How Mexico Got Its Name

My grandfather was from Guanajuato, a state in Central Mexico. As an adult, I would travel there every couple of years to visit him. He lived in San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful city with colonial-style buildings that is becoming increasingly popular with tourists.

When I was a teenager, my grandfather told me that his father spoke a language called Nahuatl. This is an indigenous language in Mexico that only about 1% of Mexicans speak. It was the language of the Aztecs and used to be widely spoken in Mexico. However, older generations have stopped teaching this language to their children. In addition, younger generations of Mexicans want to learn English and other international languages, so there is not as much interest to learn their heritage language. I soon became interested in this language and tried to find someone in Mexico who could teach it to me.

I met a man named Ulises, who was a street vendor in the main plaza of San Miguel. He grew up in a small village and spoke Nahuatl as his native language. He taught me different words and phrases in Nahuatl, but the most interesting thing that he taught me was about the history of Mexico, and how Mexico got its name.