places to visit

Hola:

If you want to really see a different part of Mexico, may I recommend Real de Catorce, near Matehuala. This is a mountain village only accessable thru a one lane 1 1/2 mile tunnel. The movie "The Mexican" (Julie Roberts/Brad Pitt) was filmed there. I was just there in December.

Enjoy...
Mike

Mexico City is an amazing place - I think American tourists are scared of it, but it has an fantastic amount to offer. The culture there is pretty astounding - over 80 museums, fantastic baroque architecture, public art everywhere, really interesting neighborhoods, great food, a cheap and reliable subway system, great people. It's huge, and has problems like any huge city - poverty, pollution. crime, etc. - but it has so much to offer that I don't think anyone traveling through Mexico should miss it.

México is worth making several trips to see. Like the US, it is geographically and culturally varied and it is worth focusing on one region or personal interest (like archeology, cooking, folkart or beaches) on each trip.

I'm a personal fan of Mexico City. Although I live in a large city in the US (Chicago), Mexico City's size, vitality and cosmopolitan sophistication blew me away. I've been twice in the last 5 months and hope to go again soon. To get a sense of it, here is a stunning slide show:

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PhotoAlbum31.html

My wife and I visited Mazatlan in November. In a word: FANTASTIC! We took tours to outlying areas; Isla de la Peidra, Coppolla, it was great. The food is to die for and the local people were so friendly. Highly recommend visiting Mazatlan.

My husband and I visited Lake Chapala in April and fell in love with it. We bought a home in Ajijic village and will be renting it until we can move there full time. There are very few people that know it exists, even though Lake Chapala is the largest lake in the country. The villages in the area are some 500 years old and it has long been a weekend spot for the wealthy from Guadalajara to visit. On the weekends it is crazy busy and alive with fiestas, fireworks and people enjoying life. On the weekdays, it is a rather mellow working class area. People will sell candy, shoes, whatever out of the fronts of their homes and others will break out a barbecue and sell roasted corn (with lime and chile-YUM) or hamburgers! We've been to Mexico many times, but this is a first to a non-resort area and I like it much better.

There is a large expat community there, but I've found that the locals are very kind and understanding of my elementary Spanish. Once I tell them "estoy aprendiendo" (THANKS Rocket Spanish!), they will go out of their way to speak slowly and help me stumble through a conversation. We even have a wonderful little abuelita that lives across the street from our place and she told me she would "watch the place for us" while we were in EE UU. I have no doubt she will do just that and that she always knows what's going on in the neighborhood. I have to find just the right little gift to take her when we return this month. We made the decision to purchase in a mostly Mexican neighborhood (THAT'S full immersion!) and I'm going to love it. I'm studying my Spanish every day and hope to be able to carry on more conversations once we get there.

I went on a cruise once and visited Cozemel (hope the spelling is ok). It was nice. I was amazed how most people knew the english language. I practice spanish since locally where I live we have a lot of spanish speakers.
Buenos Noches

by the way its spelled COZUMEL and its a magical place and its very near to famous Cancun!