‘¡Viva Mexico!' was how Miguel Hidalgo rallied his fellow Mexicanos to the struggle against colonialism, and it is a shout that is repeated by the president and echoed throughout the land every 15 September - Independence Day. This slogan couldn’t be any more apt - Mexico is bursting with life!

While there are many nations who live to work, Mexico does the exact opposite. The people are vivacious lovers of their free time and of socialising, and work will never have the same significance that friends and family do. The mother, is known as the giver of life, and is honoured and respected, and all the children, whether belonging to locals or visitors, are doted upon.

The history of Mexico seems to live at one with its present. In Mexico City, the Plaza de las Tres Culturas rejoices in the three major cultures that have shaped Mexico: there are Aztec ruins, the 17th-century colonial church of San Diego and several late 20th-century buildings. Even the dead seem alive here - at least once a year; on the Day of the Dead, the living bring gifts to deceased relatives and friends and spend the night in their company, remembering and celebrating how things used to be.

Where the Caribbean Sea encounters the Yucatan Peninsula the coral reefs come alive, with sea creatures, big and small. The Pacific coast attracts elephant seals and spectacular grey whales, which choose Mexico to breed and give birth, year after year.

The desert still is not a barrier to life - it is home to the agave plant, the mother of all tequilas. The blue plant has a lot to answer for in Acapulco and Cancún, where humans come ashore after a day in the surf to flirt in bars and nightclubs.

The largest accumulation of teeming life in the whole of Mexico, is of course, its capital, where 20 million people (a fifth of the whole population) compress in together to work and play, live and love, die... and come back to life.