Mexico
Mexico is a country with a rich history, a great geographic diversity, lively streets and culture, as well as distinctive crafts and food. The history is well preserved in archeological sites that bear witness to the great native empires, and even more so, in Spanish colonial towns whose cathedrals, public edifices, and narrow streets rival that of Europe. The geography includes deserts, jungles, tropical beaches, and permanently snow-capped volcanoes. The animation in the streets, friendliness of the people, as well as the richness of the crafts, is reminiscent of Asia. Top that with a colorful local culture, and you get an inexhaustible travel destination.
Mexico travel information and vacation guides. Discover the facinating world of Mexico. There are several hidden treasure just waiting to be explored. Ancient Aztec pyramids, authentic foods and fantastic shopping. Whether you're looking to visit past civilizations or simply lay on the beach and work on your golf game... Mexico can accommodate.
A country so lively that even Day of the Dead is a hoot.
Mexico is a traveler's paradise, crammed with a multitude of opposing identities: desert landscapes, snow-capped volcanoes, ancient ruins, teeming industrialized cities, time-warped colonial towns, glitzy resorts, deserted beaches and a world-beating collection of flora and fauna.
This mix of modern and traditional, clichéd and surreal, is the key to Mexico's charm, whether your passion is throwing back margaritas, listening to howler monkeys, surfing the Mexican Pipeline, scrambling over Mayan ruins or expanding your collection of posable Day of the Dead skeletons.
Part modern metropolis, part monstrosity, marvelous Mexico City is truly epic.
Mexico City is the political, financial and cultural nerve center of Mexico, and to understand the country one should spend some time here. Perhaps more than any city on earth, it is at the intersection of the first and third worlds, with all the ills, thrills and surprises that suggests.
Factoid
Mexican Combo
The relationship between painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who both lived in Mexico City, was described as a union between an elephant and a dove: he was big and fat, she short and slight.
One moment the city is all latin beats, glamor and excitement; the next it's drabness, poverty, suffocating crowds and rancid smells. In spite of the negatives, Mexico City is a magnet for Mexicans and visitors alike. You certainly won't be bored in this complex, historic city.
Fast Facts
Timezone: GMT/UTC -6
Daylight Savings Start: first Sunday in April
Daylight Savings End: last Sunday in October
Latitude: 19.4270458221
Longitude: -99.127571106
Area: 5,000 SQ KM
Population: 18,000,000
México City, Mexico Information and History
HALFWAY TO HEAVEN
Set in a high valley under two volcanoes, México (Mexico City) was capital of the Aztec Empire until the 1500s. With a population second only to Tokyo's, the city confronts poverty, congestion, and pollution. Splendid museums and glittering avenues ornament this lofty capital, where beneath the layers of modernity, archaeologists still find objects revealing the brilliance of pre-Columbian cultures.
ECONOMY
Finance, chemicals, petroleum, food products, textiles, motor vehicles, machinery, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods.
México City, Time Zone
-6 hours UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, also known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1935, it was both the world's largest electric power producing facility and the world's largest concrete structure. It was surpassed in both respects by the Grand Coulee Dam in 1945. It is currently the world's 34th largest hydroelectric generating station.
The dam, located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as Secretary of Commerce and then later as President of the United States. Construction began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
Lake Mead is the reservoir created behind the dam, named after Elwood Mead, who oversaw the construction of the dam.
The Coronado Islands
The Coronado Islands are a group of four islands off the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. Battered by the wind and waves, they are largely unfertile and uninhabited except for a small military detachment and a few lighthouse keepers. The islands lie between 25.6 and 32 kilometers south of the entrance to San Diego bay, but only 13.6 kilometers from the Mexican mainland.
The Coronado Islands are a Mexican wildlife refuge; visitors may anchor, scuba and snorkel, but trips ashore are not allowed. The Islands are:
North Coronado has no bay but boats can anchor on a jetty on the eastern side.
Pilón de Azúcar (Pile of Sugar) is very hard to land on. It has little or no attractiveness. It has little vegetation but there is a flock of birds that rest here.
Central Coronado has a rocky peak with a heap of cactus and scrubs near the summit.
South Coronado has the only bay of the islands, called 'Puerto Cueva'. It has a lighthouse on each extreme.
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