Mexico City
The journey opens in the capital with museums, neighbourhoods, food, strangers and the ancient scale of Teotihuacan.
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Reflections of a Roving Doctor · Part One · Chapter I.I
Mexico
Five weeks, eleven stops and the first real lesson in how quickly a plan can become a life. Mexico is where the gap year stops feeling theoretical and the road finally begins in earnest.
Mexico · August - September 2022
The first country changes everything.
The route crosses Mexico from the capital to the Yucatán Peninsula, moving through vast cities, colonial towns, highlands, jungle ruins, cenotes and the Caribbean coast before ending at the Belizean border.
It is also where solo travel becomes ordinary. Spanish improves, plans loosen, strangers become temporary companions and each departure makes the next one easier. By Chetumal, travelling is no longer something I am trying. It is simply what my life has become.
11
Stops across Mexico
5
Weeks on the route
347 km
Walked along the way
2,537 km
Travelled through Mexico
Before the diary
About Mexico.
Begin with the country itself - its landscape, people and history - before following the daily route from the capital towards the Caribbean.
Country
Mexico’s identity, political structure, national symbols and place within the wider region.
Read CountryLand
Mountains, deserts, tropical forests, long coastlines and the immense geography crossed by the route.
Read LandPeople
Languages, communities, traditions and the cultural depth behind a country far larger than one journey can contain.
Read PeopleHistory
Ancient civilisations, conquest, revolution and the layered past visible across every stage of the route.
Read History
Read Chapter I.I
Eleven stops. One very long beginning.
Each card represents a stage of the Mexico route. The daily journal entries load automatically beneath their destination, preserving the original chronology.
Follow Route I.I east and south from Mexico City to Chetumal.
Puebla de Zaragoza
Colonial streets, Talavera tiles, volcano views and mole poblano mark the first move beyond the capital.
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Oaxaca de Juárez
Food, mezcal, markets, ancient ruins and layered Indigenous traditions make Oaxaca one of the route’s richest stops.
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San Cristóbal de las Casas
Highland air, colourful streets, Indigenous communities and canyon landscapes shift the rhythm of the journey.
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Palenque
Deep jungle and monumental Maya ruins turn a short stop into one of Mexico’s most atmospheric chapters.
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San Francisco de Campeche
Pastel façades, sea walls and a fortified colonial centre offer a quieter pause along the Gulf of Mexico.
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Mérida
The Yucatán capital brings together Maya heritage, crowded plazas, cenotes and a city alive after dark.
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Cancún
Caribbean water, islands, nightlife and the first taste of the diving life pull the route towards the coast.
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Playa del Carmen
Cenotes, underground rivers and the Riviera Maya turn the final stretch into equal parts adventure and excess.
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Tulum
Clifftop ruins, turquoise sea and jungle cenotes place history and natural beauty within the same frame.
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Chetumal
The final Mexican stop slows the pace before the first international land border and the road into Belize.
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After Mexico
Five weeks into the gap year, the first country closes with a reckoning: the language learned, habits changed, kilometres covered and expectations already exceeded.
What Mexico becomes
The foundations of the road.
The first country sets the habits, contradictions and obsessions that continue through every chapter that follows.
Momentum
Every bus, hostel and departure makes the next move easier until uncertainty begins to feel less like danger and more like possibility.
Language
Speaking Spanish every day turns classroom fragments into a practical tool for connection, mistakes, humour and independence.
Self-reliance
Small problems become ordinary: finding transport, washing clothes, changing plans and continuing even when the mood does not cooperate.
La patria es primero.Mexican national motto
The homeland is first.
The complete gap-year journal
Mexico is only the first country.
Continue through Central America, South America, Antarctica and the long route back home in the complete Reflections of a Roving Doctor collection.
The first border waits.
Mexico ends in Chetumal. The next chapter crosses into Belize, where the route slows into Caribbean islands, jungle caves and the first serious stretch beneath the sea.
Continue with Belize.These entries are personal reflections written at particular moments during the journey. Memories, opinions and practical details may have changed since publication.