Travel Journal
By: Eashana Arora
TIJUANA
Dear Diary,
Today I visited a maquiladoras Company in Tijuana , Baja California. Tijuana is a large manufacturing center, and brings a lot of tourism. Together, tourism and manufacturing run the city’s economy. In the past decade, Tijuana became the medical device manufacturing capital in North America. This is because it is located near southern California, so its large, inexpensive workforce make it attractive for Foreign companies looking to establish industrial parks that are made of assembly plants called maquiladoras. At large maquiladoras, everyone is very focused and busy. The way all these people work is amazing because everyone has their own special way of making the product even though it ends up looking the same,as their neighbors. In 2001, Tijuana had about 820 maquiladoras and today there are about 550. Tijuana too advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) to export products, more than other US and Mexican border zone cities. Another place that I would like to visit in Tijuana is Telvista, Telvista is only one of the many high tech telemarketing companies which attract skilled people with technical trade and college degrees.
So with all these elements supporting the economy of Tijuana, it has an estimated GDP rate of 16 million US dollars.
I would like to visit Tijuana again sometime because it transformed a rural border town to an international city and that's what makes it special.
GUATEMALA
Dear Diary,
I got to meet Mr. Otta Pere Molina. He is the current president of Guatemala. Guatemala is a constitutional democratic republic where the president is the head of the state as well as the country. Mt Molina taught me that the Executive branch is managed by the government, the legislative power is managed by the government and the congress of Guatemala, the judiciary is independent of the executive and legislative. He also mentioned that Guatemala is a very centralized place. Transportation, communication business and politics all takes place in Guatemala city, the capital of Guatemala. Overall, Guatemala has a stable government. I would like to meet Mr Otta Pere Molina again because he is a man of his word. This is a great place to visit and I can come here many times without getting bored.
ECUADOR
Dear Diary,
Today was one of the most exciting days of my life because I got to take a helicopter ride over the country of Ecuador which is located in western South America. The country gets its name because of being located on the equator. Is it one of the smallest countries in South America. Ecuador borders the Pacific ocean.
It has owned the Galapagos islands since 1832. The Galapagos islands are a series of scattered islands that are known for its rich plant and animal life.
I got to learn about how Ecuador encompasses a wide range of natural formations and climate, from the desert like southern coast to the snow capped peaks of the Andes mountain ranges, to the plains of the Amazon basin. The highlight of my day was flying over world most active volcanoes, located in Ecuador called Cotopaxi.
I had an amazing time and I hope to go through this experience again.
BRAZIL
Dear Diary,
Today I was just casually walking down the streets of Brazil and I learned a lot about its culture, Brazilian culture is one of the worlds’ most varied and diverse. This is because it is a melting pot of nationalities, as a result of centuries of European domination along with slavery which brought hordes of African migrants across Brazil’s border to live in and influence the local culture.
I read a book that mentions that the population of Brazil is 190 million. There are many Roman Catholic churches which is the main religion . I noticed that everyone was speaking Brazil’s main language, Portuguese. Most of the families I saw were quite large. The population in Brazil is 50% white, 40% mixed black and white and 10% black. I noticed that in Brazil, men shake hands and women kiss on the on the cheeks when greeting each other.
Brazil is so amazing that even walking down the street is an event. I would love to visit again.