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| www.fretnotgospel.com/mexico.html |
| Tell me about the camels. The |
| What is the music like? It sounds really good. One kind of music is mariachi. That means "marriage" in French. Mariachi has guitar, violin, and brass. Another kind is ranchera. It has an accordian. My favorite is mariachi. My dads favorite is Pedro Infante. |
| Tell me about the birds. My favorite bird in Mexico is the quetzal be-cause it is bright green and red and it has a really long tail. Their national bird is the caracara which is kind of a golden eagle. An Aztec saw one eating a rattlesnake on a cactus on an island in the middle of a lake. And they built Tenochtitlan on that island. There are so many kinds of birds in Mexico because there are so many kinds of bird habitat in Mexico. There are 187 kinds of birds that only live in Mexico. |
| What do you admire about the Mexican people? I like that they are mostly Christians. I admire what hard workers they are when they come here, and that they don't seem to complain. I can't imagine going to a country where I can't speak the language but still working. I would have to work where I don't have to talk, like in yard work and build-ing things and janitor work. One time we paid a man from Mexico to cut out our grass and put in new grass. It was hard work. |
| Tell me about Mexico before it was its own country. In 1200BC the Olmecs lived in Mexico. Then in 300AD the Mayas lived there. Their main city was Teotihuacan. They did human sacrifices because they thought their gods ate human blood. Then in 900AD it was the Toltecs. The Aztecs lived there in 1200AD. Their main city was Tenochtitlan and it was in the middle of a lake. They also did human sacrifice. In 1519, the Spanish conquered the Aztecs. The leader of the Spanish was Hernan Cortez. The Mexicans drove them out in 1821. Then France invaded in 1862. They made Maximillian of Austria the Emperor of Mexico. In 1867 the Mexicans drove out the French. Tell me about the Virgin of Guadalupe. She is a person the Mexican Catholics believe appeared on a hill to a man named Juan Diego in 1531. They think she was the Virgin Mary. Tell me about the Mexican and American War. It was a war over Texas. Texas became its own country by defeating Mexico's army and became the Republic of Texas in 1836. But Mexico didn't recognize Texas as independent. In 1845 Texas asked for admission as a state of the United States and Mexico wanted Texas. So Mexico started the war in 1846. Then the United States invaded Mexico and took over Mexico City. And then Mexico signed a peace treaty and it gave the United States lots of states - California, Texas, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. |
| Tell me about Mexico. Mexico is the largest country that speaks Spanish in the world. The land is made up of lowlands, mountains, deserts, and rainforests. The deserts are in the north. The Sierra Madre Occidental are mountains. The Mexican Plateau between the eastern and western mountains makes up most of Mexico. At the south end of the Mexican Plateau are volcanoes. Popocatepetl is the most famous volcano. It made its biggest eruption in 2000. Mexico has more coast line than the United States. The southern end of Mexico is called the Yucatan. It is mostly rainforest. The spur of land sticking out into the ocean on the west is Baja California. Between it and Mexico is the Gulf of California. The country to the north is the United States. The countries to the south are Belize, and Guatamala. Tell me about the people of Mexico. The Mexican people are mostly Catholic Christians, over 90%. Most people are mestizos which means a mix of native and Spanish. There many different native peoples like the Zapotec, Nahua, Mixtec, Maya, Otomi, and the Tzotzil. The all speak different languages. The biggest city is Mexico City. Eighteen million people live there. Other cities are Puebla, Guadalara, and Ciudad Juarez. I have been there but I don't remember it. |
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| Tell me about the food. It's really great food. It might be my favorite food of all. I like the refried beans be-cause they taste good. I've eaten it in lots of places: Taco Zamorana in Oakland, La Pinata in Alameda, Mexicali Rose in Oakland, Huarache Azteca in Oakland, Chevy's in San Leandro, Roberto's in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I saw a big cockroach crawling up the wall, La Posta in Mesilla, New Mexico, and Si Senor in Las Cruces, where there is lots of great Mariachi music. I love New Mexico because of all the Mexican food. I'd like to go to Mex. |
