A Reflection On Mexico

Before we came to Mexico we were warned by practically every North American we met about the place – Mexico has received a lot of bad press, it seems. Some warnings were factual (“The drug cartels rounded up and shot dead all the police in Tijuana last year”), some were even from people who had been there (“I used to go biking in Baja California all the time but haven't gone for 3 years now”), and some were quite amusing for us Brits, like Ric's favourite exchange with a Harley rider:
- Yerr goin' to Mexico?
- Yes, that's the plan
- You gotta guuhn?
- Er, no, I don't have a gun
- Well you better geet one!

Now that we've spent over a month and ridden some 4,000 miles in the country we feel it's time to set the record straight and give some feedback to any of you who are still following our blog. Yes, there is some fighting between drug cartels, and between them and the army, but the only evidence we ever saw of this was being passed by army vehicles on the road and being stopped at numerous army checkpoints (it seems they particularly like to stop bikes) where they very politely asked to look through our luggage. All of the Mexicans we met were overwhelmingly hospitable and honest, and at no time did we ever sense any danger to either ourselves or our possessions. Admittedly we didn't hang around in any border towns and we were always careful not to flash too much cash around and to keep a close eye on our things, but that's just common-sense stuff we practice everywhere.

We were really blown away by the amount of history and culture in Mexico. Because we know so many North Americans come to Europe for such things we weren't expecting to find it so close, but actually Mexico has loads to offer from ancient Maya ruins to Spanish colonial architecture. Not just this but the scenery is fabulous, the roads are generally in very good condition (although the toll roads are a little on the expensive side), and the food is tasty and surprisingly diverse!

And as for swine flu – there are no people dying on the streets! We didn't see any effects of it, and a number of good sources tell us that it's no worse than a normal seasonal bout of flu.

The Mexican people have taken us in, showed us around, looked after us and generously shared their country with us, and it's been unfailingly great. So don't be put off by the media and go and discover an amazingly diverse and interesting country if you're lucky enough to get the chance.