A few more with peaks and craters that are home to by drug-cartel violence, Tijuana, like a photographed with them as a souvenir). miles on from there is Puerto Nuevo, or a remarkable variety of fauna and flora, lot of Mexican border towns, has been has been “Lobster Village”, where a dozen or more including the pronghorn antelope and the roundly used and abused. But its search Sun, surf, and seafood, Baja Norte roundly used restaurants serve pan-fried langosta with elephant tree. for a new identity, as part of a bilingual Just outside the spring-break hot spot and abused beans, rice, and flour tortillas. They’re also home to lots of stories.

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CONNECT LOCALLY Welcome

UNFORGETTABLE Culture Art & Art Fiestas de Octubre Desert landscape, Street art in Sonora Tijuana Gionni/Getty Images C-Monster/Creative Commons Sandwiched as it is between September – the month of Mexican Independence Day – and November, when Day of the Dead famously descends on Mexico, When I was last there, based in Puerto It was heartbreaking to see the city that Towns & Peñasco on the north shore of the Sea of was once considered El Paso’s better October could seem like a comparatively Cities disappointing month to drop by. Cortez, I was told that, in January 1969, half brought to its knees. Just as it’s been locals had partied with the Apollo 11 crew, enormously gratifying to watch it piece That’s far from the case in Guadalajara, the Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael itself back together over the last 10 years, western city which rings in this transition Collins, and the astronauts had sampled tackling corruption and extortion, so month with, appropriately, four weeks bootleg bacanora, a mezcal-like liquor. A journalists no longer have to live in fear of of festivities. Welcome to the Fiestas de Octubre. late friend, Gustavo Menéndez, a cornettist doing their job properly, and children can & Wildlife Nature Nature who played at the party, carried a fading play in the streets. I’d only lived in Guadalajara, for photo of the occasion in his wallet, like an Juárez’s patient rebuild can’t hold a a month when the festivities – which are icon. NASA has confirmed that the reserve, votive candle to Tijuana’s reinvention kicked off each year by family-friendly on account of its otherworldly appearance, of itself, but the city has had enough parades and over-the-top firework displays has been used several times for moon- upheaval in recent years, and slow – began in earnest. I was just barely getting to grips with the language, never mind the landing training, but wouldn’t give specifics. and steady suits it better. The Historic culture, but Guadalajara clearly didn’t have Adventure It’s always worth keeping an eye on Downtown Urban Development Master time to ease me in. the weather in Sonora, for when the rains Plan has done much to restore historic do come, the reserve erupts with color: buildings and revitalize the tourist and Instead, I was thrust into a month-long verbenas, poppies, lilies, and the parasitic business districts that were ravaged introduction to many of Mexico’s most traditional events: mariachi concerts and plant sandfood (Pholisma sonorae), an by the violence. For many, the appeal It was charreadas (Mexican rodeos) spring to important part of the diet of the Hia C-ed of visiting Juárez is to be able to say heartbreaking mind, as do traditional dance recitals, film O’odham people living in the region. that you have; its bad reputation has its to see the city screenings, and free concerts from big Know to Need own perverse credibility. But, as long as that was once name Mexican bands and singers. Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua you stay away from the more troubled considered El Reporting on the drug war in 2010, I was colonias, it’s now possible to do so Tequila and beer flowed far too easily and I’d go back in a heartbeat. Lauren Cocking based in Juárez for three months at the without putting yourself at risk. If you’re Paso’s better half brought to height of its cartel violence, when it was still in doubt, let The Curious Mexican or The Fiestas de Octubre attractions can be found Kobby Dagan/VW pics/Getty Images Kobby declared “the murder capital of the world”. Juárez Walking Tour lead the way. its knees across the city throughout the month of October.

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UNDERRATED Welcome

MEXICO Culture Overshadowed by more famous places, these towns & Art may be off your radar, but they’ve earned a special place in the hearts of our nomads.

Chihuahua institution, Elotes El Socio, to buy corn Towns & For many people, the word “Chihuahua” prepared the Mexican way: with cream, Cities brings to mind a tiny dog rather than lime, cheese, chili powder, and love. Mexico’s biggest state. But while the dog Vanessa Nielsen breed did originate there, Chihuahua offers something much better: its capital, Xcalak . Xcalak (pronounced ish-ca-lack) is so

My connection to this city is personal underrated, it’s hardly even fair to say & Wildlife Nature Nature – it’s the site of many of my cherished it’s rated at all. A town of 400 permanent memories, as well as my mom’s childhood residents, Xcalak is on the southern home (now a cool bar on Avenida Bolivar, border with Belize. This is a completely a nexus of Chihuahua nightlife). But, off-the-grid kind of place that forces I also just think it’s incredibly cool: a visitors to disconnect for a while (no cell thriving industrial hub in the middle of a service!). I truly feel like I’m at the end of cattle-ranching state, where Mennonites, the world. And I am, at least, at the end of Adventure indigenous Tarahumaras, and Chihuaheños the highway. mingle, where this small-town girl got to go The majority of residents are fisherman, to the theater, take painting classes, and as their grandparents were before them, see for the first time. and the pace of life is very slow. The People come If I was a new visitor to Chihuahua, I’d connection with the ocean here is strong, for world-class

be sure to visit one of its most important and many of the available activities center sport fishing Know to Need historical sites, the Historical Museum of on the water through diving, snorkeling, or scuba the Mexican Revolution (located in Pancho paddle boarding/kayaking, or sport fishing. diving and Villa’s house). Chihuahua boasts the best People come for the world-class sport beef in Mexico, so I’d be sure to try it in fishing or scuba diving and stay for the stay for the simple way any form (from joints to steakhouses). simple way of life. I find myself looking And I’d make a stop at a Chihuahua forward to the twice-weekly arrival of of life Chris Garrett/Getty Images

40 41 worldnomads.com Xcalak LEARN SOMETHING NEW

the “veggie truck,” the only way to get fresh fruits and veggies, which is announced by the loud honking of the driver. My favorite memories of Xcalak are just simple things, like the nights spent with friends cooking up fish for dinner that we caught earlier that day. Although not a big

fisherman myself, there is something very Welcome satisfying in catching your own dinner. That’s the way of life here: eat, sleep, fish, repeat. Sara Walton

Veracruz A city of grit and faded glamour, Veracruz’s sultry atmosphere and love for music and Culture dance is hard to resist. & Art I spend my first hour or so in Veracruz shading from the tropical sun under the leafy canopy of the zócalo (town square). People sip coffee beneath the colonial-era porticos, vendors hawk snacks and cigars,

and worshippers slip into the cathedral. On Towns & Saturday evenings, the zócalo transforms Cities into a dance floor. It’s flooded with locals, sporting crisp white dresses and guayabera shirts, who come to danzón. Everything in Veracruz shines brighter on Saturday nights. A salty breeze cools

the streets, and live music and dance take & Wildlife Nature Nature Sara Walton center stage in plazas across the city. As a visitor, it’s impossible not to become tangled up in Veracruz’s rhythm. Along the vast malecón (esplanade), the say, nearby Guanajuato, with its colorful surprises. For example, did you know grittier side of Veracruz springs to life. This buildings, or culturally-rich Guadalajara, that it’s also home to a mine bar called La Zocalo of is home to one of Mexico’s busiest ports which is home to some of the country’s Mina? Yes, a literal bar in a mine. Which

Veracruz Adventure People and the 16th-century fort of San Juan de best food. you can reach by catching a tiny train from sip coffee Ulua. In the distance, cranes unload cargo And yet, Zacatecas possesses so the entrance. Honestly. beneath the while at the shore, divers swoop into the much of what makes those destinations However, the surprise I most revelled sea seeking colorful shells. It’s the ideal attractive: like Guanajuato, it’s smattered in was the sampling of Zacatecas’ regional colonial-era spot to watch the sun sink into the Gulf with spectacular colonial edifices, specialty: tacos envenenados, aka porticos, of Mexico, preferably with an ice cream which you can see from above if you “venomous tacos”. Giant, deep-fried, and

vendors hawk from Güero Güera; Veracruz’s finest, and ride the teleférico (cable car) up into the stuffed with meat, chili, beans, and potato, Know to Need snacks and loudest, purveyor of ice cream. Souad Msallem mountains. The cathedral, in particular, they’re not for the faint-hearted or the Find out cigars, and struck me as impressively ornate, and grease-averse. how to Zacatecas later reading confirmed that its dusky pink Sure, Zacatecas isn’t a place I’d dedicate donate to our worshippers Footprints Zacatecas, a high-altitude city where the façade is one of Mexico’s most elaborate a week to exploring, but it’s well worth a projects slip into the air is crisp and the nights are chilly, is examples of Baroque art. weekend. For those tacos alone. Fernando Fucili/Getty Images cathedral not a place of immediate appeal, unlike, Zacatecas is nothing if not full of Lauren Cocking

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Blue whale, Loreto Bay National Marine Park, Sea of Cortez Ralph Lee Hopkins/Getty Images Lee Ralph Welcome Culture Art & Art & Towns & Cities & Wildlife Nature Nature

Humpbacks, manatees, and dolphins. Sea turtles,

marlins, and manta rays. Adventure Howler monkeys and jaguars. Flamingos and macaws. From NATURE the jungles of to the depths of Baja’s Magdalena

Bay, Mexico is heaven for Know to Need wildlife lovers. Join our nomads & WILDLIFE as they pet friendly gray whales, witness a bat volcano, and paddle down a river called “place of monkeys.”

