Traveling Mexico in a Glance

Most travelers who travel around the world to experience the new cultures, customs, and climate and meet new people may have been to the most famous places in the world. Most of these places may be famous for its white sand beaches and breathtaking underwater kingdom or a picturesque view of various tourist shrines or maybe for their colorful festivals, traditions and customs and many other things that are uniquely identified to these places. For people who looking for something new and a getaway from the modern city life, most usually to go places with an undisturbed beauty of its nature or simply to places with people who have a unique taste in indulging with adventures. Many countries, towns and islands can be mention, but for the folks who prefer an escape in a place with a little touch of modern city life with a warm and friendly welcome from its people, then Mexico can be the place one can consider visiting.

Mexico is one of the many developing countries in the world. Geologically, it is located in the south of the United States of America and is surrounded with water forms such as the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The people in this country are generally warm and friendly, especially to those who are living in small communities. They are interested in the people and culture of the foreign lands, they are friendlier to people who made the effort to integrate themselves into the Mexican culture. Compared to highly industrialized countries, the life in Mexico slow paced and a little laid back.  The people living in this country are also considered to be religious, and they are also proud people.

Most people may assume that the weather in this country is always hot, but the truth is, in many regions of Mexico, the climate varies. One can expect that on the coasts of Mexico, the weather is considered balmy. There are also tropical forests and fertile valleys; however, there are some mountains in this country, which is snow capped while some regions consist of dry desert lands. For people who prefer to go tropical and hit the beaches in this country, the cities of Cancun and Acapulco are the most popular. Acapulco is not only famous for its beaches, but it is also famous for onlookers of cliff divers at the place called La Quebrada. Night parties and discos are also prevalent when darkness hits these places. A two-hour drive away from Acapulco is a mining town called Taxco, which has maintained its historical architecture and is also famous for its silver works of any kind with great prices.

For one who would like to have a good taste of the Mexican culture, the place named Guadalajara is the perfect place to try Mexico’s famous tequila and other Mexican cuisine such as tacos, sopes, enchiladas and many others. The city is also considered as one of the ten largest cities in Latin America and was also considered as Mexico’s Silicon Valley because of its success in electronics industry.

The city is also famous for many of its land marks and structural designs. The country is its own version of pyramids called the pyramid-temples maid by the Mayan people thousands of years ago. Most of these pyramids are built in a way that the Mayan people can climb to the top storey for sacrificial rituals. One of the known Mayan pyramids in the place is located south west of the Governor’s Palace is the country’s version of their Great Pyramid called Uxmal. It stands ninety eight feet high and is also a nine-storey building. This pyramid did not have a sanctuary or temple in it, but it has palace-like buildings on its four sides. The highest storey had decorations in the Puuc manner, and it also includes masks, latticework, meanders, flowers and parrots. There are many other Mayan pyramids created in many areas in the country and according to some archeologists some of these pyramids were to be believed to be sacred are not meant to be touched.

Exploring other places and countries may bring some new experiences to every traveler, especially in discovering new cultures and tourist spots but the best part of the journey is not only what one has discovered, but also what one has imparted.

Socio-Economic Issues in Mexico

Latin America is known to have inequalities in socio-economics. As a result, social and political policies have radically affected different classes in different ways.

In most Latin American countries like Mexico, unvarying systems of socio-economic stages exist.  Mexico, Venezuela, and Paraguay all belong to C2 levels while other parts of Mexico belong to C3, together with Brazil and Puerto Rico.

Level C2

• Living in relaxed ways
• Receiving middle earnings at work
• Works in middle range industries
• Enjoy few of the good things of life
• Able to meet their primary needs
• Live in separated residences or modern buildings in middle-housing areas

Level C3

• Public positions depend on economic condition.
• Able to enjoy some ease but at the price of financial sacrifice
• Able to just meet their primary needs.
• Workers of small business or casual corporations
• Low or middle income
• Big family sizes
• Live in a greatly occupied area
• Live in apartment buildings or small detached houses

Basing on the information presented above, income variation is the main point of this socio-economic inequalities. Why should we be bothered on the inequality of wealth?

See, for example, a market selling luxury goods is limited to those who can meet the expense to compensate; thus, a great number of rich populations will yield higher and maintainable incomes. However, behind the picture, there are also issues concerning moral and social fairness.

If inequality in wealth were exclusively the outcome of personal selections about labor, sweat, and investments, subsequently people will be obtaining what they wish and merit for. Moreover, if wealth inequality is due to either the inheritance of past problems or modern corruption and lack of transparency, this will turn out to be a major social and political headache.

Frequently ignored but related cases that create wealth inequality are corruption and drug trafficking.  This illegal means has become a widespread practice in some countries.

In 1980s and early 1990s, drug traffickers in Mexico have already established an infrastructure preparing to serve the Colombian-based traffickers.  In the mid 1980s, organizations in Mexico were well-established and reliable transporters of Colombian cocaine were made. This has ended with the fighting between rival cartels due to information leaking to the government by the other rivals.  The fight between rival drug cartels began in the late 1980s and the violence steadily worsened in 2000.

An armed disagreement is taking place between the government forces of Mexico and competitor drug cartels, which is popularized as the Mexican Drug War.  Drug cartels are in existence for some time now as this became more powerful when Colombia’s Cali and Medellin cartel’s ended in 1990s.  The Mexican drug cartels dominated the wholesale of illegitimate drug market in the US today.  Drug violence increased when the key leaders were arrested.

The International Narcotics Control Board reported that corruption remains a serious problem in the country no matter what actions, they take to reduce it.  Some Federal Investigation agents are believed to be part of one of the known cartels of which they act as the cartel’s enforcers.  In addition, an estimated count of 1,500 agents was under investigation for suspected criminal activities and 457 faced charges in December 2005.  The anti-cartel act was then operated in December 2006 to ensure that police and government agencies are free from cartel involvement.

In the early part of 2009, Mexico was rapidly falling apart as the drug war escalated with no relief. The country experienced the rising number of violence caused by drugs, kidnapping, assassination, extortion, homicide, and assault.  Five thousand Mexican army troops were called in by President Calderon. The United States also added troops to protect themselves from the violence in Mexico as Latin Americans might go out in the open and spill over the U.S. border.  So far, this year, an average of 6.8 people was murdered each day in Mexico and around 14,000 people were killed since Felipe Calderon started his term in December 2006.

The geographical location of Mexico has long been used as a point for illegal migrants, narcotics, and other smuggled goods intended for the US. They come mainly from South America, Mexico, and some other parts of the neighboring countries.