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  • Letter from the Editor

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In every way, Mexico is a country of extremes. Along the coasts, steamy jungles teeming with rare flora and fauna give way to pristine, white-sand beaches. In the north and Baja, dry deserts form some of the most inhospitable places on Earth. In the country’s fertile center, the massive twin snow-capped peaks of Popocatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl punctuate the capital’s skyline. These geographic extremes are fitting—they mirror the variety in Mexico’s people. Mexico City bombards the senses with the sort of overload that can only come from the largest metropolis in the world. But Mexico’s most modern city is also one of its most ancient; built on the ruins of the Aztec capital, el D.F. epitomizes the uniquely Mexican mix of past and present. Not far away are sleepy pueblos where modern comforts are as scarce as residents, who cling steadfastly to their traditional lands and languages.

Perhaps most noticeable are the economic contrasts in this, one of the world’s most unequal countries. World-famous beach resorts are the playgrounds of the rich, but walk a few blocks—if at all—off the touristed path to see campesinos, street vendors, and homeless children living in abject poverty. Despite these contradictions, Mexicans share an intensely proud identity, one born in a radical revolution, solidified by struggle against an overbearing northern neighbor, and now finding its place in a new era of democracy.

When in Mexico, you will assuredly come across legacies of the colonial and indígena pasts in architecture, religion, dress, and local economy; but to truly experience what Mexico is today, you will need to understand the peculiar combination of these two traditions that has created a mestizo nation.