Welcome back to the Snail Travelers YouTube channel.
My wife and I have traveled all around Mexico for six months,
and in this video we're going to share our list of favorite activities.
We'll tell you about our best adventures our best experiences
and the things that we enjoyed the most here in Mexico.
Let's get started!
Starting at number 20 we have a visit to a mezcal plantation in Oaxaca.
Mezcal is an alcoholic drink that is very common all around Mexico.
Our tour included a visit to the fields where the agave plant is grown.
We also saw the transformation process where the
plant goes through stages of cooking mashing and milling,
then there is a series of procedures involving fermentation and distilling.
And finally we got to sample the different varieties of mezcal created at the plantation.
The next experience at number 19 is the magnificent Lord of Tabasco cathedral
in Villahermosa.
This cathedral is massive, it completely dominates the skyline of the city.
The cathedral was actually destroyed in the 1930s but then rebuilt
with construction concluding in the 1970s,
and it's well worth a visit if you're in Villahermosa.
Let's take a look at number 18, which is the funicular ride in Guanajuato.
The ride itself, I mean it's a short ride, but it's still a lot of fun going up the steep hill.
The views get more and more amazing as you go up,
and once you're at the top you get an even more spectacular view over
the charming and picturesque town of Guanajuato.
No wonder Guanajuato was named a UNESCO world heritage site.
Number 17 is the luche libre experience.
Lucha libre is a wrestling, I don't know if it's a wrestling tournament
or actually more of a show than an athletic event.
I wasn't allowed to take video inside the stadium
but the event was posted on YouTube as you can see here.
To an outsider lucha libre might seem a little bit silly, and yes it is I suppose,
but it is a huge part of Mexican culture,
and we really enjoy these types of experiences that you won't find anywhere else in the world.
Coming in at number 16 is the churches in Oaxaca.
It seems like every city in town in Mexico has one main cathedral,
but in Oaxaca there just seems to be more of these magnificent structures.
There are four or five big cathedrals in the
center of the city and many more smaller ones as well.
In fact we think Oaxaca has the best historic centro of the 14 cities that we visited in Mexico.
Number 15 on our list is the nighttime light shows that we saw in Campeche and also in Merida.
In Campeche there's a great show on the malecon
where the fountains and lights are synced to music.
There is also a light show at the fort in Campeche that was themed to the history of the city.
And then in Merida there is a fabulous projection show that lights up the main cathedral.
For us number 14 is going to be the beaches.
Now I know a lot of people would put the beaches at number one,
and for many that's the main reason they come to Mexico to experience the beautiful beaches.
And we enjoyed the beaches too, don't get me wrong,
but we prefer the more cultural experiences.
But the beaches here in Mexico are really some of the best in
the world and there are plenty to choose from all over the country.
Number 13 is the small colonial towns and villages
and the one that stands out the most to us is Cuernavaca.
This lovely town is just a little bit south of Mexico City.
You could visit on a day trip like we did,
but looking back we wish now that we had stayed longer.
It's got an amazing cathedral with interesting history,
a great museum, a walled monastery complex,
and it's really just a nice place to relax and soak in the ambiance.
Coming in at number 12 is Chapultepec Park.
This is in Mexico City and it is one of the world's biggest and best city parks.
It's double the size of Central Park in New York City.
You could spend days here going around to the different natural areas
and the lakes and the museums in the park too.
Don't miss Chapultepec Park if you ever come to Mexico City.
All right number 11, this is going to be the henequin hacienda we visited just outside Merida.
Henequin is a plant used to make rope.
It's mostly been replaced with synthetic rope these days,
but it was amazing to see the process of how the rope was made
and how this industry once dominated the area's economy.
Number 10 on the list is our visit to the Freida Kahlo museum in Mexico City.
We learned all about this artist's personal life and her amazing artistic talent.
One tip if you come here reservations need to be
made ahead of time and you'll still need to wait in line even with a reservation.
Moving on to number 9: Guadalajara's centro.
