{"id":3242,"date":"2025-04-14T02:45:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T02:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juanitos-travels.com\/?p=3242"},"modified":"2025-04-30T05:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T05:11:28","slug":"50-year-backpacker-where-to-go-in-mexico-an-introductory-guide-for-independent-travelers-in-their-40s-50s-or-even-young-ones-inspired-by-herbie-goes-bananas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juanitos-travels.com\/?p=3242","title":{"rendered":"50 Year Backpacker – Where to go in Mexico, an introductory guide for independent travelers in their 40s & 50s or even young ones (inspired by Herbie Goes Bananas) side post #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"taco
My man the Taco Chronicles man before he was on Taco Chronicles making me my first ever carnitas tacos near P\u00e1tzcuaro<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m taking a little pause from the 50 year backpacker journey that my wife and I took around the world, to reflect on my wife\u2019s home country of Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing we\u2019ve found whilst travelling is the impacts of over tourism. While Mexico certainly does suffer from over-tourism in parts, especially around Canc\u00fan, Sayulita and Puerto Vallarta, and sites like Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 and Teotihuac\u00e1n, to name a few, it also offers the independent traveler a wealth of less touristy experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"back
Back when you could climb the pyramids at Teotihuac\u00e1n<\/mark><\/sup> (sorry you’ve missed out unless you’re an archaeologist!)<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been travelling independently in Mexico since 2013, where I first did a Lonely Planet itinerary of some of the top twenty sites, like Mexico City<\/a>, Teotihuac\u00e1n<\/a>, Canc\u00fan<\/a>, M\u00e9rida<\/a>, Palenque<\/a> and San Cristobal de las Casas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ended up in Mexico because I had travelled over with my niece to the USA as she was going over there to study in Nashville for 6 months. My sister used to work for Virgin airlines so the immediate family could get some pretty good discounts on tickets. Originally my sister  had planned to travel with my niece and I over there, flying to LA and then driving across to Nashville. But in the end my sister \u2018piked out\u2019 leaving just me and my niece to take the trip together (by the way I basically repeat this story somewhere else on the Juanito\u2019s Travels  site, but I can\u2019t exactly remember where, as I have added heaps of pages and posts over the years). My niece couldn’t get the discount on the airfares that my sister or I could get unless she travelled with one of us – short explanation they had \u2018tiers\u2019 of discounts, immediate family got super good discounts and anyone who was travelling with us could get a pretty decent discount, like premium economy for the price of economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in the end I was pretty much committed to going as we had promised my niece she\u2019d get these mad discounts and all. I didn\u2019t have to go, but I like to keep my promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mike
My very first photo on my first trip to LA in 2013 – Mike Tyson (a boxer??)<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So my niece and I go over the USA. But by now the plans to drive from LA to Nashville have been ditched. And my niece and I were pretty much just going to part ways when we got to LA, apart from going together to an LA Dodgers\u2019 baseball game that I invited her along to. When I thought about what I\u2019d like to do in the USA, apart from just looking around Hollywood<\/a> and going to an LA Dodgers\u2019 baseball game<\/a>, I thought, go to Mexico!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mariachi,
Musicians at a huarache play in Mexico City<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Un huarache de nopal<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I know Mexico is not in the USA – but much of the USA used to be part of Mexico, pretty much all those places with Spanish sounding names like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego et cetera have Spanish sounding names for a reason!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My original plans for Mexico were quite simple and based a little around my extensive knowledge of the country through watching the Herbie Goes Bananas<\/em> movie. Herbie is a VW beetle car with a personality – he has kind of a \u2018spirit\u2019 and gets up to all sorts of antics like fighting bulls and stuff. Part of Herbie Goes Bananas <\/em>is set in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"green
Another VW vocho (VW beetle) in Mexico City<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So based on Herbie Goes Bananas <\/em>I thought I\u2019d go down to Puerto Vallarta and have a drink of tequila, which I also knew was Mexican, have a taco and then come back to Australia again via the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Some
Some actual bananas in Mexico City <\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As an independent traveller, then just 40 years old, I bought the Lonely Planet guide to Mexico and started to flick through it. And then I started to discover that there was much more to Mexico than what I had learnt from Herbie Goes Bananas<\/em> and other classics like Speedy Gonzales, fastest mouse in all of M\u00e9xico!! I pretty much learnt from Speedy Gonzales that Mexicans wore big sombreros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"palenque