| Tell me about the heroes of the revolutions. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was a parish priest who started the revolt in 1821 against Spain and was killed. Benito Juarez defeated the French and became was president. Emiliano Zapata was a hero of the Mexcio Revolution of 1910. |
| Tell me about sports in Mexico. Their very favorite sport is called futbol. Futbol is soccer. Their second favorite is beisbol which is regular baseball. Their third favorite is bullfighting. Their fourth favorite is charreados that means rodeo. |
| Tell me about the monarch butterfly migration. There are millions of monarchs that come to roost in the oyamel fir trees in the Michoacan mountains in the winter and leave in the spring. They fly north and lay eggs and then die. The next generation goes further north and then dies. And it is the fifth generation that makes it all the way up to Canada and returns to Mexico. I praise God that they get back to Mexico even though they don't have a brain and haven't ever been there. |
| What do you pray to Jesus for about Mexico. I pray for them that they will get more business so that they can make money. I pray that they will pay their taxes and I pray that government officials would stop being corrupt, that they won't steal. I hope that they would be like Zacchaeas, because he stopped stealing and gave the people he had stolen from their money back, when Jesus invited himself to be Zacchaeas' guest. |
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| Tell me about the economy. The economy is the business and the money. Mexico has a good economy in the north but not so good in the south. People that live in the United States but are from Mexico send tons of money home. They send $6 billion home per year. Maquiladoras are factories at the northern border. Twenty-two percent of the Mexican workers work at them. US tourists spend $5 billion per year visiting towns on the coasts, like Puerta Vallarta, Manzanillo, Acapulco, Cancun, and Veracruz. PEMEX is the big oil company. Mexico is the fifth largest oil producer in the world. The economy is growing in northern Mexico. Two problems are that some people are not paying their taxes and some people are smuggling drugs. |
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| Tell me about Vicente Fox. T |
| Tell me about Vicente Fox. He was the first president to actually be elected. Before him every president was from PRI party. After a president had his 6-years in office, he would say, "here is my successor from PRI", who always won. But in 2000, Vicente Fox from the PAN party won. |
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| United Mexican States |
| Country of the Month by Noah Arthur |
| The Revolutionary Republic of Mexico |
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| Country of the Month Restaurant Jan 2003 - Armenia La Mediterranee, Berkeley Feb 2003 - Poland Old Krakow, San Francisco Mar 2003 - Ireland Kells, San Francisco Apr 2003 - Jamaica Jamaica Station, Oakland May 2003 - El Salvador Balompie, San Francisco Jun 2003 - Nepal Kathmandu, Albany Aug 2003 - Turkey Bosphorus, Berkeley Oct 2003 - Cambodia Angkor Wat, San Francisco Dec 2003 - Philippines Aroma Cafe, Concord Jan 2004 - Saudi Arabia Rihab's Bakery, Belmont Feb 2004 - Mexico El Huarache Azteca, Oakland Mar 2004 - Mongolia |
| Tell me about the voladores. They are people on some holidays that jump off a pole and swing around the pole. Volador means "flyer". |
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| popocatepetl |
| agave farm |
| oaxaca river |
| catholic church in tonala |
| acapulco cliff diver |
| nahuatl indian girl |
| vicente fox and george bush are friends like Mexico and the US |
| chichen itza |
| catholic church |
| presidential palace |
| mariachis in guadalajara |
| mexican army band |
| royal flycatcher |
| quetzal |
| painted bunting |
| mexico city taco stand |
| nopales seller |
| puebla farmer |
| harpy eagle |
| US border crossing |
| quinciera party |
| mexico city policeman |
| bat falcom |
| voladores in veracruz |
| aracari and macaw |
| pygmy owl |
| wood stork |