Quintana Roo

What can travelers expect from Mexico in 2011? That's at least a $64-million question, given the many Americans who visit the country every year. And the answers seem to point every which way. Across Mexico, international visitors and drug-war casualties rose in 2010. As the country moves into its third century - and President Felipe Calderon's drug war moves into its fifth year - experts say both trends could well continue. Airlines are adding Mexican destinations. Several notable new lodgings are opening, including a pair in southern Baja California and two more in artsy, historic San Miguel de Allende.

Texas issued a strong warning Tuesday for students who want to party on spring break: Don't go to Mexico . The Department of Public Safety warning cites violent crime from battling drug cartels as reasons to avoid traveling anywhere south of the border -- even to popular tourist destinations that weren't included in a recent U.S. State Department warning. "The Mexican government has made great strides battling the cartels, and we commend their continued commitment to making Mexico a safer place to live and visit," the statement from Director Steven C. McCraw says in part.

Texas issued a strong warning Tuesday for students who want to party on spring break: Don't go to Mexico . The Department of Public Safety warning cites violent crime from battling drug cartels as reasons to avoid traveling anywhere south of the border -- even to popular tourist destinations that weren't included in a recent U.S. State Department warning. "The Mexican government has made great strides battling the cartels, and we commend their continued commitment to making Mexico a safer place to live and visit," the statement from Director Steven C. McCraw says in part.

What can travelers expect from Mexico in 2011? That's at least a $64-million question, given the many Americans who visit the country every year. And the answers seem to point every which way. Across Mexico, international visitors and drug-war casualties rose in 2010. As the country moves into its third century - and President Felipe Calderon's drug war moves into its fifth year - experts say both trends could well continue. Airlines are adding Mexican destinations. Several notable new lodgings are opening, including a pair in southern Baja California and two more in artsy, historic San Miguel de Allende.

Scientists in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo say it will take at least 60 years for jungles to recover from extensive fires the past five months. The fires burned an estimated 370,000 acres on the Yucatan Peninsula. The group of scientists, former researchers of the Quintana Roo Research Center, warned that the fires could start again, the newspaper Excelsior said Sunday.

* California: Rebecca Cummins, Northridge: "Bridge Creek Inn, 5300 Righetti Road, San Luis Obispo 93401; telephone (805) 544-3003, Internet http://www.bridgecreekinn.com. Two-room B&B in Edna Valley. Our room had a spa tub, deck." Rates: $130-$155. * France: Karen Hartlieb, Laguna Niguel: "Le Mas Cante-Perdrix, 690 route de Caromb, 84340 Mazan; tel./fax 011-33-4-9069-7869, http://www.canteperdrix.com. Six-room B&B near Avignon. Wonderful 'Gourmet Diversion' weeks, with cooking classes."

The former mayor and governor of the popular Mexican resort area of Cancun was extradited to the United States to stand trial on allegations of pocketing millions of dollars in bribes to help a notorious drug cartel move more than 200 tons of cocaine across the border, Justice Department officials announced Monday. Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, dressed in a drab khaki jacket and slacks, was flown late Sunday night aboard a Drug Enforcement Administration jet to New York, where he also is charged with laundering millions of dollars through the now-bankrupt Lehman Bros.

Hurricane Karl pounded Mexico's gulf coast Friday with 115 mph winds and torrential rain, swamping the already waterlogged port of Veracruz and prompting flood alerts across central Mexico. The storm, which soaked the Yucatan Peninsula this week before strengthening into a Category 3 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, came ashore about nine miles north of Veracruz. By late afternoon, there were no reports of injuries or severe damage. Televised images showed pounding surf, felled trees, toppled billboards and streets turned into muddy rivers.

Question: Why would anyone of sound mind want to work during vacation and pay for the privilege? Answer: To feel the breezes of Fiji and play with the fishes. To enjoy a fresh baguette and a bowl of bittersweet cafe au lait under a new-born sun in the French Alps. To be transformed from suburban housewife and mother of three into someone who has dug ditches in Nicaragua and learned that the people aren't simply "Communists, Contras or Sandinistas . . . they are Julia, Juana, Ramon and Carlos."