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FROM SELVA TO SIERRA:

EXPLORING Welcome MEXICO’S Culture MEGADIVERSITY & Art Mexico is ranked fifth in the world for its “megadiverse” ecosystems, encompassing rainforests, mountain ranges, and astounding coastlines. Harriet Wood shares four key areas for spotting wildlife. & Towns & Cities

Usumacinta Those desperate moments of the night Triumphantly brushing the last few fire ants before feel distant now, and we’re all hushed off my feet, I turn to adjust my balance in the as we feel the swell of still water beneath boat and catch my breath as a flock of white us and take in the golden landscape, cut

egrets takes off and flutters across the river through with a line of trees embroidered & Wildlife Nature Nature with a few papery beats of their wings. It’s green along the horizon. just past dawn on a November morning, As we move along, I spot countless ospreys, and I’m in a canoe on the Usumacinta River brought here, like me, by the promise of a in Mexico’s Tabasco state, approaching the warmer winter; vultures circling above us edge of the vast wetlands that make up the (as if they know something we don’t); tiny, Pantanos de Centla biosphere reserve. vibrant kingfishers darting along the bank. A I’m part of an interdisciplinary team of 10, jabiru picks among the weeds discerningly, Adventure brought together by non-profit organization stealthy in spite of its massive size – at almost Ninth Wave Global, to undertake a 5ft (1.5m) tall, it’s the biggest bird I’ve ever 16-day project of open exploration and seen. Traveling downstream, northward, environmental study. And, though we As we move towards the Gulf of Mexico, the night herons, range from artists and musicians to along, I spot woodpeckers, and bright-pink roseate

scientists and architects, we’ve bonded countless spoonbills are gradually joined by cormorants, Know to Need quickly over expedition prep; fixing poorly ospreys, pelicans, and frigates. There’s a clue in the rigged hammocks in the lashing rain of a river’s name as to its ruling inhabitant – the midnight storm where every attempt at brought here, root of “Usumacinta” meaning “place of communication brings a fresh mouthful like me, by the monkeys” in – but even so, the deep Bats emerge from their of mosquitos is, it turns out, an effective promise of a roars of the howlers come as a surprise, daytime roost, Calakmul Biosphere Reserve Schafer & Hill/Getty Images team-building exercise. warmer winter creating an echo that’s almost prehistoric.

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TRIP NOTES Mexico’s Butterflies Usumacinta: There are several options for tours and Fireflies and activities on the The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve upper stretch of river in AFP Contributor/Getty Images Every year, millions of bright-orange monarch butterflies Chiapas, where Frontera Corozal offers the migrate from the US and Canada to the mountains of Mexico incredible Maya riverside and Michoacán states, where they fill the air, carpet the

ruins of Yaxchilan to ground, and hang in great clusters from the trees. Visitors can Welcome those who put in the witness this phenomenon at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere effort to get there. The Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site that covers more than lower regions are less 200mi2 (518km2). The reserve is open mid-November through visited and require a little Firefly more asking around. Sanctuary, March, with peak season in January and February. It’s best to Nanacamilpa, go on weekdays to avoid the crowds. Palizada is charming Tlaxcala and fairly well-served by public transport, There are four public access points to the reserve: with accommodations Herrada and Cerro Pelon (Mexico state), and El Rosaria and Culture

available at the family-run Sierra Chincua (Michoacán). Cerro Pelon is the most remote, & Art local guest house. while El Rosario is the most popular. All require an uphill hike of Sierra Potosina: The a mile or more at up to 10,000ft (3,048m) of elevation, though easiest entry points are you can rent a horse to take you part of the way. Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. Interesting places Nanacamilpa Firefly Sanctuary to stay abound. In July and August, hundreds of thousands of fireflies put on a Calakmul: The crossroads glorious light show in the forests of Tlaxcala, about two hours town of Xpujil is easily Towns & from Mexico City. The females are flightless, so it’s important Cities reached by colectivo not to step on them. No flashlights or flash photography or (slightly pricier) ADO allowed. Ideal viewing time is between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. buses from Escarcega, Huasteca Elizabeth W. Kearley/Getty Images Kearley/Getty Elizabeth W. and serves as base for Roseate Spoonbill de Anda/Getty Images Francisco J. Potosina most tourists visiting the area, with options ranging from decent hotels to cheap cabañas. For a In this ancient atmosphere, it’s hard to Querétaro, , Veracruz, and San their most spectacular at the Volcán de & Wildlife

more offbeat experience, Nature stay in nearby Zoh- believe that we’re so close to the single-lane Luis Potosí and offering everything los Murciélagos (literally, Bat Volcano). Laguna, where you’ll tarmac road which bisects the biosphere from low, humid forest and turquoise Monkeys, spiders, and peccaries are in find distinctive wooden architecture and artisanal and has caused such great gulfs to open up waterfalls to high, arid desert. Great for abundance, but only the very luckiest will workshops in a former between the communities living alongside adventurers, it’s best explored by vehicle. catch a glimpse of a jaguar. logging community. the river. There are reminders of the Las Pozas, an enormous sculpture garden Bacalar: and Usumacinta's history as an international designed by surrealist writer and art Lake Bacalar Cancún are the closest trading route in the beautiful French roof collector Edward James near the village The breathtaking “lake of seven Adventure airports to the lake, with lots of ADO buses tiles topping the houses of Palizada, a of Xilitla, reframed my perspective on the colors” has, almost unbelievably, thus and colectivos passing small pueblo mágico a few miles from the cascadas of the subtropical rainforest far stayed off the radar of the major through from Tulum river. But, with the community now hosting entirely. tourism companies that ferry busloads and Playa del Carmen in the north, and Belize progressive reforestation projects, and tiny of holidaymakers across the Yucatán to the south. There’s eco-tourism initiatives springing up and Calakmul Peninsula, and it’s all the better for it. The

accommodation in Bacalar offering new sources of income, many locals Most famous – and rightly so – for area surrounding the 26-mi-long (42-km) Know to Need to suit every budget, and are looking ahead to a sustainable future. its eponymous archaeological site lake is made even more interesting campsites are available at several points around and giant pyramids, Calakmul is the by the huge variety of migratory birds the lake. Renting a bike Sierra Potosina biggest of the ancient Maya cities and, which stop there on their journey south, is your best option for Another treasure trove for birdwatchers, nowadays, the most remote. For wildlife providing a cross-section of North- and exploring and finding the Sierra Potosina is located in the very enthusiasts it’s worth the journey for Central-American wildlife in one unique

hidden gems along the Cordier/Getty Images Sylvain water. heart of the country, spanning parts of the amazing variety of bats, which are at ecosystem.

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SEEK EXPERIENCES TRIP NOTES International flights land in most of these cities, with domestic flights connecting to Whale Bays & smaller La Paz and Puerto Escondido. La Paz, Sur Turtle Beaches Laidback La Paz is on the Sea of Cortez, From Magdalena Bay to Puerto Escondido, 125mi (200km) north of Cabo. Several species, Welcome Johanna Read tells you how to get up close and even giant blue whales, feed here. You can also personal with the ocean’s gentle giants. snorkel with turtles, rays, sea lions, and whale sharks. Bus tours go to Magdalena Bay for the day for gray Where the whales come whale watching. Cabo,

to be petted Culture The gray whale swims slowly toward our & Art The southern tip of boat, her baby following closely. She sinks Baja peninsula, where under the baby, then gently lifts him onto the Pacific meets her back so he’s almost fully out of the the Sea of Cortez, is a favorite spot of water. Is this so we can admire him, or so whales. Humpbacks the baby can get a good view of us? are often seen from shore in winter. Five Introductions done, what happens next Towns &

turtle species nest from Cities is even more surreal. The 50ft-long (15m) August to December. mother floats over to our boat and stops, Puerto Escondido, her nose partially underneath us. Leaning Oaxaca over the gunwale, I reach out and pet her A gray whale Find six turtle species, head. It’s slippery smooth, except where it’s appraoches a boat five dolphin species, in Magdalena Bay and, from November covered in barnacles. Soon the baby noses

Carlos Sanchez Pereyra/Getty Images Carlos Sanchez Pereyra/Getty to April, humpback

his way over, wanting some love too. whales. They’re even & Wildlife Nature Nature I’m told Magdalena Bay is one of only seen from the beach. three bays in the world – all off Baja – Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco where this phenomenon is known to Three mothers with babies repeat this my eye. There’s a huge turtle floating the adorable babies. They protect and The largest gathering of Pacific humpbacks in happen. Usually, petting or otherwise whale-led interaction before our onboard two-thirds of the way up the wall of the release 40,000 to 60,000 turtle hatchlings Mexico is in Vallarta’s touching wild animals is to be strictly naturalist says, “Time’s up,” and we head wave. She’s scoping out the beach – where annually. Bahia de Banderas avoided, but here the whales themselves back to Bahia Magdalena’s Puerto San she herself was hatched 15 years ago – to After the sun has set, I carry my hatchling from December to March. seek it out. Carlos and our bus to La Paz. choose the perfect spot to lay her eggs in a coconut shell, careful not to touch Adventure Cetacean lovers, rejoice: along with tonight. her. When her flippers feel the sand, she Cancún and the Riviera Maya, grays, Mexico is home to humpbacks, This Puerto Escondido beach is ideal pauses before starting her 100ft (30m) Quintana Roo minkes, fins, blue whales, and several for turtles. It’s 15mi (24km) long and empty scramble into the waves, imprinting the Turtles lay eggs on dolphin species. save for a fenced-in area where turtle eggs location in her brain as she goes. With luck, Riviera Maya beaches After the sun from May to October. has set, I carry are buried to protect them from predators, she’ll be one of the 5% which survives and Isla Mujeres, off UlrikeStein/Getty Images UlrikeStein/Getty Saving endangered baby sea turtles and the local resort which sponsors the returns in 15 years to lay her own eggs. Cancún, is turtle- Know to Need my hatchling The sunset view is simply too gorgeous Palmarito Sea Turtle Camp. A few times Without the assistance of the turtle project, mating central from May to July. (Note: Isla in a coconut to keep my eyes closed during our beach nightly, patrols search the beach for turtles only have a 1-2% chance of survival. Mujeres now charges shell, careful yoga lesson. I watch Playa Palmarito’s freshly-laid eggs. They dig them up, count Mexico has six of the world’s seven a small tourist tax upon immense summertime waves rise higher them, and then rebury them, marking the sea turtle species – green, olive ridley, arrival.) Dolphins are not to touch occasionally seen and higher, then slowly curl before they date they’re expected to hatch. About two hawksbill, loggerhead, kemp’s ridley, and nearby, and whale her fall with a crash. Then, something catches months later, hotel guests can help release leatherback. sharks visit in summer.

