Merced Balbuena

Almost exactly three years since my last visit to Mexico, I'm back in this fabulous country. So much has changed; during that 2020 trip, there were warnings of the impending pandemic but few people seemed to realise how much the world would change. In 2023, it's like looking across a divide, with social distancing, lockdowns and millions of casualties. But it's a pleasure to be back and with hopes of the world having learned from the experience.

2023 is different in another way too, because large tracts of Mexico, especially in the north and on the Pacific coast, are now deemed unsafe for travellers. This includes some of the areas I visited in 2020, so I head in a different direction, south-east to the states of Puebla and Oaxaca.

Here's to some of the people I encountered in 2020. I particularly like the image of the four men listening to the musicians (no. 3) because they're doing exactly what I would like to do on a Sunday afternoon. Most of the rest are carnival pictures while the final two are in Mexico City.Read more