Visitors to Guadalajara might be hard pressed to think of even one large shopping center north of the border that is devoted exclusively to jewelry. In Guadalajara there are 17.

When Club Tijuana won Mexico’s soccer championship on Sunday, a local Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) politician had more reason to celebrate than even the most dedicated fan.

- Mexico’s first president Guadalupe Victoria (1824-1829) was in fact christened Jose Miguel Ramon Adaucto Fernandez y Felix. He assumed a new name in tribute to the nation’s triumph in the struggled for independence and to the dark-skinned Virgin whose image was emblazoned on the standards on insurgent troops. He was also the first bachelor to serve as the country’s head of state. He finally married in 1841 at age 55, leaving bride Maria Antonia Breton a widow less than two years later after suffering an epileptic seizure.

It’s time to have that great December debate once more: real or fake – Christmas trees, that is.