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Cozumel, Quintana Roo Ken Kiefer/Getty Images Ken Welcome Culture Art & Art & Towns & Cities & Wildlife Nature Nature Adventure

With 5,800mi (9,330km) of coastline along waters both chilly and tropical, Mexico’s

shores offer a multitude of Know to Need outdoor activities. Explore an ADVENTURE underwater museum, paddle the Sea of Cortez, or tackle the mighty waves of the famed “Mexican Pipeline”.

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Where else Into the Blue: to sea kayak in Mexico: Kayaking in Baja’s Near La Paz, the turquoise waters of

Balandra Bay make a Welcome great day trip. Or do Loreto Bay a multi-day excursion out to Isla Espiritu Santo, where you can Jacques Cousteau called Mexico’s Sea of snorkel with playful Cortez “the world’s aquarium.” To writer sea lions. On the Caribbean Tim Neville, that sounds about right. coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, you can Culture

paddle through the & Art mangroves of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere e haven’t been paddling for long reserve, watching for when a large creature appears in manatees, monkeys, and tropical birds. Wthe water under my kayak. It’s an odd, primordial moment to see something

big and alive finning below my soft and Towns & fleshy bits. How exciting, I think. Please Cities don’t eat me. At first, it’s just a hunch, then a long, Sea kayaking in slender bill waves through the water like southern Baja David Madison/Getty Images a fencer feeling out a sword. The body glides by, slender and sleek and designed

for speed. Seven feet of fish. It rolls to the & Wildlife Nature Nature left, and sunlight fires off its sides in electric feathery drones. Jacques Cousteau called Then night falls – time to build a campfire slides into the cockpit of his boat and bolts. this place the world’s aquarium, and if you on the beach, sleep in the light of the leads us into the bay. Another guide, Luli “A marlin!” I stammer. A blue marlin. I can’t go by the number of sea turtles I’ve already moon, and think that life is pretty great. Noriega, brings up the rear while a safety imagine what it would have been like had it seen, there is no doubt he was right. boat motors behind us, out of ear shot, with been a whale. Any trip here is special, but kayakers Dirtbag exclusivity tables, chairs, and a fully stocked kitchen. Close encounters like this with have it particularly good. Loreto must on the Sea of Cortez The plan is to spend two nights camping on charismatic fauna were the reason I’d come “Magnifico!” count among Mexico’s most charming A few days earlier, three friends and I land the islands. Other than that, our itinerary is Adventure to Mexico’s Loreto Bay National Marine seaside towns, a laidback community of at La Paz on the southern end of Baja open. I fall in behind Axel and let the kayak Park. The 800 mi² (2,072 km²) reserve, off booms my 18,000 people with leafy boulevards, a and pile into a van for a bumpy five-hour lurch with each paddle stroke. the coast of southern Baja in the Sea of friend Javi sparkling waterfront, and one of the oldest drive north to Loreto. It’s December, the “Magnifico!” booms my friend Javi Cortez, was first established in 1996, and González, a Jesuit missions in the country. It’s also temperature cool but comfortable, and González, a writer from Spain, as a turtle is now part of a 244-island UNESCO World writer from the jumping off point for five uninhabited a strong wind whips the bay into a stiff rears its knobby head between our boats. Heritage Site. More than 800 species of islands that rise just off shore within easy meringue. Conditions like those can make Annie Young, a friend from Panama, Know to Need Spain, as a aquatic critters call these waters home, paddling distance. Exploring by kayak paddling tough for inexperienced boaters pulls up to see it, while Michael Cook, Improve including blue whales – the world’s largest turtle rears its makes it easy to draw close to rocky shores like us, but by mid-morning things have a salesman from Oregon, hollers he’s your writing, animal – that migrate into the bay every and probe for secluded coves. There are settled down enough for us to give it a go. seen one, too. Luli hoots when a manta photography, knobby head and videos spring. Dolphins, manta rays, humpbacks, white sand beaches to laze on, and trails One of our guides, Axel Herrara ray swims by, flapping its wings like a with Create and fin whales cruise the channels, too, between our weave around towering cacti to reach Hernández, a marine biologist with a prehistoric bird. while frigate birds patrol the skies like boats sweeping ridges with spectacular views. scruffy goatee and love for dolphin songs, I hadn’t been to Mexico in years, and

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Camping on Isla del Carmen Jasperdo/Creative Commons Welcome

Loreto Culture Art & Art

htrnr/Getty Images Frigate Birds Tim Neville UNFORGETTABLE Towns & Cities The Yucatán’s Pink Lagoons now I’m kicking myself for it. There had stay up late playing word games around a TRIP NOTES been the all-inclusive trip to Cancún with my modest campfire. We put a dent in the beer We all love a bit of pink sky reflected in blue waters. But have you parents when I was 14, my first trip abroad. In and let the conversation turn personal. Luli, Getting there: Alaska experienced it the other way round? Airlines flies into Loreto college, my ’74 Ford pickup broke down on who is in her early 30s, tells us about how from Los Angeles but you I learned about the pink lagoons of Yucatán’s Gulf Coast from a friend’s a very short-lived trip through northern Baja, she barely survived a cancer that left her can often find cheaper & Wildlife

photos, which looked utterly otherworldly. When I reached the dusty Nature tickets into La Paz or and I literally had to push it back into the hollow and desperate. Trips like these heal little village of Las Coloradas, I was initially disappointed. The nearest Cabo San Lucas. From United States. The last trip was to Akumal, the scars that no one sees. there, catch a bus north to lagoon looked blue from a distance, flanked by gleaming white hills of in 2008, when my wife and I scuba dived The rest of the trip seems to blow by in Loreto, about five hours the salt they extract here. But at close encounter, the lake is fairy tale in a cave filled with water so clear it looked a blur. We stay put on Isla del Carmen for from La Paz and nine hours pink, as if nature tricked my eyes. It felt like being wrapped in cotton from Cabo. like air, a “cenote,” as they say. This trip to another night and snorkel with jacks and sea candy. I absorbed the surreal scenery, took pictures, and strolled around to see the flamingos in the outer lagoons. Loreto has a dirtbag exclusivity about it, like horses. I nap in the warm sand and marvel Best time to go: Whales arrive early in the year and Adventure our salt-stained selves have been allowed at the loneliness of it all while feeling as stay into April. Summers The world has very few pink lakes. The pink colour is not an optical behind the velvet rope into a party for connected as ever. are hot. Winters are illusion – it comes naturally from brine shrimp and algae called nature’s beauty queens. On the final morning, we point the boats pleasant, potentially cool, Dunaliella salina. The colors can be seen at any time of year, but the and sometimes windy (but pigment is more concentrated in the afternoons, and the best photo west and head for home. An hour into the still probably much better op is at sunset. Connected on Isla del Carmen crossing, the marlin swims under my boat. than the weather where you’re at). Early afternoon rolls around and we set up We snorkel until we are pickled in a hidden My curiosity aroused, I later checked out Xtampú Salinas, which has

camp on Isla del Carmen, an uninhabited cove on Isla Danzante, three miles away, Guides: Several local ponds that are fifty shades of pink, from spiky, purplish Mexican to Know to Need island about six miles off shore. The Sierra and hike to an overlook called Coyote companies offer overnight soft cherry blossom. This feels more like a working site, with small trips on the islands. Some pyramids of white salt dotted everywhere. Your only companions will Giganta mountains tower to the west in Point. There, I sit on a rock and watch a pair US-based companies purple lumps. Axel reminds us to beware of of kayakers coming our way, their trip just offer packaged sea be flamingos, woodpeckers, and herons. scorpions wandering into our sleeping bags. beginning. kayaking tours that include transfers, hotels, and Both lake areas are protected, patrolled by the locals, but there’s “You don’t want a surprise like that!” he says. Lucky them, I think. I hope they don’t get meals as well as guides no fee. You won’t be able to swim or walk in them – just absorb that We hike along the island’s shore, then eaten. and equipment. Jones Lydia eccentric scenery. It will forever stay in your mind. Lydia Jones

56 57 worldnomads.com Baja Pacific coast SEE EXPERIENCES Chasing Waves

on the Welcome West Coast From Baja to Oaxaca, Mexico’s surf breaks are renowned for a reason.

