The New York Times travel section features “36 Hours In Mexico City” this weekend – a city bursting at the seams with people, pollution…and amazing culture. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind, as a traveler, that Mexico should be on your list of places to visit in 2010.

The peso is currently at 12.76-1, which translates to cheaper travel than anywhere in Europe. There’s a bounty of museums, galleries, restaurants and lovely shops and parks you can explore for a fraction of the cost to travel elsewhere. The city accessorizes with amazing street art, street food, street markets and people watching on the street. You can also explore a building declared as one of the five most significant in the world. That’s saying something.

So why am I bringing this up now? Because Blackbook Magazine placed the entire country of Mexico at #7 (between Chernobyl, Ukraine and Bakersfield, CA) on the “10 Places Not To Go In 2010” article they released. I can understand placing Ciudad Juarez on the list, but all of Mexico is utterly ridiculous. Pakistan and Mexico are the only places listed that are given a complete dismissal and I’m troubled by that. Why don’t we just add Turkey on the list as well since they just released this guy from prison.

10 Places Not To Go in 2010 [via BBMAG]
36 Hours In Mexico City [via NYT]
Image [via NYT]