Injured Dog Walks Into Hospital Emergency Room

The patient was only slightly injured when he limped into a hospital in the northwest New Mexico city of Farmington.

The only problem was, he was a dog. When the automatic doors at San Juan Regional Medical Center’s emergency room slid open, the pooch walked in, blood on his nose and paw, and a puncture hole in one leg.

Animal control officer Robin Loev (LOHV) responded to a call from the hospital and suspects the puncture wound was from the bite of another dog.

Loev says the German shepherd mix appeared to be intelligent and calm — and knew enough to go to the right place.

The animal was taken to the Farmington Animal Shelter and claimed by its owner.

2010′s Top Travel Destinations

Here are some top destination lists for travel as 2009 ends and 2010 begins.

Lonely Planet’s U.S. staff’s top picks for 2010: U.S., Canada, South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, Cuba, Italy, Philippines, Brazil, Costa Rica.

Conciegre.com’s 2010 “It List”: Marrakesh, Kyrgyzstan, Vancouver, Burma, Venice, Antarctica, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Colombia, South Africa.

Yahoo Travel’s most popular cities of 2009, based on consumer interest and activity: Las Vegas, Miami, Cancun, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, New York City, San Francisco, Orlando, Honolulu, Paris.

Frommer’s top (dozen) destinations of 2010: Santiago de Cuba, Cuba; Florida Panhandle Beaches; Hawaii (the Big Island); Salta Province, Argentina; Mexico City, Mexico; Melbourne, Australia; Hanoi, Vietnam; Kerala, India; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Tunisia; Copenhagen, Denmark; Isles of Scilly, England. Frommer’s reader favorite destination for 2010, based on a contest: Paris.

Jackson Fans Go For ‘Thriller’ Record

They say they beat it.

Thousands of Mexicans claimed they broke the record for most people dancing to “Thriller” simultaneously in one place on what would have been Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday.

“We did it!” organizer Javier Hildago shouted to thousands of people wearing black fedoras, white gloves, aviator shades and ghoulish face paint, breathless after trying to recreate the groundbreaking 1983 video.

Did they? The Guinness Book of World Records will decide in a week.

The current record was set in May by a group of 242 College of William & Mary students who performed the routine in Williamsburg, Virginia, according to Guinness.

Hildago claimed 12,937 people danced August 29th in front of Mexico City‘s Monument of the Revolution, led by a Michael Jackson impersonator wearing a red-and-gold sequined jacket.

But Guinness must certify whether all those people really performed the entire, intricate routine. The impersonator, who goes by the name Hector Jackson, and most of those in front of a huge crowd of onlookers certainly looked pretty good.

“More people responded than we even imagined!” Hector Jackson said. “Mexico gave the best tribute in the world to Michael Jackson.”

Mariachis Set World Record In Guadalajara

Ay, ay, ay, ay! Guadalajara finally boasts the world’s biggest mariachi band.

A total of 549 musicians got together to win the record for the birthplace of mariachi, playing several songs in just over 10 minutes, closing with favorites ” Cielito Lindo” and “Guadalajara.”

A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records, Stuart Claxton, made it official at the International Mariachi Festival.

The old record belonged to 520 mariachis who performed in San Antonio, Texas, in 2007, said Francisco Beckman, an organizer of the record-breaking attempt.

Record-breaking is all the rage in Mexico.

Earlier in the week, thousands in Mexico City claimed they put on the largest “Thriller” dance by people performing simultaneously in one place. The Guinness official at that event said a decision on whether they did will be made in a week.

Mexico also boasted the world’s biggest cheesecake and group kiss earlier this year.

Dimwitted Thieves Steal Fake Cell Phones

Call it the case of the dead cells — both telephones and the ones in the brain.

Employees at a Telefonica Movistar cell-phone store in Morelia, Mexico say they arrived to work one morning to find that the store had been broken into.

An examination of the shop revealed the only items missing were hollow replica phones for display that are completely useless for making calls.

Employees say the clueless thieves overlooked real cell phones and cash in another part of the shop.

Store owners nonetheless reported the theft to local police, who are investigating.

Vigin Mary Spotted On Restaurant Griddle

The hottest thing on the griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant these days isn’t the food — it’s the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that a cook says she saw on the griddle.

Restaurant manager Brenda Martinez says more than 100 people have flocked to the small town of Calexico on the California-Mexico border to gaze at the likeness of the Virgin Mary since it was discovered as the griddle was being cleaned.

Among the awe-struck was a group of masked Mexican wrestlers who arrived for an exhibition at a nearby swap meet.

One, known as Mr. Tempest, says: “This is amazing. It’s a true miracle.”

Since the discovery, the griddle has been taken out of service and placed in a shrine in a storage room.

Cruise Ships Skip Mexican Ports

Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line have suspended stops at Mexican ports over concerns about swine flu.

Carnival said on its Web site it has canceled all calls at Mexican ports through May 4, and in many cases will be able to substitute the canceled stop with an alternative port.

Royal Caribbean had said it was monitoring the situation but telling passengers not to worry because the outbreaks are inland, not in the Mexican coastal cities popular with cruise tourists. But later the company said it was suspending port calls indefinitely in Mexico until more is known about the swine flu outbreak.

The move affects its Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises ships.

Norwegian is canceling Norwegian Pearl’s final two calls in Mexico after saying earlier that it was monitoring the situation and asking passengers about their health before cruises start but keeping the trips.

Norwegian’s schedules do not include any other ports in Mexico until the end of September 2009, the company said.

Watch Thieves Hide Behind Flu Masks

Three armed thieves wore the blue surgical masks now ubiquitous in flu-hit Mexico City to hide their faces as they robbed watches from a department store, Mexican media reported.

Employees and security guards at a branch of the Sanborns department store told the daily Excelsior the thieves were able to slip through the shop without attracting attention as they blended into a sea of masked shoppers.

One of the robbers threatened store assistants with a gun while another guarded the door and the third helped himself to watches from the jewelry department.

Mexico is in the grip of a new strain of flu that has killed up to 149 people and set off a major global health scare after infecting people in the United States, Canada and Europe, raising fears of a flu pandemic.

Banks in the Mexican capital have been forced to abandon normal rules over not letting in customers wearing face coverings as the government took emergency measures over the weekend and advised residents in the crowded city to wear face masks at all times outside their homes.

Caribbean Tourism In A Tail Spin

Five Caribbean countries are reporting double-digit drops in tourist visits as the global economic slowdown wreaks havoc on the region’s top industry.

Statistics released this week by the Caribbean Tourism Organization show Anguilla taking the worst hit with a decline of 18.8 percent.

Visits are down in all 12 reporting nations and territories except Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region.

Tourist traffic fell 14.3 percent in Antigua, 13.7 percent in St. Lucia, 11.6 percent in Montserrat and 11.3 percent in the Cayman Islands.

The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico cited drops of 6.1 and 4.7 percent.

The reporting periods vary, but all measure tourism in early 2009 compared to the same months in 2008.