Recent letters to the editor indicate that some people aren’t doing their homework when it comes to crossing international borders – in this case to Mexico – with their pets. Nor do they appear to give adequate consideration to their pets’ comfort when making their travel arrangements.

There’s a less welcome aspect of spring that sneaks in with Jalisco’s sunshine and heat. Gastro-intestinal illnesses are the second most common reason for seeking medical attention, in both Jalisco and Mexico. And the microbes that cause them thrive in the season’s warmer temperatures.

There is sometimes confusion among visitors to Mexico over the difference between Semana Santa and Semana Pascua.

United States citizens who plan to be living or visiting Mexico in November must act early in order to ensure they are registered to vote, and aligned to vote via absentee ballot for the 2014 election.

Mexico’s economy relies on a positive trade balance to maintain growth and social peace.  Limiting importations remains at the heart of its global policy and dodging the World Trade Organization rules has become an art form.

The majority of the country’s practicing Catholics initiated Lent by attending church on Ash Wednesday (Miercoles de Cenizas) when a priest – or in some cases a nun – stamped the sign of the cross on their foreheads while reciting a familiar spiritual admonition such as “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”