An account of Hugh Thomson"s first wild adventure in Mexico at the age of 18 illustrates why it ignited his love for Latin America, and is then followed by his subsequent exploration 30 years later of the country, its people, and its history. Revealing a much more dangerous side of Mexico than that seen by package vacationers, this book takes the reader from the badlands of Chihuahua to the forests of the Yucatan. It ends deep in the Mexican jungle, face to face with one the most enigmatic and least understood cultures on the planet—the Maya—with a sense of humility at how little we still know about the pre-Columbian past. Similar to The Motorcycle Diaries, by throwing himself on the kindness, hospitality, and mercy of the Mexicans he met (or crashed into), Hugh was given an unusual and peculiarly vulnerable insight into Mexico. He returns many years later with a deeper understanding and the ability to explore the deep roots of pre-Columbian culture within Mexican life and to appreciate how much archaeologists have revealed about the Maya and the Aztecs in just the last few years.