For a little slice of England in Mexico, head to Pachuca [21] (90 k northeast of México City) with its hills covered in colourful buildings. Miners from Cornwall came here in the 1800´s bringing with them the game of soccer and Cornish pasties. There is a variety of fillings. At Pastes Kikio´s, we went for the potatoes and mince (and chillies) fillings and tried the chicken with red mole (sauce), but there are shredded chicken with frijoles (refried beans), frijoles with Spanish sausage, rice pudding or pineapple jam fillings. Each one costs under $1. A short bus ride away is the old mining town of Real del Monte, another Pueblo Mágico, with cobbled streets and red roofed buildings.

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To the south are the imposing Toltec ruins of Teotihuacán [22] – The City of the Gods – once the capital of Mexico´s largest empire with pyramids to the sun and moon. The city was built between 150 AD and 600 AD but around 900 AD it was abandoned. The Aztecs who later visited it believed it was here that the gods sacrificed themselves to set the sun and moon in motion.  Today it is visited by thousands on day trips from México City.  We stayed overnight at a hotel nearby so we could be there for the 7 am opening and avoided the crowds.

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At the smaller archaeological site near Tula [23] (900 AD to 1150 AD) 4 large basalt warrior figures over 4 metres tall once held up the roof of the Quetzalcóatl Temple. Fine carvings remain around the outside. In the 11th century, Toltecs emigrated from Tula and settled at the former Mayan city of Chichén Itzá (500 kilometres away). We were constantly reminded of the similarities between the two sites – the ball courts, human sacrifices, the jaguar sculptures, the Chac Mools (reclining human figures with a tray over the stomach – meaning /use unknown) are virtually identical.

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Stone funeral masks