Dane Faurschou takes an epic Culture Art & Art road trip in search of the best.

ince I was 12 years old, I’ve been watching surfing movies filmed

in Mexico, and now I’m going to Towns & S Cities experience it for myself. Heading into to Tijuana from the US, I know two things: Mexico has a crazy amount of amazing, right-hand point breaks, and really, really big waves once the season turns on. Our first goal is to get off the beaten path.

Mexico is famous for this – if you’re willing & Wildlife Nature Nature to put in the hours of driving, you’re almost certain to find some incredible waves all to yourself. The other goal is to surf all the famous spots Mexico’s west coast is known for.

Northern Baja: San Junico Adventure As we head south through Baja, we have a few spots marked on our map, but we also want to just explore and see where the roads take us. At first, we’re met with nothing but strong winds and an ungodly

amount of flies, but eventually we stumble Know to Need on a right-hand point that quickly becomes one of my favorite places ever. It’s near a sleepy little town called San Junico. We follow the coast down point after point, eventually stopping on a small headland. Marie Kazalia/Getty Images Marie Kazalia/Getty I see two heads bobbing around in the

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perfect for snorkeling and fishing. East The road to Oaxaca of San Jose Del Cabo, the population Our next destination is Mexico’s most diminishes – one road winding round the famous surfing spot, Puerto Escondido, in cliffs that hug the ocean, and a handful of the state of Oaxaca. It takes a few weeks to tiny villages where we’re lucky to buy more get there, and as we drive down the coast than packets of biscuits, onions, and a few it’s consistently hot and humid – tropical carrots. But desolate as it is, we almost rainforest and plantations of bananas and

always find one or two surfers camped on coconut trees continually surround us. Welcome the beaches, all with stockpiles of food and We stop at a dozen or more places. Rio water to avoid the long, pot-holed road Nexpa stands out in for its amazing right- back to the closest town. hand break and for the river that flows The coast is littered with a dozen out of the mountains and into the surf. We different surfing spots for all levels and constantly hear stories of crocodiles up the suitable for anything from a short board to river, and the thought of what lies beneath a nine-footer. Two particular highlights here is forever in our minds. Fortunately, we Culture are Shipwrecks (better for a short board) never see one, but almost every day, we’re & Art and Nine Palms (if you want something met in the water by ever-curious sea turtles more relaxed). that poke their heads up just meters away We spend a couple of weeks here and from us and then disappear again. Joel Carillet/Getty Images Puerto Escondido surf from dawn to dusk – the conditions are perfect and there’s swell every day thanks Puerto Escondido and beyond

to a small tropical storm sitting just off the Puerto Escondido is a different world, and Towns & water. One of them takes off on a wave coast. But eventually we take the ferry to I had been wanting to surf here for more Cities – he pulls off almost a minute later. I’m in Mazatlan, where the mainland section of than 10 years. With some of the biggest shock. Minute-long waves and only two the trip begins. waves you’re ever likely to see, it attracts people riding them? I can’t get in fast the best surfers and professionals from enough. TRIP NOTES Mainland Mexico: Pascuales around the globe. As a result, the town What’s meant to be three days turns into Our first stop is Boca de Pascuales, 435mi is well developed for surf tourism: the Puerto Escondido is weeks, living in our van parked on the bluff (700km) south of Mazatlan. The town restaurants are trendy, the food is delicious & Wildlife an ideal place for both Nature and surfing three to four times a day. The beginners and advanced is not beautiful, just one street of small, (everything from traditional pollo asado desert is harsh here – an array of cactus surfers. There are a poorly-thrown-together buildings and to vegan) and the vibe is relaxed. But and sand broken up by a series of mesas number of surf schools barking dogs. The black sand beach isn’t that ends at water’s edge as waves tower where you can rent jutting straight out of the earth. Though boards, and just a short particularly attractive, and the locals aren’t above the horizon, stirring up a potent mix we don’t see any animals, vultures circle drive out of Puerto is a overly friendly, but I’m looking to throw my of fear and excitement. overhead constantly. The winds are strong, long, gentle, left-hand body into some big, heavy, waves with few Next, we head south to the land of long, point break perfect for Adventure the days hot, and the nights cold – it’s beginners. Further south, crowds, and this is the place to do it. right-point breaks, some of the best in the quintessential Baja experience. My there are good hostels There are waves almost daily during the the world. We wake before the sun every girlfriend goes from barely standing up right in front of the waves season (spring and summer). At first, I’m a morning, surrounded by golden sand at and Barra to riding waves for a full a minute in a few del Cruz (arguably the two little nervous about the size of the swell, and crystal-clear water, gazing out on short weeks. But finally, after some of the best points in the area). but after a few days of double-overhead perfect points and just a handful of people. longest rides of my life, it’s time to move on. When driving along the waves I settle in and am hungry for Fishermen pass occasionally on their way

coast, be sure to follow anything. The wave can be overwhelming to their secret fishing spots – on the way Know to Need Southern Baja: San Jose del Cabo all speed signs, plan to at times – some days it’s so big that we back they often stop to talk and offer us arrive at your destination We continue down the peninsula to San two hours before dark, stand on the shore with a handful of other their catch. Jose del Cabo, at the southern tip. The and have your route surfers, debating whether or not to paddle It’s surfer heaven, but the mountains cacti are replaced by palm trees, the water completely planned out out. This place draws big-wave people are calling. After a few months and some in cities and towns to

becomes warmer, and the color changes avoid getting lost on side from all over, a mix of reclusive types that of the most incredible waves of my life, it’s Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur Joel Carillet /Getty Images from a deep blue to a tropical light blue, streets. just want to be left alone to surf. time to go.

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MEXICO’S BEST Welcome DIVING AND Culture SNORKELING & Art Sara Walton reveals her top dive spots, from the aquamarine Caribbean waters around the Yucatán Peninsula to Cabo Pulmo Reserve, considered

one of the most successful marine parks in the world. Towns & Cities

s I back-roll off the boat and take of many possible adventures when diving my first breaths below the surface, in Mexico. I feel the familiar peace of being

A & Wildlife underwater settle in. I’m in my instructor Cozumel: The jewel of Nature Nature training certification class in Xcalak, Mexican diving Mexico, and we all descend to begin Cozumel, a world-renowned diving practicing our skills. Suddenly, I see a destination off the northeastern edge of shadowy figure appear. Is it…? Yes – a the Yucatán Peninsula, is the most popular manatee! As one by one we notice it, the location in Mexico for scuba diving. The practicing ceases; there is no training water is generally crystal clear and warm, anymore, there is only us and this graceful and the life is plentiful, including idyllic, Adventure creature. Often referred to as sea cows due waving fan corals, eels, turtles, sharks, rays to their large size, these slow plant eaters and all kinds of colorful fish. While there have a wide snout, flippers, round body, are beginner dive sites in Cozumel, the and a flat tail that helps them move through I watch as she advanced drift dives (where divers let the the water with surprising ease. glides over current carry them) are more common. The

Careful not to get too close and startle the reef, the currents here make a sharp curve around Know to Need her, I watch as she glides over the reef, the sun streaming the island and can be pretty strong, adding sun streaming down behind her, casting a down behind to the adventure. very mermaid-like silhouette. We watch her for a few magical minutes before she slips her, casting a Banco Chinchorro: very mermaid- away, into the great blue beyond. Into the unknown Underwater Museum of Art An encounter with a manatee is just one like silhouette If Cozumel is the crown jewel of diving

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to grow on. Many different artists were involved in TRIP NOTES the sculpture creation, and the subjects Cozumel has a small airport for the statues range from houses to or can be reached via ferry

Ullstein Bild/Getty Images cars to unexploded mines. One of the from Playa del Carmen, most evocative exhibits is a large group about an hour from the major airport in Cancún. of standing figures, reminiscent of the There are a multitude

terracotta warriors of Xi’an, China, with of dive shops catering Welcome statues stretching as far as you can to different preferences (group size vs. price). Dive see. This unique intersection of art and trips can be arranged once science has been a success for the on the island or prior. I region. As divers, we’re more aware of recommend reading reviews on the operator’s the environmental impact that humans are experience and safety having on the reefs and underwater life, before booking. Expect and the museum is a shining example that to spend around US $100 Culture

($2,028 MXN) for a two- & Art we can still have a positive impact on tank dive. our environment. MUSA’s a must-see for Banco Chinchorro is only eco-conscious divers. accessible via boat, from Mahahual or Xcalak. Rent Isla Holbox: Gentle giants a car or take a public bus from the Cancún airport to Off the northern coast of Quintana Roo is Pacific Cownose Rays reach the region. There are

