Written By: Eliza Berman
In 1968, in advance of the Olympic Games which would take place that summer in Mexico City and draw many international travelers, LIFE dispatched photographer John Dominis to craft a portrait of Mexico. The photographs celebrated the country’s diverse ethnic makeup, its fiestas and its food, as well as its modernizing urban centers. The images were, for many of LIFE’s readers, a first intimate glimpse into life south of the border, and one that presented the richness of the country’s culture.
Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
A fiesta in Guanajuato.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Park dancers in Mexico City.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Plaza singers in Vera Cruz.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Morelia, Mexico, 1968.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Performers in Mexico.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Mexico, 1968.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A mariachi band, Mexico.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Incense bearer in Chiapas.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Mexico, 1968.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Market, Mexico City.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Market children, San Miguel de Allende.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Lily seller, San Cristóbal de las Casas.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Fruit stand, Mexico City.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Hammock seller, Oaxaca.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Man with balloons, Mexico, 1968.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Pinwheel display, Mexico City.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Hatful of onions, Vera Cruz.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Chamula women participated in a bead and ribbon ceremony called cambio de mayordomo (changing office), Mexico, 1968.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Unloading fowl, Oaxaca.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A woman shelled corn in wicker hampers at a local market.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Lunch on the Paseo de la Reforma.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A couple in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City.
John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