Mayan toucan image, Palenque<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lonely Planet said Mexico had lots of archaeological sites, like Teotihuac\u00e1n, the Mayan archaeological site of Palenque and the ruins of the Aztec main temple, the Templo Mayor (\u2018great temple\u2019). I must admit on my first visit to Mexico, as you may have gathered by now, I didn\u2019t have a great deal of knowledge about Mexico! In this case, thanks Lonely Planet for giving me a better idea! For instance, I thought Teotihuac\u00e1n was an Aztec site (whilst it was an important site for the Aztecs it pre-dated their civilisation by a few hundred years and was built by the Teotihuacanos – as the name suggests). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, now with Lonely Planet in hand I started stretching my itinerary beyond Puerto Vallarta, with planned visits to Mexico City, Teotihuac\u00e1n (close to Mexico City), Canc\u00fan, M\u00e9rida, Palenque and San Cristobal de las Casas. Puerto Vallarta seemed like a bit of a detour so I ditched the idea of visiting there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sorry Herbie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"herbie
An actual Herbie VW in Coyoac\u00e1n, Mexico City<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My friend Kurt had also been to Mexico so he was able to recommend a few places for me to go – including Palenque, which he had missed out on as he was sick and had just stayed in San Cristobal de las Casas, which is actually not that close to Palenque which I was later to find out! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So my wife-to-be and I met up a few times and immediately hit it off. It was a short affair, just a few days in the end as I had to get back to Australia to look after my kids in Canberra as my ex-wife-to-be had to go to Sydney for some training for a new job she had started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that first trip I first arrived in Mexico City where I was soon to discover nobody wears big sombreros about. But they did have tequila and tacos, and many, many Herbies – that is many VW beetles, which they call Vochos<\/em>. Makes sense as they manufactured VW Vochos <\/em>there in Mexico for many years. And that, of course, is why Herbie was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"tacos
My first ever tacos de canasta<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"more
More <\/mark><\/sup>b<\/sup><\/mark>ananas, plus some mangoes, Mexico City<\/sup><\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On that first trip I fell in absolute love with Mexico! I loved the sites. I loved the people. I loved the food – though I did have a few mishaps like getting sick from some very cheap canasta<\/em> style tacos in Mexico City. I loved the nature, the city, the art, the history. It was, and still is, all amazing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An Orozco mural in Guadalajara <\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Flamingos Celest\u00fan, Mexico<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Flamingos flying, Celest\u00fan, Mexico<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Yelapa stream, Jalisco, Mexico<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well that first trip started it all! My now lifelong love of Mexico had begun. Often the first time you do something can lead to a second, third, forth et cetera time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like smoking weed, meditation, eating and having sex. Often we do these things more than once in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"marijuana\"
Marijuana shop sign (not in Mexico but in Bangkok)<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, that first trip under my belt, some years later, again using my sister\u2019s Virgin airline discounts, I travelled again to Mexico via Los Angeles, this time with my friend Kurt, and this time going business class rather than premium economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"catrina
Catrina on chauptepec, Guadalajara<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"dia
Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Tlaquepaque (near Guadalajara)<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That was 2015, that was the year I went to Mexico to experience the Day of the Dead – Dia de Muertos – which is at the start of November. We had been planning to go to Mexico City or Puebla to experience Dia de Muertos but Kurt\u2019s back was playing up and he knew a doctor in Guadalajara who was good at fixing backs and so we modified our plans to go to Guadalajara instead. You can read more about that here<\/a>, it also involved being delayed a few days in LA because a big Hurricane had hit around Puerto Vallarta – from Herbie Goes Bananas<\/em> fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"day<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was like, whatever, as long as we were in Mexico around Day of the Dead, it was all good. Kurt\u2019s bad back changed my life in a rather major way. Now on this occasion it was definitely what I would consider a kind of \u2018fate\u2019 situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mainly because when Kurt was off in Guadalajara getting his back looked at, I was meeting a Mexican woman online for the first time, someone who was later to become my wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"jan
My wife and I doing some artistic poses in the mirror, Guadalajara<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So in the end I didn\u2019t quite make it to the Day of the Dead, leaving, I think on the morning of 1 November. As it happens there\u2019s quite a bit of activity leading up to Day of the Dead anyway so you don\u2019t necessarily have to be there on the actual day. You can read more about that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was 2015. My-wife-to-be kept in touch for a bit and then stopped communicating for a bit at all, and I sorted out my separation arrangements with my first wife, which pretty much started the day I got back Canberra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, now officially single, I spent some time kind of alone, though still living with my ex due to financial restraints, and hey, my wife-to-be and I weren\u2019t together at that stage anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"standing
Standing on top another pyramid at Calakmul, looking a bit puffed<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So the following year, my kids and my mum go to Japan<\/a>, and I kept thinking about my wife-to-be and even bought her a little Snoopy notepad from Tokyo thinking optimistically that perhaps one day I would see her again. And then later in 2016 I started sending messages to my wife-to-be as I had started to plan another trip to Mexico to visit the Mayan archaeological site of Calakmul<\/a> and was wondering whether perhaps she\u2019d want to see me again for a coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that \u2018coffee\u2019 ended up starting with plans for us to meet up in Guadalajara, once I\u2019d been to M\u00e9rida, and then to Calakmul. From those humble beginnings the \u2018coffee\u2019 turned into plans to visit Guanajuato, then Morelia, Quer\u00e9taro, and Mexico City. After, of course, meeting up in Guadalajara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of that trip I had met my wife-to-be\u2019s (let\u2019s just call her \u2018Jan\u2019 from now on) family, one of her cousins, and some of her friends. After that we were more officially together and I soon started planning another trip to Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll continue this Mexico focus in my next blog post as we maybe finally get to visit the city Herbie made famous (for me) – Puerto Vallarta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"puerto
Puerto Vallarta (on a more recent trip) & another VW beetle vocho<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Guanajuato
Us getting the band back together in the pueblo m\u00e1gico, Guanajuato<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s worth mentioning that Guanajuato, Morelia, Quer\u00e9taro, and Mexico City were all amazing experiences. Guanajuato was like a real life Disney experience with beautiful, medieval inspired buildings, and a full on romantic vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Guanajuato<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guanajuato, Morelia and Quer\u00e9taro have what I\u2019ve discovered to be a central Mexican charm, especially in their city centres. They are all bustling with good restaurants, cafes, street food, lively entertainment, often free in the town squares. You\u2019ll see a lot of similarities in design for these smaller Mexican cities, with a central square, with a church at one end and restaurants and shops on the edges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"guadalajara
Guadalajara!<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You also see this repeated in the big cities, like Guadalajara and the granddaddy of Mexican cities, Mexico City! Except on a much grander scale. Guadalajara\u2019s centro area hosts a grand and beautiful Catedral<\/em> (cathedral as you may have guessed if you don\u2019t know Spanish) and large public spaces. While in Mexico city there\u2019s an even bigger Catedral<\/em> and an even bigger public space, The Z\u00f3calo, which I encountered on my very first visit to, which is also the site on which the Aztecs (also known as the Mexica) founded their capital Tenochtitlan, not to be confused with the grand site of Teotihuac\u00e1n with it\u2019s massive pyramids of the sun and the moon, which  was built by the Teotihuacanos – not the Aztecs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"teotiuachan
Finally back at Teotihuac\u00e1n with the whole family!<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of the places I have mentioned so far are pretty easy to navigate (if you stay in a central area) and to get to for the independent traveller. You don\u2019t need an organised tour guide to take you around and, in my opinion, you won\u2019t get to spend enough time and some of these amazing places if you go on an organised tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I would recommend instead is to organise your own airfares and bus fares between places and then maybe organise day tours in some of these areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve put in links in this post to posts and pages I\u2019ve already done about some of these places, but in future posts I will add some more detail on some of the areas and some recommendations for the independent traveller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been travelling to Mexico for over 12 years, and I have never had any particualarly bad experiences at all! I have travelled to many, many places in Mexico and all have been amazing. I will keep giving recommendations on places to stay, where to visit and what to eat in Mexico when you travel there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"coyoacan
Coyoac\u00e1n, Mexico City\u00a0<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My only fear is that by hopefully making your Mexican experience slightly more accessible is that I don\u2019t aid in promoting the negative aspects of tourism and turn nice, local vibe places into not so nice places overrun by tourists. Like Canc\u00fan, Sayulita, and Los Cabos (the last I haven\u2019t visited but I have on my wife\u2019s good authority that it has been spoiled through overtourism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cenote
A rustic cenote in M\u00e9rida, Yucat\u00e1n<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Uxmal,
Uxmal, Yucatan<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Uxmal,
My daughter holding up Uxmal Pyramid, Yucatan<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also some very good sites like chich\u00e9n itz\u00e1 and Teotihuac\u00e1n (especially Chich\u00e9n) have become tourist circuses. A few ways to avoid supporting the over tourism and promote healthy sustainable are to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n