Americans make a big deal out of Cinco de Mayo, but the anniversary of the battle of Puebla is not such a big event in Mexico, outside of Puebla itself. More widespread celebrations occur on Independence Day (Sept. 16), Day of the Dead (Nov. 2), Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12), Christmas and Holy Week.
Mexico has 29 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the sixth-highest total in the world.
Northern Mexico's Barranca del Cobre, or Copper Canyon, is a group of canyons that together are at least seven times larger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Mexico has more Spanish speakers than any other nation in the world. But there are also more than 60 indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, with the most common being Nahuatl (more than 1.3 million speakers) and Maya (more than 750,000 speakers), according to the national statistics agency INEGI.
The Aztecs were a nomadic people until, according to legend, they saw an eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake in its claws--a sign from the god Huitzilopochtli that this was where they should make their permanent home. That spot is where Mexico City is today, and the image of the eagle on the cactus holding the snake is at the center of Mexico's flags and its coins.
From the moment they touch down at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, visitors will see the name of Mexico's most beloved president attached to streets, schools, plazas, neighborhoods, towns and cities everywhere. Juarez, a Zapotec Indian who served a number of interrupted terms between 1858 and 1872, is famous for throwing out the French occupiers and for being Mexico's first fully indigenous president.
