9. MORE AMAZING MEXICAN SECRETS

MORE AMAZING MEXICAN SECRETS! Besides being the third largest country in Latin America, Mexico is the country with the most Spanish speakers in the whole world! Each of the three color stripes in the Mexican flag is deeply symbolic: The green stripe represents the ideals of victory and hope, the white stripe symbolizes purity, and the red stripe symbolizes the blood sacrificed by Mexico's heroes. Mexico is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a region named for the vast amount of volcanic and seismic activity it contains, and is home to many active volcanoes, such as the Citlaltépetl (also called Orizaba) and the Popocatépetl. Though Spanish is Mexico's official language, there are sixty more indigenous

languages spoken in this country, such Huastec, Maya, Mazahua, Mazatec, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Otomí, Tarastec, Totonac, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, and Zapotec. Every year on November 1, Mexicans celebrate a national holiday called "Día de los Muertos," or "Day of the Dead," in which they honor loved ones who have passed away. Festivities include decorating their houses with pictures of those who have passed and eating treats shaped like skulls and skeletons! Mexico is the original home of chocolate! The border between Mexico and the United States is the second longest border in the world (second only to the border between Canada and the United States), and it spans about 1,933 miles. Mexico's capital, Mexico City, is the second largest city in the world by population, with a population of about 18,131,000 people.