Acatlan, Taxco and Central Mexico (Geology Thesis - 1988)
I worked on my master's thesis on the geology of the 'Mixteca" terrane- the area roughly where the states of Guerrero, Puebla and Oaxaca meet. Spent a bit over a month collecting rock samples in the area with the help of the kind people at the UNAM. Won't bore you with the finding of this work.
The area had a worn, gentle beauty that really grew on me the longer I stayed. I must admit that I was completly ignorant to the local culture when I arrived, and was surprised to find that Spanish was not nearly as universal as I thought it would be. People were friendly, but very cautious and I felt as if I would have needed to stay there a LONG time to have relly been accepted by in these people. The land had a very timeless quality to it, semi-abandoned town, feuds dating back to the Mexican Revolution and beyon, very old spanish churches which were being consumed by the land which no amount of upkeep was going to stop, and religious practices (hidden or not) which obviously pre-dated the spanish.