If it were not for the excellent travel postings of Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler of the New York Times, there would be few visitors cobbling their shoes to walk the cobbled streets of Chiapas, the state bordering Guatemala and the famed area of earlier indigenous and human rights movements. The Zapatista cause has faded recently, so the aura exists, but few of the followers.

That can only be the reason why onion prices rose more than 100 percent at both of our survey stores this month over last. The only other cold-weather vegetable hike in both stores was on limes which jumped  between 20-30 percent since our December 21 survey.

Mexico is home to planet earth’s largest natural crystals, its deepest water-filed sink hole, and second richest man, telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim. The country ranks first in the world for diversity of reptile species and the incidence of diabetes, while placing second only to the United States in the consumption of soft drinks.

Dengue fever will be the biggest health headache for state authorities in 2010, Jalisco Health Secretary Alfonso Petersen has predicted.