I have a friend who’s been to Mexico fourteen times. FOURTEEN!

That should give you an idea of how special this country is.

Prior to our visit Kat and I had no hard-wired preconceptions.

We’d both visited the States, and I’d done some travelling in South America, but this part of the world was new to us.

Mexico conjures a world of ancient civilisations, Day of the Dead festivals and beautiful beaches. Of mezcal, burritos and tongue melting chilli peppers.

You’ll find all this and more in Mexico and it’s glorious. And yet there was so much more to this country that we fell in love with.

Here are 3 things we really loved about Mexico.

1. Mexico is super quirky

This is the highest form praise we can give here.

In a world that can sometimes feel like it’s drowning in bland, mass produced, mass marketed Western culture, Mexico has a refreshingly strong, unique buzz.

We had no idea that the Mexican people have such a thirst for the bazaar. There is a really individual sense of creativity and interest.

Some of the most interesting and compelling art (to our eyes) we found in Mexico.

You’ll find artists who have built the most incredible things in the most unexpected places. The landscape lends itself to it but so do the people. They embrace creativity.

This leads me on to the next point.

2. Mexico is bursting with colour

That might sound like an odd thing to say, but often the architecture or decor would offer up the most bright, vivid and intoxicating colours.

I wish more towns and cities had the freedom to experiment with colour. I know from living in London that simply painting a stretch of houses or shops bright, happy colours can completely lift a road.

It has to be done with skill and consideration, no-one wants a gaudy clown show but it can be such a powerful thing.

Cities like Guanajuato filled us with joy.

Beautiful architecture, bright colours, artists spilling out onto the streets. It’s a visual dopamine hit.

3. Stuff works in Mexico (it’s easy to get around)

If you’ve ever been stuck waiting for 36 hours for a train to depart… or found yourself broken down in a van full of chickens you’ll know what I mean here.

Unusual experiences and difficult journeys can be the life and soul of a trip but, if you have a short amount of time, sometimes you want to know that you can get from A to B fairly easily.

Mexico is that place. It’s easy to get around.

We thought the buses here were positively luxurious.

They all had tons of legroom. Many had little TV screens on the backs of the seats as well as access to the internet.

They also tend to give you food and snacks for the journey (as part of the ticket price). Think sugary drinks and sugary carbs with a side of sugar (you won’t have trouble staying awake).

Coming from the UK travel here felt very reasonably priced.

More Reflections on Mexico

We found the Mexican people on the whole were very friendly and quick to smile.

It is a massive advantage if you can speak Spanish out here. With that said neither of us had more than a few words of Spanish and we were still able to get around with a combination of smiles, gesticulations and Google translate.

As with many places in the tourism industry, we found people often had incredible English. For the most part doing tours and so on won’t be a problem and often in a restaurant if you’re really struggling there’ll be someone who can help you.

Tourism is very developed here (compared to most places we visit).

This will be a massive advantage to some. It means things work really well in Mexico. You can often get good prices access to home comforts and there are lots of options.

However, it can also mean that if you’re someone who likes to get away from the crowds and feel like your not surrounded by other tourists, you might need to dig a little deeper.

That’s easy enough to do. This is a HUGE country but just bear in mind that if you go to some of the very famous and touristy places like Cancun it’s going to be, well, very touristy.

Cancun felt like it could have been a beach resort in the US. Face outwards and you have incredibly beautiful turquoise water and pale silky sand. But turn 180° and you will be looking at giant apartment blocks, holiday lets and human structures everywhere.

Paradise for some. Especially if you’re into air conditioned apartments, fancy restaurants and designer brands – less so for others.

Mexican Food: firey and filling

Food-wise you are not going to go hungry in Mexico.

There is some incredible food on offer.

Dishes like Mole and Cervice will have you punching the air with joy and we had a couple of absolutely spell binding meals in our time here.

With that said, we did found that Mexican food can be quite carb heavy. We realised that we might be in the global minority who isn’t massively enamoured with the popular dishes 24/7. There are lots of tamales, lots of burritos lots of tacos, lots of beans.

We were in 7th heaven to the first day or two but after a while found ourselves feeling a little bit bloated and tired – probably because we’re not used to quite so many carbs in our diets back home.

However, everyone else we’ve ever encountered couldn’t get enough of the food and we can definitely understand why. It’s punchy, filling and packed with flavour.

Final thoughts

One of the things we really enjoyed about Mexico was the cities.

We really loved Mexico city in particular. Maybe because we are both Londoners and are addicted to the buzz.

Like London it has some shiny, moneyed parts, some dingy looking parts (that often contained hidden gems) and lots in-between.

There’s something about visiting another metropolis in a different part of the world. Especially somewhere that is as beautiful and strange and chaotic as your own but so utterly different at the same time.

We could have spent a LOT longer in Mexico city exploring.

Did we feel safe? On the whole we felt pretty safe in Mexico as a whole. We never encountered any problems but at the same time we try not to draw attention to ourselves when travelling.

You’ve got to keep your wits about you in any city. Mexico City is VAST but the Uber system works like an absolute dream out here and if you’re coming from somewhere like Europe you will be amazed at how fast and inexpensive it is.

We don’t normally take cabs but again here it was just so efficient (sometimes they would arrive in 30 seconds) and so inexpensive it just made sense.

Our time in Mexico was too short. We would love to go back one day and really check out some of the incredible landscapes that we scooted past and that the Mexicans we met told us we must visit in the future.