Budget travellers should note that there is a definite tourist economy, with high prices and, on occasion, unhelpful service. This can be avoided by seeking out those places used by locals; an understanding of Spanish is useful. In hotels there are sometimes no single rooms, or they cost 80% of the price of doubles. As accommodation will probably be your main expense this should be built into your budget if travelling singly. You are advised to check all local prices before booking. VAT (IVA) is charged on all but some basic goods; it is generally 15% on almost all consumer goods, including hotel and restaurant bills, but 25% is charged on some luxury items.
Doctors and dentists can provide good-quality care at high prices (taking appropriate insurance is highly recommended). Film is reasonably cheap, but developing is expensive and often of poor quality.
Living by the US-Mexico barrier
An intense debate is under way in the United States over what to do about illegal immigration. The Senate is soon to take up the issue, studying a controversial bill that would see the construction of 1,130km (700 miles) of fencing along parts of the border with Mexico.
People along the western edge of the border, south of San Diego, have been living with a barrier for the past 16 years. Franc Contreras travelled there to ask people on both sides what the divide means to them.
A series of rusty iron panels separate this
Mexico promotes absentee ballot on U.S. TV
Mexico's electoral institute will use a 21-hour show on U.S. television on Wednesday to convince more Mexicans living north of the border to vote in next year's presidential election.
The July election will be the first time Mexicans living abroad will be allowed to cast absentee ballots, but as of November 22, only a little over 2,000 of 11 million Mexicans living outside their country had applied to mail in their vote.
The television show will be broadcast by Spanish-language network Univision in 24 U.S. cities, including New York; Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles,
Americans Can Now Finance Homes in Mexico
For the first time in history, Americans can finance homes or condos in Mexico with an American mortgage company.
Expatriate home buyers in Mexico are not just retirees. Many Americans are retiring to Mexico, but many more are in their 50's, seeking a less stressful lifestyle.
Americans are buying homes and condos in record numbers, paying cash or exorbitant interest rates for short-term loans. Now that mortgage financing is available, 1st American Mortgage of McLean VA, can help more Americans realize their dream of living in Mexico.
“This is one of the biggest changes in
Mexico govt sees cost of rebuilding economy after Hurricane Stan at 1.85 bln usd
President Vicente Fox estimated the cost of rebuilding the economies of the Mexican states hit by Tropical Storm Stan at 20 bln pesos (1.85 bln usd).
Stan slammed ashore as a hurricane in Mexico's state of Veracruz on Tuesday.
Seven states in Mexico's south -- the poorest region of the country -- were affected by the storm. At least 24 Mexicans were confirmed dead.
An estimated 2 mln people were affected by the storm, with 300,000 evacuated to emergency shelters and other temporary housing.
Source: forbes.com
Brazil's low-fare airline Gol on Tuesday said it plans to establish a partnership with Mexico's Inversiones y Tecnicas Aeroportuarias SA, to launch a low-cost airline in that country.
The new airline could begin flying in the first quarter of 2006, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA said in a statement. The two partners plan to draw up a shareholders agreement in the next few months, and will then seek licenses from Mexican authorities, Gol said.
"Through our Mexican partnership we are planning to introduce a low-cost company in Mexico, to contribute with the development of local industry," Gol's president, Constantino de Oliveira Junior,
Food and drinks in Mexico
There is a section on each nation's food under Essentials. Eating out can be a joy, a trial, a challenge or a nightmare. We are introducing bands of restaurants that aim to help when choosing a restaurant.'Seriously cheap' restaurants will be no more than US$3, 'cheap' puts the cost somewhere between US$4 and US$8, with the 'mid-range'carrying on up to US$15. Thereafter eating out fall into the 'expensive' category by Central American standards. While the cost of eating out varies greatly across the region, these categories should provide some guidance.
Most restaurants serve a daily special
MEXICO: Walmex sales jump in Q3
Latin America's largest retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico SA, has announced a 34% rise in third quarter profit, helped by sales at stores the company opened this year in lower-cost rural areas, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
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Mexico's Absentee Total Low
Fewer than 57,000 Mexican migrants have requested absentee ballots for the presidential election, officials said Thursday — a showing many say reflects serious flaws in the effort to include millions living abroad.
Migrants have argued that they received little information about the program. They also complained that a requirement forcing them to register for a voting card in Mexico negated the benefit of being able to cast a vote from outside the country.
Many of the estimated 4 million registered Mexican voters living abroad, mainly in the United States, are undocumented and don't want to return to
Living in Mexico: Survival Tip #2 - Spanish
Let me begin this next column in the series with a generalized statement:
The Spanish you learn in a classroom in the United States, Mexico, or in your own study from some impossibly expensive Spanish language tapes WILL NOT be the Spanish you hear in the streets of Mexico!
I do not care who will try to convince you otherwise! I do not care who may convince you that this method or that method will give you fluency if only you would dish out the bucks to take it. What you learn in a
Mexico growth failing to combat poverty - OECD
Mexico is achieving healthy economic growth rates but is failing to filter its wealth downward to narrow the huge gulf between rich and poor, the OECD economic research organization said on Monday.
The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted in a report that Mexico, Latin America's second-largest economy after Brazil, would register annual economic growth of just over 4 percent over the next two years.
The OECD said that level of growth would still be too low to narrow the income gap and urged Mexico to push ahead with structural reforms that
