Oh Mexico!

Book excerpt: "Anybody who has ever been a 20-something traveler should enjoy this engaging read." - Bookseller and Publisher Set against the vibrant background of one of the world's most dangerous cities, Oh Mexico! is not only a classic travel memoir, but also contains great narrative and stuffed with amazing facts about this country's colourful history, lit up by warmth, wit, wisdom and pizzazz. With an eye for the bizarre and comic, Lucy's engaging account of surviving life and love in a vast, bustling Central American city is irresistible. After graduating from university with an Arts degree, she is faced with a dilemma: find a job or disappear to Latin America, the exotic land of her childhood dreams! Arriving in Mexico City with little money and only basic Spanish, Lucy's To-Do list is simple enough: "Next morning I awoke and began writing a to do list. Not that I am an organised person, but I was feeling overwhelmed and I always find that a to do list gives me a sense that there is a potential to cope with the situation. 1. Find something to eat, 2. Wash undies, 3. Learn Spanish and 4. Get a job" Lucy promptly finds work as an English teacher and scores a room in a sunny apartment. Her new flatmate, the well-connected Octavio, is unnervingly attractive. So begins an adventure of comic challenges as Lucy negotiates Mexico City's stratified worlds, meeting everyone from street hawkers to crazy gringos, academics and socialites. Then, as the two men she accidentally falls in love with discover each other s existence, her extrovert family arrive for a visit! With a curious mind and a knowing eye, Lucy's account of life in this riotous third-world metropolis that is Mexico City is utterly irresistible.