Isla Holbox, a calm-water paradise that’s only a few dive operators Towns & the essence of island living. There are no in the area, so it’s best to Cities contact in advance. Diving UNFORGETTABLE reefs in Isla Holbox, but there is a special trips start at around US in Mexico, then Banco Chinchorro is the phenomenon that happens every year $150 ($3,048 MXN) and diamond in the rough. Located in the from May to September – the whale shark increase for overnight trips. Oaxaca Craft Beer Festival southernmost part of Quintana Roo, this migration. Whale sharks are filter feeders Isla Mujeres is a ferry ride Opposite the Templo de San Matias Jalatlaco, I watched an old relatively unknown, remote atoll is only (aka not human eaters) and are the biggest away from the major airport in Cancún. There are quite man weave marigolds into a trellis above the door leading to accessible via boat. The reefs and sea life fish known to man – they can reach 40 & Wildlife

a few dive operators, and Oaxaca’s Craft Beer festival, Muerteada Cervecera. Nature here are abundant and mostly untouched; feet (12m) in length and up to 22 tons. I recommend researching fisherman and divers are the only people Their mouth alone can be 5 feet (1.5m) beforehand to find an It was early November at the climax of Dia de Muertos. Walking operator that suits your to be found for miles around. Sightings of wide. Unfortunately, I missed whale shark through the atrium, we rotated clockwise through the courtyard needs. Prices are around sampling the hand-crafted beer from more than 20 local brewers. In sharks, rays, manatees, and saltwater crocs season, but I hope to return soon to snorkel US $100 ($2,028 MXN) for its infancy, the Mexican craft beer industry looks north to the United a two-tank dive. are common and while there are plenty of with these amazing behemoths (scuba States for inspiration; informing the brewers that we came from the tame dive sites, advanced wreck diving is diving is prohibited, one of many rules in Isla Holbox can be reached US to Oaxaca specifically to explore the craft beer scene elicited also available. place to protect the sharks). by a ferry from Chiquilá, a glowing eyes and smiles of appreciation. They seemed surprised Adventure two-hour bus ride from the nearest airport in Cancún. anyone would travel to Oaxaca for craft beer. Isla Mujeres: An eco-conscious Cabo Pulmo: The great blue Snorkeling with whale With half the stands behind us, no beer truly stood out. That soon experience The Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park sharks costs around US $150 ($3,048 MXN) per changed with the Rey-Oh-Baby Pale Ale: fruity esters under a Somewhere between the popularity of is located on the Pacific side of Mexico, person. malt backbone with a clean, refreshing, bitter finish. The next Cozumel and the remoteness of Banco a world away from the warm, Caribbean Cabo Pulmo is a 90-min stand presented a mole-flavored stout: spicy chili pepper and

Chinchorro, there is Isla Mujeres, just off the waters of the Yucatán. The Pacific Ocean is drive northeast from San creamy chocolate added complexity to the dark, roasted flavors. Know to Need shore of Cancún. One of the exceptional the big, deep blue – the waters are colder, Jose del Cabo international Center-stage, the band’s trumpets accelerated their tempo with our dive spots here is the Museo Subacuatico rougher, and more challenging, and the airport. There are quite a discovery of new flavors. On the dance floor, brimming with liquid few dive operators so trips courage, our bodies obeyed the Mexican rhythm under clear, starry de Arte (MUSA) or the Underwater Museum sea life is equal to the environment. The can be arranged on site or skies. Sam Kazmer of Art. MUSA is an artificial reef structure pelagic life here is famous, featuring sea prior. Expect to pay around

US $100 ($2,028 MXN) per KAZMER SAM made up of more than 500 statues placed lions, whales, sharks, schooling rays, and Oaxaca’s Craft Beer Festival is held either the first week in November or the first two-tank dive. underwater as building blocks for coral dramatic wall drop-offs. week in December.

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SEEK EXPERIENCES Ullstein Bild/Getty Images TRIP NOTES Cenotes, Dos Ojos A 30-minute drive north of Tulum. Dive guides can be the Jewels of hired in Tulum and are essential if you want to do the fully- Welcome submerged cavern the Yucatán dive. There’s a small area near the cave opening where you Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is known for its can simply snorkel and cenotes – limestone sinkholes filled with play in the water, but this particular cenote fresh, crystalline water. Chelsea Gregory offers far more for shares two of her favorites. certified divers. The

dive is challenging, Culture but worth the effort. & Art I’d recommend it for moderate to advanced divers with enotes, to me, are the enchanting an excellent command gems of the Yucatán Peninsula. of buoyancy control The mysticism and history of these – the rock formations are delicate, ancient,

C Towns & geologic masterpieces cast a spell on me and not to be touched. Cities at once. The Maya built civilizations around San Actun “xenotes” as their link to the underworld 10 minutes past Dos and a vital water source. The clarity of the Dos Ojos cenote, Ojos. An entry fee of Yucatán Peninsula US $19 ($400 MXN) aquamarine water that appears to glow, provides a life jacket, a the calcified rock formations adorned with snorkel, and a guide. vines, and the greenery of the surrounding Getting there

jungle create an experience that’s all- road to the dive site, I was a little nervous to leaves me full of wonder. It’s worth every vine-draped stairway and wade into Renting a car provides & Wildlife Nature Nature encompassing. try cavern diving – it’s not to be taken lightly. penny. the crystalline water for a leisurely float the most flexibility. However, there are But as soon as I hopped out of the truck I’ve been diving all over the world in many through the caves, taking in the ornate a number of local Dos Ojos belonging to Alex, my dive guide, I knew different landscapes of varying difficulty, rock surrounding me. A local guide (in both tours leaving from I feel weightless, suspended in the dark, I’d made the right decision. I stood in the but cavern diving is a completely foreign Spanish and English) gives a mind-boggling both Tulum and Playa del Carmen if you’re cool cavern. As I study the intricate early morning sun, pulling my wetsuit over experience. If you’re looking for a more explanation of the prehistoric formation of interested in the stalactites and stalagmites around me, it my shoulders, and noticed an iguana larger extreme adventure and want to explore the these geological wonders. I let myself drift snorkeling option. occurs to me that this may be the closest than my arm lazily crossing the dirt parking pitch black of underwater caverns in the through the glowing blue water, looking They’ll take care Adventure of transportation, I’ll ever come to space exploration. With lot. I waved hello and giggled to myself. This Yucatán Peninsula, this is a dive to awaken up at the ancient ceiling of the cavern and The feeling equipment, and an air tank strapped to my back, listening was going to be a good day. all the senses. hearing nothing but the quiet drip of the entrance fees. to the steady stream of bubbles through of exploring I had been a little hesitant to pay the water (and the occasional squeaking bat).

the regulator, I follow the cylindrical beam a part of the diving fee of US $150 ($3,048 MXN). Sac Actun Thinking about the time it took to create Not all World of light coming from my underwater torch. It’s pricey for a backpacker, and I hadn’t Found near Dos Ojos but a bit further the beauty around me makes me feel Nomads travel world I had insurance plans Slowly and steadily, I sweep it through the expected to pay that in Mexico, but a friend into the jungle, San Actun is a captivating expansive, yet small at the same time – Know to Need cover scuba diving, darkness to illuminate the delicate calcium never dreamt assured me that it would be an experience experience that’s available to people of another ingredient in a “primordial soup” cave diving, or deposits, and decide I don’t feel like I’m on of leaves me I wouldn’t forget. all levels and all ages. Like Dos Ojos, this that has been here far longer than I can cavern diving – be sure to select the planet Earth anymore. Not the Earth I’ve full of wonder. Now, suspended in the cave, it makes is a cavernous cenote, but this site offers comprehend, and will be here long after I’m right plan for the experienced so far, anyway. perfect sense as to why this experience a 20-minute float along the tunnel system gone. It sharpens my connection with nature type of activity you’re Earlier that day, as we pulled off the It’s worth came at a price. The feeling of exploring without being submerged. and reminds me that our natural world is to doing. See pg. 79 for more details. highway and made our way down the dirt every penny a part of the world I had never dreamt of Wearing a life jacket, I descend a be protected.

66 67 worldnomads.com Contents Climate & Weather Dennis Walton/Getty Images Dennis Walton/Getty I deeply distrust blanket statements about the best time to visit Mexico. There isn’t one – at least not one that applies Welcome uniformly to the entirety of this vast, geographically diverse country.

In the northern desert states, like , Chihuahua, Sonora, and Culture Nuevo León, winters are brutally & Art cold, and summers are baking hot. Meanwhile, the central and southern regions typically (and conversely) experience dry winters and warm, Mountains in wet summers. Over in the coastal Sergio Mendoza/EyeEm/Getty Images

regions, summer can be oppressively Towns & humid (we’re talking sweating-when- Cities TRAVEL SMARTER sitting-still-level humid), which perhaps whale watching, too – the best place to do explains why the comfortably warm so is in Baja California Sur. Climate and Weather 69 winters are peak season for places like When spring rolls around, schedule a Where to Stay 70 the Riviera Maya and Puerto Vallarta. trip to Mexico City. The jacaranda trees One aspect of the Mexican climate come into bloom, while the rains have yet

Getting Around 72 that’s often overlooked is the to really arrive and the morning chill has all & Wildlife NEED Nature Top 10 Safety Tips for Mexico 74 prolonged, and very, very real rainy but disappeared. Plus, the city is quieter season. Sometimes accompanied by than usual over Easter as the residents go Festival Calendar 76 hurricanes, the rainy period tends to hit on holiday. TO KNOW central and southern Mexico between Summer should be used to take Social Etiquette 78 Ready to explore your boundaries and plan June and September, and when it rains advantage of stable temperatures in your own Mexican adventure? First, check out Essential Insurance Tips 79 in the Mexican capital, trust me, it pours; high-altitude spots, like Guanajuato and however, storms most often arrive San Cristóbal de las Casas. Alternatively, Adventure our expert tips to help you travel smarter and Our Contributors like clockwork in the late-afternoon, it can be a great time to get up close and & Other Guides 80 protect yourself against weather, crime, and so don’t be deterred – simply pencil personal with nature, because summer While it’s scams. Get advice on how to be a respectful Get a Quote 82 in a museum trip. And maybe pack a is whale shark season off the Caribbean tricky to and responsible visitor. What should women raincoat. coast, while turtle releases are frequent in pinpoint the and LGBTQ travelers expect? What’s the best While it’s tricky to pinpoint the perfect Puerto Vallarta, Oaxaca, and Los Cabos. perfect time way to get around? Learn all that and more. time to visit, it is possible to plan your Autumn sees most places easing out to visit, it Know to Need trip strategically. of their rainy seasons, bringing cool and is possible Winter is peak season for most comfortable weather. You really have your Mexican resorts, and, naturally, the most pick of places to visit, but for my money, to plan comfortable time to visit those humid Oaxaca and Monterrey are great autumnal your trip coastal regions. Take advantage and go options. Lauren Cocking strategically

