Viva Mexico!

Aw, I feel bad for Mexico, getting all this flak for one little measly worldwide flu pandemic. I think it's time we take a moment to stop and remind ourselves that it's not the Mexicans' fault for this, but the pigs, and let's think about the good things Mexico has given to the world! To paraphrase Monty Python, what have the Mexicans ever done for us?

Here's a short, but by no means exhaustive, list:

- Mexican Food - if I had to choose a national cuisine to eat for the rest of my life, it would be this. Tacos, burritos, refried beans, guacamole, margaritas, tequila, mole sauce! I would move into a Taco Bell if I could (if there was one in NZ).

- Mariachi bands - I love these guys so much, there's something about the hugely oversized guitars and the stupid hats that totally rings my bell. Secretly I've always wanted to play in one of those bands (or not so secretly perhaps).

- Sombreros - speaking of stupid hats, how cool are sombreros? WAY cool, that's what!

- Day of the Dead - now that's my kinda national celebration, what with all those bright, strong colours and statues that look like they come from a Tim Burton set. And how cool to celebrate the afterlife like that, not just treat it like some big invisible misty thing that's just beyond our ken. *coughChristianitycough*

- Frida Kahlo - need I say more?!

- Mexican Waves - the only wave named after a country. Now that's got to be worth something!

Plus, did you know they had a bunch of Austrians on the throne in the mid 1800s? Ah, those Austrians, they get everywhere underfoot. Maximilian I, who was also related to Marie Antoinette (never a good start for any royal), was asked by a bunch of Mexican royalists to be their king, as was the fashion at the time. This happened an awful lot all over the world back in those days - if you were a country sans monarch and there was a spare Dane or Austrian hanging around with not much to do and they had some vague royal connections, well you'd just offer them the position and see how long they lasted. I suspect it was some form of 19th century entertainment. And it explains how Prince Philip's unutterably non-Hellenic family ended up on the throne of Greece.

Anyhoo, Maximilian and his wife, who was also related to Queen Victoria (see entry below), had the best intentions for their new country but only lasted a couple of years cos, ya know, it's kinda hard to find someone less Mexican than a Hapsburgian. His wife went back to Europe and went insane, and poor old Maximilian was executed by his subjects. One of the hazards of the job, I expect.