mexico is in the southern part of north america. it is roughly shaped like a triangle. mexico is more than 3000 km (1,850 miles) long from northwest to southeast. mexico is between two large seas: the pacific ocean in the west and the gulf of mexico and the caribbean sea in the east. mexico has two large peninsulas. baja california in the northwest, and yucatán in the southeast. in central and western mexico are the sierra madre mountains. in the sierra madre is the pico de orizaba, the highest mountain of mexico. in central mexico there are also a few volcanoes like the popocatépetl and the iztaccíhuatl. the pico de orizaba is also a volcano. in the north of mexico are deserts. in the south are tropical rainforests. some rivers in mexico are the río bravo (known in the us as the rio grande), the río balsas, the río pánuco, and the río yaqui.