¡Bienvenido a México!
United States of Mexico Capital Mexico City (Ciudad de MĂŠxico) Altitude: 7,300 feet
Literacy rate: 95.1%
1,972,375 km2 Area Guadalajara
No. of Languages spoken: 50 Official Language: Spanish
MEXICO The second largest country in Latin America and the fifth largest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Mexico City
Population
121 million Growth Rate
1.18% Major Religion
Christianity (Roman Catholicism)
Main exports Petroleum; Manufacturing; Tourism Monetary Unit Peso: ÂŁ1 = MXN $25.80; (November 2015)
GEOGRAPHY Mexico and the United States share a 2,000-mile
(3,500 kilometres) border, which is the longest in the world between an economically developing country and one with a highly developed, industrialized economy.
Although a clearly Latin American culture, Mexicans also see themselves as North Americans and almost exclusively look north in terms of trade, migration, education and tourism.
10%
of world species live in Mexico.
65k species have been described but 200k are believed to exist
Life expectancy
72.88 years (men)
78.55 years (women)
THE PEOPLE Nearly 8% of Mexicans continue to speak one of many Native American languages, the most common of which is NĂĄhuatl.
Mestizos —people of mixed Spanish and native Mexican descent account for about 60% of the population.
POLITICS Mexico’s democratic political system emerged from an era of unrest and has provided political continuity from 1929 to the present. Throughout most of the 20th century the government was controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which dominated national elective offices. In 2000, however, the PRI lost the presidency for the first time since the party was formed in 1939 to the conservative National Action Party (PAN), who went on to win the elections again in 2006. Nonetheless, in 2012, PRI came back into power after Mexico elected Enrique Peña Nieto. PRI did not need the majority of votes to win as, in Mexico, the candidate who attains the largest portion of votes takes office and Peña Nieto was able to begin his six-year term in December 2012.
Mexico is the 15th largest economy of the world.
ECONOMICS Mexico is a large emerging economy (currently placed 13th in the world in terms of GDP and predicted to advance to 5th place by 2050 in an estimation made by Goldman Sachs). Manufacturing, tourism, and assembly industries in northern Mexico are now important sectors of the economy. UK export of goods to Mexico in 2011 was valued at £952 million. Mexico has a dynamic market and analysts predict that its economy will be larger than the UK’s by 2040. Former Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green mentioned in 2013: “This is an exciting time for UK trade with Mexico...[Our relationship] is already close and has been for many years.” Thousands of British tourists visit Mexico, especially the Yucatán Peninsula, each year. The British Council is working hard to broaden opportunities through teaching English to the people of Mexico, by training 50,000 English teachers with “Project English”. This is a train-the-trainers programme in English Language Teaching with Estado de Mexico that has already tripled the number of teachers in the state able to teach English.
TRAVELLING to MEXICO Electricity: The power supply in Mexico is 127 volts, 60 Hz with American-style socket.
Change calling details Local Calls: ignore the area code and dial directly National Calls (outside your region): Dial the prefix 01 followed by the area code and the phone number. Mexico City’s area code is 55. International calls: Dial 00, followed by the country code of your destination. UK’s country code is 44. Mobiles with the same area code dial 044 followed by the 10-digit mobile number. With a different area code dial 045 followed by the 10-digit mobile number.
Tap water is not potable. Hygiene standards are variable in Mexico and precautions about washing fruit before eating should be taken.
Smoking is not allowed by law in closed areas and all restaurants, bars, etc.
DINING Meal times tend to be fairly late in Mexico. In the city, lunch does not usually start before 14:30 and it is quite normal to see people entering restaurants for lunch as late as 16:00. Lunch is the main meal of the day and is often a substantial and long, drawn out affair. Dinner normally starts around 20:30 and lasts until around 22:00. It is normal to leave a 10-15% tip in restaurants. If you are paying with a credit card, the tip can be added by you on the voucher.
A wide range of drugs can be bought at pharmacies, including many which would require a prescription in the UK. Doctors, dentists and opticians are of good quality, the British Council can recommend a doctor.
ABOUT GUADALAJARA Population Guadalajara is Mexico’s second largest city. This is the birthplace of mariachi music and tequila, but also one of the country’s industrial and business district. Unlike many colonial cities that maintain their original townplan, in the 1950s Guadalajara underwent a major project that changed the face of the city. All their buildings were razed to allow for wide avenues with new constructions, underground parking and shopping centres.
4 million Area
151.4 km2 Average Temperature
19.5 °C
HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS
USEFUL ADDRESSES British Council
The British Embassy
Lope de Vega 316 Col. Chapultepec Morales 11570 México, D.F. Tel (00 52 55) 5263 1900
Rio Lerma 71 Colonia Cuauhtémoc 06600 Mexico, D.F. Telephone: (5255) 16703200
Office hours: Monday to Friday from 08.00 to 15.00 Embassy 24 hr. number is Customer’s Service: (5255) 1670 32 00 Monday from 13.00 – 19.30 T ue to Friday from 08:003 to 19.30 and Saturday from 08:00 to 14:00 UKTI Guadalajara
Americas Hospital
Calle José Guadalupe Zuno # 2302 Int. 101 Col. Americana 44140 Guadalajara, Jalisco
932 Americas Venue Sector Hidalgo Guadalajara T: +52 (33) 38 17 31 41, + 52 (33) 38 17 30 04
T: +52 (33) 3630 4357 ext 861, +52 (55) 1670 3356
EMERGENCY CONTACTS Country Director Lena Milosevic M: +52 1 (55) 5455 2008 Head of UKMX 2015 David Elliott M: +52 1 (55) 4866 4506 FIL Project Manager Dominic Gould M: +52 1 (55) 3731 6717 Project Assistant FIL 2015 Andrea Martinez M: +52 1 (55) 3913 2835 Or contact your programme manager. Emergency Contact FIL : Claudia Nuño M: +52 33 1014 5636