Mexico — country of 68 languages, the oldest pyramids of the Americas, and fermented agave. Here are 15 surprising facts.
- Mexico has 68 official languages — Spanish + 67 indigenous languages (Nahuatl, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec). Most bilingual citizens in the Western Hemisphere.
- Tequila MUST be made from blue agave from 5 regions of Mexico (mainly Jalisco) — protected by DOC since 1974. Otherwise it's not tequila, but "mezcal" or "agave spirit".
- Chichén Itzá has the "snake effect" — at the equinox (March, September), shadows on Kukulkan's pyramid create a descending serpent. Astronomical engineering from the 10th c. AD.
- World's smallest volcano — Cuexcomate (Puebla, 13 m high). It's short because it's a GEYSER, not an active volcano.
- Chocolate, corn, tomatoes, avocado, peppers, beans, vanilla — all from Mexico/Mesoamerica. Without Mexico, world cuisine would look completely different.
- Mexico City sinks 30 cm per year. Built on drained Lake Texcoco (Aztecs). The Cathedral on Zócalo Square is "sinking" — visibly tilted interior.
- Día de los Muertos — a family holiday, not sad. On 1-2 November Mexicans celebrate with the deceased: food, music, colourful altars, "pan de muerto". UNESCO Heritage.
- Cenotes — natural karst wells. 6000+ in Yucatán. Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá — Mayans made offerings here (including humans). Today diving in 100 m deep chambers.
- Frida Kahlo painted 143 paintings, of which 55 are self-portraits. "Because I am the person I know best." She lived in the blue house Casa Azul in Coyoacán (today a museum).
- The Aztec calendar had 365 days + 5 "unlucky" days (nemontemi). Plus a 260-day ritual calendar (tonalpohualli). Cycles combined every 52 years — the most important festival.
- The Spanish conquered Mexico with 600 soldiers (Cortés, 1519-1521). The 5-million Aztec Empire fell mainly to disease (smallpox), not war.
- Cancún was invented in 1969 — a computer algorithm at BANCO de México chose the ideal tourism location. Then 3 people lived here. Today 900,000.
- Mexico is 5× larger than Poland (1.96 million km²). Border with USA: 3145 km. The world's best-guarded single border.
- UNAM in Mexico City — the largest university in the Americas (366,000 students). Campus UNESCO Heritage, with murals by Diego Rivera, Siqueiros, Tamayo on libraries.
- Mexico has 35 UNESCO sites — the most in the Americas. Including Teotihuacán, Palenque, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Yucatán, and the whale bays of Baja California.
Sources: INEGI (Mexican Statistics), UNESCO World Heritage, Mexican Tourism Board, Smithsonian Anthropology.