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General Where Cost Guide ACCOMMODATION Hostels: Dorm beds to Stay US $5.50-20 ($10- From boutique hotels to Danita Delimont/Getty Images 405 MXN) per night Budget hotel, backpacker hostels, Mexico has double room: US accommodation options for every $25-50 ($507-1,015 MXN) budget. Demand for rooms – and Mid-range, double Welcome rates – are at their highest in the room: US $50-100 peak season (roughly December ($1,015-2,030 MXN) to April, with spikes at Christmas, High end, double room: $100+ New Year and Easter), July to ($2,030+ MXN) August in the beach resorts, on Camping: US $3-15 national holidays, and during local ($60-305 MXN) Culture

fiestas. NomadShafik Meghji & Art TRANSPORT offers his tips. Rental cars: From US $50-60 ($1,015-1,217 MXN) per day City taxis: US $1- 1.25 ($20-25 MXN) per km

Hotels Towns & Budget hotels often have shared Local buses: US $1-3 Cities ($20-60 MXN) bathrooms, while mid-range ones are Guanajuato : almost always en suite and come with One-way fare US TVs and often a/c. Top-end hotels $0.25 ($5 MXN) range from global chains to all-inclusive resorts. Boutique hotels and B&Bs ample communal areas and kitchens, and Peninsula has arguably the finest range of travelers with campervans/RVs, rather

are increasingly popular and are often offer plenty of activities. A dorm bed costs , some of them located on the than tents – for the latter, expect to pay & Wildlife Nature Nature the most appealing places to stay. US$5.50-20 ($10-405 MXN) a night. Many of fringes of the region’s Maya ruins. I once US$3-15 a night. Many hostels will also Posadas (inns), paradors, and casa Mexico’s spent a memorable night in a jungle- let you camp – or sleep in a hammock de huéspedes (both guesthouses) are Airbnbs haciendas – shrouded, 16th-century hacienda that (either your own or one rented for a small generally small-scale, often family-run Increasingly popular, you’ll find Airbnb colonial-era housed the pioneering archeologists who fee) under a covered shelter – in their budget or mid-range hotels. Expect to properties in all the major tourist rural estates excavated Chichén Itzá. grounds. Camping on beaches and in the pay around US $25-50 ($507-1,015 MXN) destinations. They’re particularly good countryside is not advisable as robberies

– have been Adventure per night for a double/twin in a budget for families and groups. Cabañas (or worse) are a serious risk. hotel, around US $50-100 ($1,015-2,030 turned into Popular on the coast, cabañas are literally MXN) in a mid-range establishment, and Homestays atmospheric, “cabins”, though in practice the term is Jungle lodges US $100+ ($2,030+ MXN) at the top end. Staying with a local is a great way to really high-end often used to refer to a beach hut. At the To get away from it all for a few days, try get under the country’s skin. Many hosts hotels most basic end, expect dirt floors, no a jungle lodge. Many are akin to luxury Hostels offer a family-style atmosphere, home- electricity and little more than a bed; at the boutique hotels, though others are more

Widespread in cities and tourist cooked meals, and even local tours. opposite end of the scale, cabañas can rustic affairs. Although generally in the Know to Need destinations, hostels are ideal for resemble luxury apartments. wilderness, some are just a short drive budget, independent. and solo travelers. Haciendas from major tourist resorts. The best Standards of cleanliness, security, and Many of Mexico’s haciendas – colonial- Camping have a genuine ecotourism focus, using facilities vary widely, but the best have era rural estates – have been turned into Organized campsites are in short supply renewable energy, minimizing waste, and bright, spacious dorms/private rooms, atmospheric, high-end hotels. The Yucatán and those that exist tend to be aimed at avoiding single-use plastics.

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Responsible Travel in Getting Mexico Mexico has more Around Images Tramino/Getty than 60 ethnic groups, a range of Traveling around Mexico beautiful but often is generally a good value, fragile ecosystems, and many priceless straightforward, and relatively cultural treasures. It’s comfortable, though sometimes important to do your part to ensure your Welcome time-consuming, as Shafik Meghji visit has a positive explains. There are frequent impact. Contribute to the connections between cities, big local economy towns, and main tourist resorts, Support communities and artisans by hiring but in remote rural areas, publlc local guides and transit often involves long waits buying authentic,

locally made crafts. Culture and delays. Consider staying & Art with a local family to provide extra income and get insights into Buses their lifestyle. There are two main classes of long- Be respectful of local distance buses: first (primera) and cultures Don’t take photos

second (segunda). The former are Towns &

without permission, Cities quicker, more expensive, and more and follow the local comfortable, with a/c, video screens, etiquette regarding Mérida toilets, and reserved seating. appropriate dress and behavior. Segunda services vary dramatically: some are almost as comfortable as Minimize your footprint primera vehicles; others are rickety, Domestic flights Mexico can be challenging, particularly but generally overcrowded local buses. Avoid plastic water

smoke-belching rust buckets – one Mexico spans almost 760,000mi² in the cities, and road traffic death rates Colectivos/combis are vans, minibuses bottles – instead, & Wildlife Nature Nature segunda service I took in rural Chiapas Unfortunately, (2 million km²), so flying can save you a are high. Crime is another serious issue. or large estate cars that travel set routes, carry a large, reusable bottle and broke down three times on a single buses are huge amount of time and effort. Fares Car jackings, violent robberies, and picking up and dropping off passengers refill it when you have journey. They are also generally sometimes are relatively good value, especially on illegal roadblocks are big problems in along the way – there are rarely marked access to drinkable slower, avoiding the faster toll (cuota) the busiest routes: the one-hour flight some parts of the country, notably the stops, you just flag them down on the water (or use a filter held up and or water purification roads and stopping regularly. passengers from Mexico City to Tijuana, for example, northwest. Avoid traveling at night and street. They’re slightly more expensive tablets). Pack out any Bus travel is inexpensive: for costs US $75-100 ($1,521-2030 MXN). use toll roads whenever possible. than local buses, but often quicker. trash you bring in.

robbed. Adventure example, a first-class ticket for the Aeromexico is the main carrier, but budget Colectivos/combis generally start and finish Protect nature 4.25hr journey between Cancún and Primera buses airlines like Interjet, Aeromar, and Volaris Trains their journeys at dedicated stands, which Don’t touch living Mérida costs around US $21 ($425 tend to be are often better value. Mexico’s rail network is extremely limited, are often near the bus stations. There are coral or buy items made from coral. MXN). Segunda services tend to be safer, as they but there are a couple of spectacular no fixed schedules, but departures tend to Use a reef-safe 10-30% cheaper. stick the main Rental cars journeys, notably in the Copper Canyon. be frequent. sunscreen. Seek out Unfortunately, buses are sometimes Hiring a car gives you an incredible animal encounters in roads the wild, rather than held up and passengers robbed. amount of freedom: you can travel at your Public transit Taxis in captivity. Look Know to Need Primera buses tend to be safer, as they own pace and visit destinations poorly Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara Taxis are plentiful in cities and towns. If for environmentally stick the main roads. Whichever bus served by public transport. If there are two have useful and inexpensive metro the taxi doesn’t have a meter – or the responsible lodging and tour operators, you choose, it’s safer to travel during or more of you, it’s also very good value: systems. Everywhere else, you’re driver refuses to use it – negotiate a price and research them the day, rather than at night. rental cars typically cost from US $50-60 dependent on even cheaper (fares beforehand. Uber operates in the bigger to make sure they’re ($1,015-1,217 MXN) per day. But driving in approximately US $1-3/$20-60 MXN) cities and tourist destinations. genuine.

