Eat here to believe it! The second phase of Mexico’s “Live It To Believe It!” tourism campaign

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Nov 212014
 

Mexico’s tourism officials have unveiled the second phase of their “Live It To Believe It!” campaign. The first phase focused on some relatively unusual destinations and sights in Mexico. The second phase is based on the nation’s extraordinarily varied gastronomy. “Eat Here to Believe It!” is our suggested shorthand. Mexican cuisine has taken the world […]

The abduction and presumed murder of 43 students in the state of Guerrero

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Nov 182014
 
The abduction and presumed murder of 43 students in the state of Guerrero

The disappearance several weeks ago, and presumed murder, of 43 students from a teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa in the state of Guerrero has shocked the nation and sent shock-waves around the world. The isolated mountainous parts of the state of Guerrero have long been home to some of the worst violence and most severe poverty […]

The Huichol (Wixárika) People’s fight against multinational mining companies

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Nov 162014
 

A new feature-length documentary about the Huichol (Wixárika) People, an indigenous group who live in the mountains of western Mexico, has been released. Huicholes: the last peyote guardians is a must-see movie and is already winning praise and awards. Equally importantly, it is helping to raise funds and support for the Huichol as they fight […]

World-class rock-climbing near Monterrey

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Nov 132014
 
World-class rock-climbing near Monterrey

Mexico’s varied geography has made it a premier destination for all kinds of adventure tourism, from caving and canyoneering to jungle treks, white-water rafting and rock climbing. This 6-minute video shows mountaineer Alex Honnold climbing the 460-meter (1500-feet) high rock face known as El Sendero Luminoso near Monterrey in northern Mexico. What makes this climb […]

Mexcaltitán, a magical island town in Nayarit

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Nov 102014
 
Mexcaltitán, a magical island town in Nayarit

A short distance north of San Blas, in Nayarit, is a small island called Mexcaltitán. With barely four thousand inhabitants, it would scarcely be expected to have any real link to Mexico City, the world’s greatest metropolis of some twenty million people. But it does, and the link is to be found in the amazing […]

The 2014 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race

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Nov 082014
 
The 2014 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race

Entrants in the 2014 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race have to complete a grueling off-road route that runs almost the entire length of the Baja California Peninsula. The race starts in Ensenada, Baja California, and ends in La Paz, Baja California Sur (see map). The approximate point-to-point distance is 1820 kilometers (1,130 miles). The […]

The regional geography of music in Mexico

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Nov 062014
 
The regional geography of music in Mexico

Here are brief descriptions of some of the most commonly heard forms of regional music within Mexico. What you hear depends on where you travel! Mariachi For many decades, mariachi has been widely considered to be the quintessential Mexican folk-music genre, and has become an important symbol of Mexican music and culture. A mariachi band […]

What are Mexico’s leading exports?

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Nov 032014
 
What are Mexico's leading exports?

The table shows the destinations of Mexico’s major export flows, excluding petroleum-related exports, for the first five months of 2014. (All data from Pro-Mexico.) It is no surprise that Mexico’s two main export partners are the USA and Canada, its partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but the other countries in the […]

How does Mexico’s water footprint compare to that of other countries?

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Oct 292014
 
How does Mexico's water footprint compare to that of other countries?

In a previous post, we saw how Mexico is a major net importer of “virtual” water. In this post we take a closer look at Mexico’s water footprint. The data throughout this post come from The Water footprint of Mexico in the context of North America (pdf file). Individual products each have their own water […]

Musical instruments in Mexico: indigenous and introduced

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Oct 272014
 
Musical instruments in Mexico: indigenous and introduced

The following account of Mexico’s traditional (folkloric) and introduced musical instruments consists of extracts from an article by Andrea Teter. [1] Pre-Columbian instruments Archaeologists have noted the existence of more than 1,400 musical instruments used in pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America. These were used primarily for religious, and healing rituals and for ceremonies, but also […]

Trends in Mexico’s foreign trade and Economic Complexity

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Oct 232014
 
Trends in Mexico's foreign trade and Economic Complexity

The online Atlas of Economic Complexity is now interactive, allowing users to choose and combine a large number of variables related to imports, exports, date and country. In the webpage’s own words, it is “a powerful interactive tool that enables users to visualize a country’s total trade, track how these dynamics change over time and […]

Which states are growing fastest?

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Oct 202014
 
Which states are growing fastest?

Which of Mexico’s states have the fastest growing economies? The map below, based on INEGI data, shows each state’s percentage change in GDP for the three year period from 31 March 2011 to 31 March 2014. Only one state – Campeche – registered “negative growth” over the period. In Campeche, production from the oil fields […]

Are Monarch Butterflies in danger of extinction?

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Oct 182014
 
Are Monarch Butterflies in danger of extinction?

As a species, monarchs are native to North America, but subsequently island-hopped their way around the world—across the Pacific to Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand, and across the Atlantic to Europe. In parts of Mexico, particularly in the area around Lake Chapala, there is a healthy population of non-migrating monarch butterflies; these butterflies […]

The Ghost Train (El Tren Fantasma): a case study of the geography of sound in Mexico

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Oct 162014
 

Geography is not only about things that can be seen, touched and measured. Many branches of geography consider how people think, how communities make decisions and how nations interact. At a local scale, one of the characteristics that is often overlooked is sound. We often ignore the soundscapes of places, either because we are “too […]

Mexico is a major net importer of “virtual” water

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Oct 132014
 
Mexico is a major net importer of "virtual" water

The concept of “virtual water” was developed by Professor J.A. Allan of King’s College (London University) and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Allan used it to support his argument that Middle Eastern countries could save their scarce water resources by relying more on food imports. The idea was sufficiently novel for Allan to […]

The annual migration of Monarch butterflies

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Oct 112014
 
The annual migration of Monarch butterflies

Most monarch butterflies never migrate, but one generation of the North American monarch population undertakes an annual, long distance migration, a journey without parallel in the insect world. Every winter, some one hundred million monarch butterflies fly south into Mexico from the U.S. and Canada. They congregate and spend the winter in a dozen localities […]

Recycled plastic boats for Xochimilco?

