News & Curious Facts
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Televisa

The most complete Spanish-language website where you'll find the best current information, sports, entertainment, women, health and children, More Information.

TV Azteca

All the news form Mexico and the world just a click away, More Information.

Radio Formula

The best website on radio in Mexico, More Information.

Newspaper Online

SPANISH NEWS NETWORK

All the news around the world in Spanish.

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AGENCIA EFE

Thorough world coverage. Unfortunately, the news ticker provides only story summaries.

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CNN EN ESPAÑOL

A lot like CNN's English-language site

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CLARIN

News, sports, finances, user forums, this Buenos Aires newspaper has it all.

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EL DIA

A heavy dose of business and politics.

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LOS TIEMPOS

News from Cochabamba

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EL HERALDO

Colorful news daily from Barranquilla.

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EL MUNDO

News from Medellín

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EL TIEMPO

Visually the most attractive online newspaper in Colombia. Based in Bogotá.

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LA NACION

A typical online newspaper, with a little bit of everything.

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EL DIARIO DE HOY

The typical variety of world and national news, sports, and features.

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PRENSA LIBRE

A wide selection of stories from Guatemala City.

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LA PRENSA

News from San Pedro Sula with news from all over Central America.

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EXCELSIOR

A thorough Mexico City paper, complete with news ticker.

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NOTIMEX

The emphasis is on business news at this Mexican site.

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EL UNIVERSAL

The online version of this Mexico City daily.

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EL SIGLO

Probably the most colorful online newspaper in the region.

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EL NUEVO DIA

This San Juan daily features an abundance of news from the United States.

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ABC

A big selection of stories are be reached directly from the front page..

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EL MUNDO

Daily world and national news from Madrid.

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EL SIGLO

Probably the most colorful online newspaper in the region.

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Curious Facts

Here are a few interesting facts about Mexico that everyone who is planning to go there on vacation should know:

Mexican Birds: Mexico is a great place for bird watchers. There are more than fifty different species of hummingbirds, several types of pelicans and many other species that don't exist anywhere else in the world.
Good old tequila: One of the most well known facts about Mexico is that Tequila is the national drink. What is not so well known is that this drink exists from before Mexico became a nation. Several Mexican tribes already distilled a type of tequila on simple pot stills… back in the 16th century!
Mexican bones: Northern Mexico has proved to be generous to paleontologists. Hundreds of dinosaur's fossilized bones have been found in the region from Sonora to Tamaulipas.
The voice of the pyramid: If you stand in a certain place by the main pyramid in Chichen Itzá, you will hear a bird-like sound. Some experts think that this is intentional, and that the Maya represented the Call of the Quetzal (a sacred bird) by building several air passages that recreate the sound when a breeze passes by.
The ball tree: The cotton-like balls produced by a Mexican leafless tree called the Kapoc was frequently used as the stuffing for baseballs before cheap synthetic fibers were produced.
Astronomers' convention: The first known convention of Astronomers was held in the Mayan city of Copán, in the year 700 A.D.
The tiny one: Not many people know that Mexico has the world's smallest volcano. The Cuexcomate, in the city of Puebla, is only… 43 feet tall!. It is considered to be inactive now, and it has a spiral staircase in side, just for tourists.
Ancient tree: Mexico is the home of one of the oldest living trees in the world. With more than 2000 years, the "Arbol de Tule" is more than 40 feet tall. It is a frequent attraction for visitors.
The shadow of the snake: During the two equinoxes of the year, when the sun rises and sets, the pyramid "El Castillo" in Chichén Itzá shows the perfect shadow of a serpent moving along its side. To achieve this, Mayans must have used calculations with an incredible precision of many decimal digits!
A Mexican tamale called the zacahuil is three feet long and weighs about 150 pounds.
Mexico introduced chocolate, corn, and chilies to the world.
Mexico is home to a very rare rabbit called the volcano rabbit which lives near Mexican volcanoes.
The largest wildcat in North America is the jaguar, which can be found in Mexico's southern jungles.
The first printing press in North America was used in Mexico City in 1539.
The National University of Mexico was founded in 1551 by Charles V of Spain and is the oldest university in North America.
Millions of monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every year from the U.S. and Canada, though logging operations are rapidly destroying their habitat.
The border between Mexico and the United States is the second largest border in the world (only the U.S.-Canadian border is longer).
Mexico is second only to Brazil in the number of Catholic citizens.
The red poinsettia (which the Aztecs called cuetlaxochitl) originated in Mexico and is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico (in the 1820s).
Mexican children do not receive presents on Christmas Day. They receive gifts on January 6, the day on which Mexicans celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men.
Mexico is located in the "Ring of Fire," one of the earth's most violent earthquake and volcano zones.
Mexico City is built over the ruins of a great Aztec city, Tenochtitlán. Because it is built on a lake, Mexico is sinking at a rate of 6 to 8 inches a year as pumps draw water out for the city's growing population.
Mexico's flag is made up three vertical stripes. The left green stripe stand for hope, the middle white stripe represents purity, and the right red stripe represents the blood of the Mexican people. The picture of an eagle eating a snake is based on an Aztec legend.
The Chihuahua is the world's smallest dog and is named for a Mexican state.
Only ten countries in the world have a larger population than Mexico's 112 million people.
Mexico City has the highest elevation and is oldest city in North America. It is also one of the largest cities in the world.
Modern Mexicans are a unique blend of many ancient civilizations, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, Aztec, Inca, African, French, and Spanish.
Mexico is the 14th largest country in the world by total area.
The first great civilization in Mexico were the Olmecs (1400-300 B.C.) who established many cities along the eastern coast of Mexico, sculpted the famous Colossal Heads, and worshipped a mysterious, unnamed god that was part human and part jaguar.
The Zapotec civilization (600 B.C.-A.D. 800) established great cities along southern Mexico and developed the first writing system in the Americas.
One unusual Mayan weapon was a "hornet bomb," which was an actual hornet's nest thrown at enemies during battle.
In the fourteenth century, a group of Chichmecas (warrior nomads) called the Aztecs (or Mexicas) settled in Mexico when they saw an eagle (representing the sun) standing on a cactus (a symbol of the heart) clutching a snake (a symbol of the earth or Quetzalcoatl)—an image which is now depicted on the Mexican flag.
Snakes appear repeatedly in Mexican mythology, from the serpent god Kukulcan which can be found the side of the Chichen Itza pyramid to the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl.
The Aztecs adopted human sacrifice from earlier cultures (such as the Olmecs) because they believed the universe would come to an end and the sun would cease to move without human blood. There are many ancient statues of gods sticking out their tongues, such as Huitzilopochtli, which may be a sacred gesture that suggests their thirst for blood.
During an Aztec human sacrifice, five priests, sometimes with their faces painted with different colors, held the sacrificial victims' arms and legs. The heart, referred to as "precious eagle cactus fruit," was cut from the live victim and burned on a fire in the temple.
Shells and stones on the Aztecs' ritual blades symbolized the faces of the gods for which the sacrificial hearts were intended. They would sacrifice between 10,000 to 50,000 victims per year. Under the rule of Montezuma II, 12,000 victims were sacrificed in one day.
