While in the Coast Guard I was able to travel a lot in the Mexico and Central America. One problem was the locations I visited in Mexico seemed to always be tourist destination including; Tijuana, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. These places were great, but I always disappointed that I could not observe and really see and understand the culture of Mexico.
In contrast when I was able to visit Guatemala I went to a little port town on the west coast called Piedras Azules. In this town I was defiantly able to see the cultural without very much US influence on the people. I felt this was a great experience to see the different cultural of this region of the world.
One thing that comes to mind when I think about Mexico is spring break and vacations. I know this is sad and the country has so much rich history and cultural, but to be honest that is not what first comes to mind.
Second and third would be the coffee bean plantation that I visited while I was in Guatemala, just a great experience. This family run operation was at the base of these volcanoes that were still active and we could see the red lava flowing from them at night.
