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discarded packing crates, pieces of metal, and even cardboard boxes. Americans
from across the border also crowd the streets of Tijuana, shopping for cheap
Mexican crafts or looking for a good time in Tijuana’s noisy nightlife. Others come
to watch a jai alai game or a bullfight, and still others visit Tijuana for one of the
international food festivals that are held each year in the city.
As you travel south from Tijuana, you will find yourself traveling down a
long, narrow peninsula that reaches down between the Pacific Ocean and the
Gulf of California. The land around you is dry
and mountainous, and once you leave
Tijuana’s busy streets behind, the population
is scarce, and the communities are small.
Baja California Sur
A little less than halfway down the
peninsula, you will find yourself crossing the
state border into Baja California Sur. This
state is much like its closest neighbor to the
north, but it has even fewer people. There
are, however, a few cities, and these are far
different from sprawling, dirty Tijuana.
Guerrero Negro is the first city just across
the border. The town was founded in 1937
when a North American company began
extracting and exporting salt from the nearby
lagoon
. Even the air tastes salty in Guerrero
Negro, and the salt plant there is the world’s
Mexican Facts and Figures
24
FACTS AND FIGURES
ABOUT MEXICO
Total area:
755,866 sq. miles
(1,958,201 sq. km)
Population:
120.2 million
Population growth rate:
1.21%
Urban population:
78.1%
Literacy rate:
93.5%
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
$1.845 trillion
GDP per capita:
$15,600
Population below poverty line:
52.3%