Discover Mexico: 20 Amazing Fun Facts That'll Make You Fall in Love with this Vibrant Country

1. Holy Guacamole, UNESCO Galore!

Holy guacamole, Batman! Mexico is the UNESCO World Heritage Site piñata, full of culturally delicious treats: With a whopping 31 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Mexico ranks fifth globally and first in the Americas, boasting a diverse mix of pre-Columbian ruins, colonial-era architecture, and awe-inspiring natural wonders.
Source => embamex.sre.gob.mx

2. Avocado Royalty

Next time you're feeling guacward, know that Mexico's got your back: This nation takes the avocado crown as it is responsible for nearly 30% of the world's avocado production.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

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=> Fun Facts about Puerto-Rico

3. Scorching Scorpion Peppers

When life gives you lemons, Mexico takes the heat up a notch: Mexico is home to the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend, a pepper reaching a fiery 2,009,231 on the Scoville scale, putting even the spiciest lemonade to shame.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

4. Maya Blue Mania

Move over, Blue Man Group: Mexico's had its own blue sensation for over 1,700 years – introducing the Maya Blue! This ritually crafted ink was whipped up by heating a combo of indigo and clay mineral palygorskite in incense burners, adorning everything from ancient ceramics to sacred monuments and even codices. Step aside Indigo Girls, there's another Blue Crew in town!
Source => historytoday.com

5. Chocolate Pioneers

Forget Willy Wonka – the Maya and Olmecs were the true chocolate pioneers, brewing up a storm before Europe even knew what hit their taste buds: Chocolate, initially a bitter beverage in southern Mexico's ancient Mayan and Olmec cultures around 1500 BCE, finally morphed into the sweet delight we know and love when it reached European shores in the 16th century.
Source => history.com

6. Sweet Bones of Día de los Muertos

In Mexico, the dearly departed have a bone to pick with the living, albeit a sweet one: During Día de los Muertos, families create altars with ofrendas (offerings) to welcome spirits returning from the afterlife, celebrating with marigolds, sugar skulls, and copal incense, all to honor their loved ones in a festively macabre fashion.
Source => westernunion.com

7. Love-Lockdown Anthem

You know the saying, "locked in a room, full of inspiration"? That's how Mexico's national anthem was born, thanks to a love-lockdown by an ambitious fiancée: Poet Francisco González Bocanegra was "encouraged" by his fiancée to enter a competition hosted by President Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1853, and he ended up winning unanimously. Set to music by Jaime Nunó, the composition titled "God and Freedom" was officially adopted as Mexico's national anthem on September 16, 1854.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

8. Devil's Belly Button Pantry

Whoever said, "You can't have your cake and eat it too" clearly never met the ingenious folks in Puebla, Mexico, who turned a tiny geyser mountain into their personal pantry and even coined a spooktacular neighborhood nickname - we suppose they had their grain and ate it too: Quite remarkably, Cuexcomate served as a storage unit for food among indigenous people who found the temperature inside ideal for preservation, and later during the Spanish conquest, it became an eerie dumping ground for suicide victims' bodies, making La Libertad locals known as "sons of the devil's belly button." Nowadays, visitors can descend into this inactive geyser to witness an underground stream and waterfall, but the pantry door has been closed for good.
Source => atlasobscura.com

9. General Michelena's Mocha

Who needs a cup of joe when you can have a sip of General Michelena's mocha caliente? Journey with us to 19th-century Mexico: where it all began with General Mariano Michelena introducing the first coffee plants to Michoacán in 1831, eventually transforming Mexico into one of America's main coffee producers, with over 600,000 hectares of cultivated land spread across 15 states including the buzzworthy regions of Chiapas, Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Guerrero.
Source => cafedemexico.mx

10. Monte Alban's Starbucks-Free City

If the ancient inhabitants of Monte Alban could talk, they'd probably say, "25,000 people and not one Starbucks in sight": This impressive city, founded by the Zapotec Indians around two millennia ago, sprawled across 20 square kilometers atop a picturesque promontory in Mexico's Oaxaca valley, complete with a sophisticated society of writing, calendars, social stratification, and ceremonial shenanigans. Nowadays, this ghostly metropolis entertains globe-trotting trivia enthusiasts seeking a glimpse into the long-lost Zapotec and Mixtec cultures.
Source => mexconnect.com

