It’s very easy to be frightened by the prospect of a trip to Mexico. Every guidebook, website, documentary etc mentions the country’s cartel culture and propensity for violence, so much so that trepidation is almost the default feeling for anyone planning a visit. Yet to focus on this side of Mexico is to miss the point entirely.

The trigger happy narco-centric image is a gross oversimplification of what Mexico is all about and is a representation not many who have visited the country would recognise.

Instead, they would focus on the colours, the wildlife, the sensational depth of flavours in every single morsel of food on offer and of course the wonderful Mexican people, whose convivial nature and joie de vivre are a shining example of how life ought to be lived.

Viva la Mexico!

The following photographs were taken in Cancun, Merida, Valladolid, Palenque and Oaxaca.