Quintana Roo Dunne Michael, 39, the daughter of writers Joan Didion and the late John Gregory Dunne, died Aug. 26 at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. She had been hospitalized since June with abdominal infections, according to her mother. Michael, a photographer and photo editor, was born in Santa Monica and adopted at birth by Didion and Dunne. She graduated from Barnard College. She and her musician husband, Gerry Michael of Manhattan, had no children.

Hurricane Karl pounded Mexico's gulf coast Friday with 115 mph winds and torrential rain, swamping the already waterlogged port of Veracruz and prompting flood alerts across central Mexico. The storm, which soaked the Yucatan Peninsula this week before strengthening into a Category 3 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, came ashore about nine miles north of Veracruz. By late afternoon, there were no reports of injuries or severe damage. Televised images showed pounding surf, felled trees, toppled billboards and streets turned into muddy rivers.

The former mayor and governor of the popular Mexican resort area of Cancun was extradited to the United States to stand trial on allegations of pocketing millions of dollars in bribes to help a notorious drug cartel move more than 200 tons of cocaine across the border, Justice Department officials announced Monday. Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, dressed in a drab khaki jacket and slacks, was flown late Sunday night aboard a Drug Enforcement Administration jet to New York, where he also is charged with laundering millions of dollars through the now-bankrupt Lehman Bros.

Quintana Roo Dunne Michael, 39, the daughter of writers Joan Didion and the late John Gregory Dunne, died Aug. 26 at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. She had been hospitalized since June with abdominal infections, according to her mother. Michael, a photographer and photo editor, was born in Santa Monica and adopted at birth by Didion and Dunne. She graduated from Barnard College. She and her musician husband, Gerry Michael of Manhattan, had no children.

* California: Rebecca Cummins, Northridge: "Bridge Creek Inn, 5300 Righetti Road, San Luis Obispo 93401; telephone (805) 544-3003, Internet http://www.bridgecreekinn.com. Two-room B&B in Edna Valley. Our room had a spa tub, deck." Rates: $130-$155. * France: Karen Hartlieb, Laguna Niguel: "Le Mas Cante-Perdrix, 690 route de Caromb, 84340 Mazan; tel./fax 011-33-4-9069-7869, http://www.canteperdrix.com. Six-room B&B near Avignon. Wonderful 'Gourmet Diversion' weeks, with cooking classes."

In an embarrassing blow to Mexico's justice system, a former governor suspected of links to drug kingpins declared defiantly Tuesday that he had gone into hiding to avoid being jailed. U.S. and Mexican officials suspect that Mario Villanueva let drug traffickers turn the Yucatan Peninsula state of Quintana Roo and its largest city, Cancun, into a springboard for Colombian cocaine headed for the United States.

Scientists in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo say it will take at least 60 years for jungles to recover from extensive fires the past five months. The fires burned an estimated 370,000 acres on the Yucatan Peninsula. The group of scientists, former researchers of the Quintana Roo Research Center, warned that the fires could start again, the newspaper Excelsior said Sunday.

In an embarrassing blow to Mexico's justice system, a former governor suspected of links to drug kingpins declared defiantly Tuesday that he had gone into hiding to avoid being jailed. U.S. and Mexican officials suspect that Mario Villanueva let drug traffickers turn the Yucatan Peninsula state of Quintana Roo and its largest city, Cancun, into a springboard for Colombian cocaine headed for the United States.

The U.S. State Department issued a new state-by-state warning for travelers to Mexico that details the more violent areas of the country but also points out popular places such as Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City where travel advisories aren't in effect. The warning announced Wednesday gives specific cities and states, with a map of the country, where gun battles and drug trafficking violence are likely to occur. Mexican tourism has been under a cloud for the last six years since gruesome killings related to drug cartels scared off visitors to many parts of the country.

Question: Why would anyone of sound mind want to work during vacation and pay for the privilege? Answer: To feel the breezes of Fiji and play with the fishes. To enjoy a fresh baguette and a bowl of bittersweet cafe au lait under a new-born sun in the French Alps. To be transformed from suburban housewife and mother of three into someone who has dug ditches in Nicaragua and learned that the people aren't simply "Communists, Contras or Sandinistas . . . they are Julia, Juana, Ramon and Carlos."