11. Mayan-calendar Magic

Before Google Calendar, there was "Mayan-calendar": El Castillo at Chichén Itzá, an ancient pyramid that doubles as a seasonal planner and a stairway to celestial enlightenment! Behold the clever craftsmanship: Four seasonal sides each featuring 91 steps, and a final step at the top, equals a whopping 365 - marking the days in a solar year. Their astronomical prowess didn't stop there, with El Caracol's observatory capturing Venus's dance across the sky and keeping the Mayans connected to their cosmic neighborhood.
Source => quillandpad.com

12. Sinking Mexico City

It seems that Mexico City has a sinking feeling: believe it or not, the metropolis is actually sinking at a staggering rate of nearly 20 inches per year! Thanks to the ancient lake bed it's built on gradually compacting, the city is not just caught in a slumber party game of truth or dare, but genuinely sinking due to depleted underground water resources allowing polluted waters to seep into its aquifer. Say adios to stable ground, and hola to a gravity-fueled crisis that's adding pressure to an already intense water management conundrum.
Source => eos.org

13. Love and Friendship Day

Love is in the air, quite literally, as Mexico's Casanovas and damsels hoist their amorous flags high every February: On the 14th, Mexico observes Día del amor y la amistad, or the day of love and friendship, with no official public holiday but plenty of roses, romantic dinners, and appreciation for loved ones and friends, as businesses keep their doors open for these heartfelt exchanges.
Source => timeanddate.com

14. Slowpoke Rodriguez's Hypnotic Charm

In a family where lightning-fast reflexes are the norm, it seems someone didn't get the memo, and they got it pretty slow: Slowpoke Rodriguez, the leisurely-paced cousin of Speedy Gonzales, navigates the Looney Tunes universe with his hypnotizing skills and trusty gun, appearing alongside his famed relative in "Mexicali Shmoes" and "Mexican Boarders," as well as making cameos in video games and a Virgin Media broadband commercial.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

15. Mazatlan Cliff Divers

In a breathtaking display of "taking the plunge" that would put any hesitant bride or groom to shame: Mazatlan's fearless cliff divers have been leaping from a vertigo-inducing 50-foot platform into the ocean's depths since the mid-1900s, timing their jumps with incoming waves to avoid shallow landings, while audiences clutch their pearls in awe of these daring daily performances.
Source => mazatlantoday.net

16. Time-Travelling Temporal Shuffles

Mexico: the land of tacos, tequila, and time-traveling temporal shuffles! A country where you might need a sundial, a time-turner, and a crystal ball to predict its next clock-caper spree. With its own symphony of time zones, they might be asking, "Did we just step out of a daylight savings DeLorean?": Mexico juggles four time zones, tiptoeing around daylight savings like a particularly sneaky salsa dancer. This time-bending country hopscotches its way through history, changing time zones through a constant twisting tango of laws and decrees – their latest move? Axing daylight saving time in October 2022, leaving only certain border towns locked in a nebulous temporal waltz!
Source => en.wikipedia.org

17. Órale Express Printing

When you're pressed for time and need to print some Órale Express: The first printing press in North America was actually established in 1539 by Juan Cromberger in present-day Mexico City, making it a significant historical hub for printing in the Americas.
Source => nps.gov

18. Chili Craze

Feeling hot, hot, hot? It's no jalapeño popper accident! Mexico's love for chilies and peppers is unstoppable: Ranking second worldwide, a staggering 8.4 kg of chilies and peppers per capita were consumed in Mexico in 2015, trailing only behind Turkey according to IndexBox Market Intelligence data.
Source => indexbox.io

19. El Santo's Film Smackdowns

If El Santo were to wrestle with his film career, it'd be a 54-movie marathon of dramatic drop-kicks and supernatural smackdowns! Can you imagine the masked brawler facing off against a horde of wicked werewolves, or grappling with a gaggle of nefarious ghouls: Serious reveal: El Santo, Mexico's legendary luchador, fought in the ring for almost five decades, bagging prestigious titles such as the Mexican National Light Heavyweight and the NWA World Welterweight Championships, all while starring in 54 films and passing the wrestling torch down to his competent grandson, Santo Jr.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

20. Dazzling Dahlias

Who needs roses when you can be dazzled by acocoxochitl, an Aztec beauty with an edible side, known to be quite the flirt at floral competitions: Mexico's national flower, the dahlia, dates back to ancient Mesoamerican civilizations and was not only used in religious ceremonies, but also as a source of medicine and food for the Aztecs, now blooming in gardens, bouquets, and dazzling onlookers in various shapes, sizes, and colors around the world.
Source => a-z-animals.com