Mexicali Mexico

Mexicali lies on the northwestern tip of Mexico, making it the northernmost Latin American city. It is the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California and the administrative seat of the municipality of Mexicali. The whole of Mexicali county occupies an area of 5,254 square miles, some 20 percent of the total land surface of the state. It is situated right on the border next to the US state of California, adjacent to the city of Calexico, with the geographical coordinates of 32°40′0?N, 115°28′0?W. The names of the two cities, derived from the first two syllables of California and Mexico, were chosen as a symbol of harmonious relationship between the two regions.

On the north of Mexicali is the Imperial County of California; on its eastern border are the US state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora; on its western side is the municipality of Tecate; and on the south is the city of Ensenada. Mexicali is about two hours away from San Diego, one hour and 45 minutes from Palm Springs, three and a half hours from Los Angeles, four hours from Phoenix, Arizona, and six hours from Las Vegas.

Mexicali is known as a tierra calida, a warm land or the city that captures the sun, due to its desert climate. The area experiences long summers and short winters. The average temperature during the summer is 33 degrees Celsius but could reach up to 40-50 degrees Celsius on the hottest days. Even during December or January, however, the average duration of sunshine still exceeds eight hours while the average annual rainfall only amounts to around three inches. During winter, the temperature plunges to around 12 degrees Celsius.

The local terrain is largely flat. The fertile agricultural basin has about 200,000 hectares of irrigated farmland while the surrounding sceneries are mainly dry desert land. A large geothermal energy source, the Cerro Prieto geothermal field (CPGF), is located in the Mexicali Valley 35 kilometers south of the city. In the late 1990s, the CPGF generated 4,843 gigawatts, which translates to more than 70 percent of the total power produced in the Baja California region. The Cerro Prieto plant is currently the largest geothermal facility in Mexico.

Mexicali is one of the fastest growing urban centers in Mexico. It has the biggest population in all of Baja California, with around 850,000 inhabitants and an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent as of 2005. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse Mexican cities with residents coming from various European, Asian, and African descents. It has a thriving Chinese community, the La Chinesca, with around 5,000 Chinese population. It is also home to a significant number of Filipinos, South Asians, and Japanese peoples. The high immigration rate of the city is primarily caused by the flourishing of maquiladoras or foreign-owned assembly plants which generates employment.

The city has two international border crossings and is a strategic location for import/export traffic among Pacific, North, and South American markets.