If you’re looking for in-depth and level-headed news coverage, it’s hard to beat the Economist. There was a great article in the August 27 issue on Mexico’s economy, with a look at what’s going right there and how their roller coaster ride compares to that of red-hot Brazil. Read the full article here online.

There are all kinds of interesting tidbits about Mexico in there, from its overpriced monopoly telephone system (see the graph here) to its current trend of stealing manufacturing business back from China as wages in the latter keep rising. What’s most interesting to me is its comparison to Brazil, the current poster child for developing economy growth, but a country plagued with very serious problems. Here are some examples.

- Brazil, which is less dependent on business with the United States, has grown to double the size in GDP of Mexico (now #2) in just 10 years.

- Mexico did $400 billion of business with the U.S. last year, behind only Canada and China.

- The World Bank says Mexico is the easiest place to do business in Latin America (and is ahead of Spain). Their schools are also ranked the highest in Latin America.

- Despite all the attention on the drug war in Mexico, Brazil actually has a higher murder rate and the violence is less concentrated in one region. In Mexico’s Yucatan state, the homicide rate is on par with Belgium.

- The richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, is Mexican. Last year his worth rose by $20.5 billion. (A monopoly knows no recession, apparently.)

So what does the future hold? From a tourism standpoint, Mexico is in better shape than Brazil, despite all the bad publicity. There’s no reciprocal visa fee, it’s cheaper than Canada and the U.S. for hotels and restaurants, whereas Brazil is now more expensive, and flight connections are both easy and reasonably priced. The World Cup and Olympics are coming to Brazil though, so all bets are off then. Price sensitivity will fly out the window.

There’s always a lot going on from a tourism standpoint in the dynamic region of Latin America. Generally we leave the travel news reporting to others, but here are some new and noteworthy developments we wanted to highlight.

Hotel Sazagua in Colombia's Coffee Triangle region

The Coffee Triangle of Columbia has just been approved as a new UNESCO World Heritage site. International arrivals increased by 15.4% during the first quarter of this year for Columbia, with the U.S. sending more tourists than any other country. With a new open skies agreement in place, even more flights from the U.S. should arise soon. See more on the Colombia Tourism website and if you decide to go, check out our reviews of the best luxury hotels in Colombia.

Although it’s hard to imagine now, a century ago Machu Picchu was unknown except to some indigenous people living in the area of what is now Aguas Calientes. Then Hiram Bingham showed up with his expedition party and now it’s a struggle to keep the visitor numbers under the long-promised 2,500 per day. If you want to celebrate the discovery, you can ride the train that bears Hiram Bingham’s name and stay at the Orient-Express Sanctuary Lodge. Or take your time and relax in the Sacred Valley instead: Aranwa Hotels is running some promotional deals in honor of the anniversary.

Guadalajara, Mexico lives in the 2nd-city shadow of the capital most of the time, but it hosts multiple festivals throughout the year that bring in lots of visitors. Coming up in about a month is the International Mariachi Festival. Follow that link if you read Spanish, or see a description in English here and here. Several new chain hotels are on the way there, but our first choice will probably always be the  intimate Villa Ganz.

Growing Brazil has another sign that it’s economy is booming, but I’m not sure this is one to be proud of: Sao Paulo is now one of the 10 most expensive cities in the world for expatriates’ living expenses. Ouch! “Sao Paulo jumped from 27th place to tenth on the latest Cost of Living survey from Mercer. The survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.”

Rio was barely behind it, at 12th place—far above anyone else in Latin America. No wonder the best hotels in Brazil are so overpriced compared to their neighbors.

We’re continuing to beef up our coverage of luxury hotels in Brazil. After all, the country has the World Cup and the Olympics in their future and a booming economy that has been saying, “What world recession?” Our latest new review is Casa Brancas Boutique Hotel & Spa in Búzios.

Just two hours north of Rio, this area has long been a playground of the rich and famous, both internally and from abroad. It’s where many escape to when they leave the hustle, bustle, and crowds of Brazil’s most famous destination.

It’s a white-on-white boutique hotel of just 32 rooms, with multi-level decks and two restaurants to take advantage of the views. The food and full spa are a big draw and this is apparently a popular spot for gals’ getaways. Our reviewer may have found a key reason why:

“The owners also run the beautiful beach lounge and restaurant Rocka Fish at Praia Brava. Here, you can continue lounging on white beds while waiters dressed in skimpy shorts will bring you cocktails. Stay for lunch, and you can savor the fish they just caught this morning. Then, you can have them drive you back to Casas Brancas — also in their skimpy shorts, if you so please.”

See our detailed review of Casas Brancas Boutique Hotel in Brazil.

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If you’re headed to Brasilia, Brazil, you won’t have to think very hard about where to stay. There’s everybody else and there’s the Royal Tulip Brasilia Alvorada. Here’s what our reviewer had to say:

“As fabulously futuristic as the city’s legendary architecture, and blessed by an idyllic, if somewhat secluded, location on Lake Paranoá, the Royal Tulip Brasília Alvorada is easily the best – and some would say the only – place to stay in the nation’s capital.”

Designed by the same architect as the Sao Paulo’s Hotel Unique, this futuristic spaceship with upscale Jetsons furniture mostly does more than it needs to in a city with no real competition. Since it frequently hosts heads of state and top diplomats, there are palatial suites for those with the right budget and staffers that are well-trained in service and security.Where aspects aren’t up to where they should be—as in the spa and restaurant—improvements are on the way soon.

See our full review of Hotel Royal Tulip Alvorada Brasilia.

See more detailed reviews of luxury hotels in Brazil.

Whether you call them Iguazu, Iguassu, or Iguaçu, the waterfalls on the border of Argentina and Brazil are an amazing sight. Unfortunately, I have to be content with photos. I never made it up there when I was in Argentina because I only would have been able to spend one night in the midst of flying up there and back. That just seemed like a waste.

Our regular correspondent Nicholas Gill was more fortunate and he recently got to see the falls from above, behind, underneath, you name it. He’s given us a great rundown on all the options in this travel feature story: Adventure Excursions in and Around Iguazu Falls.

There are plenty of companies offering tours in this area, but Gill went with the one with the best reputation: Aguas Grandes. “Inside of the park the excursions do not differ form one company to the next; however, guides and transfers do differ considerably.”

As always, we’re trying to point out how “to do it right” by going with the best of the best. Click on the link or photo above to see how it went.