|This is the third country I present you this way, and this is my first new one. Technically, the 3rd and last country in North America. Mexico is a large country both in area and in population, with a large variety of natural wonders as well as a very rich history.|
Mexico's longest border is in the North, sharing a 3 145 km border
with the USA, in the South it has a two small borders with Belize
(251 km) and Guatemala (871 km). Its almost 2 million square
kilometres (758 000 square miles) makes it the 14th
largest country in the world (yet, it's only 20% of the size of
Canada). Mexico is mostly known by tourists for its beaches... being
bordered by both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, most of
the country is also very elevated above the sea level due to a high
plateau. It's common to find in the middle of the country elevations
above 2 000 m (7 200 feet) just a few hundreds of kilometres away
from the beaches! Mexico City, its capital, is one of the most
elevated capitals in the world at 2 230 m (7 359 feet, the highest
being La Paz, Bolivia, at 4 000 m or 13 200 feet).
million inhabitants makes it the 18th most populous
country in the world (roughly four times the population of Canada).
Mexico City with its 20 millions people is the 6th largest
city on the planet. With very young population (half of the
population is below 27 years old) and a long life expectancy of 76
years, the country's population will increase greatly in the next few
years, increasing the economic challenges it's already facing.
Although it's a member of the G20, Mexico is a country where more
than half the population is under the poverty line. About 78% of the
population lives in cities. Besides Mexico City, the other largest
cities of the country are Guadalajara (4.3 millions), Monterrey (3.8
millions), Puebla (2.2 millions).
The official name
of the country is the United Mexican States. Not only Mexico
mirrored the official name of its Northern powerful neighbourg but
also the organization of its capital, which also stands outside any
state and has its own federal district. Mexico is divided into 31
states plus the federal district of Mexico City. To confuse people
a bit, there's a state called 'Mexico', almost surrounding 'Mexico
City', in the center of the country.
holiday isn't May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) like most foreigners
tend to think, but it's September 16th to celebrate the
Independance (from Spain, in 1810). On that occasion, you see lots
of celebrations throughout the country and people sing their national
anthem: “Himno Nacional Mexicano” (National Anthem of Mexico).
See a Youtube video with lyrics in both Spanish and English.
In terms of
languages, we all think that Spanish is the official language of
Mexico, but it's not officially the case. Although Spanish is by
far the most spoken language in Mexico, it's not officially
recognized as the official language. Even more confusing, there are
over 60 languages recognized by the government as being equal to
Spanish in its relationships with citizens. There are about 6% of
Mexican who speak one of the native languages recognized (with the
size of the country, that's still over 7 million people!). The most
spoken of these languages is the Nahuatl, spoken by over 1.4 million
Nahua people, in Central Mexico.
The currency of
Mexico is the Peso, divided into 100 centavos. The current exchange
rate is about 13 pesos per US$. The bank notes range in value from
20 pesos to 1000 pesos. The coins have values of 10, 20 and 50
centavos as well as 1, 2, 5 and 10 pesos. In both cases, their size
and colours vary depending of the value. In terms of cost of livng,
a litre of milk or of gas are just above US$1, a sliced loaf of bread
or a dozen of eggs are about US$2.