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Guanajuato Tourist information
Mexico is a traveller's paradise, crammed with a multitude of opposing identities: desert landscapes, snow-capped volcanoes, ancient ruins, teeming industrialised cities, time-warped colonial towns, glitzy resorts, lonely beaches and a world-beating collection of flora and fauna. The bursting megalopolis of Mexico City is a one-hour flight from the tropical rainforests and Mayan villages of Chiapas. Up along the northern border, Mexico's tumult of heritages merge with the air-conditioned cultures of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Mexico's profusion of people and landscapes reflects the country's extraordinary history - part Amerindian, part Spanish. One look at this country is enough to remind visitors that there is nothing new about the so-called New World. Despite the considerable colonial legacy and rampant modernization, almost 60 distinct indigenous peoples survive, largely thanks to their rural isolation. This mix of modern and traditional, the clichéd and the surreal, is the key to Mexico's immense popularity as a travel destination, whether your passion is throwing back margaritas, listening to howler monkeys, surfing the Mexican Pipeline, scrambling over Mayan ruins or expanding your Day of the Dead collection of posable skeletons.
Mexico City: Mexico City is a place to love and loathe, with everything you'd expect to find in the world's third-largest metropolis (only Tokyo and NYC are bigger). Mexico's best and worst ingredients are magi-mixed in this polluted and bustling megalopolis of music and noise, brown air and green parks, colonial palaces and skyscrapers, world-renowned museums and ever-spreading slums. The city's historic center is the Plaza de la Constitución, or Zócalo. The plaza was paved in the 1520s by Hernán Cortés, using stones from the temples and palaces of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán he'd destroyed, and on which Mexico City was built. The original Aztec city was on an island in the middle of a lake, so many of Mexico City's older buildings and churches are sinking into the boggy ground on which they were constructed. Filling the entire eastern side of the Zócalo is the Palacio Nacional (National Palace), built on the site of an Aztec palace and formerly used to house the viceroys of New Spain. It is now home to the offices of the president and a museum devoted to the life of Benito Juárez, but most people come here to see Diego Rivera's fabulous murals, which chronicle Mexico's history. The Aztecs' sacred precinct stood on the huge site now occupied by the Catedral Metropolitana, on the northern side of the Zócalo. The cathedral was built between 1573 and 1813 on the site of the Aztecs' tzompantli (an altar of sorts on which the skulls of the sacrificed were placed). Just east of the cathedral are the remains of the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs' principal temple. Much of the site has been excavated, revealing the temple's multiple layers of construction and the extraordinary bloodiness of the rituals that took place there. An excellent museum displays artifacts discovered during the excavations.
Less than a 10-minute walk away is the Alameda, once an Aztec marketplace and now the city's largest downtown park. The streets around the Alameda are lined with the city's most interesting buildings, including colonial mansions, lively cafes, restaurants, shops and markets. Other must-sees include the Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City's largest park and home to museums, lakes, a zoo and the official residence of the president; the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the church built on the spot where Mexico's patron saint was seen in a vision; the colonial houses, cobbled streets, fabled craft market and Rivera-Kahlo related sites of San Ángel; and the ancient canals of Xochimilco, jammed with day-glo pleasure boats on weekends. The Zona Rosa is the city's major highlife and nightlife district. Condesa and Roma to the south of Zona Rosa also serve up good food and entertainment. The best moderately priced hotels are found in the areas west of the Zócalo and south of the Alameda. Excellent cheap food can be found in most areas of the city, particularly from street stands and comedores.
Teotihuacan: Some of Mexico's best attractions are only a day trip from Mexico City. If there is any 'must see' in this region it has to be Teotihuacán, just 50km (31mi) northeast of the capital. Teotihuacán was Mexico's biggest ancient city and the capital of the country's largest pre-Hispanic empire, boasting 200,000 inhabitants at its peak in the 6th century. If the hawkers don't get the better of you, a day here can be a mind-blowing experience. The site's main drag is the famous Avenue of the Dead, a monumental 2km (1.2mi) thoroughfare lined with the former palaces of Teotihuacán's elite. To its south is the pyramid-bedecked La Ciudadela, believed to have been the residence of the city's supreme ruler. Enclosed within the citadel's walls is the Quetzalcóatl Temple, with its striking serpent carvings. Heading north, the avenue passes the world's third-largest pyramid: the awe-inspiring, 70m (230ft), 248-stepped Pyramid of the Sun. The pyramid was originally painted a suitably sun-drenched, bloody red. The avenue terminates at the Pyramid of the Moon, flanked by the 12 temple platforms of the Plaza de la Luna. Nearby are the beautifully frescoed Palace of the Quetzal Butterfly, the Jaguar Palace and the Temple of the Plumed Conch Shells. Teotihuacán's most famous mural, the Paradise of Tláloc, is in the Tepantitla Palace, a priest's residence northeast of the Pyramid of the Sun. The site has a museum to help make sense of it all; bring a hat, water and your walking shoes.
Baja California: With Tijuana as its frontier post, Baja is the epitome of 'south of the border'. The peninsula is renowned for its long coastline of fine white beaches, peaceful bays and imposing cliffs, sharply contrasting with the harsh and undeveloped interior. Baja has long been a hideout for revolutionaries, mercenaries, drinkers and gamblers, but these days visitors are attracted by more healthy pursuits like horseback riding, surfing and whale-watching. Highlights include Loreto, with its Spanish mission history and offshore national park; the extraordinary pre-Columbian rock-art sites of Sierra de San Francisco, near San Ignacio; La Paz, the laid-back capital of Baja California Sur and known for its equally gorgeous beaches and sunsets; and the hiking paradise of Sierra de la Laguna, a botanical wonderland of coexisting cacti and pines, palms and aspens set beside granite rockpools.
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