The Aztecs played ritual ball game known as tlachtli in which the losers were often sacrificed to the gods.
When Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortés arrived in 1519, the Aztecs believed he was their returning god, Quetzalcoatl, and offered him the drink of the gods: hot chocolate.
The descendants of the Aztecs speak a form of the Aztec language called Nahuatl. Many of its words, particularly for types of food, passed into English...such as tomatoes (tomatl), chocolate (chocolatl), and avocados (ahuacatl).
Hernán Cortés had a native mistress and able translator Marina (La Malinche). She gave birth to his first son, who is considered the first mestizo (Indian-Spanish).
About 60% of the modern Mexican population is mestizo (Indian-Spanish), 30% is Indian or predominately Indian, 9% is Caucasian, and 1% is other.
Creoles are descendants of the Spanish people who first arrived in Mexico. Now they are the name of Mexico's small population: Caucasian Europeans, Americans, and Canadians.
Mexico remained under Spanish control for nearly 300 years until the Mexican people, led by a priest named Father Hidalgo, rose up against the Spanish on September 16, 1810. Hidalgo is widely considered the father of modern Mexico, and Mexican Independence is celebrated on September 15-16.
Spanish conquerors brought bullfighting to Mexico, which is now the national sport of Mexico. Bullfighting takes place from November to April, and the Plaza Mexico is the largest bullring in the world.
While bullfighting is Mexico's national sport, fútbol (soccer in the U.S.) is currently more popular.
Even though over 50 native tongues are still spoken in rural locations, Spanish is the national language of Mexico. In fact, Mexico is the most populated Spanish-speaking country in the world.
Texas was a Mexican province which declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, resulting in war with the United States (1836-1838).
In 1910, under the guidance of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, Mexican peasants revolted against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz to gain equality and land. The civil war lasted 10 years and took the lives over 1 million people.
Before 1958, women could not vote in presidential elections. Women, however, did play an important role in the 1910 revolution, serving as spies, arms smugglers, and soldaderas or soldiers.
In 1994, a group of Mexican peasants and farmers called the Zapatistas (named after Emiliano Zapata) started another revolt to highlight the differences between the rich and poor.
The North Atlantic Free Trade Association (NAFTA) was created in 1994 to encourage trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. But NAFTA has largely failed to lift Mexico out of poverty due to Mexico's repeated economic crises, a weak public education system, government corruption, and Mexico's inability to enforce the rule of law.
Actor Anthony Quinn was the first Mexican to win an Academy Award for his role in the 1952 movies Viva Zapata.
The Chichen Itza Pyramid in Mexico was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.
There are over 200,000 different species of plants and animals in Mexico- which is why it is classified as a mega-diverse country.
Violent crimes are a serious problem in Mexico due to drug-trafficking and gang violence. The homicide rate is 11 in 100,000 people.
Just under 4% of people are unemployed in Mexico, but over 20% of people are underemployed (in very low paid jobs).
Mexico receives over 20 million tourists every year!
About one million United States citizens live in Mexico.
Almost 90% of the population identify themselves as Roman Catholics. There are about 45,000 Jews in Mexico.
Mexico's most popular sport is soccer (football). It is believed that Cornish miners introduced the sport in the late 1800′s.
The literacy rate in Mexico is almost 92.8%.
Swine flu (also called the H1N1 virus) originated in Mexico.
Rodolfo Neri Vela was the first Mexican in space.
One of the best known Mexican athletes is golfer Lorena Ochoa.
There are about 236 television stations in Mexico.
Mexican children are given both their father's last name and their mother's maiden name. This tradition helps preserve the heritage of both parents.
Fathers would often weave a God's eye when their children were born. At each birthday for five years the father would weave another God's eye.
Fried grasshoppers are a favorite snack for the people of Oaxaca, a state in the south of Mexico.
The marigold is considered to be a symbol of death, hence presenting one, will not be taken lightly.
Mexicans have a very strong sense of family. Their whole society revolves around the concept of a strong family bond. The father is the head of the family who makes the decisions for the rest of the family. Even though mothers are highly revered, they still come only second to the father.
The word mariachi was earlier used to denote a group of dancers who traveled from place to place performing. The term then took shape into a musical style which is now a very prominent style of music throughout the world. No official event is complete without the request for a 'mariachi'.
The term 'machismo' literally means masculinity, and Mexican men aren't shy in displaying this trait, which at the same time is often accompanied with comments toward women. However this is an accepted thing in Mexico and is not seen as lewd.
Mexico declared its independence from Spain on September 16th, 1810. This should not be confused with the first Cinco de Mayo of 1862, which marked Mexico's victory over the French Army. Every day is Cinco de Mayo somewhere in the world.

News & Curious Facts News

Televisa

TV Azteca

Radio Formula

Newspaper Online

SPANISH NEWS NETWORK

AGENCIA EFE

CNN EN ESPAÑOL

CLARIN

EL DIA

LOS TIEMPOS

EL HERALDO

EL MUNDO

EL TIEMPO

LA NACION

EL DIARIO DE HOY

PRENSA LIBRE

LA PRENSA

EXCELSIOR

NOTIMEX

EL UNIVERSAL

EL SIGLO

EL NUEVO DIA

ABC

EL MUNDO

EL SIGLO

Curious Facts

News & Curious Facts
News