The center of the city is filled with colonial plazas and landmarks,
fountains, museums, cathedrals and other historic points of interest.
This is another place that we
if we had to do our trip over again wish we would have spent more time here.
Guadalajara is a fantastic city, one of the best.
Number 8: the cooking classes we took at the Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic.
Two of the best things about Mexico are the people and the food,
and yeah we love to eat the food in the restaurants,
but we also like to learn how to cook the food ourselves
so that we can enjoy the cuisine anywhere in the world.
We took a class on making salsa, another on making tortillas,
and one on Mexican juices or aguas frescas.
Number 7 is next which is the botanical gardens in both Oaxaca and San Miguel de Allende.
Okay normally if someone tells me we're going to botanical gardens I think "boring"!
We're going to look at plants all day with the little signs
that say the name of the plant in Latin.
But the gardens we visited were really nice let me tell you.
In Oaxaca the gardens are so popular that people were waiting for hours to get in.
And in San Miguel de Allende I would say the gardens are almost worthy
of being classified as a small national park.
Absolutely worth the visit.
Let's take a look at number 6 next, which would be the tour in Oaxaca
to see the area's vibrant textile industry.
We visited a tapestry and rug shop where we saw
a demonstration on how the yarn is made and the rugs are woven.
We also went to a candle making workshop where they produce massive human-sized candles.
We saw a really interesting pottery demonstration.
And Emily took a sewing class where she made a huipil, which is a traditional woman's garment.
Next is Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel, coming in at number 5.
This cathedral is magnificent,
it almost reminds me of kind of a fairy tale like a castle or something.
We really enjoyed hanging out in the plaza and just soaking
in the architecture of the breathtaking church.
Okay number 4 is the zocalo in Mexico City.
This is the city's main plaza and it is enormous.
It's really hard to put a grasp on the size until you go there yourself.
To put it into perspective this plaza can hold up to 100,000 people
and it dates back to the days of the Aztecs.
Coming in at number 3 is sailing on the lagoon in Bacalar.
We took an amazing sunset sailboat ride on the freshwater lagoon in Bacalar,
which is located in the very south of the country near the border with Belize.
There are other types of water sports as well such as jet skiing,
and Bacalar is just a great place to spend a few days relaxing.
Almost done, number 2: swimming in the cenotes.
The cenotes located in the Yucatan peninsula are giant sinkholes or caves
that contain crystal clear very pure water
and they are great for swimming and an especially
great way to take a break from the heat and humidity.
All right before we get to number one let me
mention some bonus places that we didn't include in our top 20
because it's been a long time since we've been to these places.
Teotihuacan has some of the world's biggest ancient pyramids
not to be missed if visiting Mexico City.
The Copper Canyon in the north part of Mexico is fabulous.
It's four times bigger than the Grand Canyon back in the U.S.
Then Cabo San Lucas is a great vacation spot,
our family went there when I was a teenager, that was a long time ago.
And another bonus location is Cuetzalan,
a charming colonial village just a half day away from Mexico City.
Okay here we go number one is the ancient ruins all around Mexico.
Let me start with Mitla just outside of Oaxaca City.
These ruins were the center of the Zapotec civilization.
And then also near Oaxaca is Monte Alban probably my personal favorite
because these ruins are situated up on the mountain overlooking the beautiful valley.
This site also has some magnificent structures and you can still climb some of the pyramids here.
Moving on to the great pyramid of Cholula
just outside of Puebla where we have the remains of the world's widest pyramid.
Next is Uxmal just outside of Merida.
It has a magnificent complex of structures including the Pyramid of the Magician,
and one thing we really liked about Uxmal was that it didn't have the crowds of the other sites.
And then finally we of course have Chichen Itza the granddaddy of the archaeological sites.
This ancient Mayan metropolis is where you will find one of the
most famous pyramid temples in the entire world.
So there you have it our top experiences for our six months in Mexico.
It was sad to say goodbye to Mexico but we're not done traveling the world yet.
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