Farewell to Mexico

It's our last day in Mexico. We are in Guadalajara, full of glorious, colonial stone palaces and cathedrals. The market across from our hotel sells everything from tacos and milk desserts to jars of honey, sugar topped freshly baked bread, rattlesnake skins (with rattle) and bunches of dried herbs. There are many stalls just selling a huge variety of scented candles, (some to improve your libido) as well as the usual array of skeletons, skulls, religous figures, coffins and baby jesuses.

Tomorrow we fly out to San Francisco and we will both be sad to say goodbye.

Mexico is definitely one of the best places in the world to visit. It is full of colour on every corner, music plays out from every nook and cranny, the old colonial towns are more beautiful than many in Europe and the people are kind, honest and very warm.

Before we left, a lot of people warned us that Mexico is not safe and I think this statement really needs to be qualified. Mexico is a very, very big country (stretching almost the length of the USA along its Northern border) so to say the entire country is unsafe is ridiculous. Much of the trouble appears to be gang-related and located around border towns.

We have travelled all the way from the Carribbean, coast, heading thousands of miles West to Mexico City and now Guadalajara and never felt anything other than very, very safe, relaxed and most importantly, welcome. The small colonial towns (San Cristobel, Oaxaca, Guanajauto) are probably the best places in the world to sit on a park bench and watch the daily parade go by before grabbing a taco from a stand on the corner and sipping a Sol.

Even the biggest of cities, Mexico City, felt incredibly safe and relaxed to walk around. You can really explore at your leisure, unlike say Cairo where when ever you haul out your guide book some local appears to try and scam you. In Mexico i have never encountered such honest people. Many times I have not understood how much something costs and the taxi driver or street vendor has always given me the correct change. Lastly, most of Mexico is incredibly clean. They are constantly sweeping things up over here. I swear you could eat your lunch off the floor of any subway station in Mexico City.

So we bid Mexico farewell with a big, warm smile. Talk next from San Francisco or as my friend Jonny likes to call it San Francheesy.