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Top 10 reports of travelers being killed by drug Transport crime cartels. Often it’s been a case of “wrong Pickpocketing, car jackings, and robberies place, wrong time” or not following safety From sunset can occur in Mexico, and the risk of Safety Tips warnings by authorities or government to sunrise, these crimes increases at night, in known

advisories – for example, in the whether drug cartel country, and in border areas. MB Photography/Getty Images for Mexico spectacular hiking spot of Copper Canyon, you’re at a Travelers need to take personal safety where taking a local guide is not just a precautions and secure their valuables Despite Mexico’s reputation bar, in a club, necessity for the language barrier but or enjoying when on the move, including on public as a place of crime and drug also for safety. Use common sense when transport and around transport hubs. It’s Welcome violence in recent years, travelers entering local bars or nightclubs, avoid a nighttime best to do your traveling by day and stick shouldn’t be deterred from traveling at night, keep to toll roads, and festival, it’s to main roads. experiencing one of the world’s exercise caution when heading outside important tourist areas. Keep in mind that though Express kidnapping most colorful and amazing to look after a state may be under a travel advisory, yourself, While not exclusive to Mexico, express cultures. not all areas of that state are necessarily kidnapping is a growing issue in Latin Tulum unsafe – violence is sometimes confined your fellow America. Often used as a means to obtain Culture to certain towns, regions, or districts, so travelers, quick money, the victim is kidnapped and & Art Street safety do your research to see which hotspots and your forced to empty their bank account. While or locals potentially in harm’s way. Using common sense, being aware should be avoided. belongings most people are released without physical of your surroundings, keeping your injury, it’s still a traumatic experience. Using Natural hazards/ocean safety While most valuables out of sight, and taking a few Safety at night indoor ATMs in public spaces and taking Most of the time, things are pretty calm locals are precautions while exploring the cities If there’s one thing know how to licensed taxis can help reduce the risk. in Mexico, but at various times of year, friendly,

will help ensure your Mexican trip will do well, it’s party. From sunset to sunrise, nature decides to challenge the locals there are Towns & be safe and fun. whether you’re at a bar, in a club, or Women’s safety and travelers. Volcanoes, earthquakes, some Cities enjoying a nighttime festival, it’s important While most locals are friendly, there are heat, hurricanes, animals, even going to who still Scams to look after yourself, your fellow travelers, some who still uphold the machismo the beach can present risk for any traveler. Fake taxis, fake cops, airport scams, and your belongings. Drink spiking can attitude towards women. Solo women Riptides and big swells are a potential uphold the watered-down drinks, car rental occur, which places you at risk of assault travelers may experience harassment danger on either side of the country, so machismo damage scams, and the good old and theft, so keep an eye on your drinks as a result. Low-key, modest clothing check conditions before you swim. Keep an attitude

foreign exchange switch. These are just and drink in moderation so you can get (especially in rural locations) can help eye on travel advisories, especially during & Wildlife towards Nature some of the scams that can test any back to your accommodation safely. avoid unwanted attention. Ask locals about hurricane season. women. traveler in Mexico. Most locals aren’t the safe places to go when in town and if Solo women out to fleece you, but by staying alert, you’re unsure about exploring by yourself, Travel health you can avoid becoming a scammer’s take a tour – it’s also a great way to meet Split by the Tropic of Cancer, Mexico has travelers next lucrative customer. Wait at taxi other travelers. Avoid traveling at night. both tropical and temperate climates, may stands instead of taking street cabs, which aid mosquito-borne diseases such experience Ana Moreno/Unsplash ask “plain clothes” police to show LGBTQ travel as dengue fever, malaria, chikungunya, and harassment Adventure identification, and keep your guard up Mexico is increasingly becoming a hot other health hazards. Many of the country’s as a result around people who seem overly eager spot for LGBTQ travelers, but the best hiking spots are thousands of feet to share their “local knowledge.” conservative influence of the Catholic above sea level, posing the risk of altitude Church still exists and for LGBTQ Mexicans, sickness. Throw in a dose of “Montezuma’s Drugs and drug cartel country expressing their sexuality is done Revenge,” and staying healthy while

Unfortunately, Mexico does have a discreetly. Public displays of affection traveling in Mexico can present even Know to Need reputation for drug-related crime, are generally frowned upon. Many cities the most intrepid traveler with a Travel including at popular spots such as have large and vibrant gay communities, challenge. Sticking to purified water and smart with our Safety Cabo San Lucas, Tijuana, , but in rural locations, attitudes are more following your doctor’s advice regarding advice and others. Most travelers have an conservative. It’s important to exercise vaccinations and malaria medications are Mexico City incident-free trip, but there have been discretion in order avoid putting yourself just two of the precautions you can take.

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Festival Huamantla, Tlaxcala for a night of open-air Autumn art and religious revelry. On The Night International Cervantino Festival Nobody Sleeps (La noche que nadie Agricultural Guanajuato has an inexplicable but Calendar duerme), locals hustle to carpet the fairs might long-established obsession with Spaniard

Boisterous celebrations are streets with elaborate artworks made not seem Miguel Cervantino, one that’s reflected Castellanos/Getty Images Patricia held all across the country, all of multicoloured sawdust, before the appealing, yet in Latin America’s most important year round. Here are a few key 1am parade honouring the Virgen de la the Feria de coming-together of arts and culture – the Caridad begins. Cervantino Festival. events to check out. San Marcos in Huamantla, Tlaxcala , Guanajuato Welcome Late July will win over October January even the most Fiestas de Octubre Fiestas Grande de Enero Dance and culture extravaganzas don’t skeptical visitor To experience the essence of Guadalajara Chiapa de Corzo’s nearly month-long come better than the Guelaguetza, a in microcosm, drop by the Fiestas de festival pays homage to a trio of celebration of the indigenous people and Octubre, a month-long affair of Mexican patron saints and is well-known for cultures from across Oaxaca. Traditional rodeos (charreadas), mariachi, concerts, Culture the Dance of the Parachicos. Alongside food, music, and clothing are omnipresent. parades, and typical regional food. & Art the dancing, feasting and fireworks Oaxaca City, Oaxaca Guadalajara, Jalisco Night of the Radishes also play an important part in the festival, Oaxaca festivities. August November 1st and 2nd Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas Wine Harvest Festival Día de Muertos Ensenada, in the center of Mexico’s wine Day of the Dead is easily the best-known equal parts jamboree, pageant, and

February/March country, is the home of the annual Fiestas Mexican celebration, although it’s often Mass. Towns & Cities Carnaval de Vendimia, aka the Wine Harvest (wrongly) conflated with Halloween. In The only thing Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca You needn’t go to Brazil for Carnaval, Festival, a 10-day celebration which toasts reality, Día de Muertos is less about horrifying because Mexico has its very own to the region’s stellar wine heritage. fancy dress and more about celebrating about this December 12th versions of these raucous street Ensenada, Baja California deceased ancestors, with some of the city-wide Día de Nuestra Señora de festivals, the most famous of which most traditional celebrations held in radish-carving Guadalupe are held in Veracruz and . Patzcuaro, Michoacán. Even non-believers should experience

competition & Wildlife Effigies are burnt, kings and queens Countrywide the atmosphere of the Día de Nuestra Nature Nature are crowned, and floats take over the (yes, really) Señora in Mexico City, as thousands streets. First weekend in November are the of faithful worshippers migrate north Veracruz, Veracruz and Mazatlán, Sinaloa or first weekend in December queues for mass at the Basilica de Guadalupe,

Patricia Castellanos/Getty Images Patricia Oaxaca Craft Beer Festival the place where Juan Diego saw an April Best known as a producer of mezcal, apparition of the Virgin in 1531. Feria de San Marcos Oaxaca is also home to a growing craft Mexico City Agricultural fairs might not seem beer scene. This festival, an annual event Adventure appealing, yet the Feria de San Marcos since 2015, features tastings from around December 23rd in Aguascalientes will win over even 20 local brewers along with live music, Night of the Radishes the most skeptical visitor. Skip the talks, and food. Few Mexican festivals are as bizarre – ethically questionable bull and cock Oaxaca City, Oaxaca and impressive – as Oaxaca’s Night of fights, but stay for the parties, rides the Radishes (La Noche de Rábanos),

and charreadas (rodeos). Mid-November which sounds not unlike a low-budget Know to Need Aguascalientes Vela de Las Auténticas Intrepidas horror film. However, the only thing Buscadoras del Peligro horrifying about this annual, city-wide Mid-August A celebration of muxe culture (muxe is a radish-carving competition (yes, really) Culture-festival, third gender recognized by the indigenous are the queues. The Night Nobody Sleeps Guelaguetza Bundle up warm and head to Zapotec people), this four-day festival is Oaxaca City, Oaxaca

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Etiquette Allejandro/Flickr Creative Commons Before you head off down Mexico way, here are our top tips to help protect you and your gear. When traveling to a new country, it’s important to know what to Theft medical facilities where you can be seen by Welcome expect and how to behave. Being Theft is one of our most common travel a medical professional who can prescribe socially aware will improve your insurance claims by travelers in Mexico. medication and, if necessary, arrange “Upon chances of having meaningful You should carry your electronics, hospitalization depending on the severity returning to interactions with the locals. passport, and valuables with you at all of your illness. Policies vary, but cover can our camp in Mexico native Jennifer Fernández times (don’t leave them in the car or in include emergency local medical expenses , your luggage), and lock up your gear and the costs of your trip being interrupted if Solano shares her tips. we found securely when you can’t take it with you. the furthest you’re able to travel is the toilet Culture

that a & Art If your stuff is stolen, you’ll need a police and back. report or some other kind of written The danger with gastroenteritis (often nearby How to dress Querétaro Mexico is a big country with varying documentation (e.g. a property irregularity called “gastro”), which can cause nausea, river had social customs. Don’t assume that you report from the airline or bus company if vomiting, tummy cramps, and watery diarrhea, flooded and can get away with shorts throughout late is still considered “on time.” your bags were checked in) to validate is that you may lose more fluids than you can swept away the country; while skimpy clothing is As far as tipping goes, 12 or 15% is your claim. keep down. Dehydration can be deadly, so Pack a pair all of our fine for the beach, Mexicans dress appropriate. 10% is now the passive- All World Nomads travel insurance plans don’t rely on your own instincts or Google to Towns &

belongings.” Cities conservatively in cities. Pack a pair of jeans or aggressive way of saying that something will have some coverage for theft or if a get medical advice. Doctors in Mexico see of jeans or trousers to avoid stares trousers to wasn’t quite right. carrier has lost your checked-in luggage. gastro all the time, and are well equipped to Tara B., US resident in or catcalls (which unfortunately still avoid stares or However, with any insurance plan, limits, test you to see if that’s what you have, or if it’s Mexico. $3,006 USD claim paid happen). It’s always a good idea to try catcalls (which Topics best avoided conditions, and exclusions may apply, for something more serious. However, if you’re in to blend in with the locals. Try to avoid referring to the United States example, if you have simply misplaced a remote area, access to medical care can be If you’re planning to go to fine dining unfortunately as “America” anywhere in Latin America. your gear or if your tech gets damaged. tricky, so that’s where our assistance teams

restaurants, wear dressy clothes and still happen). For Latin Americans, the whole continent can help. And remember, even if the local & Wildlife Nature Nature proper shoes. The same goes for It’s always a is “America,” not just one country. (And Surviving "Montezuma’s Revenge" hospital doesn’t seem as modern as you’re swanky cocktail bars and especially good idea to we’re taught it’s just one continent, we Diarrhea can take down even the most used to, it doesn’t mean that they can’t help events like your friend’s wedding or New try to blend don’t divide it into North and South experienced traveler, so if a trip to the you get better and back on the road. Year’s Eve party. Mexicans love dressing in with the America.) local restaurant leaves you spending your up for the occasion. Even if you find everything really cheap holiday in the bathroom, our assistance Scuba diving locals. compared to what things cost back home, teams can help point you to the nearest We’ve tried to give you the freedom to Social interactions don’t comment on it. Chances are the doctor to get you the care you need. And, learn or hone your diving skills by helping Adventure Mexicans kiss once on the cheek when person you’re mentioning it to earns in with World Nomads travel insurance, you cover accidents that may occur when you’re greeting each other socially, even if it’s Mexican pesos – so they’re not finding it can make a claim for reimbursement for diving. However, not all World Nomads travel the first time they’re meeting someone. cheap and may feel like you’re rubbing these medical expenses (less any excess, insurance plans for travelers from all countries Take your cue from the person you’re your money in their face. if applicable – meaning the amount you’re cover scuba diving or cavern diving, and meeting and don’t be surprised if the Finally, don’t assume your Mexican required to contribute before your policy many plans exclude cover for cave diving. Be

person leans in a little to give you a friend or new acquaintance has kicks in), even if you’re still traveling. sure to select the right plan and/or adventure Get our Know to Need quick hug after the kiss, that’s just the connections with the illegal drug trade. Travel insurance is designed for sport option for the type of diving and smart, flexible Mexican way. Mexico might be going through a dark medical emergencies while traveling, depth of dive you’re doing before you buy. Travel Insurance If someone is a little late, don’t freak period in its history, but assuming and our assistance team can support you You should also be licensed to dive to the here out. It’s true that Mexicans have a everyone in the country knows a “narco” 24/7. We’ll be able to give you advice maximum depth of the cenote or cave and relaxed view of time, so up to 15 minutes is offensive, to say the least. on what to do next, help locate suitable you must dive with a fully certified dive guide.

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Contibutors Japan Insider’s Guide True nomads all, our writers are world travelers bound by With awe-inspiring the desire to truly understand the countries they visit. Lauren Cocking Dane Faurschou Joseph Furey temples and world-famous UNITED KINGDOM AUSTRALIA UNITED KINGDOM food, there’s plenty to love If you’d like to contribute, keep an eye on our Assignments page, Lauren splits her time Dane is currently Joe hit the road in his about Japan. between Mexico and traveling from Canada teens, and he’s barely where you can apply for upcoming opportunties. Yorkshire, writing about to Argentina, trying to stopped for gas since. Welcome the things she eats, summit as many peaks Writing credits include drinks, and reads along and surf as many waves The Guardian, National the way. as he can. Geographic, and Vice. Iceland Insiders’ Guide Go beyond the Blue Lagoon and Gullfoss to discover out-of-the-way hot pools and cascades. Culture Art & Art

Chelsea Gregory Kendall Hill Allyson Jennings Lydia Jones Sam Kazmer Vanessa Nielsen Tim Neville Australia Insiders’ Guide UNITED STATES AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES MEXICO UNITED STATES Unspoiled beaches, Fueled by curiosity, Former travel editor of Allyson is a scientist, Born in Slovakia, Sam is a freelance travel Founder of Sol Book Box, A frequent contributor national parks, unique Chelsea has spent the Sydney Morning conservationist, and Lydia now lives in and craft beer writer a Spanish children’s book to The New York Times, the last eight years Herald, Kendall is an explorer. When not on Mexico, where she and entrepreneur. His subscription, Vanessa was Tim has scaled glaciers wildlife, rainforests, and the collecting experiences Australian journalist an adventure, she’s has developed a deep writing covers outdoor born and raised in Mexico and cycled hundreds extraordinary Outback await. and stories from around specializing in travel and producing travel safety understanding of the adventure, travel, craft but has lived in the US, of miles to report his

the globe. food features. content for World Nomads. indigenous culture. beer, and food. France, and Honduras. stories. Towns & Cities Peru Insiders’ Guide Peru is more than Machu Picchu. Explore secret ruins, secluded trails, and remote villages with our insiders.

Shakif Meghji Souad Msallem Dan Pierson Johanna Read Ed Salvato Max Serjeant Maxine Rose & Wildlife Schur Nature UNITED KINGDOM UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES CANADA UNITED STATES UNITED KINGDOM Your journey starts here. Get off the beaten track UNITED STATES Shafik is an award- Souad is a freelance Founder of Bolt, a new Johanna is a travel writer Considered one of the Max is a British travel and experience destinations like a local with our winning travel writer, writer and food kind of travel community, and photographer who world’s leading gay writer and anthropologist, An award-winning journalist, and co-author anthropologist, Dan’s adventures collects advice about travel experts, Ed is co- currently based in Australia. writer, Maxine’s travel free travel guides. of more than 35 guide endlessly fascinated have taken him to 50+ eating near and far founder and editor-in- He’s traveled extensively essays have appeared books to destinations by the stories behind the countries, including time (and about what to do chief of ManAboutWorld in Latin America, Europe, in numerous anthologies around the world. places she visits. spent living in Mexico. between snacks). magazine. and Asia. and publications. www.worldnomads.com/explore/guides Adventure

All of the information we provide about travel insurance is a brief summary only. It does not include all terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions and termination provisions of the travel insurance plans described. Coverage may not be available for residents of all countries, states or provinces. Please carefully read your policy wording for a full description of coverage. WorldNomads.com Pty Limited (ABN 62 127 485 198 AR 343027) at Governor Macquarie Tower, Level 18, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia is an Authorized Representative of Cerberus Special Risks Pty Limited (ABN 81 115 932 173 AFSL 308461) and is underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyd’s. World Nomads Travel Lifestyle (Europe) Limited (CN 601852) markets and promotes travel insurance products of Nomadic Insurance Benefits Limited (CN 601851), First Floor, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork, Ireland. Nomadic Insurance Benefits Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. WorldNomads.com Pty Limited markets and Jennifer Sara Walton Christine Williams Alex Wittman Harriet Wood Fernández Solano promotes travel insurance products of Nomadic Insurance Limited (License No.1446874), at PO Box 1051, Grand Cayman KY1-1102, Cayman Islands. World Nomads Limited UNITED STATES UNITED STATES UNITED STATES UNITED KINGDOM (05443592) is an Appointed Representative of Millstream Underwriting Limited (FCA Firm ref: 308584) at 52-56 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3A 2DX, United Kingdom. Know to Need MEXICO World Nomads Inc. (1585422), at 520 3rd Street, Suite 201, Oakland, CA 94607, plans are administered by Trip Mate Inc. (in CA & UT, dba, Trip Mate Insurance Agency) at A native Texan, Sara Christine and Jules Raised in the US, Harriet is a traveler, 9225 Ward Parkway, Suite 200, City, MO, 64114, USA, with 24-hour and Assistance Services provided by One Call Worldwide Travel Services Network, Inc. and Jen started her career is a traveling PADI make up the team at Alex now calls Mexico writer, researcher, and plans underwritten by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, Columbus, OH. World Nomads (Canada) Ltd (BC: 0700178; Business No: 001 as a magazine editor in Open Water Instructor Don’t Forget To Move, home. In line with her supporter-of-all-good- 85379 7942 RC0001) is a licensed agent sponsored by AIG Insurance Company of Canada at 120 Bremner Boulevard, Suite 2200, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 0A8, Canada. Mexico City and writes with a passion for the a blog specializing in Midwest upbringing, she things working between World Experiences Seguros De Viagem Brasil Ltda (CNPJ: 21.346.969/0001-99) at Rua Padre João Manuel, 755, 16º andar, São Paulo – SP, Brazil is an Authorized Partner for publications like underwater world. promoting responsible approaches travel with a the UK and Mexico. (Representante) of Zurich Minas Brasil Seguros S.A. (CNPJ: 17.197.385/0001-21) at Av. Getúlio Vargas, 1420, 5th floor, Funcionários, Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais Forbes Travel Guide. tourism around the world. down-to-earth mindset. through the SUSEP Process 15414.901107/2015-77. All World Nomads entities listed above, including Nomadic Insurance Benefits Limited and Nomadic Insurance Limited, are subsidiaries of nib holdings limited (ABN 51 125 633 856).

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