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Oct 092014
 
Recycled plastic boats for Xochimilco?

What will they think of next? Officials in Mexico City have plans to provide the tourist zone of the Xochimilco canals with environmentally friendly boats and barges and to gradually substitute the usual wooden ones, which have very high maintenance costs. The plan was unveiled a few weeks ago by Mauricio León, director of infrastructure, […]

Will the southern state of Chiapas become a haven for ecotourism based on mangrove swamps?

 Mexico's geography in the Press, Other  2 Responses »
Oct 062014
 

According to press reports such as Buscan dar “nueva cara” a Puerto Arista (in El Economista), there are plans afoot to develop nearby mangrove swamps as part of an ecotourism project. Local architects in the coastal town of Puerto Arista in Chiapas are backing the project to build what might best be called Mangrove Riviera. […]

Mexico’s 2013 avocado harvest and exports

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Oct 042014
 
Mexico's 2013 avocado harvest and exports

Mexico is the world’s largest producer and exporter of avocados. The avocado harvest for the 2013/14 season was close to 1.5 million metric tons, a new record. More than 90% of Mexico’s avocados are grown in the state of Michoacán, where 12% of all agricultural land is currently under avocado orchards. Mexico produces about 1.5 […]

Cananea in Sonora: one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world

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Oct 022014
 
Cananea in Sonora: one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world

One of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, the Buenavista del Cobre mine in Cananea produced over 200,000 metric tons of copper in 2012. The mine, opened in 1899, is located approximately 40 kilometers south of the border between Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The open-pit mine was estimated to contain 26.874 million metric […]

Mexico’s annual GDP/person now stands at $16,463

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Sep 292014
 

Recent World Bank figures reveal that Mexico’s GDP/person in 2013 reached $16,463 a year, an increase in GDP/person of 1.8% since 2012. (All figures in US dollars). Mexico’s 2013 GDP/capita is well above the Latin America and Caribbean average of $14,978. The GDP figures are based on purchasing power parity (PPP) which overcomes gross distortions […]

Mexico hosts 2014 World Tourism Day

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Sep 272014
 

Today Mexico is hosting World Tourism Day, so this seems like a good time to review the state of Mexico’s tourism sector. The official celebrations are being held in the city of Guadalajara. The decision by The World Tourism Organization that Mexico should host the 2014 World Tourism Day recognizes Mexico’s importance in world tourism. […]

Post and Fly Videos of Mexico

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Sep 252014
 

A series of videos made by “Post and Fly Videos” provides an outstanding visual introduction to many of Mexico’s most photogenic sights. Some of the photography is truly stunning. For a fun introduction, try this 4 minute video (turn your speakers on) which gives a quick tour of many parts of Mexico. (As yet, there […]

Illegal pipeline connection causes oil spill in northern Mexico

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Sep 222014
 
Illegal pipeline connection causes oil spill in northern Mexico

The illegal tapping of a Pemex oil pipeline in the northern state of Nuevo León caused an oil spill in August 2014 that contaminated a 6.5-kilometer-long stretch of the San Juan River. According to Víctor Cabrera, state delegate for the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), about 23 kilometers of channels (mostly irrigation channels) have […]

Mexico’s shrimp farms tackle disease crisis

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Sep 202014
 
Mexico’s shrimp farms tackle disease crisis

Mexico’s total shrimp production in 2007 was 178,000 tons. This total masks a significant trend in shrimping. The high-seas catch has declined since 1990 and less than a third of the total catch now comes from the 2100-vessel specialist shrimping fleet based in the port of Mazatlán. On the other hand, production of fish-farmed (“cultivated”) […]

How well do you know the geography of Mexico? Quiz 11

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Sep 152014
 

We hope you will enjoy our eleventh quiz about the geography of Mexico. How many of the following can you answer? (If you answer a question incorrectly, you can have more tries before the answer is revealed.) Good Luck, enjoy, and Happy Independence Day! [mtouchquiz 11] Previous quizzes: How well do you know Mexico? The […]

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Test wells being drilled to assess Mexico City’s deep water aquifer

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Sep 132014
 
Test wells being drilled to assess Mexico City's deep water aquifer

Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil giant, will start drilling the first of two deep exploratory wells in Mexico City later this month to investigate an aquifer deep below the city that is believed to hold vast quantities of potable quality water. For further background, please see our previous post on this topic: Mexico City explores deep […]

Toxic spill in Sonora copper mine causes environmental disaster

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Sep 112014
 
Toxic spill in Sonora copper mine causes environmental disaster

A toxic spill at a copper mine in the northwestern state of Sonora is the Mexican mining sector’s worst environmental disaster in recent history. The mine is owned by mining giant Grupo México, Mexico’s largest mining corporation and operated by its Buenavista del Cobre division. Grupo México is the third largest copper producer in the […]

Was this fissure near Hermosillo caused by subsidence or by faulting?

 Mexico's geography in the Press  2 Responses »
Sep 082014
 
Was this fissure near Hermosillo caused by subsidence or by faulting?

In mid-August 2014, this significant fissure (see image) appeared near the city of Hermosillo in northern Mexico, with some press reports opting for headlines such as “The Earth Splits Open”: While many press reports, especially those in English, tried to link this fissure to faulting and earthquake movements, others were more cautious, saying it was […]

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