The whole world believes that it knows something about Mexico. I even lived 4 years close to Mexico, in the USA. But after moving from Kenya to Mexico in 2022 I soon realised that I knew nothing about the real Mexico. Surely it’s one of the extremest countries of the world, from the stark beauty of the desert in the north to the lush jungles in the south.
There is the famous quote of the Mexican 19th century president Porfirio Diaz: “Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States.“ Maybe to cope with that burden, Mexico has become the most unique country in the world.
Despite its closeness to the US, it still is a different world: A country where millions of butterflies come to visit and where James Bond himself invented a street parade. There is my favourite town of Guanajuato, with its brightly colored buildings and cosy green squares where it’s wonderful, on a balmy afternoon, to get already drunk with some cold beers: There are the unique natural swimming pools of the Huasteca Potosina and the Laguna Bacalar, each offering colours nobody can believe without having seen. I love the spectacular landscapes of high energy Monterrey, where mountains mix with desert and bears soon mix with Tesla giga factory workers. I love the Giga Temples of Mexican eternity, the antique shops of Queretaro

and the 1950s charm of Acapulco. Even after the hurricane there will be a tomorrow where there will again be Fun in Acapulco. This is the Mexico by day. But Mexico is always borderlands. The Mexico by night is the Mexico of miles of great roads and stark poverty, of the craziest lady of the twentieth century and of nasty macroeconomists. The Mexico where hundreds of witches hold their annual summit and where I may join locals drinking tequilas on cemeteries with their deceased loved ones.

Mexico, with its warmth and hospitality, has always welcomed all: Refugees fleeing from the Nazis, refugees trying to fulfil their American dream, it has welcomed Leon Trotsky fleeing from Stalin and it welcomes hordes of American tourists fleeing from the cold. Even during Corona, Mexico has been the place that welcomed people when all other countries had shut their borders. Some Mexican friends say that part of their friendliness is just part of their contingency planning. But for whatever reason, Mexicans are the friendliest and warmest people that I have ever met.