Fun fact#644
Mexico City is sinking
Built on a drained lakebed, Mexico City sinks several centimetres a year as groundwater is pumped out.
Mexico
Sixty-eight recognised languages, a sinking capital, and the birthplace of chocolate.
12 entries · 6 stories, 6 fun facts
Mexico at a glance
The practical numbers, before the stories.
- Capital
- Mexico City
- Currency
- Mexican peso (MXN)
- Official language
- Spanish de facto, alongside 68 recognised indigenous languages
- Climate
- Tropical on both coasts, temperate on the central plateau, desert in the north. Rainy season roughly June–October.
- Best time to go
- November–April
- Time zone
- UTC−6 to UTC−8
- Driving side
- Right
- Plugs and voltage
- Type A / B, 127 V
Worth knowing: Mexico City sits at 2,240 m. Give yourself a day before doing anything strenuous.
Planning a trip to Mexico
The decisions that determine whether the trip works, whichever country you are going to.
Alongside Spanish, Mexico officially recognises 68 indigenous languages with hundreds of variants. Its capital sits on a drained lakebed and subsides several centimetres a year. Cacao was drunk here, bitter and spiced, long before anyone in Europe thought to add sugar.
Below: the pyramid staircase where equinox shadows form a serpent, the ring of cenotes that traces the asteroid impact which ended the dinosaurs, the Day of the Dead as a reunion rather than a haunting, and the mole that takes three days and starts an argument about when the chocolate goes in. Mexico rewards eating on the street and asking what something is called.
Entries from Mexico
Fun fact#646
Mexico has 68 recognised languages
Alongside Spanish, Mexico officially recognises 68 indigenous languages with hundreds of variants.
Fun fact#648
Chichen Itza makes a snake of light
At the equinoxes, shadows on the pyramid's staircase form a serpent that appears to slide down to the ground.
Fun fact#650
Cenotes are collapsed cave roofs
Thousands of cenotes dot the Yucatan, formed along a ring of fractures linked to the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs.
Fun fact#651
Chocolate began in Mesoamerica
Cacao was drunk bitter and spiced by the Maya and Aztecs long before Europeans added sugar and milk.
Fun fact#654
Monarch butterflies migrate 4,000 km
Monarchs fly from Canada to a few Mexican mountain forests, and no single butterfly completes the round trip.
Story#730
The border crossing at midnight
Two hours in a queue of stationary cars with men selling churros between the lanes. By the time we crossed, we had eaten dinner without leaving the vehicle.
Story#734
Day of the dead, not Halloween
The cemeteries were full of families with candles, food and folding chairs, staying all night. A woman explained, kindly, that this was a reunion and not a haunting.
Story#737
Mole takes three days
Thirty ingredients, three days, and an argument with a neighbour about whether the chocolate goes in early or late. We were asked to judge and refused sensibly.
Story#740
Swimming in a cenote
The water was so clear that the boat above looked like it was floating in air. Fifteen metres down, tree roots came through the rock looking for it.
Story#744
Chichen Itza handclap
Clap once at the base of the pyramid and the echo comes back sounding like a bird. Our guide said the Maya designed it that way and then let three hundred people clap at once.
Story#747
The overnight bus with blankets
Reclining seats, a blanket, a film with no subtitles and a driver who took the mountain road at a speed we chose not to think about. We arrived rested.
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