But, I cannot do this without a real Mexican.

Say Hello to my friend Cesar from Puerto Vallarta!

Hello everyone!

Cesar, if you could say one thing about Mexico for this episode,

what would it be?

Well, Mexico is a mystical, colorful place filled with culture and tradition.

It goes beyond mariachi and tequilla

as you will soon find out.

Oh, yeah, and he speaks English, too.

Oh, yeah. I went to college in Texas. So a little bit.

It's time to learn Geography NOW!!!

Everyone I'm your host Barb's.

And I am Cesar.

As you know, I'm American, Cesar is Mexican. We're neighbors.

I'm excited. You excited?

Yes. I'm very excited for this episode.

You know, I've been following Geography Now! since like the B-C countries

so this is something I've been waiting for it for a long time now.

Oh, by the way, we stopped doing sponsored brands on country episodes.

But this time, we'll break that rule because Cesar can hook you up in Puerto Vallarta!

Cesar, tell them what they need to know.

Yes

Well, visit DiscoverPVR.com , check it out. Tourist transportation, transfers, everything you need.

and Geography Now! endorses them!

Alright, let's begin?

Yes! Welcome to Mexico!

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

Named after the Mexica people from ancient Aztec times,

Mexico is a powerhouse on the world stage.

And it's hard to imagine how the entire Latin world, let alone the Western Hemisphere, would operate without it.

First of all

Mexico is located on the southern part of the North American continent

straddling the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico.

Bordered by the US to the north and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast.

The country is divided into 32 Federal entities, 31 States

one of which is called Mexico and the capital city, Mexico City

Oh and Mexico City is technically sinking about 10 to 20cm a year because it was built on a lake.

With a greater metropolitan population over 21 million,

Mexico City is the largest city and oldest capital city in the entire Western Hemisphere

and in itself has about the same GDP and economy as the entire country of Peru.

After Mexico City though

The next largest cities are Guadalajara in Jalisco, and Monterrey in Nuevo León.

And if you come here, you will most likely fly to one of the busiest airports:

The Capitals; Mexico City International,

then the second place is actually Cancun,

then Guadalajara and Monterrey Internationals.

Yeah, we Americans love Cancun and we love going there all the time

and we do to. Just clean up your vomit next time, ok?

No promises!

Today, Mexico has no territorial disputes. They did once with France over Clipperton Island, but that got settled.

Otherwise the border with the US... Yeah, we know we know what you're thinking but hear me out.

It actually does have some quirky anomalies.

For example. On the border with Tijuana, there's a Friendship Park

where you can chat and shake hands with locals of both sides through a fence that goes all the way into the Pacific.

Further east in California

Two towns split by the border kind of trolled each other.

One named itself "Mexicali" and the other side "Calexico".

And in Naco, Arizona, the local residents have a cross-border volleyball game every so often.

No, we don't want to sugarcoat everything. Yes

There are certain sections that are more barricaded and strict on the crossings. But besides the complicated nature behind these issues,

There's a lot more to it than most media outlets portray.

Speaking of territorial anomalies.

In the southernmost state of Mexico,

Chiapas have some interesting towns that operate under a system called "Usos y costumbres"

Which means something like "Autonomous customary law". The people, mostly of indigenous descent, govern their own internal affairs

and the government just kind of lets them do their own thing without interference.

It sounds kind of scary.

But today it's actually a kind of a dark fascination that has drawn in a ton of tourists.

And finally, let's just get it over with.

Just like how we discussed in the Italy episode,

Everybody knows about it.

It's nothing new.

To a varying degree of power indisputable boundaries. Yes,

certain areas of Mexico do still kind of fall under cartel influence.

It's a very strange system run by underground individuals that kind of meshes itself into normalcy with everyday citizens.

There are syndicates like the cartel of Sinaloa in the northwest,

The Zetas in the northeast,

the Familia Michoacana in the center of the country

and the Jalisco Nueva Generación in the West.

Cesar, I'll let you explain this.

Today, it's very hard to estimate how many people are still involved in how much money is coming out

since numbers are always changing

especially after the war was declared on the cartels by the government in 2006 by President Calderon.

But for what it's worth, the situation is still being dealt with today.

Most Mexicans can agree that this operation largely failed.

A large portion of the violence in Mexico is still caused by disputes between Cartels for territory.

Thank You Cesar.

Well, I'm glad we got that out of the way

because now we can lighten up a bit and talk about the almost infinite number of beautiful notable spots Mexico has to offer.

Some cool man-made and landmarks might include places like:

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City

UNAM, the oldest university in North America

The castle of Chapultepec

Catacombs at Templo Expiatorio

Biblioteca Vasconcelos

Tunnels of Puebla

The Plaza de Toros Mexico

The bronze sculptures of Puerto Vallarta

And if you're in for some creepy stuff:

the Casa de los Lamentos in Guanajuato

Torture museum of Hacienda del Cochero

The Mummy Museum in Guanajuato

That creepy doll island of las Muñecas

And every so often you might come across a Malverde altar.

He's the patron saint of drug cartels.

They have a patron saint for drug cartels

But best for last, there are hundreds of Mesoamerican pyramids and sites.

Some are possibly yet to be discovered hidden in the jungles, but the most famous ones probably being:

Cholula, which is the largest monument ever constructed according to the Guinness World Records

Monte Albán

the Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Sun and the moon

and one of the new seven wonders of the world: the Mayan pyramid of Chichen Itza.

Keep in mind, we said "man-made".

I know a lot of you might be wondering "Why didn't they talk about all the cool natural sites?"

like the cenotes or

The volcanoes and canyons. Well, that's because that stuff will be long in the next section,

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Mexico's land is kind of like...

A PINATA!

Colorful and full of surprises.

Dude, a pinata? You really rush this part of the script. Didn't you?

Yes, I did.

First of all

The country is located on the west edge where the North American plate meets the Pacific plate

making them part of the larger Ring of Fire.

The country is made up of three main mountain chains:

The Sierra Madre Occidental, which has the largest lake, the lake of Chapala in Jalisco.

the Sierra Madre Oriental, which has the highest mountain peak, Pico de Orizaba.

And Sierra Madre del Sur. Which effectively surrounds the large Mexican plateau in the middle.

A narrow flat valley lies between the Chiapas Mountains

which then swings up to the flat humid Yucatan to the southeast

Oh, yeah

and don't forget the arid Baja Peninsula to the west.

At the bottom of the plateau lies the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt

where most of the seismic and volcanic activity lies.

The country has about 45 volcanoes

The most violent one is considered to be the Popocatepetl,

which is less than 70 kilometers away from Ciudad de Mexico.

There's also the world's smallest volcano, Cuexcomate in Puebla, at only 13 meters tall.

Awww, what a cute little force of destruction.

Oh

That's nothing. A volcano once randomly erupted out of a dude's farm in 1943 in Michoacan.

It grew over a thousand feet tall.

WOAH!

The Rio Grande River which makes part of the borders shared with Texas is the country's longest river.

However, the longest non-shared river completely in Mexico would be the Nazas Aguanaval.

Along the coasts are flatter green plains.

Basically

The north part is rockier and dryer with landmarks like the Barrancas del Cobra Canyon

and the Sonoran desert with the massive crater pocketed Tecolote lava fields.

Whereas the south part is humid and lush

with biosphere reserves and rain forests harboring thousands of animal species.

Speaking of which,

Mexico ranks as the fourth most bio diverse country in the planet, 10 to 12% of the world's biodiversity

Oh and bugs!

There's a monarch butterfly sanctuary at Patzcuaro

and the Firefly forest in Tlaxcala

as well as the national animal, the golden eagle

and the most iconic dog breed:

The Chihuahua, the smallest dog in the world

and the nearly hairless Xoloitzcuincle or "Xolo dog".

Remember we saw those dogs when I visited you? Cesar and then were like "Yeah

That was like my second favorite part of the whole trip"

And what was your first favorite part?

The part where you introduced Esclava to me?

And then remember I got a little tipsy and then we played poker and then I won and then I almost fell down and...

It's funny though because Mexico also has a ton of like secret hidden natural land formations.

There's that strange 153km long underground river in the Yucatan.

The Sotanolas de las Golondrina in San Luis Potosi, which is the largest cave-shaft in the world

The giant crystals in the case of Naica

There's even the Islas Mariettas, which has a hidden beach inside a hole in the island.

You almost brought me there, but we couldn't go in.

Yeah, and unfortunately the weather conditions didn't permit it, but still visit discoverPVR.com .

Yeah. Yeah, I'll come back and visit someday.

Wait, can I come?

Yeah sure, catch.

What are these, goggles?

Yeah, you can swim there. From Long Beach

Resource-wise, Mexico is the world's largest producer of avocados, silver.

They introduced tons of new foods would make their way across the globe namely "The Big Four":

Corn, chilies, chocolate and tomatoes

We would not have pizza if it wasn't for Mexico. Let that sink in.

Oh and dear Mexico,

Thank you for inventing Tajin and Chamoy. My life was empty before this discovery.

Food-wise, There's too much to cover.

But generally speaking, there are seven regions of cuisine:

In the Yucatan Peninsula, they love the annatto seeds.

They have Mayan dishes like Poc Chuc.

In the South, the Tlayudas are very popular, and the Chapulines.

Remember, Ken we try those and they were good, right?

I'm sorry, what?

You're fired.

Anyway

In the Baja California, there are plenty of fish dishes and other seafood.

The Bajio is very popular for their Guacamayas.

In the north They love cabrito, very popular in Monterey,

and they also have a big Tex-Mex influence.

In the West, we eat pozole, birria

and we also invented tequila.

In the center of Mexico, there's a lot of tortas, mole and chile poblano.

Economy-wise, Mexico is the 15th largest in the world in nominal terms and 11th by purchasing power

and they are busy.

The World Trade Organization in OECD has ranked Mexico as the hardest-working country in the world on average

On average, they work over 43 hours a week.

That's it?

Dude, that actually seems pretty low to be honest.

Main exports of the country include things like automobiles, electronics.

They are the largest flat-screen television exporter in the world as of 2017.

We covered a lot.

Okay, I think that's most of it.

Landscape, animals, resources, food, economy. Okay.

Should we talk about Mexican people now?

Yeah, why not? Next section. Go!

DEMOGRAPHICS

You know, it's kind of complicated because there's three different kinds of titles for Mexican:

First of all, you have the Mexicano, which means it's "person from Mexico"

The Mexiquense is "a person from the state of Mexico"

and the Mexiqueño or as we call them "Chilangos" is a person from the capital Mexico City.

So yeah take note on that.

First of all