Health and Safety in Mexico

Los Días de Muertos (November 1 and 2) are a fascinating and bizarre time from the point of view of travelers to Mexico, and it helps to explain what it all means by allowing everyone to take part in the traditions. For example, I have asked one English friend who is visiting me over this period to bring a photo of her father, who died last year, in case she would like to make an altar for him.

Tucked away on one of the longest streets in the world, the Buñuel bookstore has been plying its business for decades. Since the till started ringing on its opening day in the early 1960s, the décor has remained almost the same. Books are stacked waist high, the air feels musty and finding anything by category is down to sheer luck.

At first glance la Navidad in Mexico seems reassuringly (or alarmingly) familiar to Yuletide in the United States. Stores are cluttered with junk and tinsel, Santa Claus (even though he has nothing to do with Mexico) is all over the place, neighborhoods are transformed by fairy lights, streets are packed with shoppers and traffic is unbearable.

Taxco, in the state of Guerrero, only about two and a half hour's drive from the capital, makes for one of those magical day trips that combines many fantasies of what Mexican mountain towns should be like - and has excellent shopping.

The discovery of silver deposits in central Mexico in the 16th century gave rise to cities that were to become some of the nation's most important. And by also establishing themselves as state capitals and centers of commerce and education, silver mining cities such as Guanajuato, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí were able to remain viable through the ensuing political and economic turmoil of Mexican history.

A priority for many visitors - even if they are only staying one or two nights in Mexico City - is going to Teotihuacán, the most visited of Mexico's archeological sites. Visitors will find these pyramids to be some of the most striking in Mexico, and within easy reach of the city.