| Mexico enjoys a cultural blend that is
wholly unique: among the fastest growing industrial powers in the
world, its vast cities boast modern architecture to rival any in the
world, yet it can still feel, in places, like a half-forgotten
Spanish colony, while the all-pervading influence of native American
culture, five hundred years on from the Conquest, is extraordinary.
Each aspect can be found in isolation, but far more often,
throughout the Republic, the three co-exist – indigenous markets,
little changed in form since the arrival of the Spanish, thrive
alongside elaborate colonial churches in the shadow of the
skyscrapers of the Mexican miracle. Occasionally, the marriage is an
uneasy one, but for the most part it works unbelievably well. The
people of Mexico reflect it, too; there are communities of
full-blooded indígenas, and there are a few – a very few –
Mexicans of pure Spanish descent. The great majority of the
population, though, is mestizo, combining both traditions and, to a
greater or lesser extent, a veneer of urban sophistication
|