Mexico has a very diverse terrain. The provision of land lines to remote and mountainous regions is also very expensive. As a result, the per capita penetration of land phones (27%) is much lower than that of the other Latin American countries. Mobile telephony, on the other hand, is able to reach far flung areas at a much lower cost. It is estimated that there are almost 57 million mobile lines, which is almost thrice the number of land lines.

Telemex (Teléfonos de México) is the most dominant player in the telecommunications sector of Mexico. It was privatised in 1990 and along with other domestic providers like Maxcom and Axtel, provides telephony services in Mexico.

Mexico has around 236 television stations and 1410 radio broadcast stations. TV Azteca and Televisa, the largest Spanish media network, are the major operators of the broadcasting industry.

Internet access is also widely available in Mexico.

Peso is the unit of currency in Mexico. 1 Peso is made up of 100 centavos. Coins are minted in the denominations of 50 centavo (brass), 20 centavo and 10 and 5 centavo (steel). Pesos are minted in the denominations of 10, 20, 50 and 100 with a brass ring and a silver or steel centre. However, coins are mostly valued below 10 pesos or over 50 centavos. Notes are printed in the denominations of 1000 pesos (pink and purple for the most recent issue and purple for the earlier issues), 500 (brown), 200 (green), 100 (red), 50 (pink-red) and 20 (blue).

ATMs are widely found in Mexico, but those in smaller towns often run out of currency. Holders of Bank of America ATM cards do not need to pay ATM charges if they use Santander Serfin ATMs.

Follow the link to view the latest Mexico exchange rate from OANDA.com.

110 volts AC, 60Hz. American two-pin (flat) plugs are usual.

Mexico, along with the United States of America and Canada is part of North America. It is almost entirely contained in the southern portion of the North American Plate. A few small regions of the Baja California peninsula lie on the Cocos and Pacific Plates.

Mexico is the 14th largest country in the world and extends over an area of 1972550 square kilometres. About 6000 square kilometres are spread over islands, including the Revillagigedo Island and the distant Guadalupe Island, in the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of California, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Mexico shares a border of 3141 kilometres in the north, with the United States of America. It shares a border with Belize (251 kilometres) and Guatemala (871 kilometres) in the south.

To view a map of Mexico, follow the link to WorldAtlas.com.

Medical infrastructure in the urban areas of Mexico is of a high standard. But health care in the indigenous communities and rural areas is poor and very basic. People from these areas have to travel to the nearest town for specialized medical attention.

However, Mexico has seen a significant improvement in some medical parameters like mortality rates since the 1990s and today, these are comparable to the parameters in developed countries. Mexico is in the transitional stage of healthcare and efforts are being made to cover as many people as possible under medical insurance. The Mexican government hopes to achieve complete coverage by 2011.

In the first half of 2009, Mexico suffered an epidemic of swine flu caused by the H1N1 virus. The virus took a toll on Mexico but the situation was normalized quickly and travel restrictions have been lifted.

Before the Spanish arrived in 1519, Mexico was inhabited by many indigenous Indian groups with diverse economic and social systems. The Mayan people of Yucatan, the Aztecs, Huastec, Totonac, Otomi, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Tlaxcalans and Tarascans were some of these groups. Agriculture was the mainstay of these tribes and each of them had built up their own strong civilisations, with cities that formed the hub of commercial, political and religious activity. Chichen Itza, Palenque and Uxmal were important Mayan cities; Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztecs, Tzintzuntzan was a major city of the Tarastec people and Monte Alban was the stronghold of the Zapotecs.

In 1821, Hernando Cortez conquered Mexico and made it a colony of Spain. Mexico then fought for its independence alongside the other Spanish colonies and became independent in the early years of the 19th century. Relations between Mexico and the United States of America in the twentieth century have faced many fluctuations.

Mexico has no official constitutional language. 97% of the people speak Spanish, but The General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples grants the same validity as Spanish, to all the minority languages, regardless of the number of people who speak the language. These languages are granted the status of “national languages”. Indigenous peoples can request documents and certain public services in their native language. This law also includes the Amerindian languages of those ethnic groups who are not natives of the territory.

Most border cities use English for business and commercial purposes. It is also spoken by almost a million U.S citizens who reside in Mexico. French, Romani, German, Plautdietsch and Venetian are some of the other European languages spoken by communities in Mexico.

To view a map of Mexico, follow the link to WorldAtlas.com.

Mexico’s culture is a combination of diverse ethnic influences and reflects the complex history of the country. It is a blend of pre Hispanic traditions, Spanish customs (due to the Spanish presence for over three centuries) and cultural influences from the United States of America.

The Mexican Constitution decrees Mexico to be a pluricultural country. 9% to 17% of Mexico’s population are the white descendants of early Spanish settlers. Due to the massive immigration of Europeans in the late 1800s and early 1900s, there are Mexicans of British, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Basque, Polish, Irish, Russian, Romanian, Syrian and Lebanese descent. There are also European Americans and Canadians from Argentina and the United States of America. Most of the immigrants and their descendants live in the major cities of Mexico.

There is no official religion in Mexico. According to the last census, 95% of the population are self acknowledged Christians. 89% of these are Catholic, making Mexico the country with the second largest number of Catholics after Brazil. More than 4.4 million (6%) are Protestants, among whom 1.37 million people form the largest group of Charismatics (Neo-Pentecostals) and Pentecostals.0.6 million people are Seventh-Day Adventists and according to the 2000 census there are over a million Jehovah’s Witnesses.

A small group of Muslims in the town of Torreon in Coahuila and about 300 others in San Christobal de las Casas in Chiapas, practice Islam.

As per the regulations of the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores which is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico, foreign nationals whose intended period of stay, for tourism or business purposes, is lesser than 180 days, may fill out a forma migratoria para turista (FMT) on arrival at the airport or at the border. This 'Mexican tourist card' duly stamped by the Mexican immigration authorities along with a nominal fee and a valid passport will ensure entry into the country. Visitors are required to keep this with them till they leave Mexico. Other visitors are advised to contact the Mexican consulate in their country for the necessary visa requirements and procure a